Toyota Direct Stock

[PAISLEY1903]

80% of the way in convincing my wife to get a Toyota.  

She currently drives an I30 Hyundai Diesel 13 plate.  Although only 40,000 miles it hates winter (struggles to start), guzzles fuel (34mph) and although looks lovely on outside its becoming a rust bucket underneath.

I seen there is "Toyota Direct Stock" which says "available to buy online and collect from your preferred local dealer".  Ive seen a few options to be honest, ranging from 2000-4000 miles 24 plates.  My worry is you obviously can't see it other than online videos / photos.

What's your thoughts!

[ernieb]

Seems like a good scheme to me. There seems to be a 14 day return policy as below:

We are confident that you will love your Toyota when you collect it. However, if you are not completely satisfied, you have 14 days from the day you collect the vehicle in which you can return it and receive a full refund.

 

Returns are subject to some terms and conditions, if you have any further queries, please contact our customer support team

[PAISLEY1903]

59 minutes ago, ernieb said:

Seems like a good scheme to me. There seems to be a 14 day return policy as below:

 

We are confident that you will love your Toyota when you collect it. However, if you are not completely satisfied, you have 14 days from the day you collect the vehicle in which you can return it and receive a full refund.

 

Returns are subject to some terms and conditions, if you have any further queries, please contact our customer support team

Thank you ! 

[Terry10]

Yep, I bought a couple of Fords over the years like this and never had a problem at all.

would totally recommend.

Terry

[+Steve]

you can reject the car if it does not meet your expectations. Just make sure you study the photos beforehand. 

[First_Toyota]

My understanding, having asked the question of a few dealers over the years (although not Toyota I should add), is that most of these cars will have been used by Toyota / manufacturer staff for 3-6 months. Knowing somebody who works for another brand at their UK Head Office, he gets a new company car supplied every six months and his previous one goes into their version of this scheme. He does NOT look after the cars at all so that’s something to consider, albeit they should be ‘reconditioned’ to deal with any cosmetic problems.

Volvo told me they operate this type of arrangement when trying to tempt me into such an XC40 before I decided on the CH-R. The ‘direct, ex-management’ Volvos I saw at two local dealers left a lot to be desired, especially scuffed interior plastics which indicated little care had been taken by the previous user(s)! The answer was “…we prepare them properly and fix any issues when we sell them…” which seems an odd approach to me, and one that hopefully Toyota doesn’t follow!

On final word of caution from the past. Back in 1991 I bought a Rover Montego (told you it was from the past!) from a local dealer group. It was ‘nearly new’ with just 5k miles and was a very good price, having been ‘…previously used by the manufacturer.’ I was much younger then and a bit naive. Imagine my surprise when the V5 turned up to show the first ‘owner’ had in fact been Hertz! I doubt they’d get away with such things now but something else to be very clear about is exactly who the registered owner was.

Footnote, that Montego was stolen after only a few weeks so resale turned out not to be a problem…😂😂😂
 

 

[philip42h]

Back in the day of company cars we had a scheme where we had GM cars (Vauxhall or Saab) for 10 months / 10,000 miles, whichever came first. The driver would be penalised if the car didn't go back in near showroom condition, and the car would be sold as 'nearly new' / 'approved' etc.. Basically it was a scheme to get used GM cars onto the market.

Toyota will have a good supply of ex-demonstrators, company lease and ex-PCP cars to select from - i.e. cars owned by Toyota Finance (probably).

It's a perfectly good way of getting hold of a nearly new car in good condition - but don't fool yourself into imagining that it is a new car, just good as new.

We bought a Volvo once that turned out to have been previously owned by a hire company. It was sold as having 5,000 miles on the clock, but it turned out that the clock was set to kilometers so actually only a around 3,100 miles. It was a great car. The point being that there is no real reason to shy away from cars previously owned by a hire company. They will at least have been properly maintained.

And I too once had a Montego - for 75,000 miles!

[+Steve]

with GDPR we never know who owned it last anyway. If the condition is good, service history is up to date and it drives well then there is not much more you can do. The warranty should cover some of it and plus there is the handback if you come across any issues in the first 14 days. 

 

[ernieb]

Generally speaking modern cars are pretty robust and you still have the Toyota warranty. Sure there may be a few scuff marks here and there but most cars pick those up whoever owns them.
I agree with @philip42h GM cars scheme was closely monitored on return. I had a friend who benefitted, there were some strict rules applied to users who mistreated the cars, up to and including withdrawing the scheme.

[Nick72]

Similar boat. 

