We recently broke the news that Toyota South Africa Motors had rolled out revised service plans for its new vehicles. Now the local arm of the Japanese automaker has officially confirmed the change to the terms of its service plans.
As we pointed out at the time, the revision effectively increases the number of services available to relatively low-mileage customers. As a reminder, vehicles sold from 1 May 2018 now have a specific number of services for a given distance travelled. In effect, servicing no longer has to be undertaken over a given time period as long as the vehicle is serviced at least once every 12 months.
Toyota SA provides the example of a Corolla requiring six services by the time it reaches 90 000 km. In the past, the automaker says, these services had to be completed within a five-year period. Under the new plan, however, they can take place over six years.
Hilux owners benefit even more, with the bakkie now requiring nine services in 90 000 km (so, intervals of 10 000 km), which previously had a limit of five years. Now the services can be spread over the full nine years if necessary, while still conforming to the requirement of servicing the Hilux every 12 months.
Be sure to check out our original article to see how the changes affect each Toyota model (bar the Aygo and Land Cruiser 70 Series, which don’t feature a service plan as standard).
What does this mean for Toyota customers who have taken out an extended service plan after the start of May 2018? Well, Toyota SA says this plan will “allow one year per additional service interval, capped at an overall maximum of 10 years from the vehicle’s original date of sale”.