Vaughn Nadeau

New transmission, my 2007 Toyota Rav4 SUV My transmission had a faulty reverse gear---it "jumped" into reverse gear with lots of grinding noise on a steep, backward slope. First did this on a My transmission had a faulty reverse gear---it "jumped" into reverse gear with lots of grinding noise on a steep, backward slope. First did this on a 2,000 mile trip to Maryland from my Tallahassee home but luckily forward gears were working and also it didn't happen every time it was moved into reverse. I made it back to Florida but, once home, it did it again when backing up on a hill to get around a vehicle in front of me having car-trouble (and it was much worse that time). I took it to Legacy Toyota the next day only to hear "It needs a new transmission" and that will cost $5,400.00+. I was told that transmission failure had never been seen in my year/model Rav4 at that dealership so I wondered if perhaps my transmission had always been faulty and just took this long to completely fail or was I just the unlucky one?! AT THIS POINT I'd like to tell you about Me-and-My-Car: I was essentially the only driver during its 7 years. My husband drove a little the first two years but he had vision problems and soon stopped driving altogether. Me? I'm a careful and good driver whose had no citations in 64 years of driving (my first car was a 1936 Master Chevrolet!) The only dust-up my Rav4 had was the fault of a driver who ran into its rear while I was stopped in traffic. I've treated my Rav4 with kid gloves---keeping it clean and waxed, never missing a maintenance check, even after the maintenance agreement ran out. (Everyone is amazed that this un-garaged vehicle is actually seven years old.) BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME. I left the dealership and took the car to AAA-1 Transmission in town, leaving it there when I got an estimate much less than Legacy Toyota's. HOWEVER...when I got home I had a voice message from Alan Blackburn, Legacy Service Representative, and learned that the Maintenance Manager, Vaughn Nadeau, had called the factory to "see what could be done." Lucky for me AAA-1 had not begun disassembling the car since Alan said that the factory and the dealership would combine to offer me a new factory-reconditioned transmission free and would split the labor costs in half with me. My car is now working beautifully and at a cost of less than $1,500.00. These people at Legacy Toyota didn't have to go above-and-beyond for me; it would have been no skin off their noses. I'm nobody special. What I am is someone who loves Toyotas and deeply appreciates that a dealership named Legacy Toyota and the people who work there gave a damn! More

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