Miss Zippy has moved and now uses a main dealer in the South of the country.
Her Toyota Aygo was fettled and MOT in the period between Xmas and the New Year and what a difference to the old main dealer in the South East.
Without asking, I noticed that they have rotated the tyres so that the less worn tyres on the rear are now on the front. The front were still well within legal limits (2 years old / 16k miles) but the rears were better - now swapped.
Faulty window motor was replaced under warranty - car is 6 years old and past the original warranty. This is on the new Toyota - get is serviced by them and they will extend the warranty for an extra 12 months - The window was slow in winding down but the previous dealer said it was still in tolerance. Garage also noted a door seal wasn't fitted properly after her accident last year and had caught slightly - this was also replaced FOC, water pump found to be leaking - replaced FOC under warranty.
Her shift at the hospital over-ran due to some last minute operations and she knew she wouldn't be leaving until after 20:00 despite supposed to be finishing at 17:30 so she called the garage to ask if she could collect the car the next day, expecting her beau to collect her after work. They instead dropped the car off at the hospital for her and delivered the keys to her department so as not to inconvenience her.
Car nicely valeted. Cheekily a list of second hand newer models and a new car brochure left neatly on the passenger seat along with a PX value for her car.
Last edited by: zippy on Mon 1 Jan 24 at 14:48
|
|
BTW PX value was £6k. She paid £8.5k for it in May 2018 at 6 months old, 0.5k miles.
|
|
Amazing how good customer service can be when somebody decides to think about customer needs rather than making their own life easier.
|
|
toyota dealerships do seem 100% better than the others
|
Wonder how much more (if any) the main dealer service was compared to an independent?
Strikes me that the excellent customer service and additional 12 months warranty make it worth paying for.
Heard from others of Toyota dealers being willing to strip down and clean brakes, rather than just replacing discs, pads, callipers etc.
|
>> toyota dealerships do seem 100% better than the others
>>
I have taken my Berlingo to a shared Citroen/Toyota dealership near us and so far the standard of service does seem significantly better than the Stellantis owned Peugeot/Citroen dealer I used before. I can't say if the actual work is any better but they give the impression of caring more and valuing the customer more. Which costs nothing but makes a difference.
|
|
Expect the usual ones saying the tyres with most tread should have stayed on the rear!
|
>> Expect the usual ones saying the tyres with most tread should have stayed on the
>> rear!
As I read it that's where the least worn fetched up.
|
|
I read it the other way, the least worn tyres on the rear were put on the front!
|
|
Sometimes the size difference between worn tyres on one axle v. new ones on the other can play havoc with the traction control. Happened to me on my Ampera and coincidentally I read about it being a potential problem on a Tesla today.
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 2 Jan 24 at 08:06
|
|
Heard of this with tyres on same 'axle' ie front or rear. Are you saying it can happen if they're at opposite ends of the car too?
|
|
Well you have me doubting myself but I'm pretty sure that was the case.
|
I've found my orig post on another forum and I said
"I am noticing traction control kicking in at relatively slow speeds on left handers. It's a bit disconcerting, as I'm often on cruise control and also using L driving "gear" so the deceleration can be quite alarming.
"I hadn't noticed this phenomena before getting the wheels replaced a few weeks back, and new tyres on the back at the same time. "
The resident expert (and he was a genuine expert) said "I am 99.8% certain that this is to do with rolling radius, and you need the larger rolling radius on the front tyres to avoid this phenomenon."
So I had them swapped over and the problem went away.
|
|
IIRC, the Ampera/Volt had a single electric motor? Did it have 4WD?
|
>> Expect the usual ones saying the tyres with most tread should have stayed on the
>> rear!
>>
There is a general consensus in the industry that the best tyres should be on the back but these days stability control should deal with it. I had a row with Costco when I bought a pair of fronts for a (RWD) Merc and they realised (but only after trying) that they couldn't rotate the rears onto the front as they were different sizes.
The handbook for that car said if changing a pair of tyres and there's a choice of axles then put them on the front as they'll be more benefit there and the Merc ESP is so good it'll deal with any problems at the back. Still took the store general manager's intervention to get the tyres fitted.
|
|
In answer to Zippy's description of the service received by his daughter from the Toyota dealership I think I need her professional services I've just feinted. :)
Last edited by: Fullchat on Tue 2 Jan 24 at 15:43
|
>> In answer to Zippy's description of the service received by his daughter from the Toyota
>> dealership I think I need her professional services I've just feinted. :)
>>
She’s on strike!
Don’t blame her to be honest, her shift rota is crap - mix of days and nights over the next week so two shifts would have been 1 x 8 followed by 1 x 12 as on call, with no break between!
I’m sure that’s not legal!?
Last edited by: zippy on Wed 3 Jan 24 at 12:54
|
|
Daughters partner is an F2 and recently moved to A&E. He's struggling.
|
>> Cheekily a list of second hand newer models and a new car
>> brochure left neatly on the passenger seat along with a PX value for her car.
>>
It's always astonished me that dealers don't make more of the sales opportunity of having a customer on the premises.
The only place where I've had it happen was a Honda dealer, although in quite a few visits it only happened once.
