963$ quote for 60.000 mile service at Toyota Dealership for real?

Yes, we refer to them as Toyota Stealerships. Once your car is out of warranty it's the absolute worst place to go if you want to save money. It's time to find out where the other local Prius owners go for service, or start reading everything on here and watching Youtube videos and doing all the work yourself.

 

what nonsense are they claiming that needs to be done? should just be oiland a couple filters, maybe tire rotate

 

Yeah... But that costs at least $1K if you know there's no meaningful consumer protection laws to stop you from robbing people...

 

Toyota’s recommendations for a 60,000-mile/six-year service, assuming the earlier services have been done as specified, are on page 45 of the Warranty and Maintenance Guide (PDF); the individual items are explained on pages 54–57. There are only a few preventative maintenance tasks: replacing the cabin and engine air filters, engine oil, and engine oil filter; rotating the tires; and topping up the fluids. Most of the items are inspections, with corrective work done only when required by the car’s actual condition.

Dealers are independent businesses, not part of Toyota, and they are allowed to offer services in addition to the ones Toyota recommends. Page 35 of the Guide states, “Your dealer may recommend more frequent maintenance intervals or more maintenance services than those listed in the scheduled maintenance log. These additional services are not required to maintain your warranty coverage.”

In principle, these extra services could be to your benefit, but in practice, many of them just help make the service department a profit center for the dealer. Service advisors earn commissions, just like the salespeople in the showroom, and the latest Dealership Financial Profile (PDF) from NADA shows that, at an average U.S. new-car dealer, so-called fixed operations (service, parts, and body shop) contributed 46.4% of total gross profit, from only 12.2% of total sales.

One reason for this profitability is that customers are sold maintenance packages with high margins. For example, the 60,000-mile service you were offered might include a “fuel system service” or “fuel injector service.” This usually means the dealer’s technician pours a bottle of a chemical cleaner into the fuel tank. Toyota’s version (EFI Tank Additive, 00289-EFI34) has a list price of about $20 and costs the dealer even less, but the service might be offered for $80 or more.

The additive has been found in a lab to clean the fuel injectors as it passes through, and the phenomenon of deposit buildup on injectors is real, so the need for the service and its effectiveness are just plausible enough that no one will go to jail for selling it. They don’t have to tell you, however, that gasolines, especially the TOP TIER brands, already contain deposit control additives; that most vehicles don’t need more unless the engine control system (which monitors the air-fuel ratio) has detected a problem and turned on the Check Engine light; or that if an additive is needed, you can buy your own bottle at an auto parts store for $6.

Toyota has tried to distance themselves from the practice of using their chemical products unnecessarily. Their YouTube videos explaining the products all begin with a disclaimer that “The services [...] are to be applied [...] only when it has been diagnosed that the vehicle actually requires service per the conditions described.” That doesn’t stop dealers from offering them to everyone anyway.

The dealer’s service package probably also includes some tasks that Toyota has recommended, but that you could easily do yourself. For example, @NutzAboutBolts has kindly shared videos explaining how to replace the cabin air filter and the engine air filter. The list prices for the filters are $27.75 and $23.75, respectively, and many dealers sell them online for less.

You are also free to have the maintenance work done at another dealer, or at an independent shop, without affecting the Toyota warranty. (Guide, page 35: “Maintenance and repair services may be performed by you or by any automotive service provider you choose. Toyota will not deny a warranty claim solely because you used a service provider other than a Toyota dealership for maintenance and repairs.”)

 

What are the itemized services included in this? Without knowing that, it is hard to judge if the price is right or not. One thing you should never do is to take your car and ask for a "routine X mile service". This will give the dealer so much advantage to write up service that is not included in the Toyota manual. If you tell them the exact itemized service you want them to perform, then you should get quotes for those services only.

 

Toyota has two descriptions for brake inspections; one uses the expression “visual inspection”, and is used pretty much every 5k miles (or 6 months), and I’d think is basically part of the tire rotation.

But at 30k, 60k and so on, the wording changes, no “visual...” and they mention checking thickness and runout.

I do think they drop the ball with their terse description; reading between the lines I would take that to mean:

Do an in-depth brake inspection every 30k or 3 years (whichever comes first).

A four corner brake inspection, a proper one, will run $300~400.

 

Leaning the Art of dealing with the dealer service dept is an art most don't have the patience and fortitude to pursue and the dealers know it. The dealers also know that only a small percentage of customers are capable of preforming their own maintenance.

Yes, it for REAL

 

Help us help you!

 

They won’t even give you a list of maintenance items that will be performed either but gave you an estimate?

 

Maybe they just say “60k service?

 

My experience is that the xx,xxx mile service is a set cost in the dealerships that I have used. The dealerships tend to have the highest labor costs and thus, the highest cost for a 60k service. I had a dealership do a 30k mile service with a non Toyota I purchased and I regretted it after getting the bill. I also found that using local mechanics were no bargain, either, for the work that they actual did- there's a lot of visual inspections that come with a high labor charge, changing out filters that might not need to be changed, etc...

 

but at least you can trust the dealer to do it right, they've been factory trained

 

....and they've done it 1,000 times. Training is important, but there's also something to be said for experience.

 

Toyota Hanless is such a ripoff for everything. If you’re in the Sacramento region and want to do it from a dealer maybe Folsom or Maita might have a better price. I don’t recommend Roseville as much but if it’s cheaper and they do the same thing why not.

 

Folsom emails me great deals all the time. Literally it makes me sad because I don't need the services. Got an email the other day for a $49 4 wheel alignment. Recently had $30 synthetic oil change (which I do myself). Can't wait for when they send me a service deal and I can take advantage.

 

OP has left the forum?

 

Sort of like the "a/c delayed start" topic. The OP tosses us a juicy slab of meat, we chew it up and spit it out, but the OP is long gone.

 

Generally because they just want a question answered and you guys write books on how the engineers designed and built the car.

 

Reply of the year!!!