Don't know what the car warranty situation is in the USA, but here in the UK we have normally had a 60,000 mile upto 3 year warranty on cars. Kia have recently increased theirs to 7 years with some strings attached after 3 years. Then around June time this year Toyota increased their warranty to 100,000 miles or 5 years! I guess this was in reaction to the bad press and recall situation earlier in the year. We're so commited to quality, we've introduced a 5 year warranty on all our new cars | Toyota UK But now Vauxhall (UK's GM brand based on Opel) are offering 100k mile warranty with no age limit for as long as you own the vehicle! It doesn't say if it will apply to the Volt/Ampera when that is eventually released here. Vehicle Warranty & Assistance | 100,000 Mile Lifetime Warranty | Vauxhall Motors UK Is this something manufacturers are doing elsewhere or is it a UK thing? I'm half tempted to trade my Prius in for a new one just to benefit for the better warranty! Update: It must be a new GM marketing campaign as Chevrolet UK are also offering a 5 year warranty! http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/offers-finance/offers/5yearpromise.html
It's only a warranty if they honor it. So far Toyota has only refused to over anything on my car under warranty. I greatly regret purchasing the extended warranty. Several other posters have had Toyota deny their warranty as well.
- Source In other words, to have a chance at getting warranty work approved you must: A ) Have performed every single recommended service at a Toyota dealership and overpay. B ) Replicate the problem and convince us that the issue is definitely not "normal" even though no other cars on the lot have your issue. C ) Drive the car like a normal person. Any excessive wear and tear will lead us to believe that you're too aggressive on the car and therefore shows negligence on your part AKA "not our fault, would not have happened if you had driven it under "normal" conditions!". HMMMM? Personally, I've learned to try to fix everything myself unless it's a major warranty issue. I rather not deal with the negotiating hassle and arguing over little things.
You both have very negative views about Toyota warranties. I don't know if warranties are different in the US but I've had absolutely no problems getting issues resolved under my warranty - and I use my car as a taxi so they could argue higher likelyhood of wear and tear. I've had my wipers replaced due to poor coverage and streaking when new, a new passenger seat base due to a rattle, a new passenger seat belt bracket which was faulty (replaced at about 22k miles of taxi use). One of the reasons I bought a Toyota (the same reason a lot of my taxi drivers colleagues also do) is that they have a no quibble warranty. Perhaps time will tell should I need a new inverter or engine, but I don't think there'll be an issue. Silentak1, I don't agree with your comments that the vehicle must be serviced by Toyota. It doesn't say that in the terms and conditions and is actually illegal for them to insist on it. It just states that the vehicle must be serviced in accordance with their service schedule and this can be performed by any registered (vat registered) garage. So as long as the garage is registered for tax as a business and they follow the service schedule, then you should be ok. That's legally how it works but I will still continue to take the car to the main agents (and pay slightly over the odds) so there can be no worries in the future.
Disagree you may. Trust me, I like Toyotas... my '10 Prius is our 6-7th Toyota in the family. None of our cars ever had a major issue except for a jerky tranny on our '07 Camry, ECU was re-programmed but issue is still happening. Out of the 15 times that I've taken our cars for MINOR warranty issue in the past 8 years, I've only been successful twice (that's 13% success rate). One was a visor that fell off at 20k and the other the tranny (well, not fully resolved but they tried and I no longer care so much). Not successful at fixing the Window and plastic rattles and other dumb little things. I do have to say that perhaps it's the dealers in LA that simply have this attitude of refusing warranty service. I've taken our cars to five different dealerships, replicated the issues on the spot and keep getting told that everything is "normal". Sometimes I really wish I had great warranty experiences like you guys do, but then all the cars have been reliable so far for the most part.
In the US an owner can perform their own maintenance and not void warranty. All that is required is documentation that services were performed, in the form of receipts for required materials.
i would say the 'standard' warranty here is 3 years 36,000 miles. but a few have upped the ante to try and attract sales.
36k miles? You're kidding? I know you have emissions warranties in Cal etc but 36k for normal cars? Ours are pretty much 60k miles (or 100k km in Europe) and going upto 100k miles would certainly tempt me over. Strange how a big market like the USA only offers 36k with most manufacturers. You say some are increasing the warranty, is that just for certain models or budget brands? Kia do 7 years here and make a big thing about it, which is why others have now gone for 100,000 miles. The GM/Vauxhall/Chevy warranty of 100k miles for the lifetime you own the car from new is clever marketing as most drivers won't ever keep a car that long. Weird how GM Europe are confident enough to offer it, but GM USA dont. Maybe it's in the pipeline for when they release the Volt?
