Toyota Car company and 1st Central Insurance not providing the service I am paying for.

sudana

This letter of complaint is against Toyota car company and 1st central car insurance company.

On the 29th Of January, I went to a Toyota car dealership in Purely Way Croydon, to go look at buying a car, initially when I went, I was going to buy a used car but one of the salesperson from Toyota (Removed by Forum Team) assistant me and I looked at the car that was new on the market Aygo x pure. I ended up buying the car, they didn’t have the colour I wanted so I had to order the colour I wanted which was black. Before I left the dealership, I was informed that I would receive the car on the 14th of February 2023. The 14th came and I didn’t receive the car. (Removed by Forum Team) who assist me with the car, said to me that at times delays happen especially for the fact that it is a new car, and because of the effect of Covid. I took his word for it because he had experience in his job, and I didn’t think he would have any reason to lie or mislead me. He then gave me a different date 26th of February, 26th of February came still didn’t receive the car. Speaking to (Removed by Forum Team), he told me that Toyota often changes the date of the car delivery with no reason and that he just must keep an eye on the system for when he changes.  (Removed by Forum Team) sent me an email saying that the car is now in the UK. On the 21st of March, I receive another email from (Removed by Forum Team), saying that they are expanding it to the 26th of March this date came and again I didn’t get the car. At this point I honestly didn’t know what to think, I thought maybe this was bad luck because I’ve known people who brought band new car and never experience this. I went to the car dealership because I wasn’t happy with the service I was receiving. They gave me a courtesy car which I ended up having much longer than the car I am writing about. I got the car I ordered on the 24th Of April 2023. On the 30th of April there was a light that came on the dashboard, saying, “Anti-brake lock system see dealership”, I called Toyota, and spoke to (Removed by Forum Team) on May 1st, 2023, the sales rep that dealt with me in getting the car, he advised that I should bring the car into the service department team so they can take a look at it because the car shouldn’t be saying that. On the 2nd I brought the car back to the service department at Toyota Croydon. There was two salesperson that saw me and had a look at the car and said that the wires at the back of the car have been eaten by a raccoon and that I shouldn’t be driving the car, they gave me a quote to have it fixed for £307.68 Which was three payments in installments. I panic and I paid 102.56 on that day, I then went back to Toyota on the 13th of May 2023 and had a meeting with the head of sales in Croydon Toyota and was accompanied by a mechanic on my behalf with (Removed by Forum Team) as well. I express how stressed I felt having all these issues with my band new car, the sale manager, Ali didn’t seem bothered only thing he kept on mentioning was that the issue wasn’t with Toyota, I then express my frustrations with the fact that being new and inexperience driver, if something was to go wrong when I was driving the car my life could have been in danger, His replies was still the same, it’s not on  Toyota and that the car is in my care after a long upsetting meeting with the manager, they agreed in taking the car for repair and refund me back the fund I paid when I brought it in on the 2nd of April 2023, as the car was still under warranty. They gave me another courtesy car, I brought it from the dealership on the 13th of May and the next day the car came up with the same thing, an anti-brake lock system sees the dealership.  I brought the car back to Toyota and said that foxes have eaten the wires of the car and that this time I would have to pay to have it fixed. At this point, I had lost all trust in Toyota mainly for the fact that they first told me it was a raccoon that ate the wires. I started to have doubts that it might be a person that had cut the wires of my car, I called the police and made a report of everything that has been going on from the date I purchase the car adding up to the date I spoke to the police, they then made a report and informed me that someone would come out and have a look around the area, that was when I called the insurance company, which was 1st central and explain the situation to them, they took the car into storage and kept it until they found a repair that would do the repair on my car, the car was brought in from May 11th, 2023 and I happen to travel on the 18th of May. During my time away, I had relatives that called the company at 1st Central every day to ask what the update on my car is, all that said was the car is going to a different repair team. I came back from my holiday on the 6th of June and my car was still not fixed. I would call 1st Central at least four times per day and I would be passed on from one person to the next, both with confusing information and lack of communication. 1st Central ended up sending my car around at least 4 different repair services and all were rejected for the same reason, the reason being it is not bodywork therefore they won’t be able to do the job. They informed me that on the 14th of June, my car would be taken to Toyota I called them, and they didn’t take my car, it was still in storage. On the 16th of June, I called them in the morning, and they informed me that my car would be taken to Toyota during the time of my communication with them, I called back later that same evening to find out that they brought my car to Toyota without making an appointment, so Toyota sent it away. My car is currently still with 1st Central insurance and it is still not fixed. I have written a formal complaint on their website and they have taken it off. I am really unhappy with the service I have received from both Toyota and 1 Central insurance.

