Coming up on 100k Miles, Recommended Services?

How much are they charging for the inspection?

Where I'm going with this: assuming your cost per visit is somewhere between $50 and $100, they're doing squat. They're "looking" at the brakes, while rotating the tires. Maybe...

Maybe with proper brake inspections being pure labour, customers don't like paying for that, dealerships don't like doing time consuming work, and/or battling with the (cheap) customers, so the two parties enable each other.

And then a few years down the road we get posts about stuck brakes, unbalance wear, overheating rims and so on.

 

Never had none of that done with my 3 previous Toyotas. The dealer just did a cursory brake "look-see" and rotor measurement, and brakes were always fine. (They probably never even measured the rotors. )

I hope this Prius does as well. I'm only going to do the bare-bones, minimum maintenance on this car as listed in the Maint log. Probably even less than that. I'll change the oil once a year, and maybe rotate the tires. Then just throw in a clean cabin filter every January if it needs it. It can't get any easier!

I'll never live long enough to see 100,000 miles.

 

You guys are in denial, lol. The more extensive brake inspection is in the maintenance schedule, every 3 years or 30K miles, whichever comes first.

I'll leave it at that. You want to neglect basic, in-the-book maintenance, you're not alone: dealerships and owners in droves are ignoring maintenance stipulated by Toyota.

You want to be told by a dealership time after time that everything's fine, you're brakes are at say 70%, full stop, go back to sleep for 6 months, that's fine too.

And then down the road, they're maybe telling you "we don't know why but you need new rotors, calipers whatever. Or worse, you have a brake failure on the road.

I'm ranting, know it.

 

If there's ever a brake problem, it's on the dealer. They're the one who inspected it. And it's been my experience since 1989, that the 30K "inspection" is no more in depth than any other visit to the dealer. Are Canadian dealers somehow different than our good, pot-smoking, USA guys?

C'mon Mendel. Do you really think those guys actually DO all that stuff at 30k? They may list it on the paperwork, but I seriously doubt they really do all that work. Hell, half the time they don't even rotate the tires or adjust the tire pressure... but they SAY they did. And they keep overfilling the damn oil!

But you at-home mechanics don't have to be concerned about those things. You guys do your own maintenance. I did too when I was young. But now days I'm out chasing the old ladies.

 

I've never had Toyota dealership do the brakes. I have watched Honda mechanics at work. They do a thorough/complete brake inspection. The calipers are pulled off the rotors, pads/shims cleaned and relubed, same for the caliper slide pins. There are minimum rotor thickness specs and runout that are checked, with micrometer and dial indicator.

 

Well, good. Send some of those Honda guys to the U.S.

 

Good luck in small claims in court to recoupe money on that one.

Do you know how many people create a new account just to post, "the dealership is trying to rip me off. Said I need new rotors and they're warp. Is the above price estimate above fair?" Poster never heard of relubing caliper pins, and not one poster has come back and said it was done for free, dealership took ownership for not relubing and ate the charges.

 

Unfortunately, the auto repair business can be very dishonest. I'm sure every long-term car owner has a story or two. I certainly do. There are service writers all over the country who try and sell unnecessary services, everyday. Especially to the elderly & women. They are on commission. And mechanics that lie about parts being worn out and need replacing.

I don't want those guys touching my cars any more than necessary. (That's an often repeated comment on this website.) If I could find a good independent Prius shop, I'd go there for my oil changes and never have to set foot in a dealer.

Somebody said in one of the forums that the Gen4 doesn't have any caliper pins to re-lube. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Getting back to the OP and his 100,000 mile Prius, I think that's great that his car has been trouble-free. One glance at the list of posts in the Gen2 and Gen3 forums, and all you see is problems. Maybe those cars have a million miles on them; I don't know.

I'm selling my Prius well before it reaches the 100K point. That seems to be when all the serious issues start creeping up, including having to replace the expensive hybrid battery. Plus, I just like to have a new vehicle every 8-10 years. (I'm not married to this dang Prius! )

 

There is a difference between a brake inspection, and a brake check.
When I worked at a Hyundai dealership, the 15,000 mile service required removing the rear brake drums
and SEEING the whole rear brake system parts. We also were required to clean them with our brake cleaning tank.
Since a "few" of the techs were NOT doing that, the service manager said we couldn't complete our service until
he physically came and saw that we had the rear drums off and had cleaned both rear brakes.
Finding an honest auto tech is not easy. That's why I "retired" from it.
I didn't want to be bunched in with the liars and thieves.
My Father taught me that if I wasn't going to do the job CORRECTLY the FIRST time, don't even start it!
And now I can't do a job incorrectly! Even on my vehicles. It drives me crazy if I don't do it right.

If you don't trust a dealership, or any auto service center, DON'T GO THEIR! If you don't have much choice
because you are not able to do the work that needs to be done on your car, then do your best to get somewhere
that you are able to watch them work on your car. Try to get a rapport the tech, give him a tip(money) and HOPEFULLY,
he'll do the right thing!

 

That's the problem with most dealerships I have ever been to. You can't see the technician doing the work. There's only one Toyota dealer that I know of, where you can sit outside and see a little bit of the oil changes.

I wish there were more good independent Prius shops. They are hard to come by.

 

There's a well known independent Prius shop here in California that quoted a charge of $149.50 to change my engine oil on the terms that I supply the oil and filter. So the idea of independent shop, scrap that.

 

That's three times the price. Are they doing anything else for the vehicle?

 

all auto repair shops should be required to have a cam on the mechanic, while you wait and watch on your computer.

 

That was the only thing I wanted, and no other services. They do specialized in prius though.

 

Oh I don't know...

Maybe a security camera, and the video could be played back if there was a dispute, especially if you find bodywork damage for example. But constant, real-time monitoring: if I was a mechanic I'd walk: you'd have too many nervous Nellies breathing down your neck.

 

if it was a federal law, they'd have togo to canada to work.