On a fairly recent VW visit for a warranty issue on wife;s 7.5yr old Tiguan I asked if I could try an EV and sure enough I got one (again probably first time this has ever worked) and a chat with a salesman who was going to send me some figures. On taking the car back, he wasn't around, no-one asked me how I'd found the EV and I've never heard from him since.
|
>> It's always astonished me that dealers don't make more of the sales opportunity of having
>> a customer on the premises.
>
Perhaps they know that very few turn into sales?
|
>>
>> Perhaps they know that very few turn into sales?
>>
How can it possibly be a bad thing?
|
>> >>
>> >> Perhaps they know that very few turn into sales?
>> >>
>>
>> How can it possibly be a bad thing?
>>
I never understood the lack of sales focus. I often dropped expensive company cars off for a service at a main dealer, and more recently my own not expensive car and had a look around the showroom, only to be totally ignored.
The upsell possibility is being totally missed, though I suspect most cars are sold on a Saturday, when they don't do many services.
|
Around 2007 I was looking at getting a brand new car.
I had some free time after picking up our 8 year old Xedos from a service at my Indie.
Dropped into the local Honda Dealer - the place was quite busy for some reason - stopped at the entrance and wound down the window. The salesman did not ask anything but said " cars under £7/8K are in the back corner.
I drove around the garage a straight out - I am not rich but could have bought any new car in the showroom. A few months later I bought a new X-trail - 5 years and no breakdowns or repairs - last of the Japanese models rather than the new model based on the Renault chassis/engine
|
>>Honda dealership
Similar thing happened to my dad.
Went to look at a Honda for his first new car at the time, and he had a bit of a rust bucket to at the time, that he was going to give to me.
With out even enquiring about what he was looking for, the dealer told him to come back when he could afford one!
He went and got a new Nissan.
|
I suspect is a lazy sales technique to encourage an "I'll show you" response and draw a high price sale.
If the customer goes away then they were a "timewaster anyway" and no sale was lost in the salesperson's mind.
Good salespeople work hard.
Poor salespeople do not.
|
>> Good sales folk…
One of my favourite sales directors, is useless. He has so many awful deals that only a small percentage get through underwriting.
He cares not, as he’s playing the numbers game, but I guess some customers may be miffed at being turned down.
I dislike the sales folk that fight to the death on deals that are clearly turkeys. One, for a case I was looking at was dreadful and the sales person wanted a senior review. Gawd it was awful, sacked by their existing bankers and we were being asked to fund the corpse, whilst being told it was in excellent health.
My director told the sales guy to go to the car park, dig a hole and bury the file. But not politely!
|
> One of my favourite sales directors, is useless. He has so many awful deals that
>> only a small percentage get through underwriting.
>>
>>
I wonder how people get to that level of they're so useless?
|
|
....well, according to the Peter principle, quite a few...
|
>> It's always astonished me that dealers don't make more of the sales opportunity of having
>> a customer on the premises.
Particularly now, when so many are on PCPs. The customers are sitting ducks for a decent sales pitch.
A pal of mine seemed to be changing his Citroen Picasso every couple of years. Didn't do many miles, and I was puzzled.
This particular dealer had got organised and linked up the sales records with service bookings. At the second or third year service, they had presented him with an offer to change his car without any material change in his monthly payments. I remember him ending up with at least 2 new cars this way. With a bit of man maths, it sounds like a free new car.
Chap has a decent pension, and is quite happy to trundle along paying £250 a month or whatever indefinitely to drive around in a new car.
In a past life I had a lot to do with car salespeople (almost all were men). With a few notable (and usually more successful) exceptions they were an arrogant breed, and smug if they worked in the right franchise where volume was guaranteed. I still remember being in a VW dealer in about 1980, talking with the sales manager and the only two salespeople, and watching a customer in the showroom peering avidly into a Polo or Golf and trying out the driver's seat. I pointed him out.
"Tyre kicker. Spot them a mile off" said the sales manager, relighting his pipe, while the other two nodded sagely, practically sneering at the possible buyer.
|
I took my daughter to pick up her brand new car. Used my tatty old Panda and I was doing some decorating at the time. What looked like a snotty 12-year-old in his big brother's suit said "you can't park there". Replied: "will you arrange to have miss T's new car delivered to her address, it's not paid for yet". Immediate change of attitude, so we got out and I tossed him the keys "park it please, boy".
Neighbour asked me to take him to pick up his MB after a service. I was working on a car and so the Panda again. He asked me to drop him off some distance away, so I replied: "I'll take you to the door or back home, what's your choice?" I was never asked again.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Thu 4 Jan 24 at 15:34
|
park it please, boy".
Really?
|
Last time SWMBO wanted a car change we were quite close to buying a £12k Yaris - tidy car, good price and decent sounding salesman all contributed (not as much as it being the "right colour", but that's another story!).
We had to be taken to the sales boss, a lady, to sign documentation. She was so rude and aggressive with us that we walked away. I felt sorry for the salesman who I guess would have missed out on commission despite doing his job well.
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 4 Jan 24 at 17:09
|
Toyota Aygo - New Main Dealer Service - zippy
