Hello, I purchased a 2012 Prius v with 40k miles from a previous owner (not a dealer) about a month ago. The previous owner did the oil changes himself so the car doesn't have service records in any Toyota dealer. I am worried that if anything happens to drivetrain (5yr/60k mi warranty) or HSD (8yr/100k mi warranty) and I have to bring it in to a Toyota dealer for service, they won't honor the warranty because the scheduled services were not done by Toyota. I had a prior experience with a VW Jetta with 100k mi drivetrain warranty where the tranny failed at 90k miles and they didn't want to fix it because I hadn't serviced the car with a VW dealer (even though VW says it's a sealed non serviceable transmission!!) They only honored the warranty when I brought in the receipts from oil changes I had done at a quick lube (nothing to do with tranny!). Anyways, just wanted to get input from the members here. Any thoughts? Should I worry?
Around here at least, the first 3 yrs/36,000 miles service was free with ToyotaCare. Any explanation for why the PO didn't utilize it?
Likely a thanks-but-no-thanks situation. I've done all the oil changes myself. It isn't as tough a decision up here: no free maintenance program. I think if I had brought it in I'd at the least have a knackered engine underpanel, door hinges all grunged up with grease spray, nuts and bolts grossly overtorqued and at least one unneeded change of both air filters. If I was more unlucky: a half-stripped drain bolt bolt, and maybe a missing oil filter element.
He's a mechanic and has his own shop, said he purchased the original parts and did it himself. I guess maybe he can write me up some receipts from his shop for the services and that would work?
No warranty coverage can be denied for ANY reason unless the failure is a direct result of some action or inaction of the user. IOW, the only thing that might be effected by "no oil change documentation" is an engine failure related to lack of lubrication. As an aside, when buying a used car from a private party its prudent to ask for proof of maintenance. But it's of no concern to you unless your ICE blows. And the burden of proof is on the dealership, not the user.
Go get a 40k oil change and keep the record along with anything the owner/mechanic will give you. It's extremely unlikely that you will need the warranty in any case. The potentially bad engineering issues that occasionally come up are usually recalls that are independent of warranty, like the gas pedal and ecu software recalls.
