‘Boy, that was a mistake.’
A new Toyota Tundra owner was left frustrated with a dealership after noticing the rims he thought would come with the vehicle had plastic hubcaps glued onto them. TikTok user Michael O. (@just_michael_o) published a since-deleted social media video detailing his experience with the Georgia-based car seller and how he was left with a damaged rim after attempting to remove the hubcap following their suggestion.
Michael begins his video by talking about the day he first noticed his Tundra in Rivertown Toyota’s inventory. According to him, it was advertised to be exactly to his liking. The entirety of the vehicle was “blacked out,” he says, as the vehicle’s accessories and fixtures were all pitch dark. As he more closely scrutinized the Tundra’s details, he saw that the car was outfitted with the XP Carbon package, which he says added an additional $4,600 to its sales price. Michael was fine with paying this amount, as he stated that this is the type of aesthetic he wanted on his vehicle.
So, he contacted the dealership and notified them that he wanted to trade in his current vehicle and purchase the new Tundra. After working out a deal, Michael says that the car seller brought out his midnight-themed Tundra, but there was one glaring problem—the rims he says he purchased weren’t installed on the vehicle.
Instead, the new Tundra owner states, the dealership covered the rims he was supposed to be getting as part of his package with a set of plastic, gunmetal hubcaps. Following this, he brought the matter up to the dealership, arguing that since he paid a premium for this upgrade, he wanted the rims he originally thought would be on the truck. After subsequent back-and-forth discussions with the dealership, a rep from the business suggested that he just bring the car home and take the hubcaps off himself.
Michael thought that this seemed logical, so he resolved to do just that. However, the process took much more time and effort than he thought.
“It can’t be that hard to take off a plastic hubcap. I’ll just take care of it,” Michael said. Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out to be the case, and the TikToker explained why. “So … there I am in my driveway with a heat gun and some pulling straps and some 550 cord, and I’m pulling on this hubcap, trying to get it off. Boy, that was a mistake,” he says into the lens.
Next, Michael holds the plastic hubcap up to the camera, with its center locking piece removed. “See, when Toyota puts a hubcap on, it really puts a hubcap on. Now, when I finally do get it off, I grab this middle hubcap piece,” he says, flashing the part up to the camera. Then, Michael directs his camera towards the rim, which is covered in what looks like white glue residue, spoiling the black aesthetic he was going for. Unfortunately for the Tundra owner, that hubcap piece doesn’t fit into the circular portion of the rim with the hubcap removed.
Additionally, he says that the cap placed over the rim also damaged the paint on the rims that came with his $4,600 package.
“Not only does that center piece not go to the stock rim—which would be a beautiful gloss black if it hadn’t been messed with—but that piece of [expletive] hubcap they put on rubbed straight through the paint on my rim,” he tells viewers as he displays the damage on camera.
But the woes don’t end there either. Michael films himself picking at the gunk buildup left on his truck’s rims.
“On top of that, they didn’t just rubber seal it on; they foam sealed it on. This thing was on, like, insanely good. Now, I’m a jack of all trades, but I’m not about to spend 10 hours per wheel cleaning off all this additional adhesive that Toyota decided to put on my vehicle,” he remarks.
“So, naturally, seeing that I’m slightly over my head in this kind of area, I take it back to Rivertown, and I say, ‘Hey, these rims don’t really come off well. There’s something wrong. You guys really glued those suckers on there from the factory. You should take them off and give me the black rims that I paid for,” Michael relayed.
However, their response wasn’t one that he, as a new customer to the dealership, wanted to hear. That’s because the Toyota dealership informed him that he would have to bring the truck into its service center to have the hubcaps removed and that he’d have to pay them for eight hours of labor on the truck.
Ultimately, Michael decided not to take their offer and instead opted to simply purchase new rims.
There’s no shortage of dealership horror stories involving car buyers who bring their new ride home without everything they expect. Motor1 previously reported on a Toyota car salesman who purportedly spotted thousands of dollars worth of secondary key fobs that were never handed over to customers. Folks who’ve purchased cars from dealerships, like this Reddit user, expressed difficulty in acquiring a second key after agreeing to take home their vehicle with the promise of an additional fob, only to never receive it.
And when it comes to the state of the vehicle, Consumer Reports urges buyers to never take delivery of a motor vehicle unless it’s in the exact state that you want prior to purchase. The research group writes, “Don’t take … the car if additional work needs to be done on it, such as a repair or accessory installation.”
In Michael’s instance and others, getting the business to actually perform the work can be a tall order, especially if the nature of the work isn’t included in the buyer’s agreement. I.e., don’t expect a dealership to perform the work after the fact in good faith. At the end of the day, it’s a business deal, so buyers should always treat it as such.
Motor1 has reached out to Rivertown Toyota via email and Michael O. via TikTok direct message for further comment. We will update this story if either party responds.
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