Lifetime powertrain warranty

If you can find the details of the warranty, more specifically exactly what is covered, and if there is any deductible. Then you can start gauging if it is worth it...

 

The extra $$$ you'll likely pay for their maintenance over the life of your car would probably buy you an engine and or transmission. I'd get a detailed document on their offering, with our transmissions being half tranny, half motor, half regen they may not even cover that in a hybrid, and I'm sure they won't cover the battery.

My dealer offered this, and we took my wife's CPO Venza in there to get this deal. Trip one they left a large boot oil stane across the tan plastic/carpet.

Trip 5 they broke the glove box and tried to hide it, and left oily hand marks all over it and the dash trying to fix it. I had to fight to get them to replace it, and we've not been back since.

 

What happens when you decline their $5,000 service recommendation? The house always wins.

 

I don't necessarily default to the idea that choosing a dealership for maintenance, especially for a Toyota Hybrid, is a bad idea. With a Hybrid, sooner or later you're going to probably need a hybrid specific repair or diagnosis, and then you're going to the dealership OR an independent Hybrid shop, regardless of any connection to a free dealer provided warranty.

Of course as you have discovered the reason these dealerships offer the so called "Free Lifetime Powertrain Warranty" is to put you in the situation you are currently in...deciding to have all your service done by them.

The whole thing is severely weighted to be in their benefit, even though it sounds like they are giving YOU something free. The obvious thing being a warranty that never has to be used, never costs the dealership anything. "Regular" or all maintenance in the short term and going forward, IS going to cost you. The chances in the next 3 years that you have any type of "Powertrain" failure are slim, to nearly non-existent. The chances you need regular maintenance, and perhaps a minor issue or two? Guaranteed...for the dealership.

So what I think it really boils down to, is whether you are happy with the dealership service department.
Even deciding to try to keep the powertrain warranty in place by using the dealership is not a "written in stone" commitment. You could always go ahead and use the dealership, thus keeping the warranty valid. See how they do with your minor and "regular" maintenance issues. If you like them? You like them.

If you use them, and for whatever reasons don't feel confident in their service or pricing? You can always at any time decide to abandon the relationship and go elsewhere. At that point you might be sacrificing the "dealership" provided warranty, but you'd be doing it for a known reason.

So I guess my advice is sure, go ahead and give the service department a chance. If for any reason I became unhappy with their service? At that point I would NOT keep my relationship intact just BECAUSE of a dealership warranty.

My Dad bought a Toyota Rav 4 from a dealership that offered a similar from the dealership, Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. He has his maintenance done at that dealership. But in my dads case, he probably would of had them be the first source of service anyway.

In my case when I buy a new car? I really have no problem giving the purchasing dealership the chance to be my service department. I do however like the freedom to go elsewhere if I decide. And I wouldn't let a warranty offer MAKE me stay with a dealership, if they proved to me they weren't doing a good job or were over pricing.

I also would ask for details as to exactly what the warranty covers and things like deductibles. The phrase Free Lifetime Powertrain Warranty...is pretty vague. If I was sacrificing immediate flexibility in repair facility choice, for that warranty, I'd want to know exactly what that warranty supposedly covers.

My guess is that the times the dealership has had to pony up and actually offer some repair are so few and far in between that they themselves may not know what it covers. Ask for something in writing.

It's probably more of a battle cry for the salesmen, and of course a "lure" to keep you hooked to the service department.

 

Will a failure occur within reasonable cost towing distance from the dealers?

What happens if you move?

Is this a distributor added option? I bought 3 states away just to avoid the list of distributor added "options" which aren't options in this state. There has been no problem with service.

The contract spells out the terms, read it. Not the sales brochure.

 

I suspect you will find the service needed to keep the warranty in effect is the dealer's schedule, not Toyota's. I expect that if you don't have the dealer change the cabin air filter you voided their powertrain warranty because you didn't have ALL the recommended scheduled services done.

There are three reasons things like this are free. Either the profit on the services required to keep it in effect are higher than any possible claim or the probability of filing a successful claim is almost zero. I'll give you a lifetime warranty on your Prius' alternator, which I normally sell for $19.95.

 

^^ JImN nailed it.
I'll also add that power train failure is an uncommon reason for a Prius to end its life.

 

What are the common reasons?

 

likely not worth the paper it is written on...

 

I'm pretty sure #1 is accidents.
then, I'll guess:
Too old to bother with
Battery

 

Yea, they do go forever. I'd like to know the average mileage attained from the traction battery before death. Some Canadian taxies have reached 500k, but in warmer (read: hot) climes, I doubt it would fare as well.