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The Rim Scam

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by JohnF, Feb 29, 2016.

  1. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    I knew many dealers are "stealers", but never grasped the extent of the "alloy rim scam". I won't name the dealerships involved. I have been shopping for a 2016 Prius Model 2 ECO. My local dealer told me they had located one in the color I wanted at another dealership. But there would be an upcharge of $800 for optional alloy rims that were already installed on the car. So I looked at the Toyota website and discovered that no Toyota packages are offered for the ECO model. Hmmm, so they would have to be aftermarket rims.

    Whilst looking at Tire Rack and Discount Tire for a second set of rims for snow tires, I discovered that alloy rims that would fit would cost as little as $100 each, or $400 for a set of 4. So figuring that the dealer paid less for them by buying at wholesale pricing, but would have to bear the expense of mounting & balancing, at a guess his net cost for the swap might be $400 (ignoring TPMS sensors, which would probably just be transferred to the new rims). So roughly $400 of the $800 might be profit for him.

    But no! I was curious what it would cost to get a second set of OEM rims from my Toyota dealer. The parts guy told me that (a) the OEM rims for the ECO are alloy (I hadn't seen an ECO so I was not sure, the Toyota website is not very informative) and (b) cost $350 EACH, or $1400 for a set of 4!!!

    I seriously doubt if that dealer supplies the takeoffs with the car. So the dealer gets $400 + $1400 = $1800 out of the deal. And the customer pays $800 for a set of rims that are worth $1000 LESS than the OEM ones. Wow!
     
    #1 JohnF, Feb 29, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2016
  2. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    And your point is? ;)

    As in, happens ALL the time!
     
  3. krmcg

    krmcg Lowered Blizzard Pearl Beauty

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    Dealer markup for additional parts starts at 100% and goes up from there.
     
  4. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    Why is everything the dealer does a scam? This is no different than when I called in to buy a Prius from a popular dealer on Prius chat. I was quoted with floor mats. I told her I don't want floor mats. She said they're on all the cars. I chose not to purchase from her.

    Same thing happened on a Honda with an aftermarket alarm. I didn't want to pay for it. Dealer insisted. If I didn't want it, I can pay to have them take it off. I walked away. Dealer called me back and said they would return to stock with no extra charge. I bought the car. Simple.

    There's no scam. There are suckers that buy the car with the rims. Hence, dealers order heavily optioned trim levels and keep only one base model as a low price leader. There is no extra charge for them to take it off and return to stock. The workers at the dealer get paid the same paycheck whether they do actual work or not. It's just business.
     
  5. Caniac

    Caniac Active Member

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    $800 for upgraded rims is less than what most go for as dealer upgrades.
     
  6. vince22

    vince22 Active Member

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    image.jpeg I've seen worst at my local Capitol Toyota dealer, $895 mark up for window tint? Lots of BS...
     
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  7. Caniac

    Caniac Active Member

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    $895 for tinted windows??? OMG, now that truly meets my scam criteria. And since it's CA, the front 2 aren't even tinted, right?
     
  8. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    So the others are scamming people even more???
    Plus these were not "upgraded" rims, they were downgraded. The point is that $895 for a $200 tint job (I had been checking on tinting too) is an obvious scam, the rim thing was less obvious at least to my simple mind.
     
  9. Caniac

    Caniac Active Member

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    If you go on Toyota's build your car site and select a two eco you have the option to add upgraded wheels for $899. Are these not the same rims?
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Those same rims are in the Priuschat shop, for the same price. Well, plus shipping. If you get the "upgrade" through the dealership I think they keep your stock rims? OEM rims are crazy expensive, frustrating. Best approach I think, if you want anything like that, is to deal with an owner who's become disenchanted with their rims.

    Personally I would like to get a set of the 15" PIP Prius rims. I've seen opportunities, but too far away, shipping nixes it.
     
  11. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    When I went there and looked for packages, it said that no packages were available. I didn't think of wheels as "accessories".

    At $899 OVER the stock rims, that means $350 + $225 = $575 per rim. Wow. Now it's Toyota doing the scamming. Or maybe those are for people who want to enter their Prius in F1?

    I don't know what wheels were on that car because it was at a different stealership and I never saw it.
     
  12. goldfinger

    goldfinger Active Member

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  13. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Applesauce!

    Politicians are the only ones who lie nearly as much!
    Doctors are the only ones who perform more unneeded "tests and maintenance" procedures.
    Only phone or cable companies come close to having more hidden charges and obfuscating the "real" out the door prices of their products.

    Only car dealerships are allowed to blatantly screw people over from purchase to trade-in (and re-purchase.)
    Unless customers arm themselves with the equivalent of an Associate's Degree in Business and Finance, they're going to get shafted by the labyrinthine loan/fleece process. Even BANKS (no amateurs themselves in skrooing people) have to take measures against dealerships who try to establish credit for marginal purchasers/
    A few CEUs in Automotive Technology are also necessary at the parts and maintenance end of the shop, and what other business forces their dealers to deliberately lie to their customers about the real world price of their products????
    Even the High Priestess of Priusdom is not allowed to advertise her bottom line prices in this not-so-obscure, forum.

    This goes well and truly beyond Caveat Emptor, and while it's true that customer sloth is absolutely a contributing factor the web of chicanery and sleaze stretches from the factory floor through the life cycle of the car to the junkyard parts bin.....AIDED by shell finance corporations, paid off politicians, and some not-so-independent aftermarket organizations.


