poor service before I buy is this what to expect

[trevrev]

I have had a Porsche for 4 years and the service is excellent. I need to change and looked at the Supra and to be honest very keen but my local dealer who said they had arranged a demo today let me down with the excuse "sorry i was busy working hard and did not arrange it" despite me emailing 3 times to confirm. I this the norm or a one off and how long should I expect the demo to be ( porsche was for a weekend )

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[razorlab]

I have had a Porsche for 4 years and the service is excellent. I need to change and looked at the Supra and to be honest very keen but my local dealer who said they had arranged a demo today let me down with the excuse "sorry i was busy working hard and did not arrange it" despite me emailing 3 times to confirm. I this the norm or a one off and how long should I expect the demo to be ( porsche was for a weekend )

You should absolutely not expect Porsche-level service from a Toyota dealer. As long as you greatly lower your expectations, you will be fine.

 

[dzeleski]

I have had a Porsche for 4 years and the service is excellent. I need to change and looked at the Supra and to be honest very keen but my local dealer who said they had arranged a demo today let me down with the excuse "sorry i was busy working hard and did not arrange it" despite me emailing 3 times to confirm. I this the norm or a one off and how long should I expect the demo to be ( porsche was for a weekend )

I would say that’s not the norm and someone dropped the ball. That being said don’t expect Porsche levels of customer service from Toyota.

 

[Kiske]

Tbh. My MKV service experience has been the worst I've had in the last 10 years. I still have no working navigation (delivery pdi was done incorrectly,) nor can I schedule the recall because of this. I've not once been offered a temp replacement car despite the car being in the shop for 4 weekends immediatly after purchase since 2021.

I've also had to do my own first 2 oil changes even though the the first 5 were included in the sale of the car due to the oil's product availability.

I love the car and had thought to grab a new tacoma for a daily... after this, not anymore.

 

[Cptnslo]

Mine has been surprisingly good I bought the car second hand and have been into my local dealership a handful of times for a few things including the service update, etc and the service manager has been fantastic, got me a loaner car and has been great about communication. The only thing is there is only 1 tech who is certified to work on the Supra so when I make appointments or something like that he is the only one who will touch the car which means my scheduling has to work with his availability

 

[satx_phantom]

Sorry in advance for the wall of text. I need to vent at bit, but since you asked you might as well hear this...

Honestly I must have been lucky with all the different car dealers I've done business with in the past, because I've been unaccustomed to just how underwhelming dealing with local Toyota dealers has been around here at least. During the sale and post-sale. Even getting schedule maintenance is a pain because god forbid the one mechanic who is trained to work on your car isn't working. It's usually the shop foreman, and you can be sure they probably work bankers-hours, so forget scheduling something on the weekend (even if the dealer will work on non-Supra cars then). Oh, want to take advantage of the 2 year ToyotaCare to do an oil change? Good luck, because chances are non-zero that your dealer doesn't have the kit (filter, gasket, GR branded oil) to do the work since it's backordered. I had to call around to find a local dealer (One had the balls to tell me to call the local BMW place) that still had one to do my 10k service, and just so I could feel more comfortable I paid for a kit from another dealer out of state just in case I run into this situation in the future. The service manager whined when I refused to leave the car too, and wanted to wait. It's my daily, and my wife was at a meeting in Austin with the other car. While I've been able to get a loaner when getting a car serviced nearly every time in the past, not at the Toyota dealers...no sir...they might offer you a shuttle but forget that if live/work more than like 5 miles away from there. The car might as well be a unicorn to the service managers at my local dealers, they probably have similar level of experience with those too.

There are a bunch of other issues with my Toyota experience I don't really care to air out here in public. They aren't issues directly with the car itself, just with how disappointing the dealers have been. Perhaps my standards are too high, but if you're coming from a Porsche you are even more likely to be unhappy. There are lots of other variables at play here, but sometimes it's enough for me to feel some buyers remorse. YMMV. Good luck.

P.S. I just realized you're in the UK. I didn't notice the section this was posted in before I replied, so this may all be a bit US-centric.

 

[MK_Surrey]

In the UK you're going to get a 15 - 30 minute test drive and that's it at the moment.

Remember you're dealing with Toyota. They're not selling many Supras compared with their usual customers who are buying an Aygo, Yaris, RAV4 etc.

Also, this is one data point. I wouldn't work with that particular employee again because that's a very poor excuse but I think perspective is needed when you are asking is this the norm. No, it isn't.

 

[Motorknut]

You should absolutely not expect Porsche-level service from a Toyota dealer. As long as you greatly lower your expectations, you will be fine.

should also consider that this is really a BMW with Toyota badges on. My experience is that after sales typically struggle troubleshooting the car.

Understandable that the techs need more help, but doesnt seem like Toyota has a good support model with BMW. And the frustration shows in the customer service standards. The dealers don’t seem well prepared to deal with this “complex car”, they are more used to good old reliable Camrys.

 

[trevrev]

Hi All thanks for all the input having been in sales for 30+years it drive me mad that these guys don't seem to want to sell cars or may be the little old lady buying a yaris is easier. Since they let us down with the demo we are 24 hours later and not a peep out of them. Name and shame Steven Eagell In Aylesbury. I would have thought a apologyfrom the sales manager and a new day by now or a reason they have not been able to source one

So guys what cars equivalent do you think My choices are
Mustang
another 718 cayman
second hand vantage

 

[Rocksandblues]

Hi All thanks for all the input having been in sales for 30+years it drive me mad that these guys don't seem to want to sell cars or may be the little old lady buying a yaris is easier. Since they let us down with the demo we are 24 hours later and not a peep out of them. Name and shame Steven Eagell In Aylesbury. I would have thought a apologyfrom the sales manager and a new day by now or a reason they have not been able to source one

So guys what cars equivalent do you think My choices are
Mustang
another 718 cayman
second hand vantage

NOT Mustang. All the P-car fiends i have laugh at Mustang quality.
you pass 30 Mustangs a day on the road.
Vantage if you like super heavy highway cruiser.

I vote Cayman. Friend just picked up a 2016 GT4 and i have driven. really really good.

Supra is my first Toyota. Won't ever be back to the dealership. I came from Mercedes and BMW dealerships and you definitely will miss the Porsche dealership atmosphere.

 

[MK_Surrey]

If you have gone off the Supra, get an Alpine.

 

[trevrev]

If you have gone off the Supra, get an Alpine.

Tempted but French hmmmm

 

[Mason]

If you want Porsche level then bring it to t

you pass 30 Mustangs a day on the road.

Not the case for OP in the UK. I vote cayman if speed isn’t important to you.

 

[Mimosa]

Toyota dealerships around here hate this car. I caught on to that very quickly. Especially when you call the service department to schedule maintenance.

The only time I go to the dealership now is to pick up parts that I've ordered to do my own work.

Edit: Not from the same country, but I have a feeling many others probably have similar experiences.

 

[Kiske]

So guys what cars equivalent do you think My choices are
Mustang
another 718 cayman
second hand vantage

Just throwing a few names up incease you didn't think of them. Some may trade some sportiness for a slightly more GT feeling. I too would love another cayman
but, couldn't bring myself to opt for another 4 cylinder model. Current prices for GTS-GT4 are just to bloated right now.

BMW M2CS
Lexus RC-F
Lexus LC500
Nissan Z
Lotus Emira
Audi RS5

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