Caz3121

can you break you post with paragraphs or give a summary? - it is unlikely many people will read through a wall of text

TimSynths

My eyes!!!

DullGreyGuy

None can hope to read and understand a solid block of text like that... you really need to use paragraphs and consider if all the information is required.

If you have two different complaints about the two companies then they should be separate letters with different wordings. The first 12 or so lines are all about the purchase of the car which will have nothing to do with your insurance brokers and so shouldnt be present in the version to them.

We dont have raccoons in the uk?

Whats your excess? With a prior estimated repair cost of circa £310 less your excess that is likely to be £250+ seems a very odd choice to make a claim and a poor economical one. 

So the insurance part of the complaint is that you had the car taken in by your insurers on the 11th May for alleged animal damage to the electronics and to date the vehicle still isnt repaired? In the first instance I am surprised they havent rejected the claim saying its not covered but then it is AD if confirmed animal damage. 

PHK

Well I read through it and it still makes little sense I'm afraid.

When unhappy it's best to stick to straightforward facts written in normal language. Use bullet points and one or two paragraphs.

Also, OP you shouldn't name sales people on a public forum.

Alderbank

DullGreyGuy said:

We dont have raccoons in the uk?

They're not native to the UK but we have them in zoos and private collections and they are pretty good at escaping. Newspaper reports of alleged sightings happen quite regularly.

Of course on the principle of Occam's razor there are much more likely causes of wiring damage  than Rocky Raccoon!

tightauldgit

Let's try this:

- Jan 29th you go to the Toyota dealer and buy a brand new car
- It's originally estimated to arrive 14 Feb but in actual fact you don't receive it until April 24
- 6 days later ABS warning light comes on and you take it to the dealer another couple of days later.
- Dealer says 'racoons ate your car', not our fault you should pay £300 to get it fixed
- Despite this manager agrees to fix your car and refund you any money paid
- 13th May you receive the car back, repaired, and then on the 14th you get the same warning again  
- This time it's claimed to be foxes that ate your car, presumably the foxes having first chased all the racoons out of Croydon!
- You alert the police to a criminal gang of foxes/racoons operating in the Croydon area and tampering with motor vehicles
- You also make a claim on your insurance for the damage and the car is brought to them on May 11th - two days before you received it back from the dealership the first time! 
- Since then the insurance company have had the car while desperately trying to find a garage that can deal with raccoon damage in Croydon? They seem to have decided it should just go to Toyota, failed in an attempt to do that and then since then have just kept the car?
- The raccoons are still unaccounted for.

Does that sum up the problem? 

Not sure what to advise you really? Have you considered writing a 6-part comedy series for Channel 4 based on the events?

oldagetraveller1

"There was two salesperson that saw me and had a look at the car and said that the wires at the back of the car have been eaten by a raccoon and that I shouldn’t be driving the car,"

I am curious as to how they came to the conclusion a raccoon was guilty of the offence?

born_again

Can't see what car insurance has to do with this.

sheramber

oldagetraveller1 said:

"There was two salesperson that saw me and had a look at the car and said that the wires at the back of the car have been eaten by a raccoon and that I shouldn’t be driving the car,"

I am curious as to how they came to the conclusion a raccoon was guilty of the offence?

and then foxes.

sheramber

I have never known an insurance company take a car into storage before passing it to a garage for repair.

Nor expecting a bodyshop to repair wiring.