Extended Warranty for 07 Prius?

[cybervic]

Hi everyone, 

I just got my 07 Prius 2 weeks ago (bought privately), been offered an extended warranty by Toyota and the cost is £516 for 24 month or 30000 miles, whichever comes sooner.

 

I am wondering what are the general opinion about Toyota's extended warranty? I am very tempted because it's a 10 years old car and includes European Breakdown cover but a friend who has a hybrid for few year seem to think it's just a waste of money. £516 is not a small cost for us, and buying a warranty means spending more on Toyota Services too so it will cost about £1000 with Toyota. 

 

Anyway, I have included below the past history of the car, all of them were done by Toyota except for the text in Red which were carried out by an independent garage. Not much has been changed apart from twice the brake pad and disc. Please let me know what your experience are, either with warranty or how many repairs you had.

 

Thanks!

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Presumably the cost of £516 for two years is under Toyota's current offer of two years for the price of one - so you're already saving a fair bit. Plus the hybrid high voltage Battery is covered. Toyota's extended warranty is said to be one of the best there is. See. https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/warranty/extended-warranty.json   Potential saving £516

The cost of Toyota Roadside Assistance is between £72 and £84 annually, depending on how one pays (annual direct debit, single payment by credit/debit car or monthly direct debit). See   https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance/index.json. Two years @ £72pa - potential saving £144.

For the extended warranty, servicing will need to be done by Toyota. As it is over five years old, one can take advantage of Toyota's Essential Care servicing scheme, which is approx £100 for the silver service (intermediate) and £180 for gold (full). See. https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/service-mot-maintenance/servicing.json

So your outlay for the two year warranty and two services, may be around £800. Plus MOT's (2 x £56 - £112). See below as well.

Has the coolant been changed - due at 10 years of age or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first? If not, may have to budget for that. 

To spread the servicing cost for you, you could consider a two year service plan, which fixes your costs for the two years and where you can pay monthly by direct debit (interest free) - https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/service-mot-maintenance/servicing.json

 

 

[johalareewi]

Didn't think MrT offered a new extended warranty if the car is over 10 years old?

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Toyota changed the terms last year - the vehicle can now be up to 12 years old, and the mileage limit is at the point of sale of warranty. So for example a car could be 11 years 11 months and at 99,000 miles when an extended warranty is purchased.

[BhxTrev]

I was told when I took out the extended warranty on my previous Gen3 Prius that I could only do that up to 10 years? I recall that the price, which then was also an offer for 2 years cover including Toyota Club membership was just over £500. Now considering that the Club membership, which is essentially a roadside/breakdown/get you home service would normally cost about £80 for a year, taking £160 that you would pay from the £516 leaves £336, which equates to £168 per year, for a peace of mind warranty. It's a no brainier & if I were you, especially considering the age of the car, I would take up the offer. 

[cybervic]

Thank you all, 

 the £516 quote indeed includes "free 12 month offer."

I am not an car expert but I have been doing the basic maintenance myself for few years now, i.e., all the oil and filter changes then I pay local mechanic to check my car over. So my maintenance outlay is usually £70-£100 a year. Now that I have a hybrid, I am no idea if local garage knows much about it and would it be a problem having the same maintenance arrangement as I've done before?

The Extended Warranty T&C says the car must be "serviced and inspected by an Authorised Toyota Service Centre at least once a year or more frequently for high mileage use, as set out in your service record booklet." 

My booklet only mention intermediate/full service, will the "Essential Care" service meet the warranty T&C? if so, the total outlay would be £700 after deducting breakdown cover which usually cost me £40ish per year when bought with insurance. 

After some googling of Prius 2 would suggest it has some weak points such as wheel bearing, transaxle failure..etc. Looking at service history, it seems the car only had one FULL service in 2014, no coolant change so far and not a lot of other stuff done either. (apart from brake pad/disc).  Is this normal? or will it mean more repair to come later? Toyota Warranty doesn't cover any wear and tear and consumables, so the warranty is essentially an insurance on more expansive part/system failure I think?

[FROSTYBALLS]

 

2 hours ago, BhxTrev said:

I was told when I took out the extended warranty on my previous Gen3 Prius that I could only do that up to 10 years? I recall that the price, which then was also an offer for 2 years cover including Toyota Club membership was just over £500. Now considering that the Club membership, which is essentially a roadside/breakdown/get you home service would normally cost about £80 for a year, taking £160 that you would pay from the £516 leaves £336, which equates to £168 per year, for a peace of mind warranty. It's a no brainier & if I were you, especially considering the age of the car, I would take up the offer. 

