Buying a 200-series - what are common repairs and would you buy an extended warranty? (2 Viewers)

[Markuson]

Thought I'd follow up here since my LC arrived on Friday and I picked it up today. I ended up buying the Toyota 7/100k wrap for $1340 after a bit of negotiation. Hopefully I won't need it but since I'm taking a 5 year loan it's strong piece of mind that most anything in years 2-5 will be covered.

Thanks for all the info

Congrats!

 

[psuchaz]

Linuxgod
Congrats on the new ride Where did you get your warranty? I am in the same boat. Mine arrives in 5 days and I have been in touch with two of the recommended Toyota warranty providers. Your $1340 price is 200 cheaper than my best quote. Any info is appreciated

 

[linuxgod]

Linuxgod
Congrats on the new ride Where did you get your warranty? I am in the same boat. Mine arrives in 5 days and I have been in touch with two of the recommended Toyota warranty providers. Your $1340 price is 200 cheaper than my best quote. Any info is appreciated

I bought it through Autonation in Libertyville, IL (about 45 minutes north of Chicago) when I purchased the vehicle. They claimed the retail price was over $3k and then started at $2400 for the warranty (I can't recall the exact price). They were trying to push the Autonation one. I balked, they got down to about $2000 IIRC, and I passed. They were actually shipping my vehicle from a Texas Autonation dealer, so in the week I was waiting for it to arrive I did some research in this and other forums, and when I came back to pick it up I told them I would do the Toyota 7/100k platinum VSA if they'd sell it for the lowest price I'd seen (which IIRC was about $1360). They sold it to me for $20 less. I'm sure they still made money on the deal.

Overall if you want to get the price down, walk into the dealer when you're ready to pick up your ride and tell them "I know other dealers sell the 7/100k extended warranty for $X. If you want to sell it to me for that, I'll buy. If not I'll find another Toyota dealer in my state and buy it from them". Any dealer in your state can sell you the same warranty. Toyota slaps dealers who sell online to out of state vehicles though.

FWIW I'm 12 months in and I haven't had any big repairs. We did have an issue with the rear DVD screen not closing properly (it would mostly close, then open back up) and a different Toyota dealer closer to me did some sort of procedure to reset it. The center diff lock was sticking (and the CDL light flashing) at one point as well, though that seems to have cleared. Both of those would have been covered under the Toyota CPO warranty. Personally if I was buying new with a 3/36k factory warranty I wouldn't have bothered with the VSA. But I was buying used, sign unseen (except for photos) from out of state, and with a 5 year loan so the $ was really an insurance policy against a big repair if something electronic like the Nav system or DVD player goes up before the truck is 7 years old.

 

[psuchaz]

Thanks. I am in similar situation. Bought a 2016 with 34k miles from a dealer in Iowa that is being shipped to west coast. Only saw it via photo and FaceTime. Normally I would not get warranty but being I bought used I view it as cheap insurance

Thanks for the info

 

[linuxgod]

FYI this is one of the resources I used when I went to buy mine

Toyota Extended Warranties 1/2 price 03-23-2009

T5-TOYOTA LAND CRUISER
6 YEARS 75,000 MILES $679.00,
6 YEAR 100,000 MILES $1,129.00
6 YEARS 125,000 MILES $1,579.00
7 YEARS 75,000 MILES $824.00,
7 YEAR 100,000 MILES $1,374.00
7 YEARS 125,000 MILES $1,824.00
8 YEARS 75,000 MILES $1,004.00,
8 YEARS 100,000 MILES $1,594.00
8 YEARS 125,000 MILES $2,244.00

 

[blatant]

As far as i know right now Jennifer Taylor at elite toyota is 100 bucks cheaper than Troy Dietrich at T of greenfield, on all the warranty levels.

Call either and tell them you need a quote and learned about them thru the LC forum. For Reference, 4 runners are cheaper than Sienna's, and i went thru this for a relative last week. 8/125k/0/plat on a sienna was was $1570, didn't inquire about 9 or 10yrs.

