Just bought my 2011 Yaris which I adore but I'm having second thoughts..

[AlyCat]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the site and excited about my new shiny.. been poking around the forums all night :)

I just bought a 2011 auto 5-Door Liftback a couple days ago which I think was for a good deal.. I bargained the dealer down to 11k and the car only has 14k miles on it with one owner, power, cruise control, but one minor accident. It was either that or a new 2012 for 16k (though I didn't try bargaining with them) from a Toyota dealer with all the included two year maint. etc. The Toyota dealer offered me more for my trade-in and also had the 1k new graduate incentive, but I really liked the style of the 2011 better and I still get unlimited car washes and oil changes for life (except that dealer is a little far away) even though the included warranty is a little shorter.

I think I might've gotten swindled on an additional protection plan they offered me though. It comes with a lifetime warranty at least because they use something different? I really don't remember everything she told me, but it includes undercoating protection, rust protection, environmental paint sealant, interior sealant, and they're also throwing in a lojack and this car care kit (with five bottles of cleaners and conditioners and free refills of the exterior renewer stuff) for $1694. I had all kinds of rust and paint issues with my old 2002 Corolla so this seemed appealing. She also told me that lojack automatically adds $1k to your car, so that whenever I decide to trade in my car again they'd tack on another $1k to the trade-in value just because of lojack and the lojack is good for ten years.

Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I'm not sure about the protection plan. I don't even know if it's too late to back out of or not, but I haven't had any of the work done yet so maybe it's not too late. Or is it worth it? I couldn't find a lot of info online about the $1k value for lojack thing that she told me. I'm not particularly car savvy so I don't know how to take care of any of the sealants myself, but they did say it has a lifetime warranty. Thanks everyone!

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by AlyCat

Hi everyone! I'm new to the site and excited about my new shiny.. been poking around the forums all night :)

I just bought a 2011 auto 5-Door Liftback a couple days ago which I think was for a good deal.. I bargained the dealer down to 11k and the car only has 14k miles on it with one owner, power, cruise control, but one minor accident. It was either that or a new 2012 for 16k (though I didn't try bargaining with them) from a Toyota dealer with all the included two year maint. etc. The Toyota dealer offered me more for my trade-in and also had the 1k new graduate incentive, but I really liked the style of the 2011 better and I still get unlimited car washes and oil changes for life (except that dealer is a little far away) even though the included warranty is a little shorter.

I think I might've gotten swindled on an additional protection plan they offered me though. It comes with a lifetime warranty at least because they use something different? I really don't remember everything she told me, but it includes undercoating protection, rust protection, environmental paint sealant, interior sealant, and they're also throwing in a lojack and this car care kit (with five bottles of cleaners and conditioners and free refills of the exterior renewer stuff) for $1694. I had all kinds of rust and paint issues with my old 2002 Corolla so this seemed appealing. She also told me that lojack automatically adds $1k to your car, so that whenever I decide to trade in my car again they'd tack on another $1k to the trade-in value just because of lojack and the lojack is good for ten years.

Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I'm not sure about the protection plan. I don't even know if it's too late to back out of or not, but I haven't had any of the work done yet so maybe it's not too late. Or is it worth it? I couldn't find a lot of info online about the $1k value for lojack thing that she told me. I'm not particularly car savvy so I don't know how to take care of any of the sealants myself, but they did say it has a lifetime warranty. Thanks everyone!

I personally don't think that those protection plans are anything other than a money maker on modern cars. The sales manager at the dealership that I bought my 09 Yaris and 11 Tacoma from is a friend of a friend, and when we were going over the numbers on both cars, he purposefully threw that brochure in the trash.

[tooter]

Originally Posted by AlyCat

Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I'm not sure about the protection plan. I don't even know if it's too late to back out of or not, but I haven't had any of the work done yet so maybe it's not too late.

I believe that a contract generally has a 72 hour cooling off period where you can change your mind and back out of it.

[Altitude]

Originally Posted by tooter

I believe that a contract generally has a 72 hour cooling off period where you can change your mind and back out of it.

Yes. And in some places it's up to 30 days.

[AlyCat]

Originally Posted by Altitude

Yes. And in some places it's up to 30 days.

Oh thank goodness. I'm finding the whole thing extremely shady now that I've discovered that of all the papers they gave me, not one of them includes any details about the plan or what it includes or what the warranty covers. I kind of wish I hadn't picked such a far away dealer since I probably have to go there in person to back out of it.

[NEexpat]

I think 11k for a 2011 with 14k miles on it is a good deal, provided as you say the accident was minor.
All the rust proofing, undercoating etc. is all a lot of overkill in my opinion. My advice is to contact your States Attorney General's office and ask them.

