Toyota Prepaid Maintenance Plans

It used to be a better value in the past when oil changes were required every 5k miles. Nowadays, you can simply take it in every 10K and service it yourself (including inspections, engine and cabin air filters) in between and save more money compared to buying the prepaid plan.

 

Not worth it...!

 

I drive 600 miles a week, I got a 2 yr plan from my dealer, no cost to me, I will be in there every 4 months getting my service done.

 

I think it depends on how much you will be paying and whether you can do the work yourself. I have no plans on crawling under the car to do any work, so I paid something really cheap for the additional years of maintenance (I don't recall how much I paid, but I thought it was less than $300). If you can and desire to do all of your own maintenance after the initial free 2 years (they are still doing this, right?), then it definitely isn't worth it. I'm getting too old and I'm too lazy to do it myself. They also rotate the tires, which can be a real pain to do yourself.

Mike

 

You can skip the tire rotations every other 5K miles and just have that done when you take it in for oil changes every 10K (there's no warranty on OEM tires anyway). No need to crawl under the car to do engine and cabin air filters change (which is very easy to do). You'll still save money over the prepaid plan.

 

FYI, while I was spending all of this money on my new car, I also bought some tire insurance/warrany against road hazzards. And just last month I got a screw in one of my tires. I'd already driven about $20K on the tires. The cost for the one tire was $140 but the insurance paid $130. I have no idea what underpayment of $10 was for, but I really didn't care. Unfortunately, I don't recall how much I paid for the insurance/warranty, but it wasn't much.

FYI, I later learned that the tire guy at Costco told the warranty people that the screw was in the sidewall. It was actually in the middle of the tread. The Costco guy said that because otherwise, the warranty people would make them plug the tire rather than put a new one on.

Sorry for going off topic.

Mike

 

I had the same issue with my Prius. I got a screw in the Tire and I went to the local mechanic and he charged me $10 to remove the screw and plug the hole. I am sure glad I did not pay $100 for a Tire warranty.

 

I do not know how much it cost for the pre paid maintenance. This is what needs done up to 75,000 miles.

The Prius comes with a free 25,000 pre paid maintenance.

0 to 25,000 miles cost $0
30,000 miles oil change $50, replace cabin and engine filter $30
40,000 miles oil change $50
50,000 miles oil change $50
60,000 miles oil change $50, replace cabin and engine filter $30
70,000 miles oil change $50

Total $310

Everything else is inspection. If they are quoting less than $310 you have a good deal. If not tell the finance guy trying to steal money from you he is a scum bag. All dealers are scum bags that use FUD to make people pay more money.

 

So basically you paid the same as it'd cost to plug it ($10), but at least the Costco people took advantage of the system for you.

 

Not for him !!!! For them selves !!! One extra sales !!! they made a lot more money on that than would have on the simplest repair....

They do not care if HE has a new tire or not !!!

 

I bought my Prius when Toyota was trying to reassure everyone with the stuck accelerator stuff. That was when they first started adding the free 2 y maintenance -- and i even got a couple G off too!

I felt silly getting the extended but a patient who works at another Toyota dealership noted that the standard Prius has 25 processors!
I felt even sillier about the key replacement - but they quoted $400 for a replacement and the insurance was markedly less than that. (I've seen them on the net for aboaut 300, but still.)

 

Toyota and other companies have had many processors in the cars for many years. That does not make the car any more or less reliable. A better thing to look at is past performance of the company. Toyota, Lexas and Scion are the three most reliable cars in the world. After that it’s Subaru, Honda and Acura. The worst are Voltswagon, Jaguar and Land Rover.

An extended warranty on the most reliable car in the world is not a wise investment. It might be if you are buying a Land Rover.

 

If you have your car serviced, by anyone other than yourself, make sure you find out what viscosity grade of motor oil (0W20 for us) they are going to use. There have been some posts lately by people who have discovered some dealer's service departments used or wanted to use 5W30 or 10W30 non-synthetic oil in their Gen3 Prius.

If you are going to buy a maintenance plan make sure it specifies the correct oil.

 

By the way, I had a tire company fix such a tire for free. The problem this time was that I drove on the tire for too long after it was flat so I caused more damage than just a plug would have fixed. That was my fault. So, I paid my money up front for my possible stupidity, I was stupid to drive on the flat tire (but I didn't know it was flat), and luckily, it didn't cost me any money.

Mike

 

That's all true. Plus, I got a brand new tire. I'm not telling everybody to go out any pay for this insurance. I'm only telling you that it paid off for me. But I damaged the tire to where it couldn't be plugged, and I don't know what would have happened if that were known.

Mike

 

The actually couldn't repair it as I damaged the tire. They did make their money. They didn't have to say what they did as I would have had to buy the new tire any way, and I already told them I was buying a new tire.

Mike

 

Look at the list of things they will do. Note that most say "inspection." That does not include the price of labor or materials for the repair. If you want to do the inspections, great. Me, I'm too lazy. But that doesn't mean you should get the prepaid maintenance plan. You just have to weigh your options. I also believe it includes tire rotation (again, I'm too lazy to do that).

Mike

 

I wasn't going to get the maintenance plan but the last oil change on my 2008 cost me $70 for synthetic. I opted for it.