I bought a Toyota Avalon because of the high resale value. I don’t think it is right that now we, as owners, will have to take a financial loss due to Toyota’s negligence. I know that getting a fair price for the recalled cars is just not going to happen. What is the answer?
How soon do you plan to sell it?
In a couple of years, this will all blow over and be forgotten. It won’t be a factor in the resale price by then.
Only a few cars had or will ever have this problem, and the replacement parts should cure that anyway.
You are over-reacting! The Toyotas in question will be fixed very soon, and 6 months from now all will likely be forgotten. If you plan to sell your Avalon a year from now, you will get a good price. Because it is a good car.
Smart buyers shop NOW for a Toyota that a panicked owner, like you, may be trying to sell!
I don’t understand what you mean by “financial loss”. Cars don’t appreciate, or even hold their value. All cars depreciate, some more than others. Toyota makes an excellent SUV (Landcruiser), with high resale value, but its value plummeted when gas went to $4/gallon.
As to what to do? DO NOTHING! Get the pedal retrofitted and keep driving. Trade the car next year if you really want to trade it.
As to “negligence”, here are some car companies that over the years have been far more negligent that Toyota:
- Ford
- General Motors
- Chrysler
- Jaguar
- Renault
- Land Rover
and many others. Toyota has by and large has been the least “negligent” of car compnies. You will soon get a letter from a litigation law firm that will tell you your Avalon is a death trap and they will “go to bat” for you to get you money. I advise you to throw it in the trash bin and just have the car fixed and live happily ever after.
I started looking at new cars just before Christmas, even though this Avalon is only 18 mths old and only has a little over 6,000 miles on it. Now I feel like I have to hang on to it for awhile and it irks me. I will keep driving it and have practiced safe stopping (N, brakes, etc) but I wanted to get rid of it before this problem developed.
This week Toyota will start shipping replacement pedals and yours will soon be fixed; stay in touch with your dealer.
Why would you want to sell an 18 month old car with only 6000 miles on it? There must be some other reason why you don’t like it, aside from the gas pedal. If I was in the market for a car, I would be happy to buy it from you with 2 years depreciation and only 6000 miles!!
Dealers understand human nature very well. They will try to use the panic surrounding the unintended acceleration issue to reduce the offer they make for any 2009/2001 Toyota affected by the recall. Whether you share the panic or not, you are affected by it. And how do you know what the trade-in value of your Avalon is? If you are guessing that it might have gone down, you could be wrong. I suggest that you exercise a little patience, you will be rewarded. And while you’re waiting, you should get the recall repair done. That should add back in any loss that might have occured because of the sticky gas pedal issue.
As others have pointed out other car companies have had issues in the past that tarnished their names and all but ruined the reputations of certain models, like the Ford Explorer for example. Do you really think that Toyota is going compensate you some arbitrary amount of money to offset the hit in resale value? Hell no. It?s just a risk that everyone who has ever bought a car lives with. Your sense of entitlement is staggering.
On trips I’m the passenger in the car and that seat is different than the driver’s seat and I can’t get comfortable with all the back and hip trouble I have. I absolutely LOVE driving it, but being a passenger is not for me. In case you are wondering, it is a power passenger seat. Don’t say I should drive because my husband wouldn’t tolerate that. What man gives up control of anything to a woman?
There are a lot of support cushions on the market that might solve your problem. They don’t cost much and one is bound to fit. My mother-in-law spent $25 for such a cushion for her Mercury and loved it.
Where I live there is also an upholstery shop that can fix a seat to almost anything you want. The reason I recommmend this type of thing is twofold; 1) it’s not expensive and 2) the next car you buy might not have a good passenger seat either.
I have owned 3 full size GM cars, a 1980 Oldsmobile, a 1984 Impala and a 1988 Caprice. The front seat was very uncomfortable for me on all three. The seat simply needed to be tilted back just a little. A mechanic made up some bolt extenders to prop the front of the seat up and I lived happily ever after.
A colleague of mine has a Honda Odessey minivan with the top of the line captain’s seats. His wife hated them, but a custom shop made some alterations and she’s happy!
Here is my take on the issue.
If you decide to take Toyota to court to sue them for your lost resale value, you better hope I am not on the jury. I believe resale value is a gamble. When you purchase a car, nobody has any way of knowing what the resale value of the car will be at any particular point in the future, because it depends on all kinds of variables, many of which are outside the span of anyone’s control.
Proving which part of the decline in resale value to blame on Toyota would be pretty tough. How much of it is due to the economy? How much is due to competition from Ford? Nobody can tell you for sure.
I would bet that Toyota will have fixed the problem within the next 90 days and the resale value won’t be any different after this time than if the accelerator problem had never happened.
The only car I really remember losing resale value quickly was the Chevrolet Corvair after Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe At Any Speed” was published. I needed a second car at this time and bought a newer Corvair than I could get in other cars. I fitted the car with a $15 camber compensating transverse spring and that 1961 was a great handling car.
I have purchased used cars that had low resale value. When I replaced the 1961 Corvair, I bought a used 1968 AMC Javelin with a 6 cylinder engine in 1971. It turned out to be a very good car. I’m certain, though, that a used Toyota Avalon isn’t in my future. Recall or not, its resale value will be too high for me.
My MIL has a lower back problem and found that a roll cushion behind her bottom helps her get comfortable. If you saw a doctor or chiropractor for your back you might discuss it with them to decide what the best way to approach extra cushions is.
I’m with you on the seat problem. We had a 1993 Oldsmobile 88 that was a great car except we could never get comfortable. This car had power seats and every other accessory that Oldsmobile offered, but after 50 miles my back and thighs would really ache whether I was driving or riding. We found our 1990 Ford Aerostar minivan more comfortable for us to ride in for long trips. We now have an Chevrolet Uplander and a Toyota 4Runner for our transportation and we use the 4Runner for highway travel and we don’t have back pain from driving all day. In your situation, I would trade the Avalon.
GM is offering $1000 over book to anyone trading in a Toyota…So it would seem the recall is the best thing that ever happened to Toyota owners…
I think that the accelerator pedal in my 1978 Oldsmobile is beginning to stick. Is there anyone who will offer me $1000 over book? In fact, I would just settle for $1000.