30k service

That is rather high. Can you provide photo of invoice?

For me, I do all those things myself. About $40-50 for parts.

 

There are actually two hybrid battery filters. Checking/cleaning/replacing them is critical to the health of your traction battery. I would check at 6 months, then determine from there frequency. I have no pets, etc so mine do not require frequent maintenance. Here's great 5 min video on the subject.

 

Oof that's a pricey oil change. I honestly just bring my cars to Walmart or a local guy that can do it for $50 or so including oil, filter, and labor. I change my own air filters. They never have the size my 2016 prius had anyway. Can't imagine they would for my new prime when I'm out of the Toyota care miles.

For a while I kept getting quoted like $90-100 for full synthetic or "hybrid" oil changes from places. That's BS tbh but they usually would take my own oil and filter ($20-25 for 5qt of oil, $2-10 for filter), and they'd ask for only $20-25 for the labor. Walmart here has been cheaper to just have them do it with their own 0w20 synthetic. You can have a place rotate your tires too. Usually if you bought tires from them they include lifetime rotate for those tires for free. Can be a pain to stop at discount tire and Walmart but you are potentially saving hundreds of dollars.

If you a lot of miles in a year it may not be a bad idea to start doing it yourself.

 

If you look in the Toyota USA Warranty and Maintenance Booklet (likely in the glove box) you'll find this:



The engine oil and filter change, and tire rotation, is basically all they need do, and that shouldn't be over $100. Inspect the cabin and engine filter condition, and replace only as needed.

However, it IS time for the first in-depth brake inspection (every 30K miles or 3 years, whichever comes first), not just the usual "visual" inspection. A lot of owners, and dealerships, seem to ignore it. Your call.

The rest is "fluff".

 

Great comments, thx. I would lean to replacing both engine air and cabin air filters per maintenance manual. The two traction battery air filters I would inspect, clean or replace as needed. These two filters are not even in maintenance manual. To each their own.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Nop. I used free Toyota Care for up to 25000miles (5 routines serviced including 3 minor tire rotation and inspection and 2 with oil and filter) and starting from 30K, I did oil and filter DIY. I do tire rotation DIY at the time of winter tire change twice a year. All fluid levels checked DIY and topped off in needed. The only thing I did take my PP to a dealer beyond 30K was for the unscheduled transaxle fluid change for $110. It is not in the scheduled maintenance but it is one of the maintenance suggested by many previous Prius owners. But in retrospect, I probably did not need that. I am not going to keep the car for that long.

For dealer services, the key is never to ask for 30K mile service. They add a bunch of menu items that are not listed on the owner's manual. Just stick with routine oil and filter or a la carte to specify what to be done from the manual and ask for a free muti point check. Cabin air filters and engine oil filters are cheap if purchased online and can be DIY by anyone who can drive a car.

 

I go to parts.toyota.com for my parts. Toyota's OEM parts a very competitive. Just takes a little legwork searching for best deal by dealers.

In regards to the two battery filters, initially vacuum out then when they need replacing you can order from aforementioned site. The video I posted also outlines the same procedures plus part numbers.

 

That's your lizard-brain informing you that you're being preyed upon.
You need to change dealers.
Or?
Give them up and find an independent repair shop with a LOT of cars in the parking lot and good street cred for honesty.

These people actually charged you $550 for about $150 worth of service and then insulted your intelligence by offering to rip you off a little less if you give them the chance to rip you off again????

See that flashing light?
It's the "Change Dealer" master-caution lamp.
I ignored it once back when I bought my third Toyota.
Then?
The RED "Change Brand" lamp started flashing.....

The rest is history.

Are you really going to trust this dealer to give you a fair and honest diagnosis if something ever ACTUALLY goes wrong with your car?

 

This caused me to break out the owner's manual and see what is says about the traction battery filters. It says that you will get a message when they need to be cleaned. There is nothing on the maintenance schedule (30K or whatever) saying that they need to be cleaned. I really appreciated the video that Marine Ray inserted. The last time I needed an oil change and tire rotation I ignored my local dealer and used a coupon from Midas for a $25 oil change, tire rotation and brake, fluid and filter check. I supplied my own synthetic oil and oil filter and watched them do it. I was embarrassed to pay just $25. for that, so I gave the technician a $20. tip.

