Warranty claims - a short story

[OttoCar]

Just thought I'd relay some information on a series of warranty claims that I've made recently. Although the outcome has been positive I can't say the process is without its issues. So my car (Yaris Sport 2015) has been under a Toyota Extended warranty for the last couple of years. I took it in for MoT at the main dealer recently and it failed on a broken suspension coil spring and they also noted a leak from the water pump (total running to around £800). When I queried if any of this was covered by the warranty I was told 'no'). So having checked the Toyota Extended warranty wording myself it seemed to me that the water pump was covered. So I phoned the warranty company (who I have to say were very helpful) and they confirmed the water pump and indeed the coil spring were both covered. So then I had to contact the main dealer again and tell them to contact the warranty company to initiate a claim. Collected the car after this work only to find the air conditioning was completely dead. Booked the car in again and had an aircon recharge. Well that lasted for a couple of days before it died again. Booked the car in again and was told the high pressure A/C hose had split (£541). I asked if this was covered under the warranty and was told 'no'. So I contacted the warranty company again and they said it was covered. So eventually this was also fixed under warranty. So why the the mismatch in opinion? Well the Toyota Extended warranty covers more than the Relax warranty (which I also have) so maybe the assumption by the main dealer was that the Relax warranty was in operation here and that wouldn't cover these items? But from looking at the Relax warranty terms and conditions the water pump and springs are covered anyway (not the A/C hose though). So my advice...don't take no for an answer and check with the warranty company. I understand from them that Toyota will not be offering extended warranties any longer. I have to say the warranty has been well worth it!

[Mojo1010]

Well done to you for taking the initiatives and read the small prints and being in touch with the warranty department. 

Lets just say some garages are scam-aholic. I would be pretty angry if I was in your position, would say to their face they are robbing me. And would of made a complain to Toyota UK regarding that garage. 

 

 

[TonyHSD]

Well done 👌

This is what everyone should do,  fight for their rights. Can't wait for the time when dealers and many garages will disappear and people will deal directly with manufacturers which is the trend lately. If middle men exists it should be there to help not to earn money for themselves only and scam costumers . 👍

[Max_Headroom]

I am glad i read this thread as i will be using a dealer to service my car with luck the dealer i will use will not try to stitch me up should i need to claim in the future.

[donkeychomp]

Well done indeed! 

And £541 to fit a hose is insanity. As mentioned, report them to Toyota UK.

Alex

[ICF]

Why did they recharge the Aircon gas without doing a leak check first. This would have shown the high pressure aircon hose to be faulty.

How did the garage come to the conclusion that all 3 items pump , spring & hose weren't covered under the warranty.

Makes you think the staff have been told just to say no not covered.

[anchorman]

In my experience, not all dealers are the same.  RRG Macclesfield have always been superb with me, sometimes way beyond the end of the warranty.  

[Cyker]

Yeah, that's why I started a thread ages ago to try and give shoutouts to the dealers that actually care and give good customer service - They need more exposure! Alas for me it does seem like they tend to be more at the norther end of the country!  

 

[Max_Headroom]

13 hours ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, that's why I started a thread ages ago to try and give shoutouts to the dealers that actually care and give good customer service -

Can you post a link.

[Cyker]

Aha! Gosh that took a lot of searching but I eventually found it!  

[Max_Headroom]

Thanks.

[OttoCar]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:18 PM, Mojo1010 said:

Well done to you for taking the initiatives and read the small prints and being in touch with the warranty department. 

Lets just say some garages are scam-aholic. I would be pretty angry if I was in your position, would say to their face they are robbing me. And would of made a complain to Toyota UK regarding that garage. 

 

 

The issues I have are that:

a) the dealer has no idea that the car is covered by a warranty (or at least don't routinely check). The warranty company confirmed this

b) even when there's a warranty in place they don't try too hard to establish if items are covered

b) It was left to me to do all the chasing and tell the dealer to how to make the claims

I do wonder if the dealership actually doesn't like performing warranty work. Is there a financial reason for that?

Right now I have the extended warranty AND the Relax warranty on my car. Major service coming up soon...let's see what comes of that.

[OttoCar]

On 9/3/2022 at 11:45 AM, ICF said:

Why did they recharge the Aircon gas without doing a leak check first. This would have shown the high pressure aircon hose to be faulty.

How did the garage come to the conclusion that all 3 items pump , spring & hose weren't covered under the warranty.

Makes you think the staff have been told just to say no not covered.

Well that is very interesting. I'm looking at the receipt from the A/C company that was used and under leak test it says "No leak detected". So that would mean the pipe split shortly afterwards. The whole thing doesn't sound right to me. I'd never had an issue with the A/C and it was working fine when I took the car in for MOT/spring replacement/water pump replacement. When I picked up the car there was absolutely no A/C whatsoever. Anyway it might just be a massive coincidence.

The garage simply weren't aware what was covered. Like I mentioned the water pump and coil spring are covered under both extended and Relax warranties. The A/C pipe is not mentioned in the Relax warranty however it would be worth checking. After all, Toyota's press release about the Relax warranty says the following:

"The Relax warranty covers the same parts and labour as the three-year manufacturer’s warranty provided on new Toyota vehicles and the one-year manufacturer warranty that’s standard with approved used vehicles."

The clear message with all this is "Check with the warranty company for anything".

[ICF]

13 hours ago, OttoCar said:

Well that is very interesting. I'm looking at the receipt from the A/C company that was used and under leak test it says "No leak detected". So that would mean the pipe split shortly afterwards. The whole thing doesn't sound right to me. I'd never had an issue with the A/C and it was working fine when I took the car in for MOT/spring replacement/water pump replacement. When I picked up the car there was absolutely no A/C whatsoever. Anyway it might just be a massive coincidence.

The garage simply weren't aware what was covered. Like I mentioned the water pump and coil spring are covered under both extended and Relax warranties. The A/C pipe is not mentioned in the Relax warranty however it would be worth checking. After all, Toyota's press release about the Relax warranty says the following:

"The Relax warranty covers the same parts and labour as the three-year manufacturer’s warranty provided on new Toyota vehicles and the one-year manufacturer warranty that’s standard with approved used vehicles."

The clear message with all this is "Check with the warranty company for anything".

If a garage is not aware what is covered in the warranty that is provided by the car manufacture they represent surely the stock answer should we don't know but we will check.Like I said in my previous post is it laziness or are they instructed to say no its not covered.

[TonyHSD]

lol, working on a water pump , then split ac hose, well these two are positioned one next to the other and coincident is very unlikely . Perhaps mechanics fault. AC systems when regas the machines doing the testing will not proceed with actual regal if leak was detected, smells fishy since the beginning. I am with you and wish you good luck. Push them hard, the desert it. 👍

[Hybrid21]

Once you get it sorted OttoCar I would be looking for another garage as I feel this one is not very customer orientated.