It seems that it's not a good deal compared to doing it yourself / doing oil changes only, but it seems like a BIG savings compared to dealer 'coupon' pricing on the services.
Assuming you get a good deal (I've seen deals online for $675 for the platinum prepaid service to 55k miles).

BREAKDOWN

Coupon prices

Yellow 5k 61.96 + tax and supplies
Green 15k, 45k 169.95 + tax and supplies
Blue 30k 299.95 + tax and supplies

55k miles would be 8 yellows, two greens, and one blue

Service Coupon Cost Number Subtotal
yellow 61.96 8 495.68
green 169.95 2 339.9
blue 299.95 1 299.95
TOTAL: 1135.53
With Taxes: 1226.37


Compare this to $675 if you can get a deal online and it seems like a no brainer (even $61 / service doesn't sound THAT bad for the peace of mind of going to the dealer).

My Prius is coming up on 5,000 miles and I'm planning on buying the 55k plan if I can get it for anywhere near $675. Someone please let me know if my reasoning / math is faulty on any of this or if there is some other reason I shouldn't buy the plan!

 

Their is not much to the maintenance on the TCH. Mainly oil and filter changes. I figure at 55,000 miles and changing oil at 5000 miles would be 11 times. That cost is guessing about $35 or more. That comes to around $385. Your antifreeze is long lasting, spark plugs should go from 85,000 to 125,000. I forget the exact number.

Keep a eye on your liquids and tire pressures when you change oil. Some "independent" oil change places do a good job of this and checking to see if the oil or cabin filter needs replacing.

You can always take your car to a Toyota dealer for oil & filter change. They usually do good work and can check your liquid levels and filters. Dealers cost a little more but they are very familiar with the car. The dealers oem filter to me is a plus.

If you buy the service plan you need to check to see if they use a 0W synthetic oil or the standard dino oil. That would for sure figure in the price of their service.

I would ask on any service plan, if it included a transaxle oil change.

Good Luck

 

Thanks rburt01.
Still, I have to think that it
a) increases the resale value of the car to say you brought it in fore every schedule maintenance
b) gives you bargaining power with Toyota should something go wrong - I actