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Anyone experiencing Toyota dealer pushing unnecessary alignments?

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#21 ·
NotReady4PrimeTime said:
Yeah, on my very first 6 month service appointment, the service advisor told me, right when I got out of the car, that the alignment was way off. I hardly had any miles on the car and he wanted me to pay for an alignment. When I baulked, he spoke with his manager and they did an alignment for free. The very next visit, and every visit since, the alignment has been detected to be off.

I eventually figured it out. If they have those Hunter alignment scanners at the entrance, they usually have your vehicle info up on a TV screen above your lane in the service drive. I noticed that the license plate reader was misreading my license plate and was saying I drove up in some sort of Lexus. It was comparing my wheel alignment to the specifications of that Lexus, therefore always way off. 🙄
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they have the ability to look up your vehicle based on license plate?
 
#22 ·
sandssik said:
I took my 2020 RAV4 xle hybrid in for a service today(just under 20,000 miles though already on the toyota extended maintenance plan due to length of ownership). The service rep came out to the waiting area and informed me their tech recommended an alignment($179)having seen interior tread wear. Our Rav is only ever used on paved roads in southern New Mexico(never off road), never gone over a curb or hit any highway debris, never any big potholes, and is driven very carefully. Having been reading this forum regularly I remembered seeing something similar about unnecessary srvices, so I politely declined saying I was too busy today. After he left, I walked to the men's room and passed another service rep talking to an elderly lady who was having her car serviced and clearly heard him talking about alignment to her. Our dealership was recently bought out by a company that owns multiple: 16-17 different dealerships(not many toyota), and since then it seems to have gone downhill.
Anyone else seeing this kind of thing, particularly in southern New Mexico?
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My Toyota dealer was pushing it every time I went in for service. The service rep said the last time that it is in Toyota's maintenance schedule as once a year. This is not true as I searched the recommended maintenance and it is not mentioned at any mileage or time interval. I just had the tires replaced at Town Fair Tire and a four wheel alignment was $69.
 
#23 ·
hoops5624 said:
They tried to get me with this on my 2nd Toyotacare service at 10k. They had one of those new Hunter machines that supposedly checks alignment as you roll into the bay. They were disappointed when I reminded them that Toyota covers alignments under 10k and they had to do it for free. I'm still not sure if it was actuall out of alignment really, but I'm sure they hook a lot of suckers with that system.
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We
 
#25 ·
It amazes me how many people are up sold an alignment when it’s not required. The simple reason for an alignment is when you replace a damaged component that has an adjustment in your steering or a component that changes the way your car tracks. So, change struts, no need for alignment. Change a steering rack must get alignment. Change tie rod must get alignment. Simple ways to tell you need steering work done first before an alignment, if your steering wheel is no longer in its original position (from factory), and your car pulls when free wheeling then get the bad components replaced and get an alignment. If you go over a pot hole and you steering wheel is no longer straight and or your car is pulling left or right, well something got damaged. So you could get an alignment but you are treating the symptom not the cause. What’s wrong with this approach, what ever got damaged or has worn to the point of an alignment being needed will just continue to wear or possibly fail. One example, where l was being up sold for an alignment, had tires changed, service tech took alignment readings showing I was out slightly for alignment, and they pushed real hard for me to have the car aligned. I challenged them, by checking the air pressure in all four tires, found one front and one back at ~45 lbs pressure, brought all 4 to factory (think 33 psi) and said recheck if out we will do alignment. Guess where all 4 readings were, dead center of spec. Anyway, for those who subscribe to new tires must have an alignment go for it. For me when I need an alignment I first fix the damage and then check the alignment and adjust when needed.
 
#26 ·
Most service advisors are on a commission and most dealer mechanics get paid by the job based on book hours, not by the timeclock. The service advisors are not mechanics; lately I am seeing young girls doing that job. Dealer mechanics make more if they can shortcut book time. You figure it out.

The best thing to do is to read and understand the scheduled maintenance guide. You then understand what the engineers deem necessary and when. As far as tires goes, 5,000 mile rotations are important to ensure even tire wear. There is a reasonable argument for flipping them on the wheel periodically although the dealer won't recommend this because there is no book price for it.

The best thing to do is to find someone independent to perform routine service and recommend any services beyond the guide. In many cases a good independent shop has a better mechanic than the average dealer shop. Look for a clean well organized shop with good references. Most maintenance has nothing to do with the hybrid systems other than fan filter, inverter coolant and transaxle oil which anyone can do. There is usually one exceptional shop in every town, often owned by an ex dealer mechanic.
 
#28 ·
Dealers make most of their profit from service and parts sales and their people often lie to customers. What I have long done is put together a cheat cheat showing at what miles certain maintenance work is recommended. When a service person says something needs to be serviced I first check that sheet that I keep in the glove box.

I have had service people advise me to change the ATF and do a complete flush which is likely to result in failed transmission seals and I have had them recommend changing the rear differntial fluid and other items that had service intervals of 4 years or 100,000 miles on my trucks. If the service person asks 10 people to do unnecessary work and only 2 agree that is still money in the bank for the dealer.

I would report the dealer to the Better Business Bureau and I would do an unfavorable review on Yelp (where I go to check on businesses).
 
#30 ·
I guess I have never experienced an unnecessary alignment. It is either out of alignment or in alignment. And if it is in alignment I have never been charged for alignment being there was no adjustment made. I have always been provided paperwork showing before and after adjustments. And if no alignment is needed I still have been provided paperwork showing that it was in alignment. So I don't understand being charged for something where no adjustment is needed. I have mine checked yearly and never been charged if no adjustment is needed. Doesn't matter where I have gone.
 
