Toyota Relax Warranty

[JF8]

Hi I am new to this forum, I found it when searching for information about the Toyota relax warranty, if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

I was looking at buying a 2015 RAV4 and a major factor is this warranty.

The issue is that I live about 3 hours drive from my nearest Toyota approved garage, I was planning on taking the car through to them annual to renew the Toyota Relax warranty.

There are lots of independent VAT registered garages near where I live, my father has a Vauxhall and under their warranty can take it to any local VAT registered garage for a warranty repair.

I won't name which branch it was but I spoke to a Toyota approved dealership and the person verbally told me I could take a car covered by the Toyota Relax policy to any local VAT registered garage for a warranty repair which sounded brilliant.

However to double check I messaged Toyota UK and they gave me contradictory information that for a warranty repair I would have to take it to a Toyota approved garage...

That would be a big problem for me as I live so far away from a Toyota approved garage, hypothetically if the car was to develop a major fault and couldn't be driven I would have to pay a huge sum to have it transported 3 hours away, which would defeat the purpose of having the warranty.

I am hoping that the person I messaged from Toyota UK had the wrong information and the people from the approved garage were correct... does anyone know what the right information is?

I asked for more information from the Toyota UK person and they just sent me a link to the terms and conditions but I can't find the exact information yet.

[Catlover]

Hi John, and welcome to the TOC and forum.               
When you car was new it came with a 5 year manufacturers warranty, and in those days you could take you car to a vat registered independent garage for a service and the warranty would be in tact as long as the garage used a equivalent parts to Toyota and kept to the mileage/time criteria. All sounds good so far, but it would be the car owners responsibility to prove parts and procedures were to Toyota requirements. After all, if you took the car to Toyota dealer you would get Toyota approved parts and procedures. After 5 years you can do what you want, no warranty in place. However, if you were to continue service at Toyota, and at some time you suffer failure of some part Toyota, at their discretion, may offer a contribution to the costs. That is not a warranty, it is an offer of goodwill due to customer loyalty.

Moving forward to today. If you buy a new Toyota now you get 3 year manufacturer warranty, not 5 years, but all other things similar. After 3 years if you choose to continue to have the car serviced at Toyota in accord with mileage/time criteria then the Relax scheme kicks in and Toyota will extend the warranty by 12 months. Note there is NO option once Relax kicks in for you to have the car serviced other then at Toyota. The Relax annual warranty can be extended year by year up to 10 years/100,000 miles.

when you quote your fathers Vauxhall warranty…… how long does it go on for. The Toyota 5 year warranty I considered very good, but now it is 3 years, then Relax applies if you choose but on Toyota terms for Relax.  Again, I consider a 10 year warranty to be very good. Obviously wear and tear is not covered (same with all manufacturers), but failure due to manufacturing faults are. Whereas in the past customer loyalty was rewarded by Toyota may give a contribution toward repair, it is more formal under Relax.

Further to that, if your car was a Hybrid, included with the annual Toyota service is an annual hybrid Battery health check, this was an extension to the 5 year warranty. This HHC went up to 15 years. This is still in existence today. You can take a Toyota hybrid for a HHC even if you don’t have the car serviced at Toyota, this will cost £45 at the moment.

The full terms and conditions of Toyota Relax warranty is available on the internet, and indeed somewhere on this forum. If I can find it I will post it onto this thread.

Added…. the very first post on this thread starts of with 3 links, read them all of you want, but the 3rd one has within it a link to the full terms and conditions of Relax Warranty. Personally I think a 10 year warranty is amazing, far exceeds what I see to be the current best warranty provider (Kia at seven years).

The choice is of course yours.

[Heidfirst]

4 hours ago, JF8 said:

That would be a big problem for me as I live so far away from a Toyota approved garage, hypothetically if the car was to develop a major fault and couldn't be driven I would have to pay a huge sum to have it transported 3 hours away, which would defeat the purpose of having the warranty.

 

Toyota Roadside Assistance is £72pa by DD ... 😉

"Recovery to any destination in the UK or Recommended Toyota Centre" https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance/

[Heidfirst]

2 hours ago, Catlover said:

Note there is NO option once Relax kicks in for you to have the car serviced other then at Toyota. The Relax annual warranty can be extended year by year up to 10 years/100,000 miles.

