In February 2009, my boyfriend, Michael, purchased a 2007 Subaru WRX from Toyota of Knoxville. The car was about 25,000 miles used and had a few aftermarket modifications. A big selling point of the car was the Toyota Lifetime Warranty they offered with it, and the sales people (Nina & Ricky), along with the Used Car Sales Manager assured us the car would be covered, regardless of its modified state. So we bought the car and they issued the warranty…
A few months have passed and now the car’s transmission is blown. We called the warranty company to make good on our deal with Toyota, and the warranty company informed me that the warranty is actually void and Toyota never should have given it to us.
I called Toyota and (after a few days of unreturned phone calls) they now are saying that they told us the car wouldn’t be covered under the warranty when we bought it. (Even though I know they promised us the car would be covered…after all, that’s why we bought it!) All 4 people that were with us when we purchased the car heard them say it would be covered. In addition, we saw them write this information down for us the day we purchased the car, but I think they kept that piece of paper without us knowing.
My question is: Why do I have a piece of paper that says “Toyota Lifetime Warranty” with Michael’s VIN # if they told us the car wasn’t covered at all? If we don’t have a warranty, then why did Toyota give us the warranty paper? According to the warranty company, the car is not covered under warranty at all…which means Toyota just gave us a meaningless paper with false promises (seems a little deceitful to me).
In short: Toyota of Knoxville lied to us to sell a car…and now we’re out $5,000 because we are going to have to buy this transmission ourselves.
And this isn’t the only problem we’ve had with this dealership! A few months prior, the service department broke a clip on the Subaru’s front bumper. Instead of replacing the bumper, they GLUED it back on without telling us! When our real mechanic took it off a few weeks later to work on it, he was appalled. He literally had to rip the bumper off to remove the glue (and we later bought a new bumper)!
And that’s not the half of it! Michael’s mother and grandmother also drive Toyota’s purchased from Toyota of Knoxville…and both refuse to go back due to the terrible service department which has overcharged Michael’s mom for service she didn’t even need and because of the sales team that’s lied to his grandmother to squeeze a few hundred extra dollars out of her!
This is a family who has purchased three cars from this dealership (we’ll estimate $50,000 spent), and this is how Toyota treats them?!
In an economy where car dealerships are hurting, you’d think Toyota would take care of the few people who actually purchase cars! But Toyota of Knoxville would rather make a quick buck than have customers who actually want to return.
If you're looking for a Toyota in Knoxville, I encourage you to visit a different dealership!
Pros: Nothing!
Cons: Deceitfulness
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