I bought my new 2018 Prius Prime Advanced in September 2018. I thought it came with 3 years of included servicing. So I brought it into the dealer today for maintenance service, thinking it would be the last one before my free service expires. I was told however, that my included service expired a year ago, in September 2020, that it is only for two years. Anyone here know about this? Is the included service for two or three years?
The dealer is correct. The Toyota Care is only for 2 years/25000 miles. Basically covers the first 5 routine maintenance if you drive more than 12500miles/year. ToyotaCare | Car Maintenance & 24-Hour Roadside Assistance
But in some areas of the country, the "regional" Toyota organization may offer extra "perks".......which might be the reason for the confusion.
It's good for 2 years, but also covers 2 10000 mile services. So even after the 2 years you can get the free service if you haven't yet got the 2 oil changes.
I interpret the “whichever comes first” in Toyota’s ToyotaCare document that if you’re past the two year mark and haven’t gotten both 10k services performed that they don’t have to provide the service. My Prime gets driven less than 10k miles annually. I’m having the 5k services performed at the 6 and 18 month timeframes regardless of mileage. The 10k services will be done annually with the second 10k service being performed before the two year mark, both regardless of mileage.
Toyota pays for the 2 oil change services regardless of when they happen. A dealer may balk at doing it because they are lazy, but Toyota does pay them for it. I just got a free service at 40k on my '18 PP because the second service never got documented by the previous owner or dealership. Dealer punched in the VIN and it came up as owed a free service.
I believe I only got one. (And since I retired about that time, and have not been driving much, I only have a bit over 7000 miles on the car in three years.) But they said I am not covered any more because the two years are up. The warranty is for 3 years, so I thought the service was as well.
I know the included roadside assistance was for three years. I recently received notice from Toyota that it would expire soon (after 3 years) and asked if I wanted to renew it. (I did not. Much cheaper to add the roadside assistance from my car insurance.)
And...the towing on your car insurance will take your car more places. Toyota's only takes your car to the nearest Toyota dealer. If you need to replace a damaged tire on a weekend, for example, you don't want your car sitting at the dealer until Monday. Some tire shop will be open Saturday & Sunday.
Toyota USA maintenance schedules invariably say "miles or months, whichever comes first". If everybody, owners and dealerships, is playing by the rules, that would mean every vehicle would have exhausted the freebies by 24 months. Page 38 screen-grab:
And, of course, the so-called free service (it is baked into the price of the cars we bought) is really just bait to get us into the habit of getting service at the dealership. The service department is the dealership owner's gold mine.
