TristasTC

I bought my tC about 9 months ago, and since then, it has been in the shop for a solid 2 months. Several mechanical problems have occured (belt tensioner bar had to be replaced, tire pressure light CONTINUOSLY comes on, etc) in addition to the MAJOR rattles throughout the car. The rattles were so bad, they sent my car to a nearby body shop to re-weld my roof.

I recently moved down to Monmouth (outside of Corvallis) for school, and haven't had the time, nor patience to continue making the trips up I-5 to Beaverton Toyota for repairs. Last week, I dropped my car off with the good faith of the service advisor that my car would be fixed once and for all. When I picked my car up that weekend, I noticed several things: the headliner is beginning to sag from the body shop gutting the roof of my car; after driving my car off the lot, the tire pressure light came on for the 4th time, and the car still rattles.

After getting attitude from the service technician about the headliner (which I might add, can be pushed with my finger all the way up the the nuts and bolts of my car, which is NOT normal, contrary to the service tech...(I checked out one of the '07's))

WOW...I know this is long! (so keep reading!)

I ended up talking to a sales manager, who then mentioned TRADING my '06 tC in for an '07 tC...which, made me a bit skeptical, but he assured me, it would be an EVEN swap. He offered to trade me a car off the lot that day, but didn't have any SW tc's, nor an automatic. After pressuring me into test-driving a manual, I took it around the block, and brought it back 5 minutes later, HATING it.

To cut to the chase (I know, I know, it's about time, right? ) they offered me 15,000 for my '06 tC with 11,000 miles, pedestal spoiler, and iPod stereo...pretty basic. The problem is, the tC they want me to swap with has an MSRP of 19,200. Annddd, the interest rate is now 8.74, versus the 7.39 I'm paying now. They told me they would give me "more than my fair share," on my trade-in, but honestly, a $4,000 difference to a full-time college student working 30 hours a week is a BIG difference.

Eventually, I ended up talking to Russ, the actual owner of Russ Beaverton Toyota, who suddenly caughed up an extra few G's to raise my trade in value to 19,100, but threw in the lovely tax & title fees, a $580 delivery charge (which I refused to pay), and a higher interest rate, resulting in $374 payments versus the $315 I'm paying now.

The dealership gave me 3 choices:
1. Trade it in
2. Continue trying to fix my car
3. Go to arbitration with Toyota
(I'm leaning towards #1, because we all know I will lose against Toyota and they're greedy hands)

Sooo, my question is: should I go ahead and lose the equity I've been building in my car for the past 9 months and trade that POS in? Or should I go ahead and trade it in for an '07, and start fresh? (keep in mind, I'm going to need tires soon [I drive 2,000 miles a month], and oil changes, etc) The car I have now seems like it's destined for problems (16 pages of service work orders), but the '07 promises me a clean slate.

What to do, what to do....

ps: If you managed to read this whole NOVEL, props to you!!! :D

Rigley

Trade in MJ and get a female 07 Tc. She will be more reliable.

ADRdesignCo

mos def trade it in. and all that stuff should be covered by waranty. thats hella shady that they wont give you a full coverage on the 07; but i guess paying a bit more for peace of mind is worth it. whatever the case good luck!

btw. great choice with the SW heehe!

dugzilla

Trade it in, my wife has the 07 and no problems yet, plus you get more power and better gas milage.

DownhillSpec

go somewhere else and see what they say... the people at russ toyota have sorta been a constant dissapointment since the warehouse jam... we tried to do another show and everyone was randomly on vacation and its has taken them upwards of 2 months now to get me a TRD STB... id say hit up another dealership... like kelly in gladstone.

Garage1217

iTrader: (5)

I personally would be all over #3 and hit it hard.. but I understand your situation. So if they did an even swap for an 07 with slightly higher interest then I would probably go for it...

PizzaBox

I don't think you get ever equity from cars..... And if a car has been a lemon, it will always be a lemon and I think you should enjoy your car. Find a payment you can afford and face the fact that unless you don't drive much, you'll always have a car payment. (I know it's kind of depressing .... but look at it as a chance to build your credit rating so you can buy a house someday!)