Wife's mini is about 7 or 8 years old now. It's still reliable but it's getting on (repairs costs) and she wants to give it the daughter to run into the ground as her first car and get herself a new one. But she wants another Mini that's one or two years old, which I personally think are way overpriced. She's set on an electric Mini as we have the 7.4kW charger for my PHEV and she only does local commutes (typically 10 miles round trip) with a 26 or so mile round trip for work. 

I've been trying to convince her to get a Toyota. She had an Aygo for a long time and she loved it. Never a thing wrong with it. But when we moved house it meant she had to get to work on the motorway. It was too tinny and underpowered. Her current 1.4 turbo Mini is not. 

Not sure what the options are but CH-R is probably as big as she would consider. She prefers small cars. 

[PAISLEY1903]

16 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Similar boat. 

Wife's mini is about 7 or 8 years old now. It's still reliable but it's getting on (repairs costs) and she wants to give it the daughter to run into the ground as her first car and get herself a new one. But she wants another Mini that's one or two years old, which I personally think are way overpriced. She's set on an electric Mini as we have the 7.4kW charger for my PHEV and she only does local commutes (typically 10 miles round trip) with a 26 or so mile round trip for work. 

I've been trying to convince her to get a Toyota. She had an Aygo for a long time and she loved it. Never a thing wrong with it. But when we moved house it meant she had to get to work on the motorway. It was too tinny and underpowered. Her current 1.4 turbo Mini is not. 

Not sure what the options are but CH-R is probably as big as she would consider. She prefers small cars. 

CH-R is where we will head.  Redirect my RAV4 payment once balloon cleared towards that.

I think a used CH-R will do. Was in new version and old version today.  1.8 boot better than 2.0 so will probably end up with that. 

[Cyker]

The regs roughly say you have 14 days to return the car for a full refund for no reason, 6 months to return the car for a full refund if an undisclosed and unreasonable problem crops up and they can't/won't fix it, and 12 months to return the car if there is a problem for a partial refund (Minus 'usage').

You're right to be cautious though - I and many others have found that dealer Approved Used schemes are no guarantee of quality, just higher prices!

 

25 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

I've been trying to convince her to get a Toyota. She had an Aygo for a long time and she loved it. Never a thing wrong with it. But when we moved house it meant she had to get to work on the motorway. It was too tinny and underpowered. Her current 1.4 turbo Mini is not. 

Not sure what the options are but CH-R is probably as big as she would consider. She prefers small cars. 

Mk4 Yariiiissssss.....   

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Nick72 said:

She's set on an electric Mini as we have the 7.4kW charger ...

So, don't be mean - get her an electric Mini! 🙂

It's really a question as to whether you are any good at "sharing" - we aren't that good - but you've got a long-range PHEV, so you should be able to get away with a short-range EV and 'share' as necessary.

At least, that is my direction of travel. We have a pair of hybrids that do more or less the same job - I want to swap one of them for an EV that does short range journeys more effectively. And in so doing, rather than have the EV / hybrid compromise in a single car (i.e. a PHEV) we'll have it across two cars instead ...

[First_Toyota]

4 minutes ago, philip42h said:

It's really a question as to whether you are any good at "sharing" - we aren't that good - but you've got a long-range PHEV, so you should be able to get away with a short-range EV and 'share' as necessary.

At least, that is my direction of travel. We have a pair of hybrids that do more or less the same job - I want to swap one of them for an EV that does short range journeys more effectively. And in so doing, rather than have the EV / hybrid compromise in a single car (i.e. a PHEV) we'll have it across two cars instead ...

I’ve got a few friends and colleagues who are very content EV drivers. The common factor for all of them is they are two car families - one petrol/diesel/hybrid and the other EV. Essentially that means they can use both cars in the most effective way and with fewest compromises - longer journeys in a conventional fossil fuel vehicle, and shorter local journeys in the EV. 

[Nick72]

27 minutes ago, philip42h said:

So, don't be mean - get her an electric Mini! 🙂

It's really a question as to whether you are any good at "sharing" - we aren't that good - but you've got a long-range PHEV, so you should be able to get away with a short-range EV and 'share' as necessary.

At least, that is my direction of travel. We have a pair of hybrids that do more or less the same job - I want to swap one of them for an EV that does short range journeys more effectively. And in so doing, rather than have the EV / hybrid compromise in a single car (i.e. a PHEV) we'll have it across two cars instead ...

She honestly doesn't do anythong more than 60 miles and that's rare. If we go away we take the PHEV. 

