Main dealer or Independent Specialist Servicing as a Taxi?

[GLXi]

Good evening, everyone! I have a 2020 (69 reg) Corolla Touring Sports and was just wondering which way of servicing is more beneficial for me. Since I'm a taxi driver, I tend to clock more miles than usual which means more frequent servicing. However, I am stuck with 2 options:

1. Go to the main dealer and pay for major and intermediate servicing and get a 1 year/10,000 mile warranty with hybrid health check (warranty extension can be done up to 5 times).

2. Go to my local indy for servicing. Purchase the parts from the dealer then have the indy garage install the parts.

Can anyone decide which is better for me, please?

[FROSTYBALLS]

What mileage is the car currently on?

[GLXi]

8 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

What mileage is the car currently on?

Approx 18,000 miles. Last serviced by a motor trader at 9278 miles.

[FROSTYBALLS]

As I see it:

Provided the car was originally supplied by Toyota GB and is not a write off, a 2020 car at your mileage (18K) should still be within the 5 year/100,000 mile new car warranty which was current in 2020.

As such, the hybrid Battery should still be covered under the new car warranty until it is either 5 years old or reaches 100K miles.

The hybrid Battery extended warranty provided with the hybrid health check only kicks in when the new car warranty expires.

So your choice may currently be:

a) servicing at a Toyota dealer every 10K miles. Next service will be due at around 19K and will be the Full service.

b) servicing at your independent every 10K miles with parts bought from a Toyota dealer. 

c) when the new car warranty has expired @5 years/100K miles, either:

          • continuing services at a Toyota dealer where the hybrid health check can provide a hybrid Battery extended warranty for 10K miles (5 times); or

          • continuing services at your independent, but paying for a standalone hybrid health check at a Toyota dealer to get the hybrid battery extended warranty for 10K miles (5 times).

[GLXi]

13 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

As I see it:

Provided the car was originally supplied by Toyota GB and is not a write off, a 2020 car at your mileage (18K) should still be within the 5 year/100,000 mile new car warranty which was current in 2020.

As such, the hybrid Battery should still be covered under the new car warranty until it is either 5 years old or reaches 100K miles.

The hybrid Battery extended warranty provided with the hybrid health check only kicks in when the new car warranty expires.

So your choice may currently be:

a) servicing at a Toyota dealer every 10K miles. Next service will be due at around 19K and will be the Full service.

b) servicing at your independent every 10K miles with parts bought from a Toyota dealer. 

c) when the new car warranty has expired @5 years/100K miles, either:

          • continuing services at a Toyota dealer where the hybrid health check can provide a hybrid Battery extended warranty for 10K miles (5 times); or

          • continuing services at your independent, but paying for a standalone hybrid health check at a Toyota dealer to get the hybrid battery extended warranty for 10K miles (5 times).

That's exactly right! Which in your opinion think is the most suitable for a high mileage driver? 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Depending on costs, your independent would probably be cheaper.

One proviso is that during the remainder of the new car warranty and if you went the independent route, you would need to keep a detailed record of what has been done during each service to have proof of correct servicing should a warranty claim be needed.

As regards post new car  warranty servicing and using your independent,  you would need to allow for an additional £50 approx at current rates for each hybrid health check, which may narrow the cost gap between dealer and independent servicing.

[GLXi]

15 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

As regards post new car warranty servicing and using your independent,  you would need to allow for an additional £50 approx at current rates for each hybrid health check, which may narrow the cost gap between dealer and independent servicing.

Good point. I'll probably go independent but you see, I want a dealer stamp lol! I'm a bit of a fanatic 🙂

 

I'll go for independent specialists anyway, they're experienced and cheaper 🙂

[DC_Ms]

Toyota offer discounted prices for taxi drivers , do check out with them 

[GLXi]

1 hour ago, DC_Ms said:

Toyota offer discounted prices for taxi drivers , do check out with them 

I did speak to them about discounts, they said they didn't have any 😞

[TonyHSD]

6 hours ago, GLXi said:

I did speak to them about discounts, they said they didn't have any 😞

Perhaps you can try another dealer and tell them that colleagues are getting discounts at other towns. If you maintain your car outside Toyota  official dealers your warranty in reality is gone and prices are very similar. If you maintain your car by yourself you loose warranty but savings are huge and any eventual future failure and repair will be covered. I do that and save myself roughly around £1000 a year, could be even more when adding the car washes every week. I am not a taxi but I drive a bit more. 👍

[FROSTYBALLS]

3 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

If you maintain your car outside Toyota  official dealers your warranty in reality is gone and prices are very similar.

Not true.

Block Exemption legislation means that owners can have servicing done at a VAT registered garage provided that correct servicing has been carried out and parts of equivalent quality are used, whilst maintaining the new car warranty. However, it is down to owners to ensure they have adequate proof of both the servicing and parts used.

Block Exemption doesn't apply to extended warranties, and, in this case, the warranty provider can stipulate where servicing is done.

[DC_Ms]

6 hours ago, GLXi said:

I did speak to them about discounts, they said they didn't have any 😞

A phone call to the call centre will help you out

[Cyker]

I think TonyHSD just means it's much harder to make a successful warranty claim if you service outside the dealer network - As you say it's up to the owner to provide proof, which I suspect would be easily dismissed by a less favourable dealer, but maybe I'm being overly pessimistic!

 

[GLXi]

12 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I think TonyHSD just means it's much harder to make a successful warranty claim if you service outside the dealer network - As you say it's up to the owner to provide proof, which I suspect would be easily dismissed by a less favourable dealer, but maybe I'm being overly pessimistic!

 

Your warranty is still valid if you choose an independent specialist and have the receipts of the genuine parts carried out and I'm sure Toyota won't dismiss it 🙂

[GLXi]

51 minutes ago, DC_Ms said:

A phone call to the call centre will help you out

Which call centre are you on about?

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

I think TonyHSD just means it's much harder to make a successful warranty claim if you service outside the dealer network - As you say it's up to the owner to provide proof, which I suspect would be easily dismissed by a less favourable dealer, but maybe I'm being overly pessimistic!

 

That’s exactly what I meant. On paper it might be one thing but I reality is very different. Most dealers will refuse even to look at your car if you don’t pay them. The hassle you have to go through to proof you are right and they have to repair under warranty does not worth the little savings you can make if you take the car to independent., let’s put it that way. 👍