Taking delivery of my '06 next week. I'm buying from a dealer that's 5 more miles away than my closest dealer because they're giving me a better deal. But I'm curious about getting the car serviced later on. Can I take it to any dealer? Must it be the dealership I bought from? What's toyota's general policy? Thanks.
This is my first Toyota, and I must say the service at my dealership is exceptional. They have a comfy waiting area, and I got a gift the last 2 times I did an oil change with them. They also washed my car and then called me the next day to make sure the service they provided was to my satisfaction. I also got my first service for free, paid for by the salesman that sold me the car. I'm not sure if they do that everywhere, but you might want to take the Prius there for the first service since you might not be paying for it!
This is a good thing, because I bought mine 120 miles away from my house. It's also good because one dealer may have a good service department and another will have a bad one.
Does anyone use a regular non-Toyota garage? I have traditionally used my local mechanic that I have a tremendous amount of trust in. As I said earlier in a different post... he is also a pilot... and in my experience... pilots tend to be exceptionally detailed oriented, and want things to be perfect. With my other vehicles (Jeeps)... he lets me know if something is not quite right... writes up a discrepancy report... and then I take it to the Jeep dealer who reluctantly will do the work under extended warranty. I think having another mechanic write up a discrepancy helps motivate a dealer to do repairs they would otherwise "sweep under the carpet". Clearly... if the dealer failed to fix something that I highlighted... and then it failed outside of warranty... I would have documented proof that there was a problem that pre-dated the warranty expiration. I will use Toyota if I need to in order to protect my warranty... but my preference is for my local guy that I know and trust. /Jim
For the past 32,000 miles I have changed oil and filter at a local quick lube place. I changed myself the air filter at 20,000 miles. I don't go to the daler who sold me the car, even though it's only 10 minutes from my house, because the wait is much longer and the parts more expensive (they only use Toyota oil filters, while the quick lube place uses perfectly good Purolator filters).
There is nothing special about the regular maintenance. I took mine to the dealer the first couple times, and I thought the service was good and the price wasn't outrageous. None the less, I now take it to my regular mechanic who is within walking distance of the house, and is about 25% cheaper. I do have to reset the "service required" light myself.
I have a sneaking suspicion that my regular mechanic doesn't know doo-dah about a Prius. I'll be taking it to the dealer, which is a big step for me, since I haven't taken a car to a dealer for service since I got a wall job a couple of Hondas ago. This is the only dealer within about 20-30 miles, so I'm hoping that it all works out. -Roger
the single most important thing is to go somewhere you trust. if you trust your local mechanic to do your oil changes and tire rotations, check and make sure he's cool with doing it and stick with him. some people have great dealership experiences and others have crap. depends on the dealer you go to. avoid the dealer express lube places, they place more emphasis on time than quality.