Also a company car so I'd need to square that off. 

The new EV minis with the new giant circular display and now with Android Auto, looks great. I've said she might be better waiting for a second hand one of those of she doesn't want a Toyota. Leave it till April to June. Get one that's under 12 months old.

[PAISLEY1903]

On 9/1/2024 at 7:39 AM, ernieb said:

Seems like a good scheme to me. There seems to be a 14 day return policy as below:

 

We are confident that you will love your Toyota when you collect it. However, if you are not completely satisfied, you have 14 days from the day you collect the vehicle in which you can return it and receive a full refund.

 

Returns are subject to some terms and conditions, if you have any further queries, please contact our customer support team

 

16 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Similar boat. 

Wife's mini is about 7 or 8 years old now. It's still reliable but it's getting on (repairs costs) and she wants to give it the daughter to run into the ground as her first car and get herself a new one. But she wants another Mini that's one or two years old, which I personally think are way overpriced. She's set on an electric Mini as we have the 7.4kW charger for my PHEV and she only does local commutes (typically 10 miles round trip) with a 26 or so mile round trip for work. 

I've been trying to convince her to get a Toyota. She had an Aygo for a long time and she loved it. Never a thing wrong with it. But when we moved house it meant she had to get to work on the motorway. It was too tinny and underpowered. Her current 1.4 turbo Mini is not. 

Not sure what the options are but CH-R is probably as big as she would consider. She prefers small cars. 

 

14 hours ago, Nick72 said:

She honestly doesn't do anythong more than 60 miles and that's rare. If we go away we take the PHEV. 

Also a company car so I'd need to square that off. 

The new EV minis with the new giant circular display and now with Android Auto, looks great. I've said she might be better waiting for a second hand one of those of she doesn't want a Toyota. Leave it till April to June. Get one that's under 12 months old.

Yes my thoughts... hope her i30 lasts till April get chr job done. Just a month after balloon payment is done and free up my cash. 

The new CHR 2 ltr basically has no boot..... I was shocked at it the corolla 1.8 boot is about double the size (couldn't compare 1.8 chr boot) 

[Willss]

Word of warning about 'Direct Cars'. Few years ago we were looking to buy a Ford Cmax and there were a number of Ford owned ones which could be "ordered through your local Ford dealership".  The vehicle would only come up on searches as available from your closest dealership.  Each dealership worked on a different % profit margin so presumably Ford's price plus  10%, 15%, 20% etc.  If you put in a different postcode for your home address the same cars came up at the dealership nearest to that postcode at a different price - sometimes significantly different and when you're essentially buying blind you may as well get it from the cheapest supplier! Play around with your home location, be prepared to travel to collect and you may save a lot!

 

Obviously Toyota may do things differently and I suspect transport costs for dealerships will vary etc on location but worth bearing in mind! 

Also 'Direct' cars rarely displayed number plates online so you had to work it out using colour, spec and mileage!!!

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Willss said:

Word of warning ...

This is Toyota (not Ford). The price is clearly displayed and fixed before Toyota GB know where the buyer is enquiring from or where the car is to be collected. The registration plates are clearly visible in the advertisements. The stock is:

Quote

Toyota Direct Stock, carefully refreshed and stored at the Toyota UK factory. Available to buy online and collect from your preferred Toyota Dealer*

*Excluding Isle of Man and Channel Islands

So, it's at Burnaston and could be viewed / collected from there if one wished.

On the other hand ... I looked up a bZ4X (just for fun) - the details provided didn't state whether the car in question was FWD or AWD and contradicted itself by stating at one point it had a 7kW OBC and at another that it had a 11kW OBC so one would certainly need to "make an enquiry" to confirm the specification ... 

[Flatcoat]

My thoughts on this: what Ford do or did is totally irrelevant; given the mileage use referred to I would recommend a PHEV; do you need a large boot? If the car and deal appeals then go for it and enjoy! 

[TonyHSD]

I looked at the website and wonder where these cars are from.. ? 
They seems like some been used for a while with up to 10000 miles on the clock but others are very low mileage like 300 or similar. Also on the description says reconditioned, which can mean respray , repair etc. Perhaps some of these were returned from unhappy owners that found some  faulty paintwork, poorly aligned body panels, or other issues. 
There are slightly less expensive than brand new with discount but are they any better than ex demo or unsold orders , or perhaps 1-2 years old examples ? 

[Heidfirst]

Toyota staff get very favourable deals - fairly sure that a lot of Toyota Direct Stock comes from them & the press fleet.