How necessary is a warranty? (Anyone out there without one)?

I'm looking at two options, both have around 24k miles, but one is 2013 the other 2014 and I need to buy it by tomorrow to be eligible for the new car warranty. With warranty, the 2014 will be $5000. more expensive.... I'm just wondering, if the heater which is the most expensive fix costs 3500... and isn't guaranteed to go bad anyway, how necessary is this warranty. I've read all the posts about the pronlems, the top 10 lists etc, my question is, how many of these cars are there out there that have had NO problem? Oh also, just wondering here, what's the most mileage anyone has gotten out of one of these so far, with or without problems.

Thanks for taking time to read and reply

I only paid $1,255 for a 8yr/100k mi Platinum warranty. So, at that price, when I'm already paying on the new car, it's a no brainer because it cost me less than any one of the significant EV specific repairs.

Basically, it comes down to this: Are you a gambling man, or do you like your peace of mind? I personally prefer predictable expenses.

The other comparison you should be making is the total cost of the 2013 with a Used Car Platinum Warranty.

I decided to go without the extended warranty. Drivetrain and related computers are still covered 60 months 60,000 miles. Battery even longer against defects (not capacity).
Heater is the big unknown. I figure the price of the warranty will offset the first repair and I do not hear much with multiple failures. Or I live with the seat heaters.
Worst case it will get impounded on the side of the road and I will walk down and get a Bolt. Although I am loathe to drive a GM and Bolt is small.

miimura said:

I only paid $1,255 for a 8yr/100k mi Platinum warranty. So, at that price, when I'm already paying on the new car, it's a no brainer because it cost me less than any one of the significant EV specific repairs.

Basically, it comes down to this: Are you a gambling man, or do you like your peace of mind? I personally prefer predictable expenses.

The other comparison you should be making is the total cost of the 2013 with a Used Car Platinum Warranty.

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Thanks - I;ve been trying to find out - how/ where do I get a platinum used car warranty? Is it possible to get one from Toyota even if I purchase the vehicle from a non-toyota dealer?

I hear you. Thing is - even if I lose the gamble (heater goes on me) the cost will be less than what I pay to protect against it - so lose the gamble and I still win the game! That is assuming that only this issue happens and that the cost to repair does not increase... i guess that's a little more of a gamble...

smkettner said:

I decided to go without the extended warranty. Drivetrain and related computers are still covered 6/60. Battery even longer against defects (not capacity).
Heater is the big unknown. I figure the price of the warranty will offset the first repair and I do not hear much with multiple failures. Or I live with the seat heaters.
Worst case it will get impounded on the side of the road and I will walk down and get a Bolt. Although I am loathe to drive a GM and Bolt is small.

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THanks!! Oh so computer stuff is covered to 6/60 too! that's pretty good.... It seems the main thing is just the heater, and if that is simply to blow hot air - and we live in California AND It has working seat heaters... I think I can survive...

The Powertrain Warranty is not 6 years, it's 5 years (60 months). Yes, the Gateway ECU is considered part of the Powertrain for warranty purposes.

Some people have been able to purchase the Used Car Platinum warranty for a vehicle they purchased separately. However, if you read the Toyota Financial web site, it says it needs to be purchased with a vehicle from a Toyota dealer at the same time. So, that is the only guaranteed way.

I'm in the Seattle area, and I just purchased a 2014 from Paramount Motors NW, with 49k miles. PNW has been bringing a lot of them up from California. PNW's photo:



PNW's Robert & I were discussing warranty and Toyota. He said that he has had to have two RAV4 EV drive units replaced (I asked: both for whining) and he said having them replaced at Toyota of Seattle worked well for him; the travelling tech. has to approve the replacement, and he comes around our area only so often, so the first unit took a month to get replaced; the second, less than two weeks. ToS were able to perform the warranty work -- no shipping the vehicle anywhere else

I intend to burn through the last 10k of my powertrain warranty fast. I'm very interested in purchasing an extended warranty. Robert told me that he overheard a conversation that someone was able to purchase an ext. warr. at Toyota of Kirkland. ToK does not enjoy a stellar reputation.

I'm looking for feedback on both of these dealers WRT obtaining service and extended warranty.

I got a rav4ev from Paramount in seattle a month ago.
It took me about 2 weeks to get Toyota of Kirkland to sell me a used warranty ($2,250 +$130 inspection). it's the 5year/60K one.

Initially they steer you towards the Obrien warranty. The owner of all the Obrien dealers has created and offers his own warranty. Cheaper than the manufacturer's and they own the dealers and service. In most cases it's probably a good deal and they make more money. In *this* case however it's not a good idea.

After I talked to 3 different people in finance and physically went to the dealer 3 times I was able to make my way to the finance director. I convinced her to come with me to talk with the service director who did know about the EV vehicles.

After that they agreed to call Toshiba and "get an exception" to sell me a used car warranty (After the inspection).
A few days later they did call me that the paperwork was ready.
When I went to sign only my name, date and miles of expiration were wrong on the contract.
so after we fixed that... I finally paid for the warranty.

That was a week ago, I have not received the booklet from Toyota yet, but when I do I will report back.

That's exactly the feedback I am looking for, Thanks!

The backup camera died on my 2014, and my local (Georgia) Toyota dealer replaced it for $750! I'm glad I had the 10-year/100,000-mile Platinum extended warranty, which only cost me $1360 from Toyota of Greenfield, MA. That one repair covered half of the warranty cost. I wish I could get a decent price to cover my 2012 too.

So, bottom line: I am a believer in extended warranty coverage for the RAV4 EV, or maybe any RAV. I didn't even have an expensive EV part fail yet, and the warranty has already paid for half of its cost.