 

Money well spent!!

.....reading the Warranty and maintenance Guide??
TIIME well spent!!!

You don't HAVE to be a mechanic, or even mechanically inclined....

 

Cabin filter is based on your preference. I change mine every 20K miles, but I run with the fan on low all the time. If you've got allergies or don't like the diesel smell, go with the charcoal infused filters and there are HEPA like filter out there too.
You can just shake-out those battery filters, unless you've got pets on a ride-along. It's easier to replace them than to try to get the dog hair out of them. They're $26 a pair on ebay.
I do recommend replacing the ATF at 30K. I did my 2012 Prius C @ 25k and it was pretty dark compared to the Toyota WS ATF I replaced it with. When I replace the ATF again @ 75K it wasn't as dark as the 25k change, but slightly darker than the new ATF, considering the fact that I placed twice as many miles on the ATF from the first change. I have a suspicion that the heavily worn ATF change @ 25K was due to assembly dirt and initial break-in (grit suspended in the ATF). Since there are no friction clutches in these transmissions, you probably don't need to do another ATF change IMHO. If you want to error on the side of caution; most automatic transmission shops recommend ATF changes between 60K-80K miles - if you don't tow anything.

 

Yeah, I don't get that. This "hybrid battery filter cleaning" is nowhere in the maintenance schedule. Oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, I get those... and they are in the maintenance schedule for 30K. So what is up with that, exactly? I guess that is where the maintenance guide says "Clean HV battery cooling intake filter", but it ONLY seems to specify that for special operating conditions. And while I can see why those conditions would need more frequent servicing, it seems strange that they would never be a core service for all cases.

 

Agree in principle. These days, at least where I live, good luck getting an appointment within a month at a place like that.

 

That is not Toyota's package, it's the dealership. And again, Toyota does say to do a more in-depth brake inspection at 30K (and 60K, 90K, and so on). Seems like that falls on deaf ears: owners ignore it, and dealerships too.

 

Toyota (the OEM, NOT the dealers) just needs the car to hang together long enough to cover their extended warranty period (8y/125K?) and meet industry norms for "dependability."
They could just about do that WITHOUT maintenance schedules.

Their "Warranty and Maintenance" guide is thus, aptly named.

Toyota DEALERSHIPS are just in it for the money.
There's no shame in that, and there are probably some honest dealers out there (somewhere.....) that charge a fair rate and more or less use the maintenance schedule as a guide to maintaining the car.
HOWEVER (COMMA!!!) they seem not to be motivated by loyalty to the brand OR the customer.
That's just MY take.

There ARE maintenance items that do not appear in the warranty and maintenance guide that one should perform if one wants to keep a car for MORE than the OEM extended warranty period, and some that DO appear should perhaps be done a little more frequently.
Transaxle fluid is a common example.
If I owned a Toyota(**) I would change the engine oil, and replace the brake fluid and coolant, and engine and cabin air filters more often than the Warranty and maintenance guides dictate....but then I intend to keep MY cars for closer to 20 years and/or 250,000 miles rather than merely meeting Toyota's life cycle.

To be fair....
As much as I rail against the automotive industry in general, and the folks in Aichi, Japan in particular for their "closed-hood" customer maintenance philosophy, there are many MANY customers out there whose idea of "properly maintaining a car" means filling the gas tank with the right kinda petrol, and scheduling an appointment with a dealership whenever the little "Maintenance Required" (idiot) message appears in their info screen.

I've LITERALLY known people who get into passionate arguments about car maintenance, what type of oil and filters to use, oil change periodicities, etc....who trade their cars every two years and never open the hood for anything more than perhaps filling the windshield washer fluid.
AND......there's no shame in THAT either.

BUT....they sorta forfeit their right to complain about $500 service visits!
(This is NOT directed at the OP, btw.....unless that shoe fits )

(**) "Climate Change" is probably a thing down in hell too, but I'm not aware that there is a critical shortage of rock salt in Hades from where the sidewalks have frozen over - so I'll keep driving Toyotas occasionally instead of buying them.
YMMV

 

I take my car to the place where I bought my replacement tires (Big O) for oil changes. The tire rotation and balance is free. They do a thorough inspection also. I replace filters and wiper blades myself (easy job).