That is not my understanding as the Relax scheme will also cover vehicles (subject to age/mileage) that have been serviced outwith Toyota dealers once they have had a service at a Toyota dealer (caveat is that they won't cover an existing fault so you can't get it serviced at an independent & then if it develops a fault take it to a Toyota dealer for a warranty repair under Relax ).

In theory afaik, if you so wished, you could dip in & out of the scheme (although imo that would negate the advantages/point of the scheme).

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Whilst a car is within it's new car warranty, under Block Exemption it may be serviced at any VAT registered garage and the warranty would be maintained. In the event of a warranty claim, the onus would be on the owner to keep evidence the car has been serviced according to the manufacturer's requirements and that equivalent parts had been used. Warranty repairs would need to be done via the manufacturer's dealer network.

Extended warranties are not covered by Block Exemption, and manufacturers or companies offering extended warranties can legally stipulate where and by whom servicing is done. The Relax warranty is an extended warranty.

The Relax warranty is provided as part of a service within Toyota's dealer network. So after the new car warranty expires, if one wants to renew the Relax warranty every year up to the 10 year limit, servicing will need to be done at 12 months/10,000 (2 years/20,000 miles in the case of the Proace & Proace City) miles within the Toyota dealer network.

 

[Catlover]

19 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

That is not my understanding as the Relax scheme will also cover vehicles (subject to age/mileage) that have been serviced outwith Toyota dealers once they have had a service at a Toyota dealer (caveat is that they won't cover an existing fault so you can't get it serviced at an independent & then if it develops a fault take it to a Toyota dealer for a warranty repair under Relax ).

In theory afaik, if you so wished, you could dip in & out of the scheme (although imo that would negate the advantages/point of the scheme).

 

What I was trying to say is, the Relax Warranty is applied only if you have a Toyota service. You do not have the option of having a service at an independent garage like within the initial (current) 3 year new car warranty where, as Frostyballs says, the Block Exemption applies.                       
 

[Heidfirst]

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

What I was trying to say is, the Relax Warranty is applied only if you have a Toyota service. You do not have the option of having a service at an independent garage like within the initial (current) 3 year new car warranty where, as Frostyballs says, the Block Exemption applies.                       
 

You do have the option of having it serviced at an independent though  - just that you won't be covered by the Relax warranty outwith the initial manufacturers warranty offered with the car when it was sold. 😉

You could, however, bring it within the Relax scheme in the future with an official Toyota service & as I said, in theory, should you so want, you could take it in & out of the scheme (maybe even shake it all about & do the Hokey Cokey 😛 ).

You didn't have the option of having it serviced at an independent under the previous Toyota Extended Warranty either.

[JF8]

On 8/18/2021 at 3:44 PM, Heidfirst said:

Toyota Roadside Assistance is £72pa by DD ... 😉

"Recovery to any destination in the UK or Recommended Toyota Centre" https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance/

Thanks, I bought the car in the end because of this roadside assist, worst case scenario it can get me to a Toyota garage.

The car I bought is a 2015 RAV4, it is has the 5 year warranty sticker in the back window, does anyone know if Toyota do 10 year Warranty stickers yet for this relax program?

It is not a major issue, just a small issue, but if I decide to sell the car in a few years it might be a nice thing to have the 10 year warranty sticker in the back window instead of the 5 year warranty one.

[Catlover]

In the case of selling your car the best “sticker” you could have is proving you have had the car serviced at a Toyota dealership and within stipulated mileage/time restraints. 

[AJones]

1 hour ago, JF8 said:

The car I bought is a 2015 RAV4, it is has the 5 year warranty sticker in the back window, does anyone know if Toyota do 10 year Warranty stickers yet for this relax program?

It is not a major issue, just a small issue, but if I decide to sell the car in a few years it might be a nice thing to have the 10 year warranty sticker in the back window instead of the 5 year warranty one.

I can't see Toyota issuing a simple '10 year warranty' sticker because Relax isn't that, but on their website they have a carefully worded 'Upto 10 years warranty *T&Cs apply' logo.

