Toyota owners in NW-OH/SE-MI/Indiana/Windsor

[robkay]

Hey everybody,

I have a question for any Toyota owners in NW Ohio, SE Michigan, Indiana, Windsor, Ont (CA).

I have the unfortunate circumstance of living in a small city in the Great Lakes region where there are few, if any, competent and trustworthy shops. Over the years I've tried most of them--even the specialty shops--and they are generally dolts and rip-off artists. Just to confirm that I know that of which I speak, I have a friend whose family owns an aftermarket parts franchise. They call on all of the shops in the area. When I ask my friend if he can recommend a good, honest shop he just grimaces and shakes his head, and answers, "Hardly any of them really care." My friend sent me to a couple of his customers whom they feel are among the "more reliable" and I still got what I would call "crap work" (to put it politely), or ripped off.

Before I ramble on further, my question is whether anyone can recommend a private shop in the OH/MI/IN region that they trust. Even Windsor, Ont would not be that long a drive for me.

Please don't suggest going to a local dealer, because I do not trust them--particularly the one whom I bought my Yaris from new. They screwed up on the one and only service visit I made, and subsequently tried to ream me on a scheduled maintenance that I thought I would take the car in for and, thus, decided did not go there anymore. I am done with them.

I don't mind driving a couple hours if I have to.

When I had my Volvo I found a great shop in Ft. Wayne, IN. It was a 2-1/4 hour drive for me, but it was worth it. It's the only shop I ever found that was competent, reliable, and customer oriented. The were not "cheap" but they were a great value. They always did things right, and whenever they could do something to save me money they would do so. Can you imagine that? An auto shop looking to save the customer money! You can understand why the place was always packed with exotics (cars..). I loved going down there because it was like going to a car show!

Obviously, due to the distance I could not run down there for every little thing, but I would take my car there twice a year for regular service and rarely did I ever have any problems in the interim. If I did have a problem I would telephone them and they would put on my mechanic who would try to help me out over the phone. One time they even UPS'd me a part and told me how to install it. They told me that if it didn't solve the problem I could send the part back and we would go from there.

I would love to take my Toyota to them, but a couple unfortunate things happened. A) They decided to become a VW dealer. They would still take in other brands for service but, unfortunately, after they opened the dealership things changed dramatically--and not for the better. A lot of people started leaving, including my mechanic. B) My mechanic ended up going to work for the local Volvo dealer. That dealer's level of customer care was not as high, but at least I still had access to my mechanic whom I fully trusted. Before buying my Yaris I sold my 240 which had 235,000 miles on it and still looked and ran great. The kid who bought it took it to a local shop for inspection and the mechanic told him, "This car has been very well cared for." I share that not as a tribute to myself, but as a tribute to the mechanic who worked on it for me.

So, if anyone knows of a shop staffed by people who care and actually like cars, I would appreciate some recommendations. I've had my Yaris going on 3 years and have not had to do much to it other than change the oil, but I feel like I need to develop a relationship with a good shop when the time comes that I need to have some work done that is beyond my ability.

I don't know whether the forum has any terms of use rules that would prevent making specific recommendations but, if so, please PM me (or if you want to specifically caution me against any particular shops).

Thanks in advance!

Rob