mrexotica

A company survives from money, not well-wishes.
I don't buy ALL my parts from the dealership.
I buy the majority of my parts from the local brick and mortar shop who helps me out occasionally.
I could buy them mail-order, but I buy them from a couple guys I call by their first names, and they consider me a friend. I see first hand where a couple extra bucks go.
When I needed some specific Toyota parts, I got them from my local dealership.
I get name brand, small stuff from Auto Zone when I can't wait for my local shop to get it for me.
The difference between me and you is that I will pay a little extra for the customer service. No I am not rich either.

mrexotica

I am also on a first name basis with my local dealership. That's worth more to me than the cheapest price.
By the way, not buying your parts from Toyota means you're not buying a Toyota part. Period. Unless it says Toyota on the box.
A friend of mine lost his fender liner, bought a replacement mail-order. He showed me the difference between factory and cheap mail-order. His fender liner was half as thick as factory and didn't last.

WellesleyScion

Ok, being a Moderator, a Sales Person, a Scion Manager and the owner of a company, there are a few things I would like to say about all this banter.

First, Not all dealerships are bad, there are honest people who work at them who do give fair prices. Unfortunately, there are bad dealerships. The problem is that people clump all dealerships together into the bad category because they got screwed at 1 dealership, 1 time.
But you cant tell me that my dealership is bad because the dealership that sold you your car was. Thats like saying All Red Robins are bad because you had a bad waiter 1 time...

Basically, dont judge me because of someone else.

No one here would like it if I said that all Scion owners are stupid because I got cut off by one.


Second, If you do your research online and find the price of a Scion, and read about pure pricing and understand how it works. Why are you going to walk into a dealership and flip out on a salesperson because they wont discount the car for you?
I get it all the time, I am called a lier, because I stand by the Scion Covenant. I am told constantly that I can and will give them a discount, pretty much because they walked through the door. BUT, I do not clump all customers into the same category because I got 1 guy flipping out and "reporting" me to management for not going behind some closed door to ask some imaginary person for a discount...


Third, If you are confident that a part from a third party company is just as good as a Toyota part, go right ahead and use it. I will tell you though, that a 3rd party part, without a doubt in my mind is not tested for longevity like a Toyota part is. Also many times a part is cheaper because it uses inferior items in its assembly, hence the reason why it is cheaper. Finding a USED part is a great alternative to spending the full price on a new part, you know that you have a part that is built to specification and is within accepted manufacterer tolerances. The only thing to think about is that you are purchasing a part that has seen the road, it could have been beaten on, driven into a curb, been in an accident, OR may just be a part that has already failed.

Lastly, I am a moderator on these forums, so I am locking this thread because it has gone grossly off topic... plus the OP has resolved his issue.

If anyone has a problem feel free to PM me