Anne

ohcanada_00

Hands down no questions asked go talk to Kelly at Gladstone Scion. she will be able to at least present you with your options from a consumer level and show you everything you can do and then help you make an informed decision. It may be that you'll lose some money on a trade in the end but Kelly will give you the best shot at knowing EVERYTHING there is to know before you 'have' to amke that choice.

I'm all about options and the more I have and the better informed I am about them, the safer I feel even if I make a choice that want my plan in the first place.

PLUS, there are lemon laws that the state controls that your dealership or RUSS or whomever have ZERO control over. they are there to protect you the consumer because things like this happen every once ina while and they just need to be made right.

But n the end, if you are in the PDX area, Call Gladstone Scion or go there and talk to Kelly. You can also PM here here. she's MNSCION

mocascion

I TOTALLY AGREE with Dustin (ohcanada_00) and Erik (DownhillSpec)...go talk to Kelly @ Gladstone!!

I bought a LEMON Jetta back in 2001 and have had that thing in the shop so much!!! Not worth keeping it but almost every problem has been covered by the warantee that they extended to 100K. If I could've turned it in under lemon laws I would have!!! Russ Beaverton shouldn't be shorting you IN ANY WAY!!!

You need to stand up and make sure that it is covered 100% in a replacement (no change in interest rate, no add'l monies out of your pocket).

There is a LEMON LAW and Russ doesn't sound like they are living up to it. Go talk to Kelly @ Gladstone...she's great. She'll at least give you options. If not...I know its a pain but I think if you go with option #3 against Toyota, you have more than enough basis to win.

Get a good lawyer and DON'T go for arbitration but try instead for a mitigation case because arbitration is legally binding with no opportunity for appeals.

neolusions

bring a mob of scions! that would scare em straight

MNScion

I sent a private message. I will help if I can...

Whatever happens, she needs to feel that she made the best decision for her. There are options, and the state will step in if it is a true lemon. She shouldn't have to take the hit for something beyond her control...

Scion and Toyota are stand up companies...things can go wrong, but in my experience, they back their products.

MoScion

The sales guy is probably just trying to get his commission on selling you a car.

You should only have to pay tax on the difference between the cost of the car and what they give you for your trade so tax on $4,000.

Interest rates have gone up in the last 9 months that is why the rate is higher.

I would go to arbitration sounds like you got a lot of issues and hopefully Toyota will just give you a new tC for your troubles and for what you owe on the tC you already have.

Good luck and keep us posted.

MNScion

Actually, as long as you are an Oregon resident, you should not be paying tax at all (no sales tax here). The new vehicle would need to be licensed, but there should not be a tax of any kind.

But, there are some avenues I think she should explore before it comes to that. Selling a car should never be against the best interests of the customer...

kenr74

Just having "Beaverton Toyota" and "my car is a lemon" in the same sentence should get them to straighten things out. Businesses live and die by word of mouth. They certainly won't disappear because of one frustrated customer but the ten customers they lose becuase of this situation will hurt.

DownhillSpec

kelley... you're my hero... thanx for being a stand up member of the scion community. i know we gave you an award at the SCAA's but i didnt get to say it personally... thanx again. and as far as beaverton toyota goes... at the warehouse jam one of SE's members g/f went over to the lot to look at cars and when she told one of the sales people that her b/f had a tC the guy laughed at her and told her that its a piece of crap and yada yada yada... brad back me up on this... frankly im not here to start a witch hunt im just sayin that this sorta bs is not new... if my STB wasnt free (won a gift certificate in a drawing) i would already be looking somewhere else.

Importspeed

that is true he laughed at her about me owning an tc.
i mean come on if your dealership sells them why make fun of them. Just take a look at the dealership here in oly, they sell them but have no clue on them. except the guy and parts girl that me and eric meet at the car show in oly that we went to that was even sponsered by scion of olympia lol.
and we got beat by a chevy s10 lol