Give credit where it's due

Well done Toyota.

A fortnight ago I received a letter from Toyota UK about a Recall Notice on the Rav4 model - the car I had part-exchanged some 4 weeks previous.

I noted that the Recall was to do with the safety of the front suspension coil springs, and the possibility that they may corrode, and “in the worst case, may fracture”.

In April 2002, whilst driving my Rav4 back home from Ipswich, the front-near side coil spring did precisely that. As I took a right-hand turn on the A144 just south of the village of Bramfield at about 40 mph, the coil fractured, and a length of approximately 3 inches speared through the tyre causing it to instantly deflate. It took careful driving control to bring the car to a halt at the side of the road without damage to the vehicle or injury to myself and my passenger.

This loss of length of spring meant that even with the car raised on the jack, I was unable to access the wheel nuts to change the wheel. An AA transporter had to convey me to a garage.
A new tyre was purchased and fitted on 18th April by ATS Euromaster at the Waveney Garage in Beccles, Suffolk, at a cost of £100.94. On 23rd April I had a new front near-side coil spring fitted by the Toyota Authorised Dealers, Gooch Motors Limited, in Lowestoft, at a cost of £137.63.

With the Recall Notice being concerned about precisely this eventuality, I wrote to Toyota explaining what had happened and attaching copies of the payment receipts. Today I received full payment back from them, despite my no longer being the owner of the car.

So - an accolade for the Customer Care department of Toyota UK.

Ought I to tell them that I bought a Chevrolet?