Toyotacare extended warranty and required maintenance

I have the 10yr/100k extended warranty on my tacoma and just finished the free first 2 years of maintenance period.

I am wondering what the requirements are for maintenance to keep my warranty valid.

I don't put many miles on the truck. After two years I only have 19k miles. The dealer says I should come back every 6 months for maintenance, but that seems silly to be if I don't have the miles on the truck. They want me to do the 30k mile maintenance service when I will only have about 21k miles on the truck. Is that really necessary?

I am wondering, moving forward, if I should only do maintenance when I hit the actual mileage count, eg. do the 30k mile service when I hit 30k miles, which may be in another year to 18 months. But I don't know if this will void my toyotacare warranty, or if I really need to bring it in for service every 6 months, regardless of how many miles since it last was brought in.

 

This is how they make extra money on the Extended Warranty. If it was designed to save you money they wouldn't sell them.

 

We just purchased a new Toyota from a local dealer in upstate NY (PM me for name of dealer), and as part of their 100th anniversary, they basically extend the mfr's power train (including seals and gaskets) warranty to 100,000 miles or 10 years at no charge.

In the details of the Warranty under "Maintenance Requirements", it states: "Your vehicle must be serviced receiving all scheduled maintenance as recommended by the manufacturer in the Owner's Manual,

or

You must have your vehicle serviced in the following manner every six (6) months or six thousand (6,000) miles, whichever comes first:
1. Change engine oil and filter.
2. through 7 are other requirements."

It also says if your failure to follow these procedures causes a breakdown, you may be denied coverage.

My request for more detail on the Warranty from our salesman or the Service Department manager a week ago has received no Reply.

So just a heads up on what you are buying, the requirements and what's covered.

And by the way TacoManTaco, what Tacoma did you buy and how's it doing?

Jolly

 

"Free" Warranty, at what cost? Don't be surprised if the Required Maintenance costs more than just paying for the Warranty outright. Good news is usually given quickly, bad news always seems to take a lot longer.

 

The maintenance schedule will be based on mileage and/or time frame. I don't have the maintenance schedule in front of me, but for example the schedule will say 10,000 miles or 1 year. Even if you don't hit the mileage mark within a year, it's still due for maintenance. If you don't take it in for service at either the mileage or time frame listed in the manual, than you're not following the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule.

 

I think they bank on 3% of all the taco's sold will have an issue that toyotacare will cover once the original factory warranty expires. That said, what they charge/sell for that extended warranty vs how many will fail...its gotta be profitable for them. I can tell you our company that sold air conditioners, and dehumidifiers/humidifiers with extended warranty contracts...it was profitable able for them.

 

Extended warranties are a HUGE industry because they are very profitable for the companies who issue them. If you are the squeamish type and having an extended warranty on your Tacoma helps you sleep at night then buy one, but don't expect them to pay off.
And of course there's always those who will chime in on these threads bragging how much their extended warranty saved then, however to every one there's hundreds out there whose extended warranties haven't paid off.

 

I view extended warranties more as insurance. You will pay a lot for them, but not get anything out of it if things are good.

That being said, I do purchase them, but will only do so from the manufacturer and not those 3rd party warranty services.

 

That's what they are; insurance policies that are very low risk for the insurer, especially for Toyotas.

 

I thought Toyotacare is the free maintenance program for the first 2 years, what should that have to do with after the warranty expires?

 

Extended warranty is just piece of mind it's just like life insurance, your happy and feel piece of mind to have it and hope you never need it. I had the extended warranty on my last couple of tacos and never used it except 1 time along many years ago. Sure I'm bummed that I didnt get my money worth but I'm like I'm glad to have it and never use it. You can buy the factory extended warranty after the 2 year free maintenance is over. You may pay more than when you 1st bought it.

 

I only paid 1100 after tax for 10yr /100k warranty so that was fine.

I don't understand the need to do maintenance every six months if it is low mileage. Say the truck only gets 1000 miles on it over six months. Does it really need a maintenance visit just because its been six months?

 

Enjoy your truck and get out there on the road and put some miles on it

 

Around here dealers wanted $1650-$1800 for the same warranty. Imo, i'd rather invest it and take my chances.

 

You’re definitely thinking correctly. It definitely doesn’t NEED The oil changed after six months. That being said I don’t think I would let it go 2 years even if only 1000 miles were driven. Even though in all honesty it would probably be fine. Not sure about this but I read that the service dept of many car dealerships makes more $ than sales. Foot traffic = money. You bring it in for an oil change. They sell you a cabin air filter that you changed a month ago. Maybe while you’re sitting there waiting you look around, fall in love with and buy a new vehicle. My truck that I just bought came with free lifetime oil changes. Every vehicle this dealership sells does. But of course you have to get It serviced there according to manufacturer recommendations. I figure that the actual oil change doesn’t cost them much but in the long run if they keep me coming in there regularly eventually I’ll buy more other things. The markup on the maintenance plan they offered alone probably would’ve covered eight years worth of oil changes.

 

That's the smart play..................

 

Just paid $665.00 for the Platinum Toyota warranty.
5 years. 100k miles.
Piece of mind until I trade it in 5 years.

 

The owners Manual lists either mileage or time so your truck will go by time instead of miles

 

The really big money is them trying to sell you new wiper blades every visit.

 

The fact you actually think this was free is enough said.