Prius 2010 in 2021

Yes but...: if you think about it, you’re doing virtually ALL the work, except for the actual extraction. And paying those overpriced monkeys full retail. It’s not that hard; cut out the middleman?

Extract and clean everything yourself will cost you near-nil, and the satisfaction is priceless.

 

To belabor it: I've had so many instances where I've gone the dealership route, and had to practically lead them by the hand. Sometimes it's NOT the case, there are some smart cookies. But way too many times I end up thinking "and I payed them for this?".

One time with an obviously cracked rotor: brought it in, told them why I was bringing it in. Half hour in I got a call: "your car's ready, there was no problem, it was a false alarm". I was happy for about a second, then reality set in. I won't go on, lol. Suffice to say the Service Manager came down on those jokers.

 

For most parts, the labor is the highest cost. If you do the work yourself, you will save
hundreds, or ever thousands of dollars.
The cheapest car to own is the one that's paid for. And you won't need full coverage insurance.
Changing oil/filter, coolants, brakes, things like this, will keep more money in your pocket.
If you keep the EGR Circuit cleaned, it will be less likely the head gasket will fail. And "if" it does,
and you catch it early, and you can replace it yourself, that will be a few thousand you won't have to spend.
Eventually, pretty much every car will need to be replaced. But the money you won't be spending on labor,
you can put toward a new, or newer car.
When the hybrid battery needs replacing, it's about $1600 if you do it yourself. And it should be good for close
to 10 years. Even if it's only 8 years, that's $200 a year. And in 8 years, they cost should be lower.
And/or have better batteries.
If the car is constantly braking down, and leaving you stranded, and you lose money because you can't get
to a job, then it might be time to replace it.

It will depend on what you want to do.

 

I kept my 2004 Pius until 2016 when it was becoming the time to do the 300k mile maintenance. When I added up all of the required tasks (suspension, brakes, fluids, coolant pumps, and tires), The dollar amount convinced me that it was time to get a new Prius (the trouble free, rebuilt HV battery had 100k miles and 6 years at that point).

JeffD