Truck King broke their Tacoma

Here is a loan agreement and most everyone uses something like this wording. There's generally a first page with name, date, location for drop off, etc...

Terms of Use

A. The COMPANY will secure and obtain, at its sole cost and expense, automobile liability insurance for the vehicle and comprehensive and collision auto physical damage insurance covering the vehicle.

B. Borrower/driver must have a valid driver's license, be at least 21 years old, and agrees to the following:

1. To pay any and all parking citations and moving violations.

2. In case of accident or vehicle failure or damage (regardless of cause or extent) a) to immediately notify the COMPANY contact at the number listed above, and the fleet vendor, within 24 hours of the occurrence;(b) to complete the accident loss report form provided with the vehicle and provide a copy to the designated regional communications contact and fleet vendor within 24 hours of the occurrence;(c) to cooperate with other parties involved in an accident, providing registration and insurance cards if requested; and(d) to file a police report as soon as possible if needed and appropriate (ex: theft, injury, another vehicle involved).

3. To operate the vehicle in a safe and lawful manner and always use seat belts and to ensure that other occupants use seat belts or suitable child passenger restraints while vehicle is in use.

4. To not engage in any competitive event, track driving or extreme off-road driving with the vehicle unless expressly approved in writing by the COMPANY.

5. To limit the mileage driven to three hundred (300) miles during the time frame specified above, unless authorized by the COMPANY in writing in advance.

6. To follow instructions in the owner's manual as to proper usage and maintenance.

7. To not operate the vehicle in Canada or Mexico.

8. To not smoke or vape, or allow others to smoke or vape, in the vehicle.

9. To not operate the vehicle while under the influence of any intoxicant, narcotic, prescription medicine or other substance that could impair the ability to operate the vehicle safely.

10. To allow only drivers pre-approved by the COMPANY in writing and who have each signed a Press Vehicle Loan Agreement to operate the vehicle.

11. To park the vehicle in a secure area or garage, or in a parking lot that provides around-the-clock security in urban areas.

C. Borrower/driver further agrees that to the extent Borrower/Driver is not affiliated with traditional media sources, if Borrower/Driver blogs, posts on social media (for example, YouTube), or otherwise publicly discusses the vehicle or other products or services, Borrower/Driver must disclose that Borrower/Driver received complimentary use of a vehicle from the COMPANY and otherwise comply with all applicable regulations, including the Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Legally required disclosures for all content must include in an understandable and unavoidable manner.

---------

Basically, treat it nicely, but use it as you would normally do in your daily life. I've eaten in several press cars. The deer hunting blood thing was my fault for not washing it out completely. I own up to that one.

The eating thing likely has to do with the detailers job. The fleet vendors want to get these cars out to journalists quickly and not spending days cleaning them up.

And yes, it is true if you are one of those people who often breaks vehicles, you will get less of them. The thing people don't realize is you may have XYZ vehicle this week, but it has to go to 8 other journalists behind you, then it goes to auction so another vehicle can be purchased by marketing for the region. If you knowingly and purposefully break a vehicle, it could be months before parts are available since these are all new models and the marketing department is screwed along with all the other journalists.

Marketing departments get a budget and they buy vehicles from the company. Then, they sell those cars at auction, recoup whatever money they can and put it back into their budget.
 
Last edited:
I think it was in the middle somewhere. I am at my other house tonight without my computer. I opened it on my ipad and saw there was a transcript, but I don’t know how to search for it on my ipad. If you search for blood or ketchup that should get you there.
LOL. That's funny about the fries. I have kids and have done road trips. Roman isn't alone with leaving stray french fries in a vehicle. One time, both my kids got sick at a family gathering. We are driving back in a Lexus sedan and they both throw up all over the rear seats. Ugh. I freaked out, then calmed down and spent the whole next day scrubbing that back seat until it was spotless. I also told the press fleet manager.

My thing is this: the odds are against you. I've driven something close to a 1,000 different vehicles over the years. At some point, you are going to get into an accident, spill something, whatever. It happens. What you don't want to do is get busted doing like 50 over the speed limit high on coke. That's a career ender.
 
Oh and the mileage thing is to give more people a chance to drive the vehicle. Automakers like to pull the vehicles after 10,000 miles or so and send them to auction. If they can keep the miles to 300 or 500 per person, that means more loans for everyone.
 
LOL. That's funny about the fries. I have kids and have done road trips. Roman isn't alone with leaving stray french fries in a vehicle. One time, both my kids got sick at a family gathering. We are driving back in a Lexus sedan and they both throw up all over the rear seats. Ugh. I freaked out, then calmed down and spent the whole next day scrubbing that back seat until it was spotless. I also told the press fleet manager.

