Car reliability can make or break your day. Not to mention your budget. An unreliable vehicle costs you time and money -- potentially, lots of money.
Most of us want two things above and beyond anything else when it comes to a car:
- Confidence it will start when we turn the key
- Confidence it will get us where we need to go without drama.
A car that fails to satisfy these requirements can mean you have to deal with everything from disrupted days, to mechanic’s bills and remote roadside struggles to get a signal on your mobile.
In short: the reliability of your new car is often the difference between ‘a good buy’ and a prolonged and expensive problem...
How Reliable is The Car You Are Considering Buying?
Reliability matters. But now how do you find out whether the car you want is going to be a reliable way to get around? Make use of all your information sources:
- The Person Selling the Car – whether you are buying a car privately or through a car dealer you should ask how reliable the car you are looking at is likely to be. But be sure to verify the answer you get to the reliability question...
- Knowledgeable People – who do you know who knows about cars? Tap into their knowledge, but be wary of going on the opinion of one person. People who might be able to help:
- Friends who spend lots of time with their heads either under the bonnet of their car or in motoring magazines.
- Mechanics – their business is fixing cars, they know which cars they see most; ones you should avoid buying.
- A Little Time With Your Favourite Internet Search Engine – Your favourite search engine is your friend. More and more car reliability information is available online. Search for model and make and reliability and see what you find.
- Consumer and Motoring Organisations - Organisations like the AA and Consumer assess the reliability of vehicles on an ongoing basis, read their publications and visit their websites to see what they have to say about the car you are considering. And the AA also offer independent vehicle testing so you can be confident with your used vehicle purchase.
- Motoring Media – Read recent issues of motoring magazines and visit motoring websites for information on car reliability.
A recent JD Powers survey of 16000 motorists conducted for the AA found that reliability and the quality of the vehicle accounted for 33 percent of vehicle satisfaction ratings.
Cost of Ownership and Reliability
You should be thinking in terms of cost of vehicle ownership – what it will cost you to buy your new car and keep it on the road – as you assess your vehicle options.
And reliability is a key element in determining this cost.
Sure fuel economy matters and what you pay for a car is important. But a car that spends a lot of time in the company of your mechanic ends up being anything but the cheap option you thought it was.
The Value of A Reliable Vehicle
The Dog and Lemon Guide summed the situation up nicely:
‘Nothing lasts forever, but some cars wear out much faster than others and some never even make it out of guarantee without breaking down.’
The extra money you might pay for a vehicle that scores well in reliability tests will be money well spent if it reduces your total cost of ownership. Do the research to make sure a vehicle offers quality and reliability, alongside other considerations: meeting your requirements, maximising safety, offering fuel economy and minimising environmental impact.
Taking the time to investigate the likely reliability of the vehicle you are buying can mean big savings over time... It can definitely save you some hassle.
We Believe good things stand the test of time
At Toyota we believe good things stand the test of time and we take the reliability of our cars very seriously. It’s a big part of providing Toyota buyers with cars that last and offering superior total cost of ownership.
- JD Powers AA Vehicle Owner Satisfaction Survey: Toyota owners satisfaction grew at the highest recorded rate.
We build our vehicles to last decades, thinking in terms of lifetimes rather than life cycles. And we’d like to think a research and development program focused on meeting our customers’ reliability expectations works pretty well. Nothing pleases us more than to hear Toyota owners’ reliability stories. Tell us some below, we'll publish the best of them here.
