Toyota's Paint-Warranty Program Got Robbed From the Inside. The Dealer Still Had to Pay Toyota Back $2.1 Million.

Somewhere in a Toyota service drive outside Boston, a claim gets typed into a warranty system, a body shop gets a work order, and a reimbursement check eventually clears from Toyota back to the dealership. That pipeline exists so owners with a factory paint defect can get it fixed without a lawyer or a lemon-law fight. According to a new lawsuit, it's also exactly how two former employees at a Massachusetts Toyota dealership and its own paint contractor allegedly walked off with more than $2.1 m