I've had positive dealership experiences, most recently with my Jetta Tdi that is still under extended VW dieselgate warranty. Everything is free and they have replaced some sensors and other things. Very nice service writer and mechanics.
A friend recently had an experience at a Toyota dealer that was truly hideous. She has a 2005 Tundra, (featured in another thread on this board), w 140k miles in good condition. It threw a couple secondary air injection codes and went into limp mode, so she brought it in for a diagnosis. Mind you, this is an extremely common failure on Toyota V-8s over the last 20 years, (failed electric air pump), Toyota even extended the warrantee to 10 years on certain models for this part. The dealership had to have seen this problem dozens of times if not more. On top of that, it is throwing the two codes associated with the failure that could not be anything else.
Instead, the service writer in concert with one of the mechanics told her that she needed a new transmission at a cost of $7k and that it probably exceeds the value of the truck. They then offered to buy it from her for $500. A quick scan of Ebay shows clean 4x4 Tundras of this vintage fetching ~$20k if completely rust-free and nice. Hers is. It's a TRD, etc. Crazy used car prices right now.
I really want to go down to the dealer and do some on-the-spot dentistry on those freaking lizards but I'm trying to formulate a better response. A lawsuit is not off the table, if there are grounds. Those employees are getting fired when I'm through, that's for sure.
