Hamer Toyota Dealership Rant

[JDKane527]

Went in for 7,500 mile service and told him about the clunking noise I'm experiencing in the front suspension at low speeds <5mph. I asked if I could go for the test drive with the tech to replicate the sound since I am able to replicate it getting out of my driveway every morning.

Service Advisor denies me that and says the tech should have an independent assessment. Puzzled, as it is my car that I bought at their dealership, I should be entitled to ride along with the technician to help him pin point and accurately show him what the problem is. I let him do the test drive, and he comes back saying he isn't able to replicate it. They saw the modifications done to the car and want it returned back to factory condition. I wanted to laugh in his face, but held that back. Only suspension modification done to the car was rear subframe bushings, and those have been removed, so the suspension is completely stock.

They want me to pay $300 to remove intake, header, engine pulley, TRD brace, JDM 86 exhaust tips, brake master cylinder brace, and my shift knob before they can diagnose the issue. At which point, they may or may not warranty the part because they noted that the tires have excessive wear similar to hard cornering.

I let them finish the oil change and tire rotation and told them not to touch anything else. Definitely won't be returning to this dealership, and would not recommend it for warranty work with modified cars. Normal service wasn't bad, advisor was alright to deal with.

TL;DR: This dealership isn't mod friendly and tried to get me to take engine mods off my car to diagnose a suspension issue on a car with fully stock suspension. For service work, they do a good job. Your experience may vary, just putting this out there as a heads up.

In the future, can I go to a dealership and request they give me the oil they would be using, and perform the maintenance myself instead of having them do it?

[marky]

I avoid dealer at all cost.. Did my own oil change .. Dealers will try to hassle you specially with mods .. If you didn't know some frz/brz owners on here had their car joy rides/dents/dings from the delaer..

Your car is just another car to dealers they don't care about your car .. Only care about the money when you bought it.. Hate my dealer also never going back unless I have too

[midnightfrolic]

did the clunking occur even before the mods?

Maybe take it to a mod friendly dealership. I'd call around and check other dealerships.

[FIRST!]

I had a horrible experience with Hamer Toyota on Sepulveda & San Fernando. Just got back from a deployment and was ready to buy a car. The freaking dealership wouldn't let me test drive a car unless they were certain that I was purchasing. The dealer gave me a smug look and continued to talk/laugh with his buddies. Long story short I yelled at him, his supervisor and buought my FR-S at another dealership. Hamer has horrible customer service.

[flameSniper]

Wow, that sucks! I heard bad things about Hamer as well, i had a friend who told me they sold her mother-in-law who has dementia, a car even though she has no income to pay for it. Then they refused to take it back....

[JDKane527]

Originally Posted by marky

I avoid dealer at all cost.. Did my own oil change .. Dealers will try to hassle you specially with mods .. If you didn't know some frz/brz owners on here had their car joy rides/dents/dings from the delaer..

Your car is just another car to dealers they don't care about your car .. Only care about the money when you bought it.. Hate my dealer also never going back unless I have too

I've heard some horror stories, and it took me some time with my previous Lexus to find a mod friendly dealership, but when I did, I worked with only one trusted service advisor and had only 1 mechanic working on my car.

Originally Posted by midnightfrolic

did the clunking occur even before the mods?

Maybe take it to a mod friendly dealership. I'd call around and check other dealerships.

Clunking started after I had installed some of the mods.
Currently going to try another dealership this week, we'll see how that goes.
I'll keep you guys posted on what dealerships I find to be mod friendly.

Originally Posted by FIRST!

I had a horrible experience with Hamer Toyota on Sepulveda & San Fernando. Just got back from a deployment and was ready to buy a car. The freaking dealership wouldn't let me test drive a car unless they were certain that I was purchasing. The dealer gave me a smug look and continued to talk/laugh with his buddies. Long story short I yelled at him, his supervisor and buought my FR-S at another dealership. Hamer has horrible customer service.

That's very unfortunate, my parents bought cars from this dealership before so we weren't treated as badly. After having bought the car, they started giving us a hard time when we called to ask about dropping the extended warranty. The man tried to get some sympathy out of us saying that selling the warranty is their "profit". I'm going to drop the extended warranty.

Coming from a Lexus, there's a few perks that come with ownership. Hamer Toyota is a very bad representation of the Toyota side of ownership, compared to dealerships like Longo.

[shellslinger]

Originally Posted by FIRST!

I had a horrible experience with Hamer Toyota on Sepulveda & San Fernando. Just got back from a deployment and was ready to buy a car. The freaking dealership wouldn't let me test drive a car unless they were certain that I was purchasing. The dealer gave me a smug look and continued to talk/laugh with his buddies. Long story short I yelled at him, his supervisor and buought my FR-S at another dealership. Hamer has horrible customer service.

Wow, I am sorry to hear that man. That is pretty gut wrenching to hear that one of our veterans would be treated like that. I will definitely stay away from there if I ever need a service done on my FRS. Thank you for your service to our country

[FIRST!]

To be fair, they didn't know I was a Veteran or SM. That is besides the point. They shouldn't be treating any customer like that. Thanks Shell. I'm honored to serve our country!

[shiumai]

Originally Posted by JDKane527

They saw the modifications done to the car and want it returned back to factory condition.

maybe they need to be reminded what 'scion is all about' - straight out of the mouth of scion's VP, jack hollis. mods are expected and encouraged with scions. we should start emailing jack and saying 'hey, we bought the car based on what you said, and your dealers are giving us a hard time about what you encouraged us to do. your dealerships are killing the 'love and passion' we have as drivers for this car.'

[zlegend]

I've bought both of my scions from hamer (xb and fr-s) only because my friend recommended me to the salesman who sold him his s-runner. super nice guy he made sure i was well takken care of.

Now ive only did my free service with the xb there because it was free, took them way to long to change oil, seriously it shouldn't take 3 hours. I dont plan on bringing my frs though.

[zlegend]

Originally Posted by FIRST!

To be fair, they didn't know I was a Veteran or SM. That is besides the point. They shouldn't be treating any customer like that. Thanks Shell. I'm honored to serve our country!

Thank you for serving our country!

I will personally thank you when i see you at the target meet as well.

[MobbinBrz]

Went to Hamer toyota to buy a Scion FRS with cash in hand, and they judged the way I looked and give me some BS. The salesman at the dealer was a total ass and pretended not to know where they kept their FRS'. I lefta as they were fetching the keys to a random FRS. WILL NOT GO BACK HERE.