Bought Used Rav4 EV 2012... Warranty ????

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ccbarnes11

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Messages
5
I just bought a used 2012 Rav4 EV it has 80,800 miles.
My question..........well I have many, but for now I found a Toyota Dealer that would sell me a VSA Toyota warranty for this car.
$ 2900.00 for another 5 years and/or 60000 miles. I drive very short distances. Like less than a mile round trip for work, but want to use for running errands.
I have 2017 Prius Prime Advanced and after a over a year have 4400 miles. So I would leave that covered and drive this instead.
I have 3 other vehicles that are Electric so I don't need this to get by, but so far I really really like this car.
So do I pull the trigger and get the warranty or roll the dice................????
I did not research this car as the deal came up fast, it is supper clean and drives fantastic.........everyone thinks it's brand new
Charges to 98 miles and 103 on extended. I've only charged it 3 times so don't know much more than that..........

Any thoughts would be helpful. ;)
 
ccbarnes11 said:
I just bought a used 2012 Rav4 EV it has 80,800 miles.
My question..........well I have many, but for now I found a Toyota Dealer that would sell me a VSA Toyota warranty for this car.
$ 2900.00 for another 5 years and/or 60000 miles. I drive very short distances. Like less than a mile round trip for work, but want to use for running errands.
I have 2017 Prius Prime Advanced and after a over a year have 4400 miles. So I would leave that covered and drive this instead.
I have 3 other vehicles that are Electric so I don't need this to get by, but so far I really really like this car.
So do I pull the trigger and get the warranty or roll the dice................????
I did not research this car as the deal came up fast, it is supper clean and drives fantastic.........everyone thinks it's brand new
Charges to 98 miles and 103 on extended. I've only charged it 3 times so don't know much more than that..........

Any thoughts would be helpful. ;)

Nice! Welcome to the group! Where are you located? Did you get a good deal?

A warranty is highly recommended because certain parts on this car are rare and expensive to replace. I cant advise on the cost though. I haven't looked at warranty pricing in quite a while. I'd make sure whatever you buy does cover all of the EV/Tesla parts though.

Welcome to the group though! Enjoy the site, it should answer all of your questions. If you cant easily find an answer post here or on our facebook group. Both are pretty active.
 
Warranty seems a little high as I just got one on my 2014 with less miles for 5year/90k additional for $2,200. I would see how much "wiggle" they have on those prices. I could not get a Toyota warranty so got a 3rd party from the Toyota dealer.
 
This is mostly for prospective used buyers:

Any RAV4 EV car (with or without some BS "dealer used car certification") should do the following at pre-buy / pre-purchase inspection (or have a responsible person go through the list and send you the results):

Prior to purchase or delivery:

1. RECALLS - check that all recalls have been done

**** Firmware 1.3.101 (US Government recall)
**** Wiper motor (all Rav4s)
**** Seat belts (all Rav4s)

2. FOBs / KEYs - make sure the both the mechanical keys work, as well as both fobs (very common problem)

3. 12 VOLT BATTERY - Change the 12 volt battery if it is the original black top Toyota one. They aren't known to last more than 3 years. If you let the 12 volt battery fail, it can cause all kinds of issues for the car. I recommend a Bosch AGM battery, Group 24F, 60 amp/hour

4. OWNERS MANUAL - you'll want this, if you aren't familiar with the car

5. CHARGING CABLE - the original is a 120 volt / 12 amp unit with a blue plug handle

6. ADJUSTMENTS TO SETTINGS
a. Adjust door unlock remote to open all doors with 1 press; only auto-lock when in drive
b. Adjust car reverse tone to single beep
c. Adjust seat belt reminder chime to only chime once

7. CABIN HEATER - turn the heater to full blast and feel heat come out. This is a $2500 - $6000 repair, which is why you want a warranty. (Frequently fails)

8. AIR CONDITIONING - turn on air conditioning and feel cold air (this rarely fails)

9. TIRES - Check tire wear (the original Yokohamas wear out at 30-40k miles)

10. BRAKES - check brake wear (rarely much wear)

11. DAMAGE - look for obvious damage BELOW the car (ran over curb and damaged battery case, etc)

12. CHARGING - plug it into a J1772 charge station and watch it charge

13. MOTOR NOISE - listen for motor noise (frequently replaced free of charge with 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty, or Platinum Extended Warranty... could be $10,000 to $15,000 otherwise)

14. CENTER INFO-TAINMENT SCREEN - make sure center navigation screen works ($4000 to replace when not in warranty)

15. BATTERY CAPACITY - Check the high voltage "traction" battery capacity http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1625

That's about it. It's not likely that MOST Toyota dealers are going to know the car very well, or even care to do so. Use your own due diligence and don't rely on others to check these things.