But how you demonstrate the Relax warranty has been applied is an interesting one, Toyota's blog refers to it being stored on their systems and mentions your dealer might send an email confirming it has been applied, so presumably just the email as proof.

Trouble with any warranty though is knowing what use it is in practice, how much falls between the cracks in the exclusions and how easy it is to get the manufacturer to pay out.

[Heidfirst]

5 hours ago, JF8 said:

Thanks, I bought the car in the end because of this roadside assist, worst case scenario it can get me to a Toyota garage.

You are welcome, that was the idea. However, it is a very well regarded breakdown service at a reasonable cost (particularly if you will make use of the European cover).

[JF8]

On 8/21/2021 at 12:01 PM, AJones said:

I can't see Toyota issuing a simple '10 year warranty' sticker because Relax isn't that, but on their website they have a carefully worded 'Upto 10 years warranty *T&Cs apply' logo.

But how you demonstrate the Relax warranty has been applied is an interesting one, Toyota's blog refers to it being stored on their systems and mentions your dealer might send an email confirming it has been applied, so presumably just the email as proof.

Trouble with any warranty though is knowing what use it is in practice, how much falls between the cracks in the exclusions and how easy it is to get the manufacturer to pay out.

 

I got the details of my Toyota Relax warranty emailed through but the warranty is not directly from Toyota, it is from a third party company called The Warranty Group.

The Warranty Group have some very bad reviews on trustpilot. But some say that trustpilot needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, the only people who leave reviews are people who have had a bad experience, you don't really hear from people who have a good experience.

They say to be suspicious when you see a company with a lot of good reviews on trustpilot as it is likely the company could be paying a company abroad to leave them lots of fake good reviews. Also some companies allegedly pay these firms to leave their rivals lots of bad reviews. Fake reviews are a big problem more should be done to crack down on it.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, JF8 said:

I got the details of my Toyota Relax warranty emailed through but the warranty is not directly from Toyota, it is from a third party company called The Warranty Group.

The Warranty Group manage the Relax and other Toyota extended warranties on behalf of Toyota GB, and this has been the case for a number of years - so nothing new. 

The Relax warranty is a Europe wide initiative by Toyota Europe, and different countries will have differing arrangements over who administers the scheme. In the UK it is The Warranty Group. It isn't a third party warranty.

Same type of arrangement with Toyota Insurance, which is underwritten and managed by Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Ltd rather than Toyota.

[Cyker]

Just to clarify, the Toyota Relax Warranty is *NOT* a 10 year extended warranty - It is a *1* Year extended warranty that renews every time you service it at a Toyota garage, and that you can renew up to 10 times.

[AJones]

10 hours ago, JF8 said:

The Warranty Group have some very bad reviews on trustpilot. But some say that trustpilot needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, the only people who leave reviews are people who have had a bad experience, you don't really hear from people who have a good experience.

Yeah that's something of an understatement, 90% Bad reviews and 1.4 stars out of 5, doesn't inspire confidence, even taking the reviews with a pinch of salt it paints a pretty poor picture.

10 hours ago, JF8 said:

They say to be suspicious when you see a company with a lot of good reviews on trustpilot as it is likely the company could be paying a company abroad to leave them lots of fake good reviews. Also some companies allegedly pay these firms to leave their rivals lots of bad reviews. Fake reviews are a big problem more should be done to crack down on it.

I had a quick skim through the comments and most seem quite detailed on the warranties they'd bought, the problems they'd had and the money they were out of pocket, which makes them seem quite credible. Only found one review relating to Toyota, but again it was a bad one.

Does anyone know if it's the same lot underwriting the Hybrid Health check Battery warranty, or is that Toyota direct?

I feel quite disappointed, while dealership servicing can be a bit expensive I thought it might be worth it for an extra year of Toyota warranty, but if you're not actually dealing with Toyota and are going to struggle to claim then makes you wonder if its worth it. Might be better to get it serviced at a local garage and save the difference to pay for any future repairs.

[FROSTYBALLS]

I've gone through a lot of the reviews on Trustpilot, and most are re the RAC warranties which policyholders purchase separately, have different terms & conditions, etc, etc.

From memory I don't recall many topics on these forums complaining about the Toyota extended warranties, which are also managed by The Warranty Group.

