How Does The Warranty Work?

[ticktockmac]

Does anyone know how the Toyota warranty works? I don't have much faith in the Toyota dealer who sold me my Prius and I'm not impressed by his attitude. I know that I'm free to use a different dealer for servicing, but if anything goes wrong under the warranty, will any dealer rectify the problem - or only the one who sold me the car? When I spoke to Toyota recently they implied that Warranty work had to be paid for by the dealer and if that's true, I can't imagine that any dealer other than the one who sold the car would honour the warranty. Can anybody enlighten me?

[fuel miser]

Does anyone know how the Toyota warranty works? I don't have much faith in the Toyota dealer who sold me my Prius and I'm not impressed by his attitude. I know that I'm free to use a different dealer for servicing, but if anything goes wrong under the warranty, will any dealer rectify the problem - or only the one who sold me the car? When I spoke to Toyota recently they implied that Warranty work had to be paid for by the dealer and if that's true, I can't imagine that any dealer other than the one who sold the car would honour the warranty. Can anybody enlighten me?

I'll try and enlighten you, ticktockmac. Last July I bought my two year old Prius T4 at British Car Auctions in Bedford. It had covered 50,000 miles with one company owner and full service history, so still had 10,000 miles of Toyota warranty remaining. As I drove the car home that day, I noticed an odd thrumming noise coming from the front of the car. Not having ever driven a Prius before, I wasn't sure if the noise was normal, and enquired on this forum to see if anyone had any ideas. I subsequently took the car to my nearest Toyota dealer, which was Jemca in Sidcup, Kent. They diagnosed a faulty wheel bearing, noticed that the alloy wheels were corroded (I hadn't!) and I also reported that one of the remote key-fobs was faulty, a button was jammed and the fob was unusable. All this was carried out under warranty (including a new set of wheels) without any debate whatsoever.

If your car has the original manufacturers warranty, you should be free to take your car to any Toyota dealer you want. I can't see why that shouldn't also apply to any extended Toyota warranty, if the car you bought was used, the dealer you take your car to will simply invoice Toyota for any warranty work, irrespective of who sold you the car. Hope this helps.

[Parts-King]

Any Toyota dealer will carry out warranty work for you, it's called market forces The dealer is reimbursed by Toyota for doing the work on their behalf

Kingo

[Chris Dance]

ticktocmac, You seem to have an unfortunate experience with the Toyota dealer where you purchased your car. I have owned lots of different makes of car but as far as I am concerned Toyota dealers I have used have all been the best. Nothing has been too much trouble. Last year I reported to my local dealer that I had a tyre losing pressure. Within an hour they fixed the problem at very reasonable cost. My local dealer is excellent nothing is too much trouble and I did not purchase my Prius from them. My Prius was bought from another Toyota dealer in a nearby town. So that proves you can use any dealer you wish.

If you feel strongly about your present Toyota dealer report your feelings in writing to Toyota customer care.

[fuel miser]

ticktocmac, You seem to have an unfortunate experience with the Toyota dealer where you purchased your car. I have owned lots of different makes of car but as far as I am concerned Toyota dealers I have used have all been the best. Nothing has been too much trouble. Last year I reported to my local dealer that I had a tyre losing pressure. Within an hour they fixed the problem at very reasonable cost. My local dealer is excellent nothing is too much trouble and I did not purchase my Prius from them. My Prius was bought from another Toyota dealer in a nearby town. So that proves you can use any dealer you wish.

If you feel strongly about your present Toyota dealer report your feelings in writing to Toyota customer care.

Hi Chris, the service must vary between dealers, because the car I bought had only just been serviced by a Toyota dealer up in Scotland a week before I acquired it. How had they not spotted the very noisy wheel bearing, or the alloy wheels that were all rusting? They were hardly looking after their customer (a company that had purchased numerous vehicles from that particular dealer), and it hardly seems in their interests, because they get paid by Toyota for carrying out warranty work anyway!

[Chris Dance]

Hi fuel miser. I expect you are correct there must be good and bad dealers even in Toyota. From what you say the dealer who did your wheel bearing etc is good. The dealer in Scotland probably knew the car was going for auction and ignored the fault. Bad dealers need reporting to Toyota Customer Care I rekon. Toyota owners I have spoken to in our town speak highly of our Toyota dealer.