HOW RIDICULOUS IS THIS? (TOYOTA UDON THANI)

[parrot]

I did my 20k service on our 2018 Toyota Revo today......the dealer near Toolpro. A few observations:
I had an appointment and arrived on time. The parking attendant had a card with my time/license and saluted me in where I was met immediately by a service mechanic. After he verified I was there for 20k service, he asked if I had any issues......I mentioned a slightly squeaky clutch pedal and that I wanted the tires rotated. Five minutes after I was seated inside, an attendant brought me hot coffee and some small pastry and bottled water....and my truck was already taken into the service area. After about an hour, a mechanic told me to take the truck for a test drive (in their back lot) to see if the squeak was gone. It was. Back into the service area for another hour and all done. The service rep explained my bill in detail, I paid with a credit card, and off I went. My bank gave me the xe.com exchange rate on the money.....no added charge for credit. Good wifi and an abundance of areas to rest your heels, along with regular refills on coffee or snacks as you like.
Our daughter owns a fine SUV back in the US......lots of bells and whistles and she gets deluxe service when she brings it in for service (and pays dearly for it, too!). But I'd compare the service at this particular Toyota dealer with that service....except for faaaaar cheaper than she'd ever pay.
I know people like to compare the price of their favorite beverage or sausage link.....here vs there......but I rarely hear anyone compare the cost of vehicle service here vs there. The highest service charge on the 10 year old Toyota that we cashed in last year was 4700 Baht....120k service and change the timing belt. I doubt 4700 would get you service of any kind on any brand back in the US, certainly not on a higher end brand.
20k on our 2018 Revo Prerunner.....it's by far the best of four Toyota trucks we've had in Thailand. And the dealer near Toolpro is by far better than the service we got at the old dealer near Wing 23.
Another sunny day in paradise

[deankham]

Nice to hear. I get the same satisfaction using Mitsubishi on Army Road with our Triton and Mirage.

If they are going to be over 30 mins they tell me within the first 5 mins and arrange to drop me of at home.

The new Mitsu cars and trucks now come with a 5 year service pack so you only pay the labour charge on all services for 5 years (or 100k kms). Nice peace of mind.

[Armyvet]

How ridiculous is this??????
I have an older Nissan Teana. The drivers window button stopped working. Took it to the Nissan south of the Army Hosp. I had been there before and at the time thought they had diagnosed the problem correctly tho quite expensive. After a so called inspection I was told the motor needed replacing and the estimate was 14,700 TB. My wife suggested she knew a place that might be cheaper so we thanked the Service guy and left. We went to an independent shop where the repair was made for less than 500 TB. Did the Nissan shop try to cheat me or is their Service Dept inefficient? You decide. I have and it wqon't be that Nissan shop again.

[tamada]

Nice to hear. I get the same satisfaction using Mitsubishi on Army Road with our Triton and Mirage.

If they are going to be over 30 mins they tell me within the first 5 mins and arrange to drop me of at home.

The new Mitsu cars and trucks now come with a 5 year service pack so you only pay the labour charge on all services for 5 years (or 100k kms). Nice peace of mind.

I think this is an industry trend when faced with a drop in new car sales. Ford have also extended their warranty/service plan to 5 years on both new and pre-existing purchases. For example, those who purchased vehicles in 2015/16 onwards and whose warranty/service would be expiring under the old schedule benefit as well as new customers.

Agree with the comparatively low cost of dealer servicing in Thailand. The labour costs in Australia make for some really fearsome bills for routine dealership servicing and shopping around for a quality dealership with good customer service looks more difficult down under than in (say) Phuket.

[deankham]

Oops just realised I got the service plan the wrong way around. You pay only the parts and all labour is free.

[Giggle]

How ridiculous is this??????
I have an older Nissan Teana. The drivers window button stopped working. Took it to the Nissan south of the Army Hosp. I had been there before and at the time thought they had diagnosed the problem correctly tho quite expensive. After a so called inspection I was told the motor needed replacing and the estimate was 14,700 TB. My wife suggested she knew a place that might be cheaper so we thanked the Service guy and left. We went to an independent shop where the repair was made for less than 500 TB. Did the Nissan shop try to cheat me or is their Service Dept inefficient? You decide. I have and it wqon't be that Nissan shop again.

Dealerships don't really "troubleshoot" or "repair" anything. They just swap out parts with new parts until the problem goes away.

