Hi guys!!! Sorry for the long post upfront. It's that time again, to perform some maintenance on my Prius C 2012. The odometer is at 79,500ish but I did the 70k maintenance on the car last time per dealer recommendation. (when it was at 74.5k) However, I'm actually slowly walking away from doing things at the dealer and trying to understand what needs to happen on my car. According to my owners manual this is what needs to happen on my car. However my dealer charges a whopping 200usd to do the above 75k, and some other "misterious" things that I can't find reference anywhere. In particular the following seem a bit suspicious Lube chasis Inspect Suspension, Steering & Exhaust systems (I guess its in the manual with different wording)? Inspect, Clean and adjust brakes (just had my brakes changed a year ago). Check & set timing to factory specks (what is this?!) Inspect drive belts & coolant belts (why is this not in the manual?) Road test ... How much of this can a regular mechanic do and what is specific to toyota? Can I just show my manuals page to a regular mechanic and expect to get everything done up to a dealers standards? I saw a DYI 90k major service being done by a youtuber, and besides all the getting dirty parts (engine oil, transmission oil), he doesn't talk about all the fancy inspections that toyota puts on their services. My uncle is a mechanic and works at a shop, so I can just cross the border into Mexico and get labor done for very cheap if necessary. But I don't know what needs to be done specifically by Toyota to find important things that only they can detect (if any). I don't wanna get down and dirty with the oil changes, but changing air /engine filters and those basic stuff is fine. I wanna do as much as I can and leave the rest to a mechanic, and still know that my car will be safe and up to date in its maintenances. Any advice on how I should go about it? Thanks a million in advance!
Essentially any mechanic anywhere can do that list of checks. Now, if he comes back and says something he checked is no good? That complicates it a little. Some things would best be handled by someone with Prius experience, but others are still no big deal for any mechanic. Either way, inspecting fluids, changing the oil & rotating tires is easy. Every dealer of every car brand in the USA is padding their profits by offering maintenance above and beyond what is actually required by the car builders. It's not bad for the car, but it is bad for your wallet. You don't have to be a victim if you don't want to be.
I'm sure they use the same list for many different car models. Lots of dealers do that. I mean it says 'lube chassis' which is great for 1970s trucks but there's nothing to lube on the Prius chassis.
I assumed they at least meant like subframe bushings but still that doesn’t even make much sense. You are right, this list is just something generic and very outdated even for most modern Toyotas.
