re: Dealership Service Center Sabotage

I remember the days when I totally avoided dealership repairs because I believed it was all a scam. Although I had a Toyota which I bought because of its strong repair history, it seemed like I was constantly taking it back to various independent locally owned repair shops to have problems fixed that they claimed to have fixed during the last visit. I even visited factory authorized service centers that claimed to use genuine Toyota parts. Non dealership repairs were frequent, shitty, and I thought them to be cheaper than dealerships.

When I bought a new Toyota about 20 years ago, my income had improved tremendously so I decided to price compare repairs over a few years. Maybe this new Toyota was better built. But in the 20 years of owning it, I never had to return to get the same issue fixed more than once. The cost comparisons only seemed negligibly more. That car has been the most reliable vehicle I ever owned.

I still get the oil changed elsewhere, replace wipers myself, get tires replaced at Discount Tire (the GOAT), and do some minor repairs myself, but I have never had an experience with this dealership that led me to believe I was better off getting major repairs done at some independent auto repair joint.