My thing is this: the odds are against you. I've driven something close to a 1,000 different vehicles over the years. At some point, you are going to get into an accident, spill something, whatever. It happens. What you don't want to do is get busted doing like 50 over the speed limit high on coke. That's a career ender.
I vaguely remember TFL damaging a Subaru and never getting another. There may be more to the story than I remember. I guess some companies are less lenient than others.
 
The roof issue was the Silverado/Sierra, not the Colorado/Canyon. The stop sale was to ensure the software fix was working as intended and completed before any more customers took delivery. Pretty stand up by GM if you ask me. Andre's software caused a fervor from what I remember but this forum didn't exist then, (Oct 2023ish) I'm sure we would have discussed it at length.
Being in the market, I follow the GM twins as well and the roof is most definitely a Canyon/Colorado issue. Feel free to look that up. Supposedly, there is a fix in place already at the Wentzville plant. It's one of the reasons many are saying to get the sunroof. And that stop-sale you mentioned was early spring but there are still some reporting software issues. I thought it was done as well but the issues continue. Mostly they can be fixed by disconnecting/reconnecting the batt but why should that even need to be done? Yep, that could be any brand/model, but it's not.
Also, Andre chose to let his truck try and trickle charge for two days. A new battery would have had him back on the road in 20 minutes without a trip to the dealer other than to get a refund on the battery, the delay was because the battery had gotten so low it wouldn't take a charge initially. I follow GM pretty close and that software update issue has been fixed and addressed by GM. I'm sure there are other software issues but if were counting those then we need to look at Toyota, Ford and Ram too.. lots of issues with their infotainment and subscription services, auto unlock etc. I don't bring that stuff up because I think every manufacturer has software issues with new vehicles but they get worked out pretty quickly usually.
True, if he had the batt handy but that's not always possible. For example, I park mine the woods for a week. I'd be screwed when I came out to leave and it was dead. Which is why I check mine very thoroughly before I go up there. And yes, I'm sure anyone can find reports of software issue for any brand, even Toyota. But I have not seen as many for other brands or even models as much as the twins. Again, I don't mark that as a failure but something that does need to be fixed.

As clarified above, the engine issue Ben pointed at affected 4 Colorado engines in total and no customers affected, (no Canyon motors) it was a preventative measure for something that could cause a problem in the future.
And I only mentioned it because that it is similar to the TFL diff failure: GM had 4 engine failures and Toyota had 1 diff failure. Neither matters because they were both an extreme rarity and both brands fixed stood up and fixed the problem quickly.
The TFL Taco drove home, well really it was towed off the mountain until it was deemed safe to continue in 2WD. If it had been solo, who knows, they were all very concerned about it sliding down the hill in the conditions.
Personally I would much rather have a software issue with a new vehicle than a drivetrain issue.
Not when the screen is completely blank, which is the most frequent problem I have seen reported for the GMs. Definitely more than once.

I'll just repeat what I said before. I really don't see enough evidence anywhere that points to the Tacoma having a rough release. Two big videoed issues but still, just those two. It's still early though. I do say the GM release was much bumpier between the engines, the roof, the OTA updates causing batt drain and blank screens on the dash.
 
I agree?

That wasn't what you asked me though and not what I tried to answer. I also don't think I've called it an outright failure, critical absolutely but not a failure. We don't know enough yet to really make any sort of a determination.
will tell,) hell I even said I expect it to be the highest selling midsize truck in 2025. I just don't think it should be.
You most definitely answered my questions. I was not referring to you at all with that statement I made that you bolded. It was more about the general consensus from the whole internet. My god, how many videos alone were made about one diff failure out of over 40K trucks made?

I stated what I feel relative to the information available. You did as well and that's fine with me.
 
Not when the screen is completely blank, which is the most frequent problem I have seen reported for the GMs. Definitely more than once.
I think that's a pretty common problem with many vehicles these days unfortunately. I had to look up and walk my buddy through resetting his infotainment on his 22 F250, since then he's had to do it two more times. I don't remember now but a combination of hilding two or three buttons at startup hard resets the screen/system. Not saying it's ok to happen or giving GM a pass, they should definitely fix it just that I think it's somewhat of a common issue with all of the big screens. They're essentially computers and honestly I'm surprised, and glad, they don't act up more.
 
I'll just repeat what I said before. I really don't see enough evidence anywhere that points to the Tacoma having a rough release. Two big videoed issues but still, just those two. It's still early though. I do say the GM release was much bumpier between the engines, the roof, the OTA updates causing batt drain and blank screens on the dash.
There are some other common issues with the new Tacoma, TRDJohn covers some of them specifically the service/check engine light from the grill shudder system and a couple others. That's what caused a dealer visit for him, apparently a fix is coming. Again, minor and I agree the 24 Tacoma launch has not been a failure as of yet.

My main criticism is and will be price, it's just too high across the board. Sales are showing that now that stock is squarely in place but I still expect it to be #1 in midsize.
 
Back
Top