Why I won't go back to a car dealership for repairs

Well, I got the call from my Esso Station mechanic (the station on Cedar Hill and Blenkinsop to be specific) and was actually energized by the $4oo quote to fix my car.

He said the sparks weren't firing (rotor + contacts), though all spark plugs were replaced last summer by Toyota. And he said the fuel filter was probably the original. Seems replacing the spark plugs was dealing with a 'cosmetic' symptom of a greater problem that Toyota never did figure out.

Now, the fact that the sparks weren't firing sounds like a perfectly good explanation for why my car was not starting so I am quite confident that it will solve my starting issues. As for the fuel filter, that is a tough fix, so tough in fact, he figures Toyota probably purposely avoided it like the plague. I am hopeful it will resolve my poor mileage, but that really would be the cherry on top at this point. He also read through the last tune up report from Toyota and was surprised at how little they did for the amount they were charging. No kidding. Here is how that Toyota tune up saga went:

• My car wouldn't start, so I had it towed to Toyota. I was planning to get a tune up when my tax return came in (yes, the very return Rev. Can. realized this month was $500 too high) the next month, so I told them to just go ahead and do the tune up then while it was in the shop.
• They addressed what they thought was the issue, and sent me on my way. I realize now, they missed the request to do a tune up, so when the woman at Toyota told me the bill was only $300 and I didn't need a tune up (and that mileage would increase) I was ecstatic.
• A week later, it was towed to Toyota again for not starting at which point they did the $1700 tune up they should have done in the first place. I was a bit annoyed and figured I probably paid $300 more than I should have since it had to go in twice, but since I had neglected the car for a while (save oil changes) I sucked it up. I actually called them on it but nothing much amounted to it. In the end, the tune up did NOTHING for mileage, and the car started acting up again in the rain.
• All seemed well until the November rains kicked in. Once again, it was towed to Toyota and I explained the problem (won't start in rain), and they "checked the starter contacts" which is NOWHERE near the distributor cap which is where moisture is known to wreak havoc. Of course, they found nothing wrong!

We'll have to see how well the Esso fix goes, but at this point, I have way more confidence in them than the guys trained to work on Toyota's. I bet if I took it to Toyota and they finally figured out what Darren at Esso did, I would have been pretty cheesed at them for taking so long. Funny how taking it to someone else and hearing all that is wrong (with car and Toyota) seems less worse than hearing it from the jugheads who had 3 tries at it. Talk about validating my choice to go elsewhere.

I hypothesize that dealerships are so bogged down with maintaining all the lease cars they have (for which a simple hook up to the diagnostic computer will do the trick) that when it comes to dealing with an older car, they are just plain lazy. For that reason, I'll never take this car back to the dealership again.

I'll probably write a letter to Toyota, but I need to see how well Esso panned out.