Canadian Toyota owners are not happy after a country-wide parts shortage is leaving vehicles out of commission for weeks, and in some cases, even months. According to a report by the CBC, customers across all of Canada are being affected by what Toyota says is a "planned systems transformation to provide an improved overall customer experience." To illustrate just how bad things are, Catrina Brown from Halifax, Nova Scotia took her leased RAV4 to a collision center after being involved in an accident. Because the parts required to repair her crossover can't seem to be found or delivered to the collision center, it's been a staggering 57 days since she last drove her vehicle. Even worse, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. "It's seemingly incomprehensible to me that a massive corporation like that can't get it together to find parts for their cars," Brown told the CBC. "There's been a total lack of communication or effort to be transparent. I've had to do all the work of calling and trying to contact people to find out what's going on. It's just unacceptable." Another owner, however, received word that the issue was due to Toyota Canada's "consolidation of warehouses and new system implementation." After Megan Dieter's 2016 Scion FR-S was damaged in a hit-and-run on June 26, the wait for parts apparently lasted over a month.

According to the CBC, Dieter called Toyota Canada, who told her "there is nothing they can do to reimburse me for this inconvenience." "They just said the system wasn't working and isn't telling them where the parts are located, so they're unable to go and find them or even know if they have the parts," Dieter added. "Toyota is a huge company and you'd think they'd be able to figure this out. They're not taking ownership of this." Dieter spent two weeks in an insurance-provided rental and then some more time in a collision center-provided replacement car. She eventually got her FR-S back just last Friday, almost two full months from the day of the hit-and-run. However, not all affected owners are so lucky with the rental cars. Mississauga, Ontario's Bogdan Dakanovic reportedly started waiting on parts for his 2018 RAV4 on June 18. When the maximum period of time his insurance would cover a rental was approaching, he asked Toyota for a loaner but was rejected. Dakanovic reportedly even offered to pay to ship the parts if Toyota could find them but was rejected yet again. Six weeks after the RAV4 was brought in, the body shop was able to get it in roadworthy-condition but the car was still "missing a grille and other pieces." The shop apparently told him the whole shebang should've taken just three days.

Toyota Canada