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, power door locks/windows replaced, 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.

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. I test-drove the manual 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 $350 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 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!!!

sddykstr

#1, 07s Rock, I love mine. And I totally feel you about the loss in equity, I'm in college working 32 hours a week, and that woulw kill me too.

604toaster

#1. I say go for the trade. I haven't delt with toyota before but I know it will take up a lot of your time. It's just too much of a hassle. Get the 07 and hopefully your tc will be problem free.

amanda776

Sorry to hear about your problems. I say trade it in!

melvynray

trade it in for another one that is used... save money

Keitaro

I wish buying cars is simple as buying online. Cut the middlemen/women.

I would have gone to a different dealership(s) for service. Check your state lemon laws or the lemon pamphlet stored in the glove box. Lemon requirements from state to state varies. In some states, the problem must be be at the dealer 3-times to fix the issue before the vehicle is considered a lemon.

If the consensus is to trade-in, I would advise that you save up money and pay off the car earlier vs. the new contract maturiy date. OR...since you might have ample time, go to another dealer and look for a cheaper 2007 tC and trade it in there.

kdog_1981

for one there isn't a cheaper 07 tc...unless u are not going to get add ons. i kinda like melvynray's idea. find a used 06! see how much that will cost u.

toeveryhour

iTrader: (3)

Trade it.

io333

Trade it.

TcDriven

trade it in, i have an 07 with 0 problems (even though i only have 250 miles on it) but i dont have any squeaks except for the radio cover. I didn't buy one in 06 because my dealer told me that they were fixing all the problems for the 07's. If you think about it a few extra bucks a month for a hassle free car is worth it. Try to get them to give you the 100000 mile warrenty with free maintence for free for all your trouble.

Lemons happen, it did with me on my 1st SRT4 even trade and my 2nd one ran perfect and still did untill yesterday when i sold it.

IceNine

Trade it, learn to drive a manual if you haven't already (you'll be glad you did).

Secondly, a car is a liability. It is nearly impossible to build equity in a vehicle They only depreciate in value.

If you're getting an even swap for a NEW 07, you're way ahead of the game.

Lemons happen. They don't TRULY happen often, but you are a very rare case where you wound up with one. It sounds like your dealer is going the extra mile for you and is really "doing the right thing".

It looks like #1 in your case is the best possible case.

scion214

i would trade it in, but i would try to get the same interest rate . if not try going through a different finance company. toyota will always try to give you a high interest rate. try a credit union. i got low interest rates as low as 6.5 with so so credit .

paul_mnly

trade it, trade it, trade it . . . . . .

BLUEMEANIE

I would say trade it but make them give you a straight up even trade, no hidden fees, no extra nothin.

engifineer

So they want you to pay more money to trade in because they cant fix your car? With the list of issues you have, as long as you have all the shop tickets, one call to an attorney and you will probably have a new one with nothing out of pocket. I would tell them that they give me a new car, including tags, title and tax for mine straight across. If they dont like that, ask who your attorney should speak to, and I bet they change thier tune. I am not sure what your states lemon law looks like, but I would have to venture to say your car falls within it.

kdog_1981

good point!!

IceNine

Of course, if you DO decide to go the lawyer route, I suggest you tell them so and break any communication and let your lawyer do the talking from that point on. The last thing you want is your lawyer to say "Oh, boy, you really shouldn't have said _______"

mitchelltc1

so why didn't you like the manual?

sorry to hear about your problems, yikes. I would probably take the trade in. It is just too much of a hassle to go the lemon-law route. Keep negotiating. What did your 06 cost? Is there a difference in options?

I got my car at a 5.9% APR from toyota financial. Maybe you should keep fighting that interest rate or refinance after the trade?

Good luck, just my $.02

Setiri

If you feel like possibly waiting a long time, go the lawyer route. If you can spare the extra amount of cash (and yes, I'd try to barter with them a little more on the deal to lessen the extra you have to spend) go with the trade.

Honestly, getting a brand new 07 with only a bit of extra cash is a good deal. It IS a new car, it does have a couple of extra features, it will have higher resale value if you ever need to trade it in, and it's not (unless karmicly you killed Jesus in a past life or something) going to be a lemon.

Sadly, lemon's do happen. The company should cover for it almost completely (admittedly you did get 'some' use out of the car) and it sounds like at this point they are. Count your blessings you found out sooner rather than later you got a lemon and that someone is going to take care of it. You can always read one of the thousands of horror stories out there where the person ended up with way less of a deal than you're getting offered.

Either way, sorry you got a lemon on such a great car. Good luck to you.

Detonate

07 for the same reaasons setiri said. I think your getting a good trade-in value.