Family stranded in desert after Toyota denies warranty for wild reason
A young family traveling around Australia have been left “stranded” after their near-new Toyota broke down in an outback town.
The Clements family, from Queensland, set off on a “quarter lap of Australia” on June 26, with their three kids and dog, but 96 days into their journey they started having trouble with their 2023 300 Series Toyota LandCruiser, a vehicle that costs approximately between $52,571 and $92,000.
They had the car looked at in Carnarvon, a coastal town in Western Australia’s north, and were told it needed to be towed to Perth, about 559 miles away.
In Perth the devastated family were told they may need to spend a month waiting for the vehicle to be fixed.
“We are really in the pits at the moment, we have an injured dog, and a car that needs to be looked at,” the family posted on social media on September 29.
The car was taken to Toyota Rockingham, in Perth. The dealership loaned the family a vehicle while the LandCruiser underwent “testing”.
“They (Rockingham Toyota) have advised us that they are going to take the car’s engine out for further testing,” the family posted on social media on October 10.
Then on October 12, they posted a video titled: “Last day – quarter lap of Australia”.
“We aren’t having fun, and we are under a lot of stress … it’s just not our quarter lap anymore,” the family said.
The next update on the LandCruiser came last week.
“Toyota Rockingham informed us today that Toyota have rejected the warranty on our 2023 300 Series LandCruiser,” they said.
“The engine failed at 27,000km (16,777 miles). We are traveling Australia and are currently stranded 4300km (2,672 miles) from our home.
“We have always had our car serviced at Toyota; our last service was 3500km (2,175 miles) ago.”
The family did not provide any clues as to why the warranty may have been rejected, but some on social media speculated it could have something to do with the vehicle’s modifications, which they had professionally installed.
On October 29 last year, the family posted a “before and after” photo of the car on Instagram.
“Before and after. 1.5 years from purchase to completion. Everything we want and need to get us to where we want to go.”
The family posted a similar picture on TikTok: “Our touring vehicle. 1.5-year process. 1 year wait to get it, 6 months of modifications. No expenses were spared in this build. Worth it.”
Toyota Rockingham confirmed to news.com.au it did look at the Clements’ vehicle.
In a statement Toyota Australia said: “Toyota does not intend to comment on the specific circumstances of this customer except to confirm that we have investigated the matter and have provided them with a response.”
It then referred to its warranty coverage for modified vehicles, which states: “Warranty advantage does not apply to defects, damage or failures caused by the fitment of non-Toyota-approved parts, accessories or add-on parts, failures in non-genuine parts and accessories, or damage or failures caused by improper adjustment, repair, tampering or modifications by a non-Toyota provider.”
News.com.au has reached out to the Clements family for comment.
