Well Toyota is refusing to do anything. Apparently all of their dealerships are 3rd party franchises and corporate wont take any liability. I have seen this same run around with Sprint. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything and the person on the floor never has any authority. I guess that is just business in this day and age.

 

At $150 per hour or whatever their shop rate is that's 9 plus hours. Does it take 9 hours to take off a head?

This is buck passing. Toyota corporate has great deal of leverage with the dealer but as typical they don't want to get involved. The issue is they don't care about your business or they would get involved.

 

This is rediculous. There is no reason why a Toyota water pump or an engine should fail after only 5 years. I, too, own a 2007 Camry XLE and have not had any issues with the engine. The problem I have is the disintegrating, sticky dash board. I'm going to the dealership in the morning to have them look at it. If Toyota wants to keep loyal customers, they should take care of you or at least compromise. I also own a '96 Camry and I put 226,000 miles on it before blowing a head gasket. An independent mechanic was able to get me a replacement engine from Japan via California so it's still going. The odometer now has 296,000+ on it.

 

Okay guys i need help now. Now the Toyota service center wants 1600 to put the car back together since they dropped the engine and transmission. I never even approved dropping the tranny and had no idea the engine diagnosis would be so expensive. Why isn't Toyota doing something about this?!

 

Did you sign anything stating to go ahead with any work on the car, if so did this have an estimate of costs.

 

Okay now they want 2k more to reassemble the car. WTF I am trying to sell it as is but nobody is going to pay much for it with everything in pieces. They dropped the tranny and everything, i never approved that.

 

Check with your states attorneys general office on your rights and obligations. Find out if the dealer belongs to any professional organizations that can mediate the repair cost dispute. There is always small claims court.

No need to have the car put back together to sell it, a tow truck can pick it up. A buyer doing their own repairs might like having the engine and trans out as this will save time. Figure a DIY type might spend $2k on a used engine (or whatever they cost). Far less then $12K the dealer is asking.

Did you approve unlimited spending on examining the old engine? Even if the old engine could be repaired the costs by a dealer would be extreme! The dealer should have given you a ball park idea of what expenses you were looking at and the opportunity to state this is going to be too expensive given the value of car.

 

I think they are trying to force your hand into buying a new car at their dealership. They probably want you to think that it will cost you more than it's worth to put it all back together so you might as well trade it in for a new one and they will forget about all those charges.....

I don't know what else to do except complain more to Toyota corporate.

 

Concur on this statement.

Alas, do you really want more of the same wonderful service now experienced with any new car purchased?

Spend a few dollars and check the facts and options with an attorney who handles consumer disputes. The dealer will most likely will have their own ideas one being you can't take the car until it is returned to a "drivable" condition for liability reasons (meaning put the car back together).

Take the best action given the situation and the laws in you state.