**************


Issues with RAV4 EV:

1) Speed sensor - RECALL ITEM - vehicle will pop into neutral and stop, power steering disabled)

2) Gateway / communications "ECU" (can disable vehicle, usually a Check EV light)

3) Motor / gear box noise (requires motor replacement)

4) Heater failure (which then takes out the DC to DC)

5) DC to DC failure

6) Onboard charger failure (can't recharge vehicle... except JdeMO equipped cars with CHAdeMO quick chargers)

7) Leaking oil from gear box (I've had this on both one RAV4 and our Mercedes B-Class ED that shares the same Tesla Model S drivetrain)

8) "CHECK EV SYSTEM" message du jour (requires four ON/OFF cycles)

9) Charge Timer

10) Entunes

11) 12 volt battery

12) Charge port door sticks


Heck, I'll let everybody else decide what else to add to the list and in what order.
 
Does any know if like on my Prime, I can set the charger to start @ 1AM and then charge until full.
First day I set the timer to leave @ 5:50am and it did not charge to full by 7am.
I am using a GE wall charger that works great for my Prime.
I wonder if the car's system is not reading the correct start to charge time.
 
By the way .....thanks a lot to Tony for that information.
I think I'm good with most of it.............The USED CAR DEALER was less than honest about the car till signing paper work. He then said yes it has been in an accident rear door replaced. I could not see it, but he told me that it was related to him at the auction.
Of course by then my ride home was long gone. But in hind sight I still really like this car and it seems to perform great and that sport(RED) mode is really fast............ :cry:
 
The timed charging feature, remote climate and entune as a whole is notoriously bad. You can search this site. Everyone has complaints about it. Not much you can do about it. The charge timer is rarely accurate.

You can subscribe to Entune and Ravcharge but thats 2 extra payments per month. Ravcharge makes Entune work better. You can search this site for Ravcharge info too.
 
ccbarnes11 said:
Does any know if like on my Prime, I can set the charger to start @ 1AM and then charge until full.
First day I set the timer to leave @ 5:50am and it did not charge to full by 7am.
I am using a GE wall charger that works great for my Prime.
I wonder if the car's system is not reading the correct start to charge time.

This is not the best place for this question as there is much more information about charging elsewhere on the forum. Try the search function. But to answer your question, you can set the start time if you use the Rav Charge app created by a member here. Otherwise, no the Rav calculates it's own start time based on your programmed completion time. It is notorious for starting and finishing hours earlier than necessary. Unless you have a charger that is a low amperage (I recommend at least a 32 amp charger for the Rav but 40 is best), then maybe it just doesn't have time to complete the charge. It's hard to say without knowing the circumstances.
 
bdunst said:
Tony, how do you adjust the seat belt ding and the reverse? Or is that a dealer modify setting?
Pretty sure that is a dealer only adjustment. Most of us had it done the first week or at initial delivery.
 
I don't remember if the seatbelt indicator turned off since I left it on, but I was able to turn off the backup beeps with a Bluetooth OBDII adapter and the Prius Tweak app. Seems Toyota borrowed a few things from the Prius...
 
I'm buying a used 2014 this weekend and was wondering if $3200 is steep for a platinum warranty from Toyota financial. They wanted $4200 and came down to $3200 but they refuse to give me anything more than 3 years and 36,000 miles. Their sales tool brochure is so vague it does not specify any year/mileage options or any price options. Does anyone have current info and or a good guy source for a warranty? Would it be the same if I buy Mechanical breakdown insurance from Mercury Insurance vs a Toyota platinum VSA? Mercury offered me 7 year 100,000 mile zero deductible MBI warranty for $1200. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
 
Enginerd said:
I'm buying a used 2014 this weekend and was wondering if $3200 is steep for a platinum warranty from Toyota financial. They wanted $4200 and came down to $3200 but they refuse to give me anything more than 3 years and 36,000 miles. Their sales tool brochure is so vague it does not specify any year/mileage options or any price options. Does anyone have current info and or a good guy source for a warranty? Would it be the same if I buy Mechanical breakdown insurance from Mercury Insurance vs a Toyota platinum VSA? Mercury offered me 7 year 100,000 mile zero deductible MBI warranty for $1200. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Buy from another dealership. At most you pay $2600 for a 6yr, 100,000, I believe.
 
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