My wife said there was water dripping on her foot while sitting in the passenger seat. Udon Toyota quoted us 14,000 baht to replace the water pump in our Hilux Vigo. Turns out it was only the air conditioning filter, under the glove box, needed replacing -- 300 baht. Thieves everywhere.

[parrot]

Moons ago, on one of the other Toyota trucks we bought from the dealer near Wing 23......the pax window wasn't operating. I bought it to the dealer to be repaired.....and went off for some in-town biking (I brought my bike). A service rep called an hour or so later and said they'd have to replace the solenoid switch (or something of the sort) for about 1800 baht, guaranteed for a year..............Oor, they could repair the old one for 800 baht with no guarantee. I choose the cheaper way.......sold the truck a few years later, the window was still operating.
More moons ago than that, a Brit friend told me he marked the oil filter before going in for oil changes as he'd had a bad experience with being charged for a filter but the filter was never changed.
I'm not saying I've never gotten the short end of the stick, but my experience with dealers....especially the new Toyota dealer near Toolpro, have been positive.
My 20k service yesterday report card measured the battery, starter, individual tire's treadware and pressure, individual brake pad wear, and measured cranking amps.
I understand that all dealers aren't necessarily equal......the toolpro dealer being better than the wing 23 dealer......but over 23 years and lots of service calls, I've not had any bad experiences with either.

[Barney]

The electronic diagnostic machines that cars are just plugged into these days provide all the information of a vehicle in a matter of minutes and takes away the old style mechanic and his BS to flow about problems. Like most of new technology this day and age it’s just unplug or unbolt and plug or bolt in the new piece of kit. Most places should provide all the old replaced parts as proof.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Old Grumpy]

I did my 20k service on our 2018 Toyota Revo today......the dealer near Toolpro. A few observations:
I had an appointment and arrived on time. The parking attendant had a card with my time/license and saluted me in where I was met immediately by a service mechanic. After he verified I was there for 20k service, he asked if I had any issues......I mentioned a slightly squeaky clutch pedal and that I wanted the tires rotated. Five minutes after I was seated inside, an attendant brought me hot coffee and some small pastry and bottled water....and my truck was already taken into the service area. After about an hour, a mechanic told me to take the truck for a test drive (in their back lot) to see if the squeak was gone. It was. Back into the service area for another hour and all done. The service rep explained my bill in detail, I paid with a credit card, and off I went. My bank gave me the xe.com exchange rate on the money.....no added charge for credit. Good wifi and an abundance of areas to rest your heels, along with regular refills on coffee or snacks as you like.
Our daughter owns a fine SUV back in the US......lots of bells and whistles and she gets deluxe service when she brings it in for service (and pays dearly for it, too!). But I'd compare the service at this particular Toyota dealer with that service....except for faaaaar cheaper than she'd ever pay.
I know people like to compare the price of their favorite beverage or sausage link.....here vs there......but I rarely hear anyone compare the cost of vehicle service here vs there. The highest service charge on the 10 year old Toyota that we cashed in last year was 4700 Baht....120k service and change the timing belt. I doubt 4700 would get you service of any kind on any brand back in the US, certainly not on a higher end brand.
20k on our 2018 Revo Prerunner.....it's by far the best of four Toyota trucks we've had in Thailand. And the dealer near Toolpro is by far better than the service we got at the old dealer near Wing 23.
Another sunny day in paradise

You forgot to mention if your vehicle isn't completed before mid-day you get a voucher for a free lunch at the food hall as well .

[parrot]

"You forgot to mention if your vehicle isn't completed before mid-day you get a voucher for a free lunch at the food hall as well ."

True! Also.....I get the impression......looking inside the Toyota maintenance area (through the waiting room windows) that the techs there are probably trained by Toyota and the measuring equipment looks to be modern. If I dropped a cookie on the floor there, I'd probably pick it up and eat it. Pretty clean looking facility = warm fuzzy

[Old Grumpy]

"You forgot to mention if your vehicle isn't completed before mid-day you get a voucher for a free lunch at the food hall as well ."

True! Also.....I get the impression......looking inside the Toyota maintenance area (through the waiting room windows) that the techs there are probably trained by Toyota and the measuring equipment looks to be modern. If I dropped a cookie on the floor there, I'd probably pick it up and eat it. Pretty clean looking facility = warm fuzzy

It's not even a Main dealer yet, owned by the ex mayor of Udon who also has the Mazda/Ford dealership in his stable.They also run a shuttle service to and from the Cente if your vehicle is going to take long for repair .The best organised of any dealership I have ever seen .I never go anywhere else now.

