Rate your Toyota dealer

Has anyone tried to rate the competence of their dealer with respect to the RAV4 EV? The dealer I purchased from was very good on the sales end, but the finance officer sold me and insurance plan that Toyota refused (didn't apply to EV's) and they eventually had to refund my money. They also sold me a LoJack device, but I later found that EnTune had the same features and was included with the car. The service department had probably never seen an EV before and returned it to me only partially charged.

From this forum, I know there are good dealers our there such as Carson Toyota, but unfortunately Dianne is 129 miles away and thus beyond my range. Perhaps if Tony completes the Chademo adapter ...

Today we heard from one persons bad experience with Carlsbad Toyota, a place that I would not like to take my car (and they are way beyond range).

Can we get comments about where you have taken your car for regular service and your impression of the the competence of the service staff?

(I would like to put in a plug for my local dealer, North Bakersfield Toyota and their assistant manager Daniel Arvizu, unfortunately they are not EV certified)

Bought mine at Toyota of Berkeley. The salesperson was not that knowledgeable about the car and tried not to make mistakes by telling me very little about it. They had another person whose job was to familiarize buyers with entune etc. and she was pretty good. I had to read the users manual to find out that I had a way to connect to 120 before getting a charger. I had poor FM reception and finally figured out the antenna mast was missing. Pleasant people but not well trained about the car. The only thing they really knew was that it was as fast as blazes for a SUV, and they learned that by taking it for a ride.

I live in Stevenson Ranch ( LA county)
Bought the RAV from Longo Toyota
Im having it service at Hamer Toyota in Mission hills.

The closest Toyota dealer/service is Frontier Toyota, where we normally buy our cars/SUVs.

Hamer Toyota im giving them 4/5 stars.
Only have one encounter (5,000miles) and i have to come back the next day for wheel alignment.
After the tire rotation, my steering wheel is off center.
They corrected the mistake, free of charge BUT the hassle of going back the next day was a hussle.

Michael Bornstein said:

From this forum, I know there are good dealers our there such as Carson Toyota, but unfortunately Dianne is 129 miles away and thus beyond my range.

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You can make 129 miles:

1. Extended charge before you leave (Dianne would be happy to set that up, I'm sure)
2. Drive 65mph or less on the freeway with cruise control on
3. Absolutely no heater, but A/C is ok. Seat heaters are ok, too
4. If you want a buffer of reserve power, drive halfway, then find a place to plug into at one of the hundreds of charge stations in SoCal while having a coffee

TonyWilliams said:

Michael Bornstein said:

From this forum, I know there are good dealers our there such as Carson Toyota, but unfortunately Dianne is 129 miles away and thus beyond my range.

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You can make 129 miles:

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Tony:

I wish that were true. Unfortunately the Grapevine (a 4100' climb) is in the way. I have also noticed that the trek on I-5 from Bakersfield to Laval Road is a slight uphill (on the way back, I use almost no power on that stetch). My normal dealer is Hamer, and they are 90 miles from me. When I get there, I ususally have only 20 miles of range left, not the 40 that I would need to reach Carson. There are 0 (ZERO) chargers between Bakersfield and Santa Clarita.

To make it to Carson, I would have to stop off somewhere in Mission Hills area for a 1.5 hour charge, and then assuming that Carson Toyota fully charges my car, I will have to repeat the process on the way back. There are chargers at the Northridge Fashion Center and at Nissan of Mission Hills that I might use.

This is a case where your Chademo port upgrade might come in useful!!

My dealer is Hamer in Mission Hills, but my experience with them has been spotty. Since I live so far away, I cannot make return trips to correct minor errors. I am currently at 9250 mi so I will need the 10000 mi service probably at the end of the month.

Michael Bornstein said:

TonyWilliams said:

Michael Bornstein said:

From this forum, I know there are good dealers our there such as Carson Toyota, but unfortunately Dianne is 129 miles away and thus beyond my range.

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You can make 129 miles:

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Tony:

I wish that were true. Unfortunately the Grapevine (a 4100' climb)

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The grapevine goes up and then down.

I did 151.6 miles @ 4 miles/kWh with a 3900 feet mountain pass at Mt Shasta, no turtle. Route: Orland, CA to Yreka, CA on 5 freeway:

Michael Bornstein said:

TonyWilliams said:

Michael Bornstein said:

From this forum, I know there are good dealers our there such as Carson Toyota, but unfortunately Dianne is 129 miles away and thus beyond my range.

Click to expand...

You can make 129 miles:

Click to expand...

