Doing your own maintenance

you're over thinking, relax and do whatever you're comfortable with.

 

I always do self maintenance for the vehicles I purchase, and I do as many repairs as my limited talents and tools allow...which is rather a lot most of the time.
If you arm yourself with a factory service manual, an internet connection, and a few hundred dollars in tools---plus a little patience and some common sense, you can save yourself a good bit of money this way.
As trained and talented as the 'for-real' factory certified technicians are, YOU are almost always going to have more interest in making sure that the maintenance items are properly attended to in YOUR ride.
This obviously doesn't work for everyone, which is why Harley Davidson, and Kawasaki dealerships routinely charge as much as $250 dollars for routine service visits, which usually amount to nothing more than an oil change and good visual inspection---just in case you think Prius operators are the only ones being charged premium rates for service...
Factory Certified Techs are (usually) highly paid...and they're (usually) highly trained, and they have expensive tools and gollywog 'special' test equipment and are sometimes even highly talented. You gotta pay for that....if you want the 'pros' swinging wrenches on your ride.
It's really not much of an issue for a Prius---which has a rather light maintenance schedule.
If you can change your oil (or get it done), and check other vital fluids and filters---you're 'probably' not going to have major mechanical issues with this car either in the way of maintenance or repair...and if memory serves, Mama Yota usually sells this car with a maintenance package.
Like I said....not much of an issue with this or almost any other car.

 

I do all my own maintenance on all my cars and my family cars. I am an ASE Master Tech now trying to transition out of the field. The only time I brought my Prius to the dealer was for an alignment issue immediately after buying it new, just to make sure there was no major structural issues with the car. The service advisor was condescending and talked to me like I knew nothing about cars, even after he found out my occupation. I can only imagine how the average person feels in that situation.

As to DIY maintenance in general, I find Toyota easier to work on than most other imports, and the Prius needs much less than most cars. The language in the statement shown by the OP is just another ploy to try and get you into the stealership so they can empty your wallet. They are going exactly as far as they can with the wording, with out violating Magnusen-Moss.
Do what you feel comfortable with, and find a tech you can trust and talk to directly to do the rest.

 

You may not have yet discovered that Toyota has self-maintenance procedures on their web site:

Do-It-Yourself | Toyota Owners Online

Perhaps Toyota needs to give more hugs. :grouphug:

 

Hey Mendel, can you tell me how to change the cabin air filter in a 2007 Civic? Judging from the owner's manual it looks like a nightmare of inaccessible disassembly.

 

Quite a lot of the normal repair items are still normal, one caution is that the 'bleeding the Brakes' is quite a bit more esoteric on the Prius due to the interaction of all the regeneration systems with friction braking. You may very well decide to let the dealer do that.

I let the dealer do everything, so far that has been $46 every 5000 miles. (the 2010 only needs an oil change every 10,000 miles, but the oil is costlier)

 

I know I plan to do all the work myself once I get my prius.

 

I'd just like to add that I recently bought a 2010 Honda Fit...and I just think it's not so much a case of manufacturers not encouraging you to do your own maintenance as it is manfacturers encouraging you to continue to support their dealerships.

This I don't think is exclusive to Toyota or Honda. I mean the wording might be slightly different but Honda is just as "subliminally threatening" about the dangers of outside the Honda network repairs. For example...Honda warns against using any automotive fluids that aren't OEM. The Fit comes with a "Maintenance Minder" which is simply a dashboard light that will light and offer codes for Oil Changes and routine maintenances. You can reset it yourself...but it is strongly encouraged that you simply take it to the dealer and let them do the maintenance and reset the minder.

I simply don't think the encouragement to do maintenance within the automakers dealership network is necessarily a Honda, Toyota or any manufacturers domain..they all do it...and it's going to get worse.

I also think with new cars, you see more and more complication in layout or structure that makes self maintenance more daunting. Things aren't laid out to encourage self maintenance. The days of open and accessible, straight forward "engines" that aren't connected to sophisticated ECU's have passed.

I think the trade off are automobiles that are infinitely more efficient in operation than automobiles just 10-15 years ago, and automobiles that are much more capable of "telling you" when they have a problem. However when that code is thrown, the chances of being able to pop the hood, take a wrench and fix it yourself, are probably reduced.

I'm coming from a vehicle that was 15+ years old...and my observation is that so much in Auto Manual wording to actual engine layout and design, to ECU operation is designed to encourage dealership maintenance.

 

They have to use that language for legal reasons. Say you use defective aftermarket filter that leaks and you lose oil and destroy engine, they don't want to pay $$$$ for that.

But, personally, I use only Toyota dealers for oil changes during warranty. Can't help but remember how Toyota treated people with non-Toyota oil change receipts during their oil sludge fiasco 10 years ago.

 

That is really useful ! TY:cheer2:

 

Do you assure they use the correct oil?

 

I've always done my own maintenance. The FJ Cruiser I traded in on the Prius, I bought new and put 50K on. It was never in the dealers or any other garage.

 

I don't follow your analogy. My guess is that Sarah Palin is more likely to do her own car maintenance than Nancy Pelosi. eep:

 

We just purchased our 12th Toyota and I have almost always done my own service. Of the three or four times that I had a professional do it, I was disappointed.
Case in point, I just took our 2011 Prius into a GA dealership as we were not near our home in FL when the 5K alert came on. After some discussion about whether it needed an oil change at 5K or if was to wait until 10K, the service writer insisted that it didn't need to be done until 10K. I even called my dealer's service department and they agreed with the 10K figure. Then after they brought the car back out, the paperwork indicated that they did change the oil and filter. The service writer recovered from his confusion and said they went ahead and did it as I requested? It was free so I didn't complain, though after reading the receipt, I have to wonder if they really did everything they checked off on the report. One of the items checked was the belts??? Our Prius doesn't have any belts! Did they really check all of the fluids, brakes, rotate tires and change the oil and filter??? This car came with free Toyota Care service for the first 25K miles, or I would do it myself.
I am just not sure how I feel about someone I don't know taking my car out of sight and trusting that they care as much about what they are working on as I do. Yes they have better tools, facility and training. But are they under pressure to get it done quickly and do they really care?