[Hoopoe]

The electronic diagnostic machines that cars are just plugged into these days provide all the information of a vehicle in a matter of minutes and takes away the old style mechanic and his BS to flow about problems. Like most of new technology this day and age it’s just unplug or unbolt and plug or bolt in the new piece of kit. Most places should provide all the old replaced parts as proof.


In answer to this Barney here's mt latest experience ,(Toyota dealership opposite Big C ) speedo stopped working ,diagnostic says , sensor on gear box failure ,so they replaced it at a cost of 7,650 bht ,10 days later it stops again ,i take it back , they now say A/C control temp switch not a true Toyota part it's interfering with the speedo,so they replace that, ( i already think this is nonsense ,as it's wire controlled not radio waves , etc )at a cost of 2,250 bht ,they washed the truck (had it for 3 days ) and blacked the tyre's ,LOOSE WIRE ON THE SENSOR UNIT ANYONE , most expensive car wash ever ,

[saint]

The diagnostic machine is only as good as the halfwit punching the buttons .
I took an Altis to the dealers you guys are raving about . Had a pre ignition problem " pinking " .
They take it in , plug it into their magic machine , ten minutes later they tell me its a gearbox selector problem . Cut a long story short , after i burst out laughing i left without paying the 300 baht they wanted for the diagnosis .
Now im old enough to know a bit about cars , cuz when i started driving if you didnt fix it yourself , it didnt get fixed .
Only rich folks bought new and used main dealers , and semi rich folks used a back street garage .
I wasnt going to use my beer tokens in either .
Anyways , took the Altis to my local guy . He new straight away it was a VVT problem , no machine , nothing , just his experience .Apparently a common fault if the car hasnt had its regular oil changes as the VVT system is worked by the engine oil pressure .
If its a common fault , how come said dealers people " i wont call them mechanics , cuz their not " with all there machines,
coffee and biscuits and wifi , didnt know ?

[FrazeeDK]

I've got an Isuzu D-Max pickup and a Nissan March. Take both to the dealers for regular servicing. Those are fairly cheap. My experience with parts going bad is that factory parts at the dealer's have to be a big money maker.. They're bloody expensive. Had a mouse crawl up the A/C drain tube and get in the air box and caught up in the fan.. Blink, bang, pow.. to the dealer to have them show me the fan with 2 broken blades along with a dead mouse.. Replacement with labor, over 3 thousand baht... Yeah, Stateside it would have been far more expensive but dang those factory parts!!

[Raoul Duke]

"You forgot to mention if your vehicle isn't completed before mid-day you get a voucher for a free lunch at the food hall as well ."

True! Also.....I get the impression......looking inside the Toyota maintenance area (through the waiting room windows) that the techs there are probably trained by Toyota and the measuring equipment looks to be modern. If I dropped a cookie on the floor there, I'd probably pick it up and eat it. Pretty clean looking facility = warm fuzzy

Do you have a phone number or business name for this place?
I have also searched on google maps and cannot see it?
Thanks again.

[pal52]

It is on the other side of the Ring road to Toolpro.

https://www.google.co.th/maps/place/Toy ... 3406?hl=en

[Drunk Monkey]

Now i think 3 Toyota dealers in Udon.. i used to always use the main Tarn rd branch but more recently changed over to.the smaller place opposite Big Cnear the sakorn Nakorn flyover trafiic intersection .
Always had great service with Toyota

Dm.

[Raoul Duke]

Great.
Thank you very much.
I need to get a service.
I will post here my experience.

[Hoopoe]

Now i think 3 Toyota dealers in Udon.. i used to always use the main Tarn rd branch but more recently changed over to.the smaller place opposite Big Cnear the sakorn Nakorn flyover trafiic intersection .
Always had great service with Toyota

Dm.

DM see my reply on this thread , my belief is they are parts changers ,changing parts until the problem goes away , with no come back on the parts they replaced that didn't solve the problem

[glalt]

Hoopoe knows how it works. The dealers, and I mean MOST dealers regardless of brand, are parts changers. They don't repair anything. They put on new parts until the problem goes away and you pay for the parts whether you need them or not.