Below is an extract from the extended warranty page on Toyota's website ( https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/warranty/extended-warranty.json ):

"A Toyota Extended Warranty is substantially similar to the warranty you get with a brand new car, but it applies to the car you own already, whether you were the first owner or you bought it used. The Toyota Extended Warranty can be renewed until the vehicle is 12 years old or 100,000 miles (at the point of sale of the extended warranty), and if a part covered by the Toyota Extended Warranty suffers electrical or mechanical failure at any time during the term, Toyota is committed to fixing it. You don't pay for replacement parts or labour."

Toyota's service regime is every 12 months or 10,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Intermediate services are due at  years 1, 3, 5, etc, and Full services at years 2, 4, 6, etc. So from your chart of servicing, Intermediate services would have been done in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2015, with Full services done in 2009, 2014 and 2016. The 2016 service was done under the Essential Care scheme - 5 year +Gold - and would have been the equivalent of a Full service.

The Independent services done in 2011 and 2012 may have been either equivalents to Intermediate or Full (we don't know).

The coolant change won't be due until the 10 years/100,000 miles, whichever occurs first. - so as the car is ten years old the coolant change will be due at the next service (unless it was done as part of the Essential Care Gold service in 2016).

The Essential Care scheme satisfies the extended warranty requirements for servicing.

No extended warranty, nor any new car warranty, covers wear and tear.

As Trevor highlights above, for a relatively small cost, you can cover yourself against major issues that may occur, and on a ten year old car, whatever the make, you may get something occur. Similar to insurance, which covers you in case an accident or similar happens. Hopefully nothing will occur, but it really provides some peace of mind .....

 

[johalareewi]

The Toyota Extended Warranty can be renewed until the vehicle is 12 years old or 100,000 miles (at the point of sale of the extended warranty),

The until 12 years old is a welcome enhancement.  I am confused about the 100,000 miles bit.  The mileage restriction used to apply when you bought the first extended warranty.  If you already had an extended warranty and extended it further, there was no mileage limit, only the 10 years old limit.  Is this still the case?

[Ancient Nerd]

Be very careful about the renewal conditions. My dealer refused to renew the warranty on my five year old, 130,000 mile Gen 3, on either a one or two year basis.

Renewal was apparently only possible via the warranty company, whose significantly higher charges bore no relationship to the published Toyota costs. Also there was no cheaper 2 year renewal option. This made my preferred option of keeping the car a much less viable proposition.

The warranty company's renewal letter also stated quite specifically that there was no guarantee of future renewals. So quite how Toyota's renewals until (I think then) 7 years works I never found out

Edited April 26, 2017 by Ancient Nerd
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[cybervic]

6 hours ago, Ancient Nerd said:

Be very careful about the renewal conditions. My dealer refused to renew the warranty on my five year old, 130,000 mile Gen 3, on either a one or two year basis.

Renewal was apparently only possible via the warranty company, whose significantly higher charges bore no relationship to the published Toyota costs. Also there was no cheaper 2 year renewal option. This made my preferred option of keeping the car a much less viable proposition.

The warranty company's renewal letter also stated quite specifically that there was no guarantee of future renewals. So quite how Toyota's renewals until (I think then) 7 years works I never found out

Hi, I think your refusal must be due to 130k miles (i.e. over 100K). I just bought my prius (privately) so not sure about previous extended warranty. but I expect them to let me know if the car is not qualify for any warranty as it has been serviced with Toyota.

[johalareewi]

Last year, when I asked about extending the warranty on my gen3 prius (it was 6.5 years old and 130,000 miles) I was told I couldn't have the 2 for the price of one offer because that would be a new extended warranty and the car had over 100,000 miles.  My only option was to extend the existing extended warranty for another 2 years for about £800.

That gave me another nudge towards swapping to a plugin.

[sushd]

Try to get the dealer to include "free MOT for 2 years" on the £516 offer! 

When I renewed 2 years extended warranty last year at my local Mr T, I asked for a price reduction (as I always did and managed earlier) I was told they couldn't reduce the price on the "offer" but that they would include free MOT for the 2 years!

 

BW