Dealer adds staff, extends hours for recall work
Lake Country Toyota began working on vehicles involved in the accelerator recall when the parts arrived on Wednesday.
Bob Ebert, Lake Country Toyota partner and general manager, said Thursday he added technicians to his staff and the store extended its hours to accommodate customers.
Ebert said Toyota owners, who are unsure if their vehicle is affected, may bring the vehicles in to the service department or may call the dealership with the vehicle identification number and staff will look it up to see if it is involved in the recall. Those involved in the Toyota recall will receive notification from the automaker.
Vehicles with a VIN beginning with a J, which marks them as being built in Japan, are not involved in the recall, Ebert said.
While he is taking the recall seriously, Ebert said the media has sensationalized the issue. He said there have not been any reported accelerator issues in the state and his customers have expressed little concern based on their history with the product and the service provided.
"The Toyota owners have been remarkable throughout this thing," Ebert said.
As for Lake Country Toyota, which opened in November, Ebert said it's an opportunity for customers to know the dealership is there for them.
Ebert said his technicians at Lake Country Toyota have the accelerator recall work down to about 15 minutes. Customers may typically be accommodated in about a half-hour to 40 minutes, he said.
Lake Country Toyota is continuing to sell new vehicles and has about 100 used vehicles for sale. Ebert said the sales hold on affected vehicles was done so that the recall parts supplies could be focused at fixing customer vehicles first before those parts were used on the inventory fleet. Having dealt with a lot of other manufacturers during his career, Ebert said he's impressed with Toyota's customer first attitude versus a focus on making sure sales could continue.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.