I'm not interested in trying to convince members to go with the Relax warranty. That is down to you to decide - so make your choice !

[Cyker]

Does the Warranty Group even matter?

I'd assume the Toyota garage would determine if the work is covered by the warranty, and if it is put in a claim for time and parts - We, the customer, shouldn't have to deal with that side of things?

 

[Catlover]

I agree with what Frosty says above, not seen many complaining about warranty work under the 5 year warranty so why should the Relax be any different.

For sure, some owners will get confused (or be ever hopeful) that they get wear and tear replaced in the Relax warranty, the same as they hoped it would happen in the 5 year warranty.

Its in Toyota interest that the warranty (Relax or 5 year) is applied fairly in accord with the terms. Don’t forget that many times Toyota has given a contribution to repairs outside of its warranties too, give them credit for that.

 

[AJones]

9 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

I've gone through a lot of the reviews on Trustpilot, and most are re the RAC warranties which policyholders purchase separately, have different terms & conditions, etc, etc.

I think a lot of the RAC warranties come with buying a used car, with the dealer including one as part of the package and the buyer able to extend it for some extra years if they want.

9 hours ago, Cyker said:

Does the Warranty Group even matter?

I'd assume the Toyota garage would determine if the work is covered by the warranty, and if it is put in a claim for time and parts - We, the customer, shouldn't have to deal with that side of things?

That would be interesting to know, certainly it would give more confidence. Guess it depends on who makes the decision on what work is funded, I assume it is the Warranty Group and not the dealer, so would have to be their decision?

 

18 minutes ago, Catlover said:

I agree with what Frosty says above, not seen many complaining about warranty work under the 5 year warranty so why should the Relax be any different.

I thought the 5 year warranty was different, it was a warranty provided by Toyota directly as the manufacturer so they make the decision on what is paid and what isn't, rather than via a 3rd party.

[Catlover]

Andy, it’s Toyotas name behind both of them, I don’t believe they will allow a third party to tarnish that name.  The Relax has only just started not even 3 months yet and there are a lot of negative thoughts, not built on any actuality’s. 

Below is a copy of the terms, Toyota owners could do well to read if they not already done so.

https://media.toyota.co.uk/toyota-relax-a-revolution-in-vehicle-warranty-cover/

more detail

https://www.toyota.co.uk/download/cms/gben/Toyota Relax TCs - 25.05.21_tcm-3060-2286757.pdf

[Heidfirst]

2 hours ago, AJones said:

I thought the 5 year warranty was different, it was a warranty provided by Toyota directly as the manufacturer so they make the decision on what is paid and what isn't, rather than via a 3rd party.

Toyota Europe's warranty is & has been 3 years. It was Toyota GB that decided to extend  it to 5 years so it literally was a 3 year factory warranty plus a 2 year extended warranty albeit that probably wasn't transparent to customers (but I don't think that it had to be as it functioned under Toyota GB's oversight similar to a 5 year factory warranty).

I know from experience that in the case of warranty claims the dealer would write a report & forward it to Toyota GB who would then either approve/turn down or in some cases have their own engineer inspect before decision.

& as has been mentioned Toyota are known for often looking at out of warranty claims with a benign eye (subject to servicing etc.)

[AJones]

9 hours ago, Catlover said:

The Relax has only just started not even 3 months yet and there are a lot of negative thoughts, not built on any actuality’s. 

The concerns are based on the actuality of what's written in the terms and conditions because these have a very long list of clauses and exclusions, which doesn't match the easy going, relax, messaging.

There's some surprising exclusions - if your satnav unit fails, not covered, multimedia unit is excluded. Engine coolant hose buried in the engine develops a leak, or aircon hose wrapped around the engine bay starts leaking, not covered, because all rubber parts are excluded, including engine mounts, boots and covers. Everything exhaust related is excluded, so if the catalytic converter fails in year 6, its on you.

Quote

The owner of the vehicle is entitled to have mechanical, electrical and electronic defects attributable to manufacturing or assembly repaired free of charge wherever possible,

...

Exclusions:

b) Damage or defects as a result of any wear and tear, excessive free play, noise and/or vibration;

So it doesn't just exclude wear and tear items, the typical consumables like brakes, clutches etc we all expect to have to pay for. It excludes wear and tear failures of all components. It only covers failures due to manufacturing and assembly defects.

