Whether it’s an unbearably hot day in the Canary Islands or an agonisingly cold one in Iceland, you are guaranteed a warm welcome in any of the 3000 Toyota and Lexus dealers across the continent.

But what are the key characteristics of Toyota dealers that make them different from your local garage?

As one of the world’s leading car manufacturers, we take our responsibility to help protect the environment extremely seriously. This extends way beyond how our vehicles perform on the road. It means finding cleaner, sustainable ways of making vehicles, maintaining them and disposing of them when they reach the end of their useful life.

Your Toyota dealer will therefore ensure that wastewater – a source of pollution during vehicle service – is collected and treated. Similar rules apply to oil, paint, batteries and tyres. They will also repair a car’s air conditioning systems using recovery/recycling equipment, to avoid refrigerants damaging the environment and specifically the ozone layer.

Every technician who works on your car at a Toyota dealer is a graduate of the Toyota Academy. They are thus highly trained technicians who understand Toyota cars inside and out. They regularly attend further training to stay up-to-date with the latest models and developments. As they spend their working lives servicing and repairing Toyota cars, their knowledge is outstanding. Could you really say the same of your local garage?

Our hybrids are high-tech machines. Working on them requires specialist skills, which our technicians of course have. Your local garage mechanic, however, may be unfamiliar with hybrids. Our technicians will test the whole hybrid system, compiling a written report that gives you all the information you need to understand the health of your hybrid vehicle.

It's the ideal way to make sure your hybrid is operating as it should, at optimum performance levels. Check out this video for a 1-minute overview of Toyota Hybrid Service. You may be surprised to discover that checking a hybrid’s health doesn’t involve dirty overalls, oily hands and a wrench, but plugging in a powerful computer which conducts a lot of the tests itself!

• Floor mats – To make sure they are not interfering with the operation of your car’s pedals.
• Windscreen – Advice on any scratches or chips that need to be monitored or repaired.
• Wiper blades and mechanism – To ensure no juddering, jumping or streaking across the windscreen.
• Tyres – Treads are inspected to ensure the tyres will give you the right grip and braking distance.
• Bodywork – Including advice on any scratches.
• Lights – To make sure they are all in perfect working order.

Toyota believes in fixing any problem properly at the first attempt. It’s not necessarily the easy way to do things, at least not in the short-term. But there’s no place at Toyota for short-term thinking. If there’s an issue with your Toyota, we want to get to the bottom of it.

That means investigating any fault thoroughly to really understand the problem and identify the correct solution. We’re not interested in quick fixes which don’t last, and we don’t want to put you back on the road in a car you’ll need to return to us in a few days or weeks. Instead, we’ll find a long-term solution so you can confidently enjoy your car, fault-free.

If the inspection reveals that your car needs replacement parts – for example to pass the mandatory roadworthiness test – then a Toyota dealer will only use genuine Toyota parts. In other words, they won’t compromise on quality or durability. You can therefore rest easy, knowing the parts used have been specifically designed and made for your Toyota.