Warranty

[confused again]

Been looking to swap the car and the Toyota 5 year warranty is very attractive along with their well known reliability record. However, on another forum a poster (who claims to work for Toyota) claims that providing the dealer submits whet he refers to as an MLA (Mechanical Loss Avoidance) Toyota will pay for repairs long after the warranty has expired. On the forum the chap is suggesting that Toyota will fix the auto box on a posters 54 plate (14 year old) Verso. Service history is not an issue, he says he submits claims of this type all the time and has a 95% success rate.

Asked my local dealer and the said they had never heard of the MLA but would submit a claim to Toyota if the car was only recently our of warranty and fully serviced which sound about right.

E-mailed Toyota who told me pretty much the same but added that the owner would need to a long standing one which would count me out since never had a Toyota before.

But the chap on the forum is insistent that the Toyota MLA really exists and means free (or reduced cost) out of warranty repairs for long after the warranty expires.

So which is correct. Are the dealer and Toyota trying to avoid free repairs or is the poster a totally deluded liar. My gut feeling is the latter.

Thanks.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Think you want to stick to the facts.

Toyota offer a written 5 year warranty which details exactly whats covered and whats not.

As I understand things , during that warranty the car must be serviced at the correct intervals and by Toyota or  a vat registered garage of your choice, and they must use only Toyota genuine  parts, otherwise they can void the warranty.

Often if there is a known manufacturing defect causing problems outside warranty you may be able to seek a contribution towards the repair, but thats not a right.

Do Toyota do free  fixes on  14 year old auto boxes without a service history  - would you ??

 

[Heidfirst]

Hi Paul, welcome to TOC.

Toyota have a well-deserved reputation for being 1 of the best manufacturers at actually standing behind their warranties rather than weaseling out.

You only need to look at the head issue with the 1AD/2AD series diesels where Toyota instituted a free scheme for repair/replacement up until 7 years or 112,000 miles (i.e. better than what came with the new car) for an acknowledged potential issue to see that. However, Toyota will usually want evidence of maintenance to their schedule/parts quality & for out of warranty issues which require goodwill from Toyota they usually like to see that has been reciprocated by the owner in the form of servicing by the dealer network.

I believe that there is also a scheme for discounted parts/labour for old vehicles to keep them on the road but that is not the same as free.

& of course you can take out an official Extended Warranty until  the vehicle is 11 years old if within mileage limits.

There is a warranty administrator for a Toyota dealer as a member here so he can perhaps flesh things out further.

 

TLDR - if buying a new car, great - if thinking about buying an ancient, known faulty car & having Toyota fix it for free dream on imo. 😛

[confused again]

1 minute ago, oldcodger said:

Do Toyota do free  fixes on  14 year old auto boxes without a service history  - would you ??

Certainly not but that is a pretty extreme example that the chap used.

I have had contributions for work done out of warranty before by Ford and VW but that was withing 6 months of the warranty ending and in both cases the cars were well below the mileage limit.

If they do repairs FOC out of warranty surely it would be well known (it would be difficult to keep secret) but those owners who paid extra for an extended warranty would be more than a little upset, I know I would be.

[Heidfirst]

6 minutes ago, confused again said:

If they do repairs FOC out of warranty surely it would be well known (it would be difficult to keep secret) but those owners who paid extra for an extended warranty would be more than a little upset, I know I would be.

they certainly do for known issues where they have instituted a Customer Satisfaction Campaign but those are usually subject to time/mileage constraints =- see 1AD/2AD issue that I mentioned.

You can't get an official Toyota Extended Warranty  past 12 years so I would suspect that at 14 & expecting free repairs the other chap is likely to be disappointed ...

[FROSTYBALLS]

As far as I'm aware the information given on this other forum is incorrect.

Taking the head gasket issue on the AD series engines as an example. Toyota provided cover for this issue on a case by case basis for a period of 7 years/111,846 miles, whichever occurred first. This goodwill assistance has now expired for vehicles affected by the issue. There have been recent examples on these forums where an owner has had the head gasket fail when the vehicle has gone beyond either the time or the mileage limits. Toyota has been approached for assistance, and approach has been denied as the vehicle was outside scope of the cover provided. 