    I can buy a car.
    I have a credit rating deep in the 800s, and I'm smart enough to research, and negotiate a fairly skinny deal.
    I always arrange for my financing before hand, and I usually target my car by dealer and VIN before I ever visit the dealer, and I'm not willing to trade my car in....AND the last time a dealer's maintenance department did ANYTHING to ANY car I own was a recall three years ago....so yeah.
    It's "possible" not to get screwed over by a stealer....
    ....but in my never-to-be humbled opinion you have to work at it a little too hard.

    So yeah....I'd say SCAM about covers it.
    The only thing that could make it worse for the average customer would be if the Federal Government decides not to stay bought, and tries to fix it.
    It's like politicians.
    Knowledge and experience are the only things that usually work, and it takes time....



    BTW @op back in the old days, when G3s were the new kid on the block, Corolla rims were a bolt-on replacement. Other cars may also fit the G4, and since kids are always wanting to swap out rims, other take-offs might be out there for the G4.

    Good Luck!
     
    #13 ETC(SS), Feb 29, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2016
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  14. drysider

    drysider Active Member

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    If you think it is a crooked deal, walk away. With the information available on the internet, there is no excuse not to know what things are worth. If you want Walmart, don't go to Macy's.
     
  15. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    I don't understand.
    Are the "optional" alloy rims actually "optional"? Or are they really just the OEM alloy rims that come with the vehicle?

    If they are NOT different then what comes standard, I'd NOT pay an upcharge.

    The fact that you can find alloy rims cheaper, from independent sources? The fact that buying OEM rims directly from the dealer would be very expensive?

    Well welcome to the real world and the way it has always been. OEM parts bought directly through a dealership are sold at a premium.
     
  16. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    As I said, I never saw the car. I was told that it had special alloy rims that had already been installed and therefore would not be removed, and that they would add $800 to the cost. I did not buy this car.

    Then I looked at the "accessories" section of the Prius website and saw a set of special alloy rims there for an extra $899. Obviously they are not the alloy rims that come standard on the car. I did not order them.

    Yes of course I know stealers overcharge for parts. What surprised me was how ridiculously high the cost to the customer is in this case.
     
  17. Lucifer

    Lucifer Senior Member

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    So, does anyone have an idea why there's an 800$ up charge for the "alloy" wheels offered as an accessory on the new 4's, or, has anyone had both rims in their hands, are the stock poured and the ones offered as an accessory forged? The op states that the dealer installed aftermarket wheels, that's a single dealer being shady and I doubt it, the dealer possibly did, buttttt, exactly what wheels are being offered in the accessory package.
     
  18. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    Good luck on finding out anything from Toyota! As you can see, the "details" popup for these wheels on the Toyota Accessories page is devoid of facts. I was shopping for aftermarket wheels for a set of snow tires I have (so I could use them on my new 2016), and neither Discount Tire nor Tire Rack has listings for 2016 Priuses yet. So I called the Toyota "Customer Service" 800 number to get specs on the stock wheels - things like bolt pattern, rim width, offset, weight - and the rep kept telling me I could get this information from the Toyota website or from my dealer. I had already asked the dealer's parts guy and he had no information, and I couldn't find it anywhere on the Toyota website. After a couple of rounds the "Customer Service" rep hung up on me! Maybe I got the "Customer Disservice" line by mistake?
     
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  19. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    When I was looking for snow tire our purchase dealership gave me a complete reunaround, said the Prius was a "flagship" vehicle, that it was OEM rims or nothing, and so on.

    Contacted another dealership: they set us up with X-Ice on steel Corolla rims, no problem and quite cheap: $70 each for the rims.
     
  20. GOTCHA...AGAIN

    GOTCHA...AGAIN New Member

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    I bet I've really got your attention now! Think about it for a minute. If all four of your tires on your vehicle are identical, then how do you really know if they were really rotated? You absolutely don't know. By nature you just trust the word and ethics of a big dealership...like Moritz Dodge over here in Fort Worth, Texas.

    Believe it or not but today I actually marked my front passenger tire with 1 red dot and 1 white dot right above the first "r" in Grappler and took a picture of it before I went to the dealership to have my tires rotated. Can you guess what I saw when they said my truck was ready? I walked straight over to the front passenger tire to look for the dots and yes they were there. I honestly felt my face instantly get hot I was so pissed! I pulled my phone out and pulled up the picture...I forgot to mention the picture had the date and time stamp on it. I walked straight over to the manager and showed him the picture while letting him know that I just now paid to have my tires rotated and asked him "does it look like my tires where rotated to you?" He was shocked that his guys never rotated my tires and informed me there would definitely be consequences for this.

    Even while all this was happening I couldn't help but to begin thinking of all the other times I paid to have my tires rotated...and I only thought they were rotated! That infuriates me to the core!

    There are millions of vehicles going through these dealerships and let's not forget about the small "mom and pop" automotive centers that are suppose to be providing us with the service that we are paying for....IF YOU DON'T FIND A WAY TO ENSURE YOU'RE GETTING THE SERVICE YOU'RE PAYING FOR, THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO KEEP RIPPING YOU OFF BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

    ***BE AWARE OF SERVICES THAT YOU PAY FOR***
    TAKE THE SMALL STEPS THAT YOU CAN TO ENSURE YOU'RE NOT BEING RIPPED OFF!
    I VERY MUCH BELIEVE THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD BE TREATED FAIR.

    To read the full blog you can click on my personal blog link

    TIRE ROTATION?: KNOW YOUR TIRES

    If you read the full blog please leave a message at the bottom of the actual blog. Thanks

    SM-N910P ?