Toyota Finance Services Toyota Financial Services I paid off my Toyota Lease & never received the title! I need it ASAP! Torrance California

I leased a 2000 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 regular cab the last week of November 2000. After leasing it for five years the end of my lease, I had 38,000 miles where most leased vehicles would have had close to 60,000 or more, so I decided in November of 2005 to purchase the truck from Toyota Financial I got a certified check and actually sent it FedEx to the payoff department. Toyota was supposed to send me the title. As time went by, I seemed to have forgotten about not receiving title from Toyota. I have just been reregistering my Toyota Tacoma online with NY State as always since I purchased the truck. Until recently as you may have heard there was a frame rust recall for

1995-2000 Toyota, Tacoma's and I received the letter in August 2008 that mine was within the recall. As soon as I received that notice, I started looking for my title. A month went by and I could not find the title anywhere, so Friday September 19, 2008 last month I attempted to file for a lost/duplicate title at my local the NY State DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). The clerk told me I was not the titleholder that Toyota Motor Corporation was listed as the titleholder; I am just the register of the vehicle. In disbelief, I stated I bought out the Toyota in November of 2005, and then I asked what I needed to do. She said to contact Toyota and ask them to send me a title/lien release. On

Saturday September 20 2008, I called Toyota's number they listed on the recall letter I received and preceded to talk with a Dario at the Toyota Customer Assistance Center at 12:25PM. I explain what I was dealing with as well as what to do about the recall he stated that I needed to talk to Toyota Financial and gave me the 1-800 number. I called Toyota Financial at 12:27PM same day and talked to Tammy and told her of the situation that the NY DMV explained to me as well as needing the title so I can bring it with me as I get the frame inspected in case it fails I need the title to turn it in. Tammy confirmed I had paid off the truck in 2005 and she confirmed there is still a lien on the title, she confirmed my address and said she will have them send that out right away. I record all my important calls, so I have proof of this! That day I checked Kelly Blue Book value my truck listed for $10,400.00! According to the recall, Toyota is offering the Suggested Retail Value times 1.5 and if the truck fails the inspection that is what they will pay as a buyback.

Tuesday October 21, 2008, One month and one day passed; I still did not have the title/lien release from Toyota. I was fed up with waiting at 4PM I took my truck to the local dealership to have them do the inspection just to see if it passes or fail, it failed the frame inspection, and the mechanic showed me the holes in the frame and took pictures. He did mention my truck was in the best condition of all the trucks he has failed! I only had at the time of the inspection 57,340 miles, the truck is in excellent condition and I take care of it. The dealership said a representative from Toyota will call in a matter of a day or so to talk about the buyback and the amount they will be offering me. I am a full time student & we have had exams all last week so I missed a call, but ended up calling Toyota back after two days.

Friday October 24, 2008 at 6:20PM, I called Toyota Customer Care and talked to Jeremy. He said he has an offer he is ready to make to me and wanted to know if I have all the paperwork, I told him of the situation, he said he can't do anything until the title is in my hands and ready to hand over to them. Jeremy informed me that I needed to call Toyota Financial and have them send me the title ASAP, because as each day passes I am loosing the best price for the buyback (the price they are willing to settle with me). I began to get a little frustrated trying to explain I have already talked to Toyota Financial and I have been waiting over a month for them to send me this title/lien release, I shouldn't be penalized for something they were supposed to send to me two years ago.

The same day at 6:37PM I called Toyota Financial and talked to Jani I told her of my situation with my frame being one of the Tacoma's on the recall list and the extreme need for my title/lien release. I explained to Jani that I had talked to Tammy at Toyota Financial over a month ago and she said she was sending it out, but I have not received it yet. Jani looked up my info in their computer system and said there is a note stating the Arizona Toyota Administration office, supposedly just sent it out on Thursday October 23, 2008, so I should be receiving it in a matter of a few days. I asked if it was normal for it to take over a month for Toyota to send a title/lien release she said no! I got off the phone with Jani and looked at the Suggested Retail Value of my Tacoma on Kelly Blue Book and it has gone down in a month's time span, it currently is at $8620.00.

If Toyota had sent everything out, as they should have two years ago as I took care of my end of the agreement by buying out the truck with a certified check then I could have gotten the proper buyback. Now I have to wait for Toyota and I am being forced to give up my nice Tacoma, which is in excellent condition with very low miles because of their negligence with using cheaper materials to construct the frame.

My complaint is on Toyota Financial Services and if they have a titling department as well and their lack of properly submitting my title to me has left me in a bad financial situation, I feel I deserve higher value for a buyback based on the fact if I had my title in hand I could have taken my vehicle to getting the frame inspected over a month ago had I had the title in hand I would have gotten a much higher value, but now I am feel I am being jerked around at their own leisure, this is ridicules! My last Toyota which I purchased from a private owner had close to 300K miles and it was very reliable. No one can put a price on what my truck is worth to me. I agree the vehicles are very reliable, but the customer service from Toyota Financial is very poor! Someone might ask why I didn't inquire about my title previously, but why would I, I have had no reason to even think about a title, plus I assumed I had it somewhere in my filing cabinet next to my motorcycle title, as the DMV verified I never had it as the title is in Toyota Motor Corps name still!

Johnny
Lakewood, New York
U.S.A.

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