Is oil change part of 5k "free" service?

wow, that's crazy! i've always assumed alignment would be perfect from the factory.

 

I wouldn't switch the oil filter at 1000 miles. If you want to do early anything, just do the US "severe service", oil and filter at 5000 miles or 6 months. That's regular interval in Canada.

I did my own first change at that interval, filter looked fine.

 

If it all works out, in several days I will be the owner of a new 2015 Prius c four. When talking to the sales rep about the free services, I informed him that I may only put on about 4,000 miles per year. He said "no problem, still get appointments for every 6 months". Tires will be rotated every 6 months, and synthetic oil changes at the 1 and 2 year anniversaries, regardless of mileage. The car comes from the factory with synthetic oil.

 

it would be silly to rotate tyres every 6 months. but hey, it's free, and won't adversely affect anything.
if you don't drive the car every couple days, you might want to consider a battery tender.

 

While that sound logical, it is a waste of time and money.
The filters have capacity to trap about 1000% of what usually is floating around in there.
Change the oil early the first time, sure, but screw around just changing the filter.........no way.

 

You should believe exactly NONE of what a car salesman tells you about maintenance.

Tires are rotated strictly based on mileage.....NOT on calendar time.

If your mileage estimate turns out to be right, you will need service only once a year AND will probably need to do something to be sure the battery stays fully charged during "down time".

 

Easy rider, regardless of practicality, the Toyota schedule DOES stipulate miles or months for everything, including tire rotation.

What the schedule lacks is a contingent for extremely low use. We're practically in that category; I'm sticking to the book for duration of the power train warranty. But afterwords, not so much.

 

Of course it does. They want to get their "hands on you" every 6 months and get you into that habit for later when you start paying.

They seem to have done such a good job that my local dealer's service dept. is swamped most of the time.

If you are not capable of doing routine inspections yourself, then going in every 6 months for an INSPECTION is not a bad idea.
Rotating tires every 2K miles is just a waste of everybody's time though.

 

They haven't done any of our maintenance, I'm just clarifying the schedule.

 

At my last appointment, I marked the tires and pointed out to them that they didn't rotate them. They said they only rotate back to front if there's more tread on the back tires than there is on the front ones.

 

Morons.......more total morons.

You should complain to the Dealership owner, the Ford rep. who frequents this forum AND to Ford Corporate whose number can be found in your Owners manual or warranty book.

With non-directional tires, which the Prius has, there is an industry standard rotation pattern that you do the same every time.......which ensures that each tire ends up on a different wheel over the course of 4 rotations. EVERY SHOP who does tire rotations should be using that same standard plan. If they aren't, don't go back.

 

Your are correct however, most shops just rotate front to back unless instructed otherwise. My guess...the lawyers covering their -ss. Back in the days of full size spares and plain steel wheels...it was 5 point rotation.

 

And there is a "standard" pattern for doing that too.

 

The Owners Manual says to just do front-to-back and back-to-front, no crossover. It's a new one for me too, coming from Honda. So anyway, they're just going by the book: I don't think you can go religious on their heinie.

FWIW I've kept ours segregated by side, per the manual, and they're looking ok. Our winter XIce are directional anyway.

 

As much as I hate hearing people on this forum say "with today's technology", staying with on side rotation has had no negative impact on my Prius tire wear @ 93,000 vehicle miles. I am however avid about having the wheels balanced and alignment checked/adjusted at scheduled 4,000/5,000 mile rotations though...or as required for cause. Same package at the same shop I've used for years for all my for cars and light trucks. But that's a discussion for anther day/thread.

 

i find it easier and more cost effective (disregarding the 25 free rotations) not to rotate at all, and just replace as necessary.