My wife to her Prius in for it's 25K service. They did not rotate the tire because the rears (3-4/32) are worn more than the fronts (4-5/32). Anyway, they said they were running a sale on tires and it was buy 3 get 1 free for a total of $486 plus a $79 alignment for Yoko Avid TRZ's. I told her to wait. Tire Rack sells those for a ton less! At buy 3, they are $162 each!!!! Wth? Anyway, I really want a low rolling resistance tire and this fall I'll get her snows on rims. I understand the need to make money, but this is a downright rip off. I don't know if I'll even have them mount and balance the tires I get just because of this. Jerks. We have bought 1 car and leased a 2nd from them. At the 20K mile service they told my wife the Toyota Recommended service included a bunch of crap and it cost us $140 when in reality it should have been much less, no fuel injector cleaning necessary. I don't think we will get another car from them. At least the Honda dealer told us what they suggested above and beyond what Honda said was necessary and you had a choice to make. At least MY Prius (leased) came with included maintenance courtesy of Toyota.
Unless they purposely burned some rubber down to 3-4/32, they were right not to rotate the tires. Everybody knows that most dealers overcharge for tires so no surprises here. It's your wife's responsibility to refuse the dealer-recommended services and instead stick with the factory-recommended services.
I'm not questioning the non rotation, it's the outright rip off. NOT everyone knows about cars and a friend of mine who is an ex-mechanic had to fight with this dealer to only do what Toyota said was necessary. It's just wrong and this is NOT how you build a relationship and get repeat customers.
Independent shops are developing expertise in the Prius. Check around in your area. The typically charge less and in many cases have more integrity because they do not use the "scare" tactics the dealers use to terrorize women and others not familiar with what is really needed. A Prius does not need any of those interval checks until you get to about 120K miles when you need to test (not necessarily change) brake fluid; have your spark plugs replaced, change the transmission fluid, and change the anti-freeze. Other than that, change your oil at 5K intervals or even 10K if you use good filters. Don't forget the air filter--it's easy to do. The rest is dealer profit from my perspective, totally unnecessary. I have two Prius.
Is there any reason why a tire shop can't change your tires? I know they can't really mess with the brakes but I would assume that they could pop the wheels off and swap rubber.
The most practical method to rotate tires is to do it in conjunction with brake inspection: the tires are coming off anyways, it's just a matter of re-installing them rotated to different locations.
The 'truth' inasmuch as you can determine "the truth" is usually in the middle of two opposing views. Not all dealers are scumbags....just most of them. If you buy tires at a place that sells cars, and you're not happy with the price, I don't think the dealer ripped you off as much as you made a dumb purchase. (and yes....I read the OP's post...they didn't buy them.) If you knuckle under to some service manager's "pressure" to have work done to your ride, and you don't do some fact checking---that's like paying 10 bucks for a loaf of bread. Yeah...they 'ripped you off', but you helped a little. If you want to buy a car...go to a car dealer. If you want to buy tires...go to a tire shop (or Sams... ) If you want to have your car serviced...your choices are a little more limited...but you do have choices: 1. DIY 2. Independent tech 3. A 'for-real' FACT-O-REE trained wrench swinger. Personally?? I do the DIY thing for maintenance and light repairs, and use the pros for heavy lift items. Yeah....dealers piss me off when they put second/third stickers on cars. They also piss me off in the back for some of the daffy stuff they try...but trying to sell tires at mark-up prices just doesn't cross the "scumbag" threshold for me personally. JMHO
Our present/previous dealers for Toyota, Hyundai and a Honda all were above board in service. The sales departments varied wildly but after many decades one learns that it doesn't matter what the conditions are in sales, it's all about the final bottom line car's price. If I can save $1000 buying from an idiot, I'll do it. The new Prius is from a different dealer so we'll see first service. The old dealer for our Saturn would squeeze you dry if you let them, they wanted to do the fuel injection treatment every oil change, just like the quick oil change places do. 'No' works wonders, but indeed sometimes hard to say when being bombarded with psuedo-lies sometimes.
We got our snow tires through a dealership. Went in fully aware that they would cost about $15 more per corner compared to going through Costco, and an at-time-of-purchase rebate would become a mail-in rebate (incurring a little extra sales tax, delay, hassle). But I was ok with that. I was getting the snows mounted on Corolla steel rims. They were pretty confident it would all work, but not 100% (or so they claimed ). From my perspective, I just did not want to risk picking up rims (and lug nuts) from them, then have to drive to Costco to get tires mounted, and then find out there was a fit problem. Also, many Costco outlets were running low on the tires I wanted. And, I would rather deal with one outfit than two. Next time around, yes, I'll go the Costco route. But sometimes you spend a little more, just for convenience, peace of mind, whatever. It's only money.
It's more like $45 per corner in this case. I have previously worked for 2 car dealers (SAAB) and the tire prices were not this high. WHY? They wanted the loyal customers to come back and they did. We had people drive 60 miles to us for service simply because the service experience was 2nd to none. We didn't rip people off. Fortunately my wife had the sense to call me first. I'll order tires and find a local place to install them. Unfortunately the friend I relied upon to do my tire installs is no longer doing that. Bummer, I don't trust anyone with my Trans Am!
It's nothing new for a stealership to recommend stuff you don't need. Basically all do it and suckers pay it. Also tirerack is always the place to buy tires. I've not bought anywhere else in years.
Having worked for a few car dealers, I would agree whole heartedly. Dealers make their money from car service, not from car sales (there's not a lot of money in it), so this is where they have to gouge you. I go to CarMax Laurel Toyota (new car sales) for my cars since, while they are not the most knowledgeable sales people, at least the sales manager won't tell you to go f*#k yourself (literally, not figuratively) when you point out that they added $500 to the agreed upon price when they drafted the contract, as happened at Russell Toyota. I have sold and serviced foreign and domestic cars from the 1970's to the 1990's, and dealers are not to be trusted at all - sales or service.
I think the best approach to take when dealing with them is a polite one but under the continual assumption that they are trying to screw you. I don't trust them any further than I can throw them. I typically have a less cynical attitude with people but those in a car dealership I don't trust by default. Only exception being the part guys because they just get you what you want and that's that.
I try to buy using AAA car buying service. Tell them what you want, and they'll find the best price, even if they have to divert a delivery off a truck. Even better prices than Costco. Also, just go to Discount Tire or a tire chain and get a free tire rotation. If they tell you your treads are thin and you should buy new tires instead, just tell them, "not now".
