Andrew Rowley

We took our 1998 Corolla automatic to Andrew Rowley Toyota in Watford when the ABS lamp came on. (The car has been well looked after and regularly serviced; no other problems were apparent.) We asked them to check the car over and report on any additional work that might need doing. They came up with £2940 of proposed repairs! We agreed to £720 of work, including the replacement of the automatic transmission fluid. Somehow, Andrew Rowley Toyota’s mechanics managed to put manual gear oil into the car’s automatic transmission, rather than the much thinner automatic transmission fluid. They discovered their mistake the following day, after the car had been driven 100 miles. The car had to be returned, the incorrect oil drained out, and replaced with the correct fluid. Now, as any competent mechanic will tell you, the difference between manual gearbox oil and automatic transmission fluid is obvious: manual gearbox oil is viscous and so flows slowly; automatic transmission fluid flows much more quickly. Further, automatic transmission fluid is coloured red precisely so that mechanics don’t make this mistake. Quite what the mechanic was doing when he introduced the oil into the transmission has never adequately been explained to us. (Laughably, the manager of Andrew Rowley Toyota tried to claim that the difference between the oils is minimal and that they were awaiting “test results” to determine whether or not the correct oil had been used!) We have been told by several specialists in automatic transmission that the car is likely to have significant problems in the future. We were charged £85.50 for this wonderful work. When the car was subsequently returned to us, we discovered that they had broken the bolt which fastens the screen wash reservoir to the chassis. A mechanic had tried to cover up the damage by securing the reservoir using a thin cable tie, but the reservoir was wobbling about. When we pointed this out, they proudly announced that “... we check 10% of cars for quality control.” (So our car was in the 90% of cars unchecked?!) We asked for a repair and they said that they wanted to “... send someone round to take digital photos” of the broken part. Eventually they agreed to fix the damage they had caused, and the car had to go back once again. We strongly recommend that you avoid doing business with Andrew Rowley Toyota.

10

Mike S.