GM has been doing the 36k bumper to bumper, 100k 5 year powertrain for a while now. Toyota give 36k bumper to bumper, and 60k powertrain. Kia does 100 k 10 year powertrain.
i think hyundai might be 100K, it's definately a marketing tool and they only do it if they have to. it also gets a bit tricky when they separate the power train from the rest of the car.
Yeah that was the part I was having trouble with. All warranties here are bumper to bumper. Even the warranty on my Prius is only 60k miles including the hybrid system!
I think if I brought my car in to try and warranty for a rattle they'd laugh at me. I've tried dealerships in MI and IL (Chicagoland) when I had an issue, denied both times. I remember asking and they wouldn't even bother to check my HID headlight aim (not adjust mind you, they wouldn't even check because its apparently not something they can do anything about). I suppose I used to like Toyotas.
Sqweeks & rattles were pulled out of the warranty (per the manual). No manufacturer wants to be bothered dealing with them. Warranties are mostly marketing with some "keeping up with the Joneses" unless mandated by law. When it was just the Big 3 here it was 3 years/36000 miles period. As production improved longer rust through warranties appeared followed by longer powertrain warranties. Free scheduled maintenance is now in vogue in the Marketing Dept. I suspect there isn't an accounting effect.
WOW all I have to say is dealers around Chicago must really SUCK! I've never had an issue with a Toyota Dealer in the Portland Area, They all want to "Out Do" the other Dealer in service! Your Dealers must don't give a crap about customer service. The one time I did have an Issue (NISSAN) I went to another NISSAN Dealer in the next town, and said, The NISSAN Dealer X is being an #$#@$ in Fixing my Warranty Item can you help? They were MORE than Happy to Fix what that other Dealer wouldn't touch!
If you do a google local search for Toyota dealers around Chicago, you will see that most have 2 or fewer stars in their ratings. There's probably a reason for that. I looked though the results to page 6 and not a single listing had a rating above 3 stars. Replacing the word "Toyota" with "BMW" gave 3 on the first set of results with greater than 3 stars. Honda isn't much better than Toyota, but there are 2 dealerships with greater than 3 star ratings. Yes, this is an ad-hoc method and I'm sure the "Toyota can do no evil" people will jump all over me. Doesn't matter - it hasn't changed my own repeatedly poor experiences. Portland seems much better - the first two listings have 3.5 and 4.5 star ratings.
Why would dealers deny warranty ? Don't they get paid by Toyota for warranty work - and thus a source of revenue ?
Actually, if you go further back (like say 1986), the norm, at least for GM was 1 year/12K miles for the comprehensive warranty and 3/36K on the powertrain with a $100 deductible. How do we know this? We had an 86 Olds Cutlass Ciera that always leaked transmission fluid despite many attempts to repair it. At one point, Chrysler had the 5 year/50K warranty on the powertrain. Later on, Chrysler gave a choice of a 1 year/12K mile and 7/70K powertrain warranty OR 3 year/36K comprehensive. This was the case on my parents' 93 Dodge Caravan. They then as a publicity stunt did a non-transferrable lifetime powertrain warranty but stopped it. See New Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Limited Warranty - Cars, Minivans, SUVs, Crossovers - Warranties and Chrysler Cuts Powertrain Warranty to 5 Years - ABC News. "Free" scheduled maintenance was the normal on German branded cars (besides BMW, which still does it) for awhile. Audi, VW and Mercedes were doing it for awhile then canned it. I don't recall if Audi/VW resurrected it again. Warranty and Roadside Assistance Coverage -- Edmunds Auto Warranty Tips has a table of warranties by make. This doesn't minute details like CA/CARB, seatbelt, airbag, emissions, etc. warranties. If you're curious, the NAH's warranty booklet is at http://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/techpubs/altima_hybrid/2010/2010_Altima_Hybrid_WIB.pdf. Nissan also extended CVT warranties to 10 years/120K miles on the vehicles at Nissan CVT Warranty Extension. It was interesting they included the NAH since it uses a PSD rather than the belt and pulley CVTs found in all other CVT equipped Nissans. edit: I found http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/146906/article.html and the table at http://www.edmunds.com/media/advice...nce.programs/free.maintenance.spreadsheet.gif.
But what does the warranty work pay? If the book rate is too low no mechanic wants to touch the car. If the book says the job takes .3 hours & pays $10/hour (I'm pulling numbers from the air) the mechanic is going to be paid $3 regardless of the amount of time it actually takes. If the job really takes 30 minutes or if non-warranty work is available the mechanic loses money by doing the warranty work. (Diagnostic time is free.)
