I wish I could say that my most recent experience with Allied was a great one. In January, we took our beloved 1996 4Runner into them for radiator change. They suggested to also do the head gaskets. We didn’t want to at the time, but thought “we should do this right”, and our $600 dollar repair job became a $3,400 job. But at least we were doing it right. They called us at the end of the week to inform us that the head gaskets could not be repaired, and that we now needed an engine rebuild. We were shocked that the cost of the engine rebuild was $9,000. We asked if they could just leave put the truck back together and we will come get it. They said that we could come grab the truck, but the engine could not be put back together, and it was not driveable. So, we could pay for the work they had done, and now have a truck that is in worse shape, or we could pay $9,000 for it to be repaired. Being upset, we contacted Mile Dahl, the owner of Allied, and told him how upset we were. He said to give him a few days to see what he could do. Long story short-ish, he found a “new” engine in New York that came from Japan with 60,000 miles. With everything said and done it would cost us $5,400 to have it sent here and for them to put it in. We agreed even though our $600 job was now $5,400. On February 21, 2020, they called us to say the truck was ready. My husband got called into work, and my son was on a date, so I took the shuttle they offered and picked it up myself. I went in, paid and asked how the engine looked. “It was the prettiest, cleanest, engine I’d ever seen.” That’s what Ryan said. I asked if I need to worry about the transmission next. They said no. I got into the truck and drove straight up to DI and Lindell. While waiting for the turn signal, the truck stalled. I restarted and completed the turn. I drove another 100 yards, and it stalled again. It didn’t restart. I called Allied, and they told me not to worry, they would come get me and drive me home, and tow the truck back to the shop. I removed the key, pressed the hazard lights and sat in the truck to wait. While waiting, I noticed people weren’t going around me. I thought that maybe the lights weren’t on. I opened the door to get out, and when I stepped down, I saw white smoke curling up from the engine and fire dripping from the bottom. I ran to the side of the road, and the engine compartment quickly became engulfed in flames. Ryan from allied showed up, ran to the engine and ran back to move his car out of the way. At this point the fire was huge. Still white smoke. Ryan called the fire department and they arrived in time for the engine to explode. I walked the rest of the way home. Mike called me that night to check on me. I was shaken but all in all blessed that I got out of the truck. I asked what happened, he said he didn’t know. I was contacted by his insurance company later in the week and have been dealing with them since February. They were calling it a “property” claim only and offered $4,800 for it. We’ve put in thousands of dollars in king coil overs, new gears, bumpers, racks not to mention the $5,400 for the engine. We declined their offer. They came up to $5,200, and I finally decided to let our attorney handle it. The engine rebuild back in January would have been $9,000, so their client (Allied) has already told us the value was higher. Anywho, I thought that Mike was being a stand up guy and I had great things to say about this whole horrible experience. That is until I obtained counsel, and three days later they IMPOUNDED the truck, and a week later I received a certified letter saying that our accumulating costs were over $600. To say we are unhappy is a great understatement. We contacted a certified Toyota mechanic, and he said that the Allied mechanic who put the engine in didn’t put the fuel line properly, and while they probably did “run” the truck for a couple of hours, they probably didn’t test drive it and then put it back on the rack. If they did, they would have noticed the fuel leak (remember the white smoke, I have videos of this) and I wouldn’t have driven it just a mile and a half up the road before it caught fire. Pure negligence, and then the icing on the cake of them towing the truck to an impound lot without even letting us know. We had to pick it up, pay hundreds in fees and tow it home because Allied told them that we abandoned the vehicle. We did not. We couldn’t move it during the insurance investigation. They had the keys, they towed it back to their shop, and then they had it impounded without a call or email. I’m disappointed in their service. I’m disappointed in their lack of integrity. And I’m beyond disappointed in the loss of our