#32 ·
I just carried my wife’s Rav 4 for oil change and tire rotation. They have a machine that check alignment when you drive in. I was told needed one, they showed me the printout from the printing machine on the counter. In the time I was standing there, the printer showed the next 4 cars pulling in all needed alignment. I declined after that, I believe it’s a scam.
 
#33 ·
sandssik said:
I took my 2020 RAV4 xle hybrid in for a service today(just under 20,000 miles though already on the toyota extended maintenance plan due to length of ownership). The service rep came out to the waiting area and informed me their tech recommended an alignment($179)having seen interior tread wear. Our Rav is only ever used on paved roads in southern New Mexico(never off road), never gone over a curb or hit any highway debris, never any big potholes, and is driven very carefully. Having been reading this forum regularly I remembered seeing something similar about unnecessary srvices, so I politely declined saying I was too busy today. After he left, I walked to the men's room and passed another service rep talking to an elderly lady who was having her car serviced and clearly heard him talking about alignment to her. Our dealership was recently bought out by a company that owns multiple: 16-17 different dealerships(not many toyota), and since then it seems to have gone downhill.
Anyone else seeing this kind of thing, particularly in southern New Mexico?
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Alignments are necessary every 10,000 miles at least (I do min every 5,000) but not at the dealer. They overcharge and can't seem to preform a proper alignment. Go to a shop like Firestone or Tires Plus and get a lifetime alignment for as little as $170.
 
#34 ·
What’s up with Toyota and alignments? I drove my Ford 4x4 truck for 22 years and 200,000 miles and never needed an alignment. My 14 year old MB has never needed an alignment either. Again what’s up with these rav4s and tire alignments? 🤷‍♂️
 
#35 ·
mpbird said:
What’s up with Toyota and alignments? I drove my Ford 4x4 truck for 22 years and 200,000 miles and never needed an alignment. My 14 year old MB has never needed an alignment either. Again what’s up with these rav4s and tire alignments? 🤷‍♂️
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How do you know you never needed an alignment? Did you ever get your alignment professionally checked? Also a 4x4 is quite different than a compact SUV. My Mustang can barely make it 5,000 miles without an alignment. Rav4 needs it about every 10K. Otherwise they drive fine, but chew up tires. That's normal. What is frustrating is that new RAV4s are routinely delivered way out of alignment, camber is often way too negative, can't be adjusted & Toyota refuses to provide warranty repairs even w/in the 1 year 12,000 mile alignment warranty.
 
#36 ·
sandssik said:
I took my 2020 RAV4 xle hybrid in for a service today(just under 20,000 miles though already on the toyota extended maintenance plan due to length of ownership). The service rep came out to the waiting area and informed me their tech recommended an alignment($179)having seen interior tread wear. Our Rav is only ever used on paved roads in southern New Mexico(never off road), never gone over a curb or hit any highway debris, never any big potholes, and is driven very carefully. Having been reading this forum regularly I remembered seeing something similar about unnecessary srvices, so I politely declined saying I was too busy today. After he left, I walked to the men's room and passed another service rep talking to an elderly lady who was having her car serviced and clearly heard him talking about alignment to her. Our dealership was recently bought out by a company that owns multiple: 16-17 different dealerships(not many toyota), and since then it seems to have gone downhill.
Anyone else seeing this kind of thing, particularly in southern New Mexico?
Click to expand...
Wheel alignments are cheaper than new tyres, but only if the alignments is actually necessary.

I've never had a wheel alignment pushed onto me but last year when I took my wife's corolla to a Toyota dealer for a scheduled service, the service tech suggested a machining of the wheel rotors was also required after he replaced the front brake pads which I strongly suspected was due.

They were already running about an hour late servicing the Corolla and machining the rotors would have taken another hour or so. I said no to the rotor machining because there was no vibration in the steering wheel at all or any other indication while driving that the rotors needed machining. The service rep insisted on the machining and said he was not prepared to release the car back to me because legally they are not permitted to release unsafe or unroadworthy vehicles back to customers. It was getting late in the day and so I reluctantly agreed to the machining but made it plain to them I was not happy about it.

Well, the service rep to their credit must have gone to the service manager to discuss the situation with him because about 5 minutes later the service manager came out to me and agreed with me that the machining of the rotors in my case was not a safety or roadworthy issue and so cancelled the rotor machining.

This was about 8 months ago now and my wife (main driver of the Corolla) and I still have no indication while driving that the rotors might need machining.
 
#39 ·
anav_ds said:
I took advantage of the free one in the first 12 months and due to our pothole situation, will probably get one every two years......... Winters are brutal on roads here due to the cheap patching jobs and the amount of freezing and thawing we get.
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Have found a few shops that will sell you lifetime alignments for as little as $170 US.
 
#40 ·
crofter said:
I would like to see the before and after readouts on those frequent re-alignments. :rolleyes:
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Hmm not sure if you actually want to see them; however, here are two from a newer RAV4. Notice they are only 3 weeks apart.
Image

Image


Here is a tire from a RAV4 that went over 30,000 miles without an alignment. Tires were still rotated every 5,000 miles by the dealer who failed to report the damage, or the need for an alignment.

Image


Proper alignment is a safety issue also. This caused a scare on the highway. The damage was hidden on the inside shoulder.
 
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