Tony:

I wish that were true. Unfortunately the Grapevine (a 4100' climb) is in the way. I have also noticed that the trek on I-5 from Bakersfield to Laval Road is a slight uphill (on the way back, I use almost no power on that stetch). My normal dealer is Hamer, and they are 90 miles from me. When I get there, I ususally have only 20 miles of range left, not the 40 that I would need to reach Carson. There are 0 (ZERO) chargers between Bakersfield and Santa Clarita.

To make it to Carson, I would have to stop off somewhere in Mission Hills area for a 1.5 hour charge, and then assuming that Carson Toyota fully charges my car, I will have to repeat the process on the way back. There are chargers at the Northridge Fashion Center and at Nissan of Mission Hills that I might use.

This is a case where your Chademo port upgrade might come in useful!!

My dealer is Hamer in Mission Hills, but my experience with them has been spotty. Since I live so far away, I cannot make return trips to correct minor errors. I am currently at 9250 mi so I will need the 10000 mi service probably at the end of the month.

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michael,

Charging station at Flying J at Gorman. Lots of them through Shore power.
From Gorman to Castaic ( 35 miles), since it's a downhill, you 'll be using 4 bars or even less.
On the GOM, that's like 20 miles deduction from your calculated miles.

mark_rivers19 said:

michael,

Charging station at Flying J at Gorman. Lots of them through Shore power.
From Gorman to Castaic ( 35 miles), since it's a downhill, you 'll be using 4 bars or even less.
On the GOM, that's like 20 miles deduction from your calculated miles.

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Mark:

This is truly a game-changer. I have rechecked all my references (Plugshare, Chargepoint, Blink, OpConnect, and CarStations), and none of them list anything between Bakersfield and Santa Clarita. I checked Shore Power and they do list the Flying J in Frasier Park, although it is not shown on their map. I called Flying J, and they said that the station is there and they only charge $1/hr.

Shore Power stations are basically L1, though they can be upgraded to L2 @ 30A. This would translate to about 20mi gain for a 1 hr charge. Frasier Park is 46 mi from my house, mostly uphill, and except for the short uphill climb to Gorman, the rest of the trip is mostly rolling hils with a downhill trend followed by the long drop to Castaic. It is only 87 miles from Frasier Park to Carson Toyota.

This station will make travel to LA practical with the RAV4, though it will mean at least a 1 hr delay on each leg of the trip. All the more reason for Tony's Chademo, if there was a Chademo station in the area.

I will check out the station tomorrow on my way back from the meet in Cerritos. Tony, will you be in Cerritos tomorrow?

Michael Bornstein said:

I have rechecked all my references (Plugshare, Chargepoint, Blink, OpConnect, and CarStations), and none of them list anything between Bakersfield and Santa Clarita.

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Flying J shows up on Plugshare. Just make sure you have the options checked to display "wall outlets" and "dryer outlets". Make sure you bring a portable EVSE with an adapter for a Nema 14-30. They even have a 3-phase 480V outlet - would be fun to figure out a way to use that! Just pick up one of these and Tony's Chademo adapter and you're set! :lol:

Actually with the right kind of adapter and EVSE you might be able to use a single leg of the 3-phase outlet to charge up at 277V and 32A (or 26A - does the 80% rule apply?) which could give you a nice little boost over using the standard 14-30 outlet.

Fooljoe:

That MFC looks great. Unfortunaely, it will probably fill up the back of the RAV4 and my wife wont have room for all of her purchases

Are you saying that the Shore Power charger at Flying J is only L1 and not L2? In that case I'd do better driving to the Nissan Dealer in Santa Clarita where at least I'll get a L2 charge. Any way, I will check it our tomorrow.

Actually, if there is a Daddy Warbucks among us, he could bring the MFC to the meeting tomorrow. :roll:

Michael Bornstein said:

Are you saying that the Shore Power charger at Flying J is only L1 and not L2?

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No, they don't have any "chargers" or EVSEs, they only have power outlets. They have both 120v/L1 (Nema 5-20) and 240v/L2 (Nema 14-30) power outlets, as well as the 3-phase curiosity. That's why I mentioned you'll need to bring your own EVSE with the proper adapter (and a long cord.)

Michael Bornstein said:

Actually, if there is a Daddy Warbucks among us, he could bring the MFC to the meeting tomorrow. :roll:

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I think Tony has a portable Chademo unit, actually (at least he was talking about getting one back in his Leaf days.) But I don't think the Jdemo is ready yet, so it wouldn't help you much. And I don't know what Tony would say about you borrowing his $20k charger!

Ah, Fooljoe, you have ruined my reverie. Gone are images of gliding across the Grapevine in my RAV4. I am stuck in my Volt forever.

