Good afternoon
In October 2014 I bought a used Toyota Hybrid, which was registered in July of that year. and upon recieving the keys, I was recommended a 3 year service plan for about £550 to cover check ups in July 2015,16,17 so long I had my car serviced at any of the 4 dealers of the same Toyota franchise which was fair enough. I decided to go for a 5 year plan instead for £16per month for 58 months. The money is taken by a 3rd party company on the franchises behalf.
I bought ths car from a Toyota dealer of the same franchise about 8 miles away. There is also dealer a mile away from where I live thats part of the same franchise. For convenience, I was going to service my car there.
A few days later of having the car in October 2014,I recieved the paperwork from the dealer which stated a 5 year service plan as requested but to cover services in October 2015, 2016,2017,2018 and 2019 instead rather than July. The car wasn't serviced since it was delivered in July 2014. I immediately phoned the third party company and they told me to contact the dealership of this error which I did. The dealer, back in Oct 2014, said that all records have been amended at their end and that my car is to be serviced every July until 2019.
9 months later from when I got the car and 12 months after the car was registered, I had the first intermediate service in July 2015 at the nearer dealer of the same franchise. No money was paid as I had that standing order in place.
A few days ago I booked the first major (20000mile) service for todays date and the service manager, at the same dealership, said that my car is not due a service until October. I told him that i was on a service plan to see my car every July but he said that theres not enough money in my own particular pot to fund a first major service in July unless I paid a £55 top up fee. He suggested I wait to get my car serviced until October, according to the plan on their database, for the next service but I refused this. They said that servicing a car 15 months later would not void the warranty! I found this very hard to believe.
To cut a long story short, there has been an admin error which I didnt know about until today and if I wanted to have my car serviced every July on the current plan, I'd have to a pay a top up fee each time. Today I had no choice but to pay £55 to have this service today and have my account up to date. It wasn't the fault of the servce manager today, I assured him of that.
For the record, I had so far paid 21 monthsx£16(£336)+£55 to cover 2 services. I asked the service manager to draft me a new service plan for 3 additional years if I left the current plan after todays service. I was offered 3 services for about £800, which was considerably more than the 3 year plan suggested to me in 2014, and I was told this covers more stuff than the plan I was already on!
Additonally, I took my car in at 8.30am upon their request and it wasnt seen until 10.45am. The car was ready 45 minutes later and I really queried what they did for a major service. The car was nicely washed and vacuumed plus the car felt more lively with tyres inflated a couple of psi .
I am under the impression that service plans really do cover the bare minumum.
I decided upon recieving my keys after the service to cancel my service plan, standing order and I rejected the offer of 3 services, under a new plan, with these extras that weren't covered by my current plan. The service manager cancelled the policy and gave me the go ahead to cancel the standing order.
I decided from next year to go for the conventional minor/major services, and be free from such administrative issues, to fulfil the warranty conditions whether its at the same dealer/franchise or a different Toyota dealer altogether
What are your thoughts of service plans and was I right to terminate the contract and not renew a new policy?
I really like my car but I'd be more reassured if my car had a few ice cream flavour options rather than just a cornet when it comes to servicing so to speak.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you
PP
Edited by pork_pie on 16/07/2016 at 17:57
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