Lakeland Toyota Certified Used Car - "your next new car might be used" - DONT BELIEVE IT!!! Lakeland Florida

--->I found out the hard way that "Certified Pre-owned" means nothing!!!!!
---- Here is a letter I sent to the president of Toyota -- who did not even have the courtesy to reply:

Today my wife and I spent 90 minutes on the side of the road in the searing Florida summer heat waiting for a tow truck. On April 1 of this year, I bought my first Toyota, a Certified Pre-Owned 2003 Camry. After 30 years of ups and downs with purchasing Ford, GM & and Chrysler vehicles I thought it was time for a change and the Camry came highly recommended by my brother who has owned Toyota products for many years. In addition, the Toyota advertising campaign convinced us that we could buy with confidence and unfortunately we were mistaken.

I have never had such a horrible experience! The Camry had only 55,729 miles and appeared to be in excellent condition with only a few imperfections on the exterior.

The following has occurred:
1.A few days after delivery, the interior began to smell stale so we used our home steam cleaner. There was so much dirt embedded into the carpet and seats, it used 4 buckets of cleaning solution and turned them pitch black, its better now but not much.

2.Within two weeks of delivery, the car began producing blue smoke from the exhaust. Furthermore, the steering wheel would shake and make noise. As a result, the selling dealership changed the engine cylinder head valve seals and steering column components.

3.May 1st at 57k I returned the car again because the engine was pinging and the transmission was shifting erratically on occasion. The transmission was recalibrated and the ping could not be detected.

4.Today the car stopped running, leaving my wife and I stranded along the side of the road. I called the dealership service department and instead of getting help was given the number of a local tow company to call. I received a call this evening that the timing belt broke, was not covered under any warranty (even though it is not scheduled to be replaced till 90k miles?) and would cost me $379.00 in addition to the $85.00 I already paid the tow truck driver.

Is it unreasonable to think that a Toyota Certified Pre-Owned vehicle should be problem free for some period of time? 6 months? 1 year? Except for oil changes I thought that with 55k+ miles the dealer should have performed maintenance items that were due or coming due at 60k miles to ensure a positive customer experience, instead of leaving these items for me to pay.

For item 2 above the service advisor, within a week of getting the car, recommended that the timing belt be replaced at a cost of around $200 although I felt that the dealer should have done this if it needed replacing. I subsequently contacted the customer relations manager which he stated that it was not due till 90k miles and could last longer than that and that I should not worry. Furthermore he stated that the service department was slow and probably just looking for extra work to perform (today the timing belt broke).

For item 3 above (at 57k miles) the dealer wanted $189.00 to replace the transmission fluid, stating that is was black and would be due at 60k. I declined stating that the dealer should not have sold me a vehicle with black transmission fluid and I would wait till 60k since I have to pay for it.

Did the dealer sell me this vehicle knowing it would be a money pit to bring business to the service department?
Toyota has a reputation for reliability, as I said my brother has Toyota cars and trucks and runs those 100K+ without any of the problems I have suffered through.

In two months we have put less the 5k miles on the car and I find it hard to believe that a car with 55K miles could deteriorate so quickly, engine, steering, what's next, the transmission? I called the Toyota customer experience number and although she was polite and sympathetic told me I had to get the dealer to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, I feel that the dealer is being less than honest, certainly not living up to the good name of Toyota especially since they sold me a vehicle that was represented as a Toyota Certified Pre-Owned vehicle.

***I sent this to Tampa Bay news 9 "on your side" - yea right - worthless - they said; "too bad - you brought a used car your stuck", might be that Lakeland Toyota is a big advertisers on brighthouse?

Hosed
Lakeland, Florida
U.S.A.