If I Buy Toyota from One Dealer Can I Get Service and Warranty Claims at a Different Dealer?

I'm purchasing a Toyota CH-R for my mum and I've never purchased a brand new car before.

I wanted to know if I purchased a car from one dealer can I undertake service and more importantly potential warranty claims at a different unrelated Toyota dealer?

So for example I purchased at Landers Toyota in Blacktown NSW and get service and warranty done at Noble Toyota in Chullora NSW.

Comments

  • +1

    Sure, you can…

    It might be a good idea to have the first service done at the dealer that you bought from.

  • +3

    Yes, you can use any authorised Toyota dealership.

    The place where you purchased from, MAY give you better incentives (speaking from experience).

    Just make sure you check over the car, prior to handover.

  • +3

    Yes you can as long as you didn't buy one of the scam aftermarket extended warranties as they're dealer specific. Even though they take effect after the manufacturer warranty, they generally require you to do all servicing at the selling dealer otherwise they're void. That's why they're so popular with dealers, they either lock you into servicing with them or you go elsewhere and lose the ability to use it (not that they're worth the paper they're printed on anyway). Easy money for them.

    • My mum purchased a Toyota Camry a few yrs ago from a dealership that wasn't our local one (it was a couple of hours drive away). The car came with the standard 3yr warranty. The dealership told us that we must get it serviced at Toyota and it must be done at either that specific Toyota or their other nearby dealership otherwise it would void the warranty. Mum asked if she could take it to our local Toyota for the service and they said no, warranty would be void.

      It wasn't until just recently when I was getting my car serviced at my local mechanic and mum was there telling him that it was such a pain going to the dealership she bought the car from to get it serviced. The mechanic asked why, then told her it was a load of old rope when she explained what the dealership said. I bought my car privately and get it serviced by a local mechanic for this reason - I do not trust car salesman or dealerships!

  • You don't need to service at Toyota to maintain the warranty. It does help though in the event of a claim.

    • They have that $200 per year servicing cap deal going on.

      I however feel that somehow they will try and squeeze more than $200 out of me when I actually take it to them every year.

      I'll keep a lookout I guess, watch my back.

  • I always buy my new cars at the stealership that gives me the best deal, rarely is it the nearest stealership to me though, but I get it serviced locally (Same brand stealership) and I've never had any issues with them completing the services and any necessary warranty work.

    Apparently they make more money from aftersales work and not from the actual vehicle sale.

    • This was my idea.

      Two dealerships are vying for my sale as I am getting two cars (Mum and mum in law). Just letting them fight it out to give me the best deal.

      • +1

        We're talking mucho dinero, and probably some American money too.
        (Caddyshack II)

      • +1

        Don’t forget i’m getting one too

    • -2

      Apparently they make more money from aftersales work and not from the actual vehicle sale.

      That is a load of crap. Yes, 20 cars, 20 days a month at an average spend of $400 is $160,000, but at least half of that will be spent on wages. Then you have parts, taxes, tools, further education, electricity and rent. You would need to be on top of it to make 1% return out of the service department considering start up costs. But…

      35 new car sales at an average of $30k is $1.05 million a month. This is about right for a small, healthy, top ten branded department (one or two sales people and a sales manger). If you hire multiple, good accountants you can move most of the costs of the auxiliary businesses to new car sales so you can cry poor every time a customer wants a discount.

      And as sales has such a high turn over, it needs to be that way. Many medium dealerships will hold ~10 million in stock on property worth 10m to 50m in multi million dollar buildings, often mostly financed. Owners might be looking at 5 to 10% returns of their investment if they succeed (not great), or going bankrupt with silly debts if they fail. They can't afford to constantly discount.

      • +2

        "35 new car sales at an average of $30k is $1.05 million a month"

        HA HA HA HA HA

        I dislike car salesmen with a vengeance, but I believe that each new car can make the stealership between $1k and $5k…..which i believe is a little less than $1m.

        • I compared sales to sales to sales. Not profit.

          • @This Guy: No, you compared money changing hands for two completely different sales and then said that one number is bigger than the other in the context of profit.

            • @oscargamer: Yes.

              Profit in new cars and service varies by brand, dealership's manufacturer relationship and accounting method.

      • +3

        It's fairly common knowledge that parts and service are what props up dealerships

        • Who told you that? A sales manager, general manager or DP, who all get a percentage of back end gross?

          How much does your service department charge new cars for PD? How much do you charge for dealer delivery? Is any part of that included as new car profit?

          180 * $2000 = $360,000. Double the take from service. And new cars staffing is taken from a load added by the stock controller or manager into the dealer management system when the car is entered into stock. You should be able to work out how much of that $360k is profit.

          • +2

            @This Guy:

            Who told you that?

            Lol.

            He's a friggin car salesman* at a Toyota dealership.

            *salesman of the month April 2020

            • -2

              @Muzeeb: Read the whole paragraph MS Paint.

              Accountants generally don't talk to sales (new cars or service). DP's, general managers and department managers talk to sales. Those people usually get a significant percentage of gross from any sales below them. It is in all those managers (except parts and service, who are commission neutral on this) best interest to lie to maximise gross in car sales.

              These managers are usually massively too faced and have been in the industry long enough they forgot the difference between a straight lie and an omission. That said, as long as there isn't a dollar to be made these people are generally great.

              bobbyz0r linked to a report showing this is concept is on average untrue, but I am sure there are a few metropolitan and luxury dealers who do pay overheads from service (who bring that average up as I have never seen anywhere near those numbers).

              There are also distribution centres attached to some dealerships that will do high nine, low ten figures in sales monthly, but that is not the normal.

      • lol, you have no idea what you're talking about.

        Aftersales cover over 50% of the dealers expenses on average (rents, wages, etc..)

        https://www.eprofitfocus.com/market-intelligence/dealer-prof…

        • -1

          Did you read that report?

          5.5 Million a month in sales

          $715k a month in gross

          $385 a month in overheads (seems low)

          $235k a month in gross from service (I would expect significantly more from city based dealers and about half from regional)

          $100k a month gross in parts (Stupidly low for a distribution center, stupidly high for a non distribution centre)

          So parts and service combined would be be $50k short, while the front of the business (including after market and finance) would be right on it with $380k gross.

          BUT…

          13% - 7% /= 0.3% or 0.7%. I would expect that missing 5% to be profit, reinvested to minimise taxes.

          Service averages $16k sales per service employee with $12k profit per employee per month. Staffing is around $4k per worker per month. Where are the other over heads?

          Parts has 21% 'gross' with $500k turn over a month. What are they paying the one to three people that usually work a parts department? $75k a month?

          Average units sold per sales person is 11.

          It looks like this report is averaging city located service focused dealerships with regional sales focused dealerships, distribution hubs (low margin, high volume) with regional dealers, and luxury dealerships with top 10 branded dealerships.

          This information is useless.

  • +1

    Yes.

  • +1

    Yes to both

Login or Join to leave a comment