Good luck

Edit: Giving it more thought since these "protection add ons" have already been applied and can't be "uninstalled"
I'm not sure what you can do short of returning the car. Or threatening to do so in order to renegotiate the terms and price.

[narly charley]

Any car will rust. Period. As long as you take care of it by washing, waxing it, and just keeping it maintained, it will last.

Change the oil yourself so you know that it's getting done correctly. Don't waste your money on that stealership BS.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by CTScott

I personally don't think that those protection plans are anything other than a money maker on modern cars. The sales manager at the dealership that I bought my 09 Yaris and 11 Tacoma from is a friend of a friend, and when we were going over the numbers on both cars, he purposefully threw that brochure in the trash.

^^^^^This. Especially re a Toyota.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tooter

I believe that a contract generally has a 72 hour cooling off period where you can change your mind and back out of it.

Tooter is correct re California (unless the law has changed).

NEexpat is right re the AG. I did a search for the Virginia Department of Consumer Affairs and it is part of the AG's office.

I'd also check the DMV site for Virginia. A long shot, but it couldn't hurt.

NEexpat may be right, it may be too late....but certainly worth a try.

Good Luck.

[AlyCat]

Originally Posted by NEexpat

I think 11k for a 2011 with 14k miles on it is a good deal, provided as you say the accident was minor.
All the rust proofing, undercoating etc. is all a lot of overkill in my opinion. My advice is to contact your States Attorney General's office and ask them.

Good luck

Edit: Giving it more thought since these "protection add ons" have already been applied and can't be "uninstalled"
I'm not sure what you can do short of returning the car. Or threatening to do so in order to renegotiate the terms and price.

Actually they haven't been applied yet, my appointment is supposed to be Friday. I'm in the works of backing out of it except the original lady I spoke to is out of town (of course) so I've been talking to the other lady that upsells all this garbage.

So I recalled seeing on the CarFax for this car that all that junk (undercoat, fabric guard, paint sealant but no rustproofing) was already applied by the first owner anyway when they first bought it! I had told the lady about it and she had the salesman bring everything out of the glovebox to find out that there was supposeofly no paperwork about it. There were papers with the previous owner's information, which she promptly threw out. She might have thrown out the warranty information I needed, for all I know.

Today I decided I'd try calling the dealer that the junk was originally applied, and they were helpful and told me that info could be looked up and since I'm only the second owner, the warranty could be transferred. She gave me the number of the company that did the work. That company, Ziebart, was completely useless and unfriendly and told me that they can't do anything without the ORIGINAL paperwork which of course would be thrown out anyway for having the previous owner's information on it! I'm trying to see now if the salesman could contact the previous owner to get the warranty paperwork. So stupid.

[NEexpat]

AlyCat. based on what you have discovered, I believe that is your "out". And the fact that nothing has been added is very good.

I would now contact the AG's office state your case IE: Carfax etc. and ask them "isn't this wrong ?"etc. (They love that sorta stuff).

Also is there not some sort of "burden of proof" required on behalf of the seller to dispute the CarFax claim etc. etc.

If they (they dealer) give you a hard time be sure to tell them you have been in touch with the AG's office. That might be enough for them to void the deal and get you outta there.

Make sure you write down everyone's name you speak to at the AG's office.

Again good luck. If you really like the car get all the upsells removed, and re-do the deal.


If they do take the car back just to cover yourself, take a lot of pics of the car and the ODO so they don't try to come back at you later about damage or putting eleventy-billion miles on the car in 3 days etc. Or have them sign something to the effect that the car was returned in the same condition blah blah blah.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by NEexpat

AlyCat. based on what you have discovered, I believe that is your "out". And the fact that nothing has been added is very good.

I would now contact the AG's office state your case IE: Carfax etc. and ask them "isn't this wrong ?"etc. (They love that sorta stuff).

Also is there not some sort of "burden of proof" required on behalf of the seller to dispute the CarFax claim etc. etc.

If they (they dealer) give you a hard time be sure to tell them you have been in touch with the AG's office. That might be enough for them to void the deal and get you outta there.

Make sure you write down everyone's name you speak to at the AG's office.

Again good luck. If you really like the car get all the upsells removed, and re-do the deal.


If they do take the car back just to cover yourself, take a lot of pics of the car and the ODO so they don't try to come back at you later about damage or putting eleventy-billion miles on the car in 3 days etc. Or have them sign something to the effect that the car was returned in the same condition blah blah blah.

^^^^^This