Pretty sure she'll be cheaper than anyone else. Even if you have the warranty, you can cancel, get refund and then buy thru one of these trusted sources. Should save y'all quote a bit w/ minimal hassle. I've used both.
good luck.

 

[mrt6644]

I bought a Toyota for the reliability and to never worry about issues, whether big or small. I have an 89 FJ62, I had an FJCruiser for 7 years, and now have a 2015 4Runner for 2 years.
Im very impressed with the Land Cruiser as most components are still original and have not failed.
The FJCruiser was very reliable but had seized caliper pistons and a bad front wheel bearing. Those 2 issues along way exceeded the price of the extended warranty. Those repairs would have been over $2k. Plus I had other things like the driveshaft replacement.

Up until this recently, the 4Runner was perfect, but the last few weeks I have seen the driver side power door lock malfunction. Eventually it stopped working. Looking at the forums, it seems this is very common. That is pretty damned frustrating as I bought the Toyotas to avoid these crappy vendor part issues. Why this has been going on for so long is beyond me.
But the door lock actuator is around 250 on Amazon, who knows how much the dealer would charge. That plus labor is pricey.
Also, my Entire system has been acting badly for a while so who knows what that involves. Some have had to replace the whole unit.

Anyway, my point is that it is not that easy of a decision whether to buy the extended warranty. I have 100% faith in the engine and whole powertrain, but there are other things like calipers, electronics, etc that can cost a boatload to fix.
Im sure there are plenty of stories on either side of the argument so its a toss up.
For me, the warranty is just a little insurance. On the FJCruiser I came out way ahead on the expense of the warranty.
We'll see if that is the case on the 4Runner.

 

[jetstream23]

I've basically self-funded/self-insured instead of buying extended warranties. It has bitten me once or twice, recently for a coolant leak that cost $900 to fix, but overall I think I've made out. Instead of extending the warranty on my 2009 when it expired back in 2012, I just started kicking $100 per month essentially into a repair savings account. It had cranked up to almost $3K before I needed to tap it for anything significant. Just one man's approach....

 

[mrt6644]

I've basically self-funded/self-insured instead of buying extended warranties. It has bitten me once or twice, recently for a coolant leak that cost $900 to fix, but overall I think I've made out. Instead of extending the warranty on my 2009 when it expired back in 2012, I just started kicking $100 per month essentially into a repair savings account. It had cranked up to almost $3K before I needed to tap it for anything significant. Just one man's approach....

That's a pretty good system. I guess it's similar to an extended warranty. You are in effect prepaying future problems. Difference is that you get your money back if nothing happens.

 

[linuxgod]

That's a pretty good system. I guess it's similar to an extended warranty. You are in effect prepaying future problems. Difference is that you get your money back if nothing happens.

I'm normally not a warranty guy. Once my warranty expires I won't try and renew it. The extended warranty on a used vehicle was a hedge against a big repair bill. If I could've bought a stripped down Aussie version with limited electronics I might have skipped it. As it stands the dealership that reset the rear DVD player so that it would close again told me if they had to replace it (i.e. if the problem comes back and resetting it fails) the list price is $7,000.

86680-60190-B0 Display Unit 2013-15, GRAY
List $6,892.85 Your Cost $5,169.64​

 

[jetstream23]

There's no problem with any of these approaches. It's all personal preference. There are a few known and somewhat frequent "weak spots" on the 200-series like starters, the water pump, etc. If you have an older 200 and these haven't been replaced yet I guess a warranty could be a decent hedge.

 

[40Man]

That's a pretty good system. I guess it's similar to an extended warranty. You are in effect prepaying future problems. Difference is that you get your money back if nothing happens.

My parents have a Yukon XL. The GMC Warranty is fully refundable if you never use it. Wish Toyota did that. (Probably the only thing I wish that Toyota would do that GM does).

