Toyota Extended Warranty Advice – Should You Buy One?

Extended warranties, love them or hate them, are always a consideration when buying a new Toyota Tundra. What things should you consider when buying one?

When you're ready to buy a new Toyota Tundra, should you consider buying an extended warranty?

Big Repair Costs
Quite often, the first thing to consider is your ability to handle a big repair bill. While large repairs tend to be pretty rare, they do come up. And with all the new technology in vehicles these days, it is even more expensive to fix. Consider the case of the two little air injection pumps used in the 2007-08 Tundra and Sequoia. The repair costs can be as much as $4,000. What makes this problem even worse is the fact that it seems to crop up at the end of Toyota’s factory warranty. Now, yes this is a rare issue and yes, Toyota has since extended its warranty to cover this problem. This is just an example of a big repair cost that owners could face.

For some consumers, this one reason alone causes them to buy an extended warranty. However, since the introduction of the Tundra, major service problems have been addressed and fixed like the frame rust issue.

Reliability Ratings of the Vehicle
Another factor in determining whether or not to buy an extended warranty is the reliability ratings of the vehicle. Prior to buying any truck, prospective buyers should check in with the several different rating systems available like J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports who have rated the 2012 Toyota Tundra very high. These high ratings cause many people to think you don’t need an extended warranty. And while we think highly of the Tundra, we know that like any consumer product, problems can occur. In short, just because it is highly rated, doesn’t mean you can immediately dismiss an extended warranty.

Peace of Mind
It seems like more and more as soon as you step into a repair shop, you can feel your wallet shrink by hundreds of dollars. An extended warranty can give you a lot of peace of mind when taking your vehicle in for a repair. Why? You don’t have to worry about being stuck with an unexpected repair bill like the $4,000 air injection pump.

While yes, it will cost you more each month to pay for the extended warranty, the nice part is that you can budget for a set amount instead of putting money aside hoping you have enough in case something happens.

Lastly, if the vehicle is for someone else like an older relative or far away college student, an extended warranty will give you lots of peace of mind if something happens.

Toyota’s Extended Warranty
While there are many extended warranty companies, there is only ONE company Toyota owners should buy a warranty from (and it’s Toyota).

Toyota’s packages:

• Platinum Plan
  The maximum peace of mind plan covers virtually every component. Terms range from 3 years/50,000 total vehicle miles to 8 years/125,000 total vehicle miles.
  
• Gold Plan
  This is the major component plan. Coverage terms range from 3 years/50,000 total vehicle miles to 8 years/125,000 total vehicle miles.
  
• Powertrain Plan
  This plan covers Toyota’s engine, transmission and axle-assembly components. Plan provides coverage for 6 years/100,000 total miles.

Pricing for these plans varies, but ranges from $2,425 and $1,175 for a new 2012 Toyota Tundra.

Again, just in case you didn’t see it above, DO NOT buy an extended warranty from anyone but Toyota. After-market warranty companies are famous for refusing to pay covered repairs. It’s their business model…they sell you a warranty, then try to weasel out of coverage. Toyota warranties are more expensive than most after-market company warranties, but they’re worth it. If you buy one at all, which you may or may not want to do.

What do you think? Is an extended warranty a smart decision for new Toyota Tundra owners or a waste of money?

Related Posts:

• Toyota Extends Warranty On Tundra Frames
• Toyota Customer Service Complaints – Make Your Voice Heard
• Toyota Warranties Air Injection Pump System – Reimbursement Available