That's fine for new cars at low mileages where failures are mostly manufacturing defect related, but once cars get older, at 6+ years and higher mileages almost everything which goes wrong is wear and tear. From that point onwards, it's increasingly difficult to argue anything is a defect attributable to manufacturing and assembly, almost everything is wear and tear related.

If your wheel bearing goes at 2 years old, its likely a manufacturing defect so covered, but at 8 years and 80,000 miles, that's wear and tear so excluded. 

In fact thinking about the typical things which go wrong with a car as they get older; wheel bearings, water pumps, alternators, CV joints, aircon faults they will almost all be related to wear and tear and not manufacturing or assembly defects, so not covered.

I'd ask the question, take a 9 year old Toyota with 90,000 miles on the clock, what could go wrong that wouldn't be a wear and tear failure? That would be provable as attributable to a manufacturing or assembly? What would T&Cs of the warranty actually cover?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Even the new car warranty only covers manufacturing defects. Items which are considered to have a wear and tear element, such as brake discs, will have limited coverage under a new car warranty.

The previous extended warranty also didn't cover wear and tear, and provided cover for manufacturing defects on mechanical components. So items like the multimedia system, body, etc weren't covered. So the Relax warranty is no different in that respect.

i cannot see any point in asking hypothetical questions about whether a 9 year old Toyota could have faults attributable to manufacturing defects - nobody can say for definite.

At the end of the day, one's choice will come down to, once the new car warranty has expired, whether you want some warranty coverage for your car or not. In which case you have three choices:

1. Not bother with an extended warranty and either service it yourself or use an independent.

2. Have the car serviced by a Toyota dealer and get the Relax warranty.

3. Buy a third party extended warranty.

End of.

 

[AJones]

25 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Even the new car warranty only covers manufacturing defects. Items which are considered to have a wear and tear element, such as brake discs, will have limited coverage under a new car warranty.

The issue isn't about wear and tear items like brakes and clutches. When major components fail in the first few years, then because they fail so early, wear and tear is unlikely so its pretty clear cut that it is a manufacturing defect and so covered by the warranty.

But if your car has got to 6, 7, 8 or more years and something major fails, the fact it has lasted that long makes it highly unlikely and very difficult to prove that it was a manufacturing defect, it's much more likely to be wear and tear, which is excluded.

In a new car only the consumables (brakes, clutches, lights etc) are wear and tear items, in older cars almost everything is a wear and tear item. So a warranty on an older car which excludes wear and tear failures of major components isn't going to cover most failures which occur, it is not very good protection.

25 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The previous extended warranty also didn't cover wear and tear, and provided cover for manufacturing defects on mechanical components. So items like the multimedia system, body, etc weren't covered. So the Relax warranty is no different in that respect.

I'm not suggesting it should cover wear and tear items, like brakes and clutches. But it should cover failures of major components like the multimedia system and on older vehicles, I suspect many people will assume it would cover failures of major components, but based on the T&Cs, when many of those failures will be wear and tear related, it doesn't look like that is the case.

25 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

i cannot see any point in asking hypothetical questions about whether a 9 year old Toyota could have faults attributable to manufacturing defects - nobody can say for definite.

It is being sold as an upto 10 year warranty, so asking what faults and problems that warranty actually covers on a 9 year old vehicle is a very valid question. If a wheel bearing wears out, is it covered? If the water pump gets loose and develops a leak, is it covered? 

These are exactly the kind of issues you get with older cars and the kind of things people look to warranties to cover. 

25 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

At the end of the day, one's choice will come down to, once the new car warranty has expired, whether you want some warranty coverage for your car or not.

To make that decision you need to know what the warranty actually covers you for and that is in the detail.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, AJones said:

To make that decision you need to know what the warranty actually covers you for and that is in the detail.

The Relax terms and conditions are attached within the first post of this topic.

As earlier stated nobody, especially on these forums, will be able to predict what faults there could be on a 9 year old car and whether or not these are manufacturing defects or otherwise.

As Toyota Owners Club is not associated with Toyota, and Toyota don't visit these forums, pose the same question to Toyota.

My previous comments stand.