Where owners have had a full Toyota service history, but the car has been outside the new car warranty, there have been instances where goodwill assistance has been provided. One recent example was where a member had an IQ which was outside warranty but had a full Toyota service history, and the white paintwork was peeling - a known issue with some white IQ's. Toyota agreed to respray the car. But without a full Toyota service history, it is extremely doubtful whether goodwill would have been provided.

[confused again]

Thanks for that. Just checked on the interweb and our local dealer is currently offering 2 years extended warranty for the price of 1 year for a mid sized car for £500 which seems quite a lot even for 2 years, for one year its surely daylight robbery. They will allow you to keep extending to 100,000 miles or 10 years old. Thus as I said above if owner A paid £500 to get free repairs and owner B got cost free repairs via the mysterious MLA owner A is being well and truly ripped off. If I paid the £500 I and found that my dealer was carrying out repairs FOC out of warranty I would be looking at getting the cost of the warranty reimbursed, it would be most unfair.

It looks like @ £500 for the first 2 years and assuming after that its £500 a year (when the offer has expired) to get warranty cover up to 10 years is £2000 in total. There is no way I would pay that especially if buying a car from a brand with an excellent reliability record. Without reading the T & C's I have no idea what the exclusions are (there will be many as there always are - wearing items are never included, but one T & C clearly stated on the web page is the car must be serviced by a Toyota dealer every 12 months. As we all know the block exemption that allows servicing by any VAT registered garage does not apply to extended warranties unless clearly stated.

So to sum up the poster is clearly a Troll as I suspected. Will keep looking for a car that ticks the boxes, brand does not really figure in our decisions, its the actual suitability for our needs and the deal that really matters. In the last 10 years we have had a BMW, a couple of Nissans, a Seat and a Kia. The only problems we have had in that time have been broken springs on the BMW and one of the Nissans (both after the cars were over 5 years old so no warranty) and a holed A/C condenser on the Kia (replaced FOC under their 7 years warranty at 4 years old). Think I will keep taking the risk, or buy another Kia if I want a long warranty.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The 2 for 1 offer on the Toyota extended warranty is not just limited to your dealer. When you compare the cost with those of other manufacturers (not third party warranties) it is very competitive, and also includes Toyota Roadside Assistance for the period of the warranty (which costs around £71 annually).

The extended warranty may be extended up to 12 years, not 10. One can see what is covered and not covered by checking Toyota's website.

Of course, having an extended warranty or not is your choice. If you don't want it, don't have it.

[confused again]

32 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The 2 for 1 offer on the Toyota extended warranty is not just limited to your dealer.

Surely if its a Toyota Warranty you have to buy it from a Toyota Dealer. Anything else is one of those pointless 3rd party jobbies.

32 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

also includes Toyota Roadside Assistance for the period of the warranty (which costs around £71 annually)

Not needed, have Aviva Rescue which covers all our cars, any cars we drive plus any we are passenger in. All for about £60 a year. Used it three times since 2005, its the RAC who turn up.

32 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The extended warranty may be extended up to 12 years, not 10.

So when they say 10 years I presume they mean you renew for 2 years when its 10 years old which takes it up to 12 years.

Finally I have found reference to the mysterious MLA

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/toyota-mla-loss-avoidance-programme.150668/

But surely the OP is mad if he thinks that Toyota will subsidise the repair of his 25 year old Landcruiser. At that age it will probably not have seen a Toyota dealer for 20 years. Why should anyone expect any help. Cars of that age have normally long since been scrapped.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, confused again said:

Surely if its a Toyota Warranty you have to buy it from a Toyota Dealer

Yes. What I said was the offer isn't just limited to your dealer. It is a national offer

One may renew the extended warranty up to the vehicle's 12th birthday regardless of whether there is a current 2 for 1 offer.