Interesting turn of events, and it feels like I have told this story too many times already, but one more time is fine. So to start it off, I decided to take my Toyota Rav4 to Bob McDonald’s Goodyear in Vinings on Thursday, the day before I leave, in order to check the fluids, get them to look at the tires, and make sure the car was in good shape to drive across country.
An hour later, I return to pick up the car. They changed the oil, refilled fluids, and even got a small nail out of the back right tire. Perfect. He gives me the car key, says it is already to go! I drive the car straight back from the Goodyear to my apartment, which is about a mile away, to grab some dinner, pack up the last few boxes and computer, and catch some sleep before the long 12 hour drive out to Houston.
My alarm goes off at 6:45. In an hour’s time, I throw the remainder of my stuff into the car and hit the road. Before I get onto the interstate, I decide to stop at Chick-Fil-A right across the Bob McDonald Goodyear. Grab a sweet tea and some hashbrowns, good to last me for a few hours. Get back on the road and hit the interstate. About 2 miles of being on the interstate, the oil light goes on. Interesting… I just had the oil changed yesterday. I connected the dots and realized that they must have did something wrong and the Goodyear, and decide to look for the nearest exit. About 20 seconds later, the emergency lights on the dashboard go off like fireworks, including the check engine light. I lost a good amount of control of the car as the engine at this point is going nuts. I pull over onto the side of the road, about 3 miles from where I had gotten on the interstate. Car broken down in 3 miles on a 2,500 mile trip… great!
I call AAA to come pick me up (thanks for the AAA card, Mom!) and after an hour and fifteen minutes, they scoop me up off the road. Now keep in mind that this car is a 2007, only has 25K miles on it. Its a 4 cylinder engine – it isn’t exactly powerful, but its a Toyota engine… safe to assume it should be well crafted and should last more than a year.
My Rav4 was towed back to the Bob McDonald Goodyear in Vinings. I jump out of the towtruck and march inside to explain what happened. As you can imagine, I was not happy at this point. I don’t want to point fingers, but I am pretty sure if I had not taken my car in for a “tune up”, I’d still be on the road.
After sitting in the waiting room for an hour or so, I get the news: “We put on an oil filter on your car that was improperly installed/the wrong model oil filter was put on your car. The oil filter blew off the car, and all oil was lost from the engine. At this point, the engine was still running (I was on the interstate) and because there was no oil to help with the friction, the engine seized up. We will more than likely need to replace the engine, which will cost $x,xxx and take 5 days.
I was an unhappy camper at this point. I love my car, and I also would like to stay on my trip itinerary. So much for both of those. I have committed to many people in Park City that I would be in town on the 24th to look at apartments for rent, and not only that, I need to get to Park City by the 24th to beat the moving truck there so they don’t put my few items in storage. What a headache. I have taken my car to various Goodyear’s around Atlanta, and have never really been satisfied and I am starting to question why I went back. I need to stick with Jiffy Lube.
Bob McDonald’s Goodyear, who admitted that it was their fault, and that they were sorry, wanted to put in an engine that had “equal wear and tear” to the engine in my car that had just died by way of them putting on the wrong oil filter. That would mean that they would replace the engine with n engine, more than likely not a Toyota engine, that already had 25K-30K miles on it. Yeah, right. I was not going to see that car leave there without a brand new Toyota manufactured engine.
So push comes to shove, many phone calls are made back and forth through insurance adjusters, different Toyota dealers, Bob McDonald Goodyear in Vinings, and at the end of a very long and frustrating day, I receive the following:
- A brand new, Toyota manufactured engine
- A rental car (Toyota Highlander) all paid for for the next 7 days
- Delivery of my Rav4 out to Utah once it is fixed
Sounds like a good deal, and ultimate for the situation, it is. However, Friday was a giant pain in the ass, probably one of the longest days I have had in a while. I was on the phone pretty much the whole day trying to resolve the situation with the many people that were involved. I had to take MARTA down to the Atlanta Airport, sit in the Hertz line behind 10 other people, get the car I wanted, etc. I drove the car back to my fraternity house on Georgia Tech campus, where I finally got some food in me (the last time I had eaten was the hashbrowns in the morning). Feel asleep on a couch until 6:30am.
I am sitting in a friend’s house in Houston. I got here yesterday in just under 12 hours… two stops for gas and one stop for food. Great timing! The rental car is nice, but I miss my Rav4. I will hang here for the day, and hit the road again Monday morning.
Update: it took almost 3 months and $20K+ dollars to fix, but I finally got the car in Utah. They had to ship a brand new 2007 engine from the Toyota factory in Japan by boat to America, as none of the engine was salvageable. It was installed by a Toyota dealer (Bob McDonald, hands off!), and then the car was shipped to Utah on a semi. The whole time I was in 3 rental vehicles, all of which were pretty bad. It was determined that the fault was on Bob McDonald Goodyear. If they can’t get an oil change correct, I don’t know what else they could screw up. I could have gotten into a serious accident. Buyer beware!
