Ireland: Beware of Toyota Overcharging for Hybrid Health Check (pun intended...)

Hi there. I purchased a used 2019 Toyota Prius last year (with very low mileage) from a local Ford dealership in Swords. Before I committed to the purchase, I asked them to have the Hybrid Health Check performed to ensure the hybrid battery is in working order. They did that, it passed the test, and I purchased the vehicle. They also performed the annual general maintenance prior to picking up the vehicle.

This year, I again went to the same Ford dealership for general maintenance, since it was in walking distance to my work. They attempted to have the Hybrid Health Check performed, and the local Toyota dealership refused. Later, I found out that I was supposed to have the general maintenance performed by a Toyota dealership, and they will include the Hybrid Health Check "free of charge". Since annual maintenance is about 300 Euros, that is basically what the Hybrid Health Check would cost me from Toyota since I already had the general maintenance performed at the Ford dealership.

I called multiple Toyota dealerships in County Dublin, and they refused to do the Hybrid Health Check by itself. It should be noted that the Ford dealership performed the service on my Prius in accordance to Toyota's specifications. If anything unusual is seen (aka specific to Prius hybrid system), it was normal for the Ford dealership to take the Prius to a nearby Toyota service shop.

After filing a complaint with Toyota Ireland, the CEO stated that they made the business decision to not allow the Hybrid Health Check performed by itself -- the general maintenance service was required. I also filed a complaint with the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), and they rejected it stating, "... it appears that [my] complaint relates to the manufacturer as opposed to a SIMI retail member Company. For the reason above, [my] complaint lies directly with the Manufacturer and therefore is outside the scope of our Alternative Disputes Resolution service." I replied for clarification since the decision was made by Toyota Ireland, not Toyota Japan HQ, but I never received a response.

Finally, I decided to call a Toyota dealership in Naas (in County Kildare; more rural area compared to City of Dublin, Swords, and Malahide), and they were happy to do the Hybrid Health Check without the need for the annual maintenance. 40 Euros later, I was done for another year. In chatting with Toyota Naas, it seems like the large Toyota dealerships are trying to lock the service market, where it is now mandatory for Toyota hybrid owners to only have their cars serviced by the Toyota dealerships. Toyota Naas works with their local Ford dealership, so if Toyota Naas see anything specific to Fords in their service shop, they take the Ford vehicle to the Ford dealership (and vice versa).

So the moral of the story is check with the smaller Toyota dealerships if the larger locations refused to work with you...

Reference:

• Map of Ireland https://www.worldmaps.info/Ireland/
  
• SIMI SIMI | The Society of the Irish Motor Industry
• Toyota Ireland - Hybrid Health Check info https://www.toyota.ie/finance-and-offers/offers/toyota-hybrid-service-promotion

P.S. I have had Toyota Prius' since 2001, starting with the first generation, all in the US. I moved to Ireland last year, sold my 2017 Toyota Prius V (which I loved) before leaving, and now I drive on the left side of the road with a 2019 Prius. I can tell you it took some time to master driving on the "passenger seat". The roundabouts (traffic circles) are still confusing...