This is my first post. I have a question about Toyotacare that is getting me confused. New Prius comes free with Toyotacare for 2 years or 25K miles of whichever comes first. The dealer tried to sell me 5 years/75K miles toyotacare for $1760. The dealer said this is a new toyotacare that just offered this month February. That is including 6 minor services and 4 major services at 30/45/60/75 miles. I am not so much concerned about minor services since this is basically an oil change which i can do myself. Regarding to major service which is the dealer charges $684.22. The dealer said that three major services should cover the cost and i don't have to worry for the next 5 years or up to 75k miles whichever comes first. Is that true it costs that much for major service? Is it worth to pay for this new Toyotacare? Please advice. Many thanks.
No it is not worth it! $1760/10 services = $176 per service!! You can easily get a minor service (tire rotation and oil change) for $40-50 at a place like Firestone. As for the "major" services, they are nothing more than a minor service + air filters. I just bought the engine air filter and cabin air filter for my 30k mile from Amazon for $25 total. If you play smart you should be able to pay less than $700 for all your maintenance (that doesnt even include DIY jobs) for the first 75k miles.
Read your manual. Our cars need no major services... Toyota says tires rotation every 5k Oil/filter change every 10k air filter every 30k(i think) Cabin filter as needed. Spark plugs and inverterand engine collant should be changed over 100k There is no major service. I pay about $80 every 10k so that 800 for whats needed.
This is trivial DIY stuff that even *I* manage For my G2 Prius for 100k miles: I change oil and oil filter twice yearly (about 18 - 20 k miles a year) ---- $150/5 years Cabin and engine air every 50 k miles (swatted in between) --------------- $$50 Rotation -------------------- free (DIY or costco if I feel lazy) Plugs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- $25 Inverter Coolant ---------------------------------------------------------------- $25 Total: $250 I have also recently changed the belt, ATF, inverter coolant pump, and PCV. That was another $135 or so. Works out to be about $5/month, or about four dollars per thousand miles. I say, let the dealers rot.
SageBrush, Over the 100,000 miles what repairs did you have done outside of the standard maintenance you listed.
Toyocare is way overpriced and not worth it. You can get a synthetic oil change at Toyota for like $60, and take it to Discount/Americas Tire for free rotations. So basically for the first 60k miles, it would cost you $240 for oil changes and a few air/in cabin filters at $20 a piece.
Depending how you count -- zero or two: 1. Not knowing that the coolant was special I topped off with some auto-zone cheap stuff, and when I found out my error I took the car to the dealer and had an (early) engine coolant fluid replacement. Cost $100 2. I cracked a spark plug (don't ask -- only I can be *this* stupid) and had to have a mechanic fish the ceramic fragment out of the engine. Cost $250 Needless to say, neither problem would have been covered by an extended warranty.