Note: If I had been out of warranty on my 2014, I guess I could have gone junkyard spelunking to find a cheaper replacement camera. Has anyone done this already?

KurtManz said:

I got a rav4ev from Paramount in seattle a month ago.
It took me about 2 weeks to get Toyota of Kirkland to sell me a used warranty ($2,250 +$130 inspection). it's the 5year/60K one.

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I just had Toyota of Seattle perform the wiper recall (the seat belt and firmware 1.3.101 recalls had already been done before I bought the car). It took a while, but I received a quote of $3,200 + inspection fee for the 5/50k plan.

I think I'll reach out to Toyota of Kirkland today or tomorrow; I like ToS but not an extra grand's worth.

I believe you mentioned a name at ToK . . . is there a specific person I should begin with there?

Sorry, it was SuedeGopher who mentioned Susie. I've got to call her tomorrow.

SuedeGopher said:

Hi KurtManz - I spoke with a Susie at Kirkland yesterday on the topic of warranties and confirmed they would sell me a used car platinum warranty - she said they'd be happy to take my money Other local dealers may feel the same, I just called them up and asked for someone in finance.

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asavage said:

KurtManz said:

I got a rav4ev from Paramount in seattle a month ago.
It took me about 2 weeks to get Toyota of Kirkland to sell me a used warranty ($2,250 +$130 inspection). it's the 5year/60K one.

Click to expand...

I just had Toyota of Seattle perform the wiper recall (the seat belt and firmware 1.3.101 recalls had already been done before I bought the car). It took a while, but I received a quote of $3,200 + inspection fee for the 5/50k plan.

I think I'll reach out to Toyota of Kirkland today or tomorrow; I like ToS but not an extra grand's worth.

I believe you mentioned a name at ToK . . . is there a specific person I should begin with there?

Click to expand...

Alina is the finance manager at Kirkland. I had to talk to her before they would do it. I spoke with 3 different finance people before her and none of them knew what to do. I think if you talk to her and say that it's one of the EV RAV4s she may remember and it'll go faster for you.

It took a month for me to get the booklet after I did the paperwork at Kirkland.
Make sure to read the paperwork before signing it. Their "computer" generates templates that don't have the correct end date and millage. you have to get them to change it manually and initial it, that way you have a signed copy with the right dates/miles.

KurtManz said:

Alina is the finance manager at Kirkland. I had to talk to her before they would do it. I spoke with 3 different finance people before her and none of them knew what to do. I think if you talk to her and say that it's one of the EV RAV4s she may remember and it'll go faster for you.

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I've left VMs for both Susie & Alina today; so far, no call-back
[edit: Susie called, she's looking up the "deal" you got, and having Service call me to schedule the inspection.]
[edit: Susie quoted $2525 for mine, because yours had 27k miles and mine is 50k. Sarah @ Service will call me with inspection fee, expected to be ~ one hour @ $120/hr.]

KurtManz said:

It took a month for me to get the booklet after I did the paperwork at Kirkland.
Make sure to read the paperwork before signing it. Their "computer" generates templates that don't have the correct end date and millage. you have to get them to change it manually and initial it, that way you have a signed copy with the right dates/miles.

Click to expand...

I recall your earlier telling of this tale, and I appreciate the advice.

I bought the Platinum used car warranty, zero deductible, 5 year/60k miles (good 'till Sep2022/110,641 mi. for mine) for $2,525 (2,778 after tax) + used car inspection fee $120 (135 after tax) = $2,913 out the door.

The inspection found a leaking right axle seal at the DU. I'm expecting to have the DU replaced for noise soon, so no worry. It was nice that they had a digital picture available of the leak, nice touch.

They found the front wipers bad (I already have OEM replacements, I've just been waiting for rain here -- we've had a very dry summer), cabin filter dirty (I have one on order), parking brake needs adjustment (boy, does it ever. It does not hold well on the hills I park), and rear tires. Not a bad list.

Since I have the earlier Denso heater, I really wanted that covered, so I'm happy-ish.

Thanks, Karl, for your info.
(Susie did the paperwork but was out of office at the time of my visit; Cecil completed the paperwork. We did have to hand-write in the date and mileage of expiration, but I think that's because the contract was prepped by Susie before I arrived.)

I was told about one to 1.5 hours for the inspection. I was in at 9:30 and left just before noon; considering it's a dealer and I've almost never had good time predictions from a dealer, that's actually pretty good. I had vowed not to raise a fuss until noon, and they beat that tar-get.

asavage said:

I bought the Platinum used car warranty, zero deductible, 5 year/60k miles (god 'till Sep2022/110,641 mi. for mine) for $2,525 (2,778 after tax) + used car inspection fee $120 (135 after tax) = $2,913 out the door.

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Thanks for the detailed report on getting a used car warranty. I hope that these are still available in 3 - 5 years time when the 2012-2014 Platinum extended 8 year warranties expire. Something tells me that Toyota may have learned by then that our cars have frequent expensive failures which could impact the pricing and availability of used car warranties for us.

just for completeness and accuracy's sake - FYI I did end up purchasing a rav4ev, 50k on it, with the extended used car platinum warranty, and am glad I did. THe heater went out after about 3 months - toyota took care of it - set up a date to bring in the car, gave me a free rental for a week (toyota sienna, which i requested and which worked out splendidly because I had 3 visitors frim oversees plus me, wife and 2 kids so for that week we were able to all move around in one vehicle), got it back - everything is working splendidly. I saw the bill, i forget exaclty what it said the cost would have been but it was i know it was well over the $2K I negotiated for the warranty!