Ao F*e parts and service charges

Monkey King Stu · October 26, 2019

3 hours ago, Devinda_Z said:

@Monkey King Stu any chance the first owner locally tampered with the mileage? Do you have any service records from the previous owner?

I'm the first owner locally, so i don't believe it's been tampered with.

iRage · October 27, 2019

Well..a few of you have commented on the state of the car at a low mileage....to be honest....it is possible....way back when I was in Uni my apartment mate bought a brand new Camry....this was his Grad school gift for himself...1.5 years later that thing was just falling a part. The valves were knociking, there was a noise that sounded like piston slapping..grinding noises from the wheels suspension just hitting like crazy...some of the body panels were not lined up (he never met with an accident though)....then even at work we have some brand new Hiluxes that just get completely hammered just after 2-3 years of use.

So...sorry Monkey King..perhaps you are rather harsh on your vehicles....also....are you sure that the importer bought down a car and sold it without turning back the meter and stuff. Because these small Vitzies are pretty common amongst fleets and young drivers...

Monkey King Stu · October 27, 2019

3 hours ago, iRage said:

Well..a few of you have commented on the state of the car at a low mileage....to be honest....it is possible....

So...sorry Monkey King..perhaps you are rather harsh on your vehicles....

Well it was driven in Japan for 42k for at most 3 years (It's a Nov/2007 model) before i got it, so maybe the damage was already done there? ?

But i doubt it cause when i got the car, it was perfectly fine until vibration started 6mnths later. Didn't bother to check fuel efficiency at that time either, but i fell the car was initially in good condition. I'm not really a harsh driver... but I suspect one of more of the following:

Shocks worn early because of not slowing down enough on bumps, potholes, etc.
Mounts either normal wear/tear or worn early because of local road conditions coupled with above...
Engine troubles because of late oil and filter change intervals
Engine troubles because of vibration + all of the above...
Bad lemon luck? ?

Maybe i really didn't need any engine work done, but it was really frustrating that i'm getting such bad fuel efficiency when that was really the whole point of getting a 3cylinder 1000cc car! and i just had to get to the bottom of it... It's gonna suck if it turns out to be the same after the engine work... i don't want to get ahead of myself with the readings until after i've done like 200kms.

4 hours ago, iRage said:

are you sure that the importer bought down a car and sold it without turning back the meter and stuff

Well we selected the car online while on auction in Japan, so we already knew all the details.

iRage · October 27, 2019

18 minutes ago, Monkey King Stu said:

Well it was driven in Japan for 42k for at most 3 years (It's a Nov/2007 model) before i got it, so maybe the damage was already done there? ?

But i doubt it cause when i got the car, it was perfectly fine until vibration started 6mnths later. Didn't bother to check fuel efficiency at that time either, but i fell the car was initially in good condition. I'm not really a harsh driver... but I suspect one of more of the following:

Shocks worn early because of not slowing down enough on bumps, potholes, etc.

Mounts either normal wear/tear or worn early because of local road conditions coupled with above...

Engine troubles because of late oil and filter change intervals

Engine troubles because of vibration + all of the above...

Bad lemon luck? ?

Maybe i really didn't need any engine work done, but it was really frustrating that i'm getting such bad fuel efficiency when that was really the whole point of getting a 3cylinder 1000cc car! and i just had to get to the bottom of it... It's gonna suck if it turns out to be the same after the engine work... i don't want to get ahead of myself with the readings until after i've done like 200kms.

Well we selected the car online while on auction in Japan, so we already knew all the details.

uhh....dude...that is harsh usage

42K in Japan in 3 years is a lot but that doesn't constitute it being bad....those things run forever....and within a 5 year period the services are done by the dealer in Japan anyway where it gets an annual check up so the car would have been good.

Monkey King Stu · October 27, 2019

4 minutes ago, iRage said:

uhh....dude...that is harsh usage

?

RWD · October 28, 2019

I've seen brand new agent imported cars looking tired after 50,000 kms in local conditions because of owner neglect and abuse. No matter how robust these vehicles are any vehicle will suffer after a few years on our roads if preventive maintenances and timely servicing is not done.

Monkey King Stu · October 29, 2019

On 10/26/2019 at 2:53 PM, alpha17 said:

KYB rear shock price is around 5-6k. Confirmed. I mean some garages does their work well, but try to rip off the customer when they come to know about his/her knowledge. But the engine vibration is definitely due to worn engine mounts. But the problem is at 87,000km what is the reason to do an engine overhaul!!! I previously had a 121 which sometimes I used to push it to its limits but when took it to Toyo Lan for tune up they said that the engine is in pristine condition(which is a bit rare these days).

Just called KYB and this is NOT true! I have no idea where you got your information from, but it's wrong...

A single front shock (strut) for my car is around 16k and single rear is around 9k, so total 50k, while i paid 53k at the garage. I don't mind the small difference because if there are any issues, then the garage will have to take responsibility, whereas if i bought it then I'd have to handle it myself.

At the same time i'd like to mention that Taas offered me a cash price of 41k for the set... now that's huge... but it was my fault for not checking up on the prices when i was given the estimate... But i still did call up the owner about it because i proceeded with good faith and felt it was unfair. I wasn't being aggressive, just wanted to give him a chance to explain. And he did; he said that they don't buy directly from Taas, but go through a dealer and was not privy to any offers from Taas. He said that interacting with most agents such as Taas, in the instance of warranty claim and such is marred by long waiting times and lots of red tape, so it's more convenient to go through dealer, plus their profit margin.

I actually agree with what he's saying, it was really my fault for not calling up Taas earlier anyway. In hindsight i find it difficult to imagine what decision i would have made at that time had i know about the Taas offer...

So overall, it doesn't appear that i got fleeced... but i guess that's subjective... I tend to be on the optimistic side so I'm gonna go with paying premium for the service! No regrets! specially now that's it's all paid for... ?

Edited October 29, 2019 by Monkey King Stu

iRage · October 29, 2019

Well...you can't blame the garage. You cannot compare standard rates with special offers that an agent might give...when these garages and their distributors get their stuff they get it from the agent at whole sale/dealer prices and the offers that TAAS might extend to its retail partners might not apply to the distributor/garage. In this case you just missed out...not got cheated out or anything. What is TAAS' standard price ?

Monkey King Stu · October 29, 2019

4 minutes ago, iRage said:

Well...you can't blame the garage. You cannot compare standard rates with special offers that an agent might give...when these garages and their distributors get their stuff they get it from the agent at whole sale/dealer prices and the offers that TAAS might extend to its retail partners might not apply to the distributor/garage. In this case you just missed out...not got cheated out or anything. What is TAAS' standard price ?

Agree ?

Standard just less than 50k, entire set for cash is 41k