Dealer maintenance painful

[exe36m3]

Yeah, anytime the car is NOT a Toyota, it seems like they have to summon a Subaru or BMW tech nearby to work on the car as a talent share or something or pull in that ONE guy on the team who had the cross-platform training done.

FWIW - I take my car to my local BMW indy mechanic for stuff I can't do in my own garage and that isn't a major warranty item.

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[noogie]

i guarantee you anytime the tech sees a supra, they dread working on it.

a toyota tech can knock out jobs blind folded. supra requires special tools, getting familiar with the procedures, etc. techs are paid per job. the more jobs they do, the more they get paid. they don't want to work on your non-toyota cars.

 

[Neo1967]

I can do an oil change in under 30 mins.

Driving to the dealer, getting a ride back to wherever and then back to the dealer will easily take a lot of your time. What is your time worth?

Plus the added anxiety of having some buffoon at the dealer touching/driving/wrenching on your car.

agreed..this is by far one of the easiest cars to change oil!

 

[BackToBlack]

If you have bimmerlink, maybe you can tell dealership to release the car and you can re-set it yourself.

 

[J29DB03]

techs are paid per job. the more jobs they do, the more they get paid.

If this is true it explains EVERYTHING.

 

[Antiq8ted_Ex0]

Techs are paid flat rate, which is based off a predetermined time for a job. If they get said job done faster they get paid for the predetermined time, if it takes longer they still only get paid for the predetermined time.

Example if it is determined 2 hours for an oil change and it takes 25 minutes, I get paid for 2 hours. If I get an interior noise that that is determined at 1.5 hours and it takes 6 hours, I get paid 1.5 hours.

 

[BillyLong42]

When I get oil changes at the dealer it takes Forever, and the reason they tell me is resetting the "maintenance due" light. I asked & the tech said the mechanic was unable to reset the light on the car, so they had to use the computer. They don't see many Supras, so the dealer's computer needs a software update when they use it to reset the car's light. (Please note, I'm not talking about a software update for the car). Anyone else? Why don't they update their computer when they see I'm coming the next day?!
I'm in there 4-6 hours each time!

I did my first few services under the Toyota-Care umbrella for 2 years. Just changed the oil myself this weekend since its out of program and its something Ive been waiting to just do myself. Sitting there for hours waiting for an oil change is so silly.

On a side note, I noticed I got this Brakes For Life aggreement when I bought the car, which I thought would be nice. I forgot about it but found the paperwork recently. You have to have your brakes inspected every 3 months to have services covered. I sure as hell wasnt going to drive 30mins to the dealer every 3 months and wait for them to measure my pads for an hour. What a sham lol

 

[Steph]

If I’m not mistaken, some Toyotas should have a “Supra tech” specifically trained to work on Supras. In Maryland my friend who works at a Toyota dealership as a tech told me this. Maybe there’s not enough of them going to yours for them to pay to train one.

 

[noogie]

If I’m not mistaken, some Toyotas should have a “Supra tech” specifically trained to work on Supras. In Maryland my friend who works at a Toyota dealership as a tech told me this. Maybe there’s not enough of them going to yours for them to pay to train one.

if i was a GM of a toyota dealer and seeing how rare Supras come in for service, i'd only pay for 1 senior tech to be supra certified. not surprising, that's how most toyota dealers operate.

not to mention, the supra requires specialty tools that the dealer/tech pays for with their own money. a tool that gets used once a year is a waste of money. do you see why toyota dealers don't like working on supras?

 

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

If I’m not mistaken, some Toyotas should have a “Supra tech” specifically trained to work on Supras. In Maryland my friend who works at a Toyota dealership as a tech told me this. Maybe there’s not enough of them going to yours for them to pay to train one.

That's correct, depending on which dealer, mine has two that can adequately work on the supra. I don't understand all this animosity towards dealer work when all it takes is 10 minutes to call around to a dealer to make sure they have what it takes to service the car. We all knew what we were getting into when buying this car......

 

[WhiteSupraGR]

I've had similar issues with my dealer taking forever for simple things too. So a friend recommended me an independent mechanic and has more experience with Supras,and got mine fixed way more faster than the dealer would.

 

[ZtoSupra]

If I’m not mistaken, some Toyotas should have a “Supra tech” specifically trained to work on Supras. In Maryland my friend who works at a Toyota dealership as a tech told me this. Maybe there’s not enough of them going to yours for them to pay to train one.

They have one & I make sure he's there when I make my appointment but still doesn't do me much good.

 

[Kichoman]

I just reset my service light today using the diagnostic mode without issue. It was “reset possible”.

My car was purchased in August 2023, service (oil change) set to 12,000 km / August 2024. I currently have just over 3,000 km. I have already changed the oil myself twice (once at 1,700 and once before a track day in May).

Even the brake fluid reset is possible despite it being set to 2025. I already flushed it with new pads for 2 months ago for track days.

I really wonder if the car can tell when the oil has been drained LOL. Given that many people here have said that you cannot reset the engine oil service until you are at 12 month or past that.… ?‍

 

[Tacoma714]

i guarantee you anytime the tech sees a supra, they dread working on it.

a toyota tech can knock out jobs blind folded. supra requires special tools, getting familiar with the procedures, etc. techs are paid per job. the more jobs they do, the more they get paid. they don't want to work on your non-toyota cars.

Exactly. I grew up around the biggest BMW Dealership in Southern California and my best friends worked there from 18 years old till they were in their 30’s so I got to meet a lot of career techs. At least with BMW, those Techs make an excellent living cranking out jobs or “stacking” them as I would hear them call it. They get paid for a 4 hour transmission job that they did in 1 hour and all those guys made good six figure incomes. These Toyota people are just not properly trained and don’t want to work on our MKVs because it slows them down. God forbid they have to cross train or learn something new and eventually get faster at it.

 

[FLtrackdays]

If I’m not mistaken, some Toyotas should have a “Supra tech” specifically trained to work on Supras. In Maryland my friend who works at a Toyota dealership as a tech told me this. Maybe there’s not enough of them going to yours for them to pay to train one.

So…… most of us on here have made that mistake and waited for the sole “Supra” tech to do basic service on our car. The stories are too long and numerous to probably even start a thread on it. Ask @BMWAF He and I both didn’t listen and wasted more than time. I now have a great independent BMW mechanic and another shop for alignments and other stuff.

I’d much rather have the guy that worked his way through the ranks of the big box dealers - changing oil, stripping the threads on bolts, learning on other cars. The best of the best usually leave and start their own shop. Ask around and get that person/shop to do the stuff you don’t want to do yourself. The time you’ll save, peace of mind and longevity of your car is worth it.

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