California man picks up his Toyota from the dealership. Then he checks his glove compartment: ‘I’m missing money’

If there's one place a person would hope they'd be able to leave their car without worry, it's the car dealership. Nowhere better to keep a car safe and taken care of, right?

Not necessarily.

One man has taken to TikTok to share how he entrusted his vehicle to a Toyota dealership. Then he ended up with a less-than-desirable surprise.

‘I trust Toyota'

California-based content creator Mickey (@tio_mickey) posted a video detailing an unpleasant discovery he'd made. The video, which features the text “I just got scammed wtf,” has more than 3,800 views.

“I just left Toyota from getting my car service,” Mickey said. “Before I got here, I had some cash. I was gonna pump gas after, and I counted the cash.”

After counting the cash, Mickey dropped his car at his “trusted” Toyota dealership. But things weren't adding up when he retrieved it.

“So I trust Toyota, right? I trust them,” he said. “So I left [the cash] in my glove department. Little do I know, when I get my car back, I'm missing money. I'm like, are you serious?”

Mickey said he searched for the cash. He checked to see if “it fell somewhere, but no.” He said this inconvenience came on top of a three-hour added wait time to retrieve his car in the first place after it was serviced. Moreover, the service in question apparently wasn't completed properly.

“The warning, ‘service required,' they didn't reset it,” Mickey said. “So I had to go back and ask the guys to reset it.”

Thus, Mickey went back to the dealership to fix the light and to bring up the cash incident. But the technician just gave him a “little business card.” He told Mickey to call the number on it for assistance.

“That's messed up and unacceptable,” Mickey wrote in his caption. “I need to go through my dash cam.”

@tio_mickey Damm that's messed up and unacceptable. I need to go through my dash cam #toyota #toyotaservice #whatdoido #caughtindashcam #caughtin4k ♬ original sound – Micky

‘Don't trust anymore': Viewers weigh in

Mickey's viewers responded to his plight with dire warnings to never trust anyone with cash, including dealerships.

“Never leave cash in ya glovebox,” commented one viewer. “Cuz they ALWAYS go thru your glovebox to look at your cabin filter.”

“Don't trust anymore!” another said.

“Why would you leave cash in your car anywhere?” another asked. In response, Mickey wrote, “Because it's my car! No one should go through my stuff. Period.”

“Common sense,” the viewer replied to Mickey. “Do not leave money or valuables in your car anywhere.”

One viewer even left several paragraphs, spread out over three separate comments, alleging that a technician at his own local Toyota dealership had been caught on camera going through a customer's car and “revving” it.

Have other people had similar complaints?

Mickey is clearly not alone in his plight. A well-trafficked Quora post asks for advice on “What do you do if a car repair shop steals items from your car,” and multiple Reddit posts allege thefts from various dealerships.

“I went to a dealership, caught a technician disconnect my dashcam then stuff turn up missing,” wrote one customer in r/Toyota. “How … do I proceed. I don't have proof of him taking stuff, but there was no reason to disconnect it unless he was trying to hide something.”

According to multiple posts, the answer is as simple as it is universal: Call the police. One Toyota employee even chimed in the comments of the Reddit thread, emphasizing the importance of following this protocol.

“If something goes missing (only ever had it claimed twice) we don't play around, we insist you call the police here and file a report right here and now,” the employee wrote. “All of our service is recorded from multiple angles so if it's needed, there's plenty of evidence there.”

Buzz News has reached out to Toyota via email and Mickey via TikTok comment.