Techinfo manuals not available outside US

[BlairMartin]

Toyotas are just as popular here in Canada as they are in the States, but....

Toyota won't let any of us use the Techinfo website!

(It gets worse: they won't let in anyone whose home address is not in the USA.)

Speaking for myself: I'm offended! Toyota was happy to take the money I paid for my Prius (and that was substantially more than they cost in the States). Yet they won't let me access the resource I need to be properly informed about the vehicle.

Why?????

Blair

[Tideland Prius]

no idea. I was going to download a few manuals until I found out about the address restriction. Oh well...

[Bill Merchant]

[disclaimer]This is just my opinion, I don't represent anyone but myself. [/disclaimer]

We think of Toyota as a world-wide brand. We think of the Prius as the same car sold 'round the world.

In fact, the Prius sold in France is not the same as the Prius sold in Quebec, Georgia, Idaho or even Honolulu. The French government and the US government have different standards and requirements for vehicles sold in their jurisdictions. To meet these standards and requirements, many companies, such as Toyota, set up quasi-independent operating units which can be more attuned to the laws and marketing needs of the local area the operating unit works in.

You're in Canada, so what you can get from Toyota (the world brand) is controlled by Toyota Canada Inc. Here in the U.S. it's a bit more comlicated; while Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. is over-all in charge, Gulf States Toyota in the south east, including Georgia, imports Prius from Toyota in Japan for their region, the northwest region imports cars for that region, Hawaii has it's own Toyota operating company. That's why you may read here discussions about different trim levels and packages not being available in a given area. GST was offering leather seats will before they were available in other regions.

So, to get back to your original question, local control is exercised by both governments and operating units. The internet and web give the illusion of breaking that down, but every user on the internet has an Internet Protocol address. That electronic address is associated with a physical address, at least broadly. To pay for something, money (which is clearly local, even if in a credit card transaction) must change hands. So if a government or business doesn't want to deal with "foreigners", it's pretty easy to stop the transaction.

I understand your frustration. That's why black markets develop.

[DaveG]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 18 2006, 04:17 PM) [snapback]363985[/snapback]</div>

no idea. I was going to download a few manuals until I found out about the address restriction. Oh well...
[/b]

I bought a CD off of EBay that had all of the manuals on it. If Toyota can't get their act together enough to provide a way for people outside the US to purchase access to their manuals, consumers have to be creative enough to find other routes.

It's also easy to find it available for download on-line through P2P services (took all of 10 seconds to locate it, but I don't think posting the link information here would be appropriate).

Dave

[c4]

Has anyone else from Canada actually *tried* purchasing a subscription from the techinfo site recently?? I'm in Canada and about 2 years ago now, I decided to try a purchase anyways- I gave my real Canadian street address and put in province and postal code in the address 2nd line, but in the actual state/zip fields, I filled in the nearest US state and a zip code from that state, entered in my credit card info, and presto, instant access.. I haven't tried it again in the intervening period, but the site looks exactly the same to me so I doubt they changed anything about it and I'd bet that if you did the same, you could purchase a subscription no matter where you were..

Another trick with the techinfo site is that if you are purchasing a 1 day subscription, to purchase it early in the morning, as they actually count 1 calendar day vs. 24 hours, so what happens is that if you purchase a subscription at 1:00 AM on Monday, your account remains active until 12:00 midnight on Tuesday, so you basically get two days for the price of one..

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(c4 @ Dec 19 2006, 01:16 PM) [snapback]364216[/snapback]</div>

I gave my real Canadian street address and put in province and postal code in the address 2nd line, but in the actual state/zip fields, I filled in the nearest US state and a zip code from that state, entered in my credit card info, and presto, instant access.. [/b]

I'll try that once I get back from my business trip. If it works, better keep it quiet so Toyota doesn't get to wise and change it.

[BlairMartin]

I found an easy way to get around the Techinfo site's US-only access rules. I sent a US friend a ten dollar cheque. He then took out a 24-hour Techinfo subscription on his US credit card, then called me with the username and password.

Blair