 

[Reckless]

I am normally a warranty guy and had warranty company shell out over $60k to fix my Mercedes S600 previously (paid $7k for warranty). For my LC, I don't feel like I need to worry about it. They offered me a 25k mile/2 year warranty at the time of purchase for $2400 but I refused. I've driven the car 20k miles in 6 months and the only item to give me trouble so far has been the glove box cover. I bought a new one off ebay for $30.

 

[Narkhelek]

no problems on my 2014, i'd never buy such a warranty.

the 08's had water pump issues, but those have been since solved.

Have the water pump issues been solved? Unless I'm mistaken, and I hope I am, a brand new 2017 Land Cruiser with 5.7l will probably be needing a water pump change in 90k miles.

 

[PhillipPinot]

My wife and I purchased a 2013 this past Sunday. We purchased a carmax warranty simply because we felt the benefit outweigh the risk, especially being an $80k car.

 

[Yossarian]

We had the Toyota extended warranty rolled into the sale of the vehicle when purchased in 2014.

FWIW, here is a list of what has been replaced under warranty.

• Rear KDSS cylinder, leaking, $1409.25
• Rear driveshaft, clunking (T-SB-0117-08), invoice did not list a cost.
• Engine idler pulley, making noise when cold, $189.88
• Blower motor, making noise when cold, $535.21
• Leaking transfer case at companion flange seal, $356.50

For us it has been worth having.

 

[Clarkecruiser]

I bought it through Autonation in Libertyville, IL (about 45 minutes north of Chicago) when I purchased the vehicle. They claimed the retail price was over $3k and then started at $2400 for the warranty (I can't recall the exact price). They were trying to push the Autonation one. I balked, they got down to about $2000 IIRC, and I passed. They were actually shipping my vehicle from a Texas Autonation dealer, so in the week I was waiting for it to arrive I did some research in this and other forums, and when I came back to pick it up I told them I would do the Toyota 7/100k platinum VSA if they'd sell it for the lowest price I'd seen (which IIRC was about $1360). They sold it to me for $20 less. I'm sure they still made money on the deal.

Overall if you want to get the price down, walk into the dealer when you're ready to pick up your ride and tell them "I know other dealers sell the 7/100k extended warranty for $X. If you want to sell it to me for that, I'll buy. If not I'll find another Toyota dealer in my state and buy it from them". Any dealer in your state can sell you the same warranty. Toyota slaps dealers who sell online to out of state vehicles though.

FWIW I'm 12 months in and I haven't had any big repairs. We did have an issue with the rear DVD screen not closing properly (it would mostly close, then open back up) and a different Toyota dealer closer to me did some sort of procedure to reset it. The center diff lock was sticking (and the CDL light flashing) at one point as well, though that seems to have cleared. Both of those would have been covered under the Toyota CPO warranty. Personally if I was buying new with a 3/36k factory warranty I wouldn't have bothered with the VSA. But I was buying used, sign unseen (except for photos) from out of state, and with a 5 year loan so the $ was really an insurance policy against a big repair if something electronic like the Nav system or DVD player goes up before the truck is 7 years old.

I am also looking for a 2014, or 2015 . I was wondering did auto nation charge to ship? I was looking at one I Texas , they quoted me a price only to come back and want another 900 bucks. Just curious about your experience.

 

[psuchaz]

Fwiw. I paid $800 from Iowa to western NV 2000 miles. But I gather they mispriced the shipping as the dealer blamed the shipping delay on a the pricing. They increased their shipping offer to 1500 And it was immediately accepted by a transport company. I got the car 4 days later.

 

[TonyP]

Or get a plane ticket, gas money and a few days off from the daily grind (wife and/or work).

 

[linuxgod]

I am also looking for a 2014, or 2015 . I was wondering did auto nation charge to ship? I was looking at one I Texas , they quoted me a price only to come back and want another 900 bucks. Just curious about your experience.

$585. They claimed that it actually cost a lot more and they ended up eating it because they had mis-estimated it. I don't know if that's true or not.