Seriously, though, where can I get a decent (read cheap) portable 240V 20+A EVSE?

The Clipper Creek is $544. EVSE Upgrade is $287, but you need a recent Leaf EVSE. With my Toyota EVSE, the best they do is 12A for $239. Adapters for 120V and NEMA 14-30 are extra.

Do you know of any others?

Tony's Jesla conversion of course comes to mind, but it ain't cheap. The Clipper Creek you mentioned is probably the best you can do at retail, but it's unfortunate that it's not adjustable, and only does 20A max while you could go up to 24A on the 14-30 (or more if you're brave enough to try an adapter for the 3-phase outlet.)

Personally, I carry a 40A openEVSE that I bought from GlennD at the mynissanleaf forum for about $400. You could see what he's selling now or ask him to make you one custom, or try building one yourself. Another option for a "kit" EVSE but without the nice display and push-button interface my openEVSE has is the EMW Juicebox.

I've also got one of the upgraded recent Leaf EVSEs - those are fully adjustable, very portable and durable and go up to 24A (it's been tested to work fine at that rate, although you're "overclocking" it a bit.) Those aren't exactly cheap either, at $1027 on EVSEupgrade.com. Mine's kinda superfluous now that I have the openEVSE, so I'd let it go for $900 I guess if you don't like the other options.

Fooljow:

Thanks for your generous offer :lol:

A friend has a few Leafs, so I will see if I can trade my Toyota EVSE for a Leaf EVSE. The Toyota is good for 12A, the older Leafs for 16A, and newer Leafs will go to 20A at EVSE Upgrade. I will also see if I can work out a swap at the meeting tomorrow.

Mike

Just make sure you don't end up with an '11-'12 Leaf EVSE, as those aren't compatible with the Rav (I have one of those too.) The '13+ Leaf EVSEs can actually be overclocked to 24 or 25A if you ask Phil nicely to give you the unlock codes.

You might try posting on mynissanleaf to see if anybody will go for that swap deal. Good luck!

Michael Bornstein said:

Tony, will you be in Cerritos tomorrow?

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No, I'm doing my "day job", currently in Dubai, UAE.

fooljoe said:

Just make sure you don't end up with an '11-'12 Leaf EVSE, as those aren't compatible with the Rav (I have one of those too.) The '13+ Leaf EVSEs can actually be overclocked to 24 or 25A if you ask Phil nicely to give you the unlock codes.

You might try posting on mynissanleaf to see if anybody will go for that swap deal. Good luck!

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I just loaned out my 25 amp 2013 LEAF / Panasonic, so it's all packaged up when it was returned. In like new condition with L6-30R connector and two plugs; 120 volt household NEMA 5-15 and NEMA 14-50 for trailer parks.

$900

Er, back to rating dealers, though the recent comments here are very interesting as I try to formulate some similar solutions.
We live in the Northern Sierra, closest dealer was either Roseville Toyota or the dealer in Davis. We flipped a coin and bought from Roseville, which was a "good" experience ("Here, sir let me smile and lubricate your pocket so we can easily slide that $50+K out of it easier :lol:"). Really though, they took good care of us, we bought the "extended" warranty, which could be interesting if we have an issue after 3 years. At the time (24 Dec 2012) we got the $5K rebate plus state and fed credits which decreased the pain.
I've called them for help a couple times and they are pretty clueless about the RAV being Electric...this forum is better.
I just returned from taking our RAV to them because the heater failed. While there, I had them flash the new Tesla software and do the 15K service. They were very courteous and helpful. They did not have all the parts for the fix but got it in the next day and had it ready to go that next day. Our cost: $0.00.
So thumbs up for Roseville Toyota.

Hi Michael... can you give more detail about that person's experience at Carlsbad Toyota? I bought my Rav from them and would have gone to Carson except pregnant wife did not want to go all the way there. The buying experience was all right, but the service department did not update my firmware when I asked them to. All they did was rotate some tires and changed some settings that I asked for. Even then, it took roughly 3 hours. Thinking of just taking it to Carson next time even if it is roughly 80 miles away.

oh ... to elaborate on the buying experience...i had to come back 3 different days to actually test drive the car. I came in late at nights and they didn't have the vehicles come in yet. I originally came in on a Tuesday, was told to come back on Thursday. By Thursday, I was told to come back another time after I arrived. By the weekend, when I didn't have to go to work, I just wanted to go to Carson Toyota. The wife was a couple months pregnant at the time and did not want to drive that far. The car ended up being available on Saturday and I leased it from them that day. Not the greatest car buying experience, but not the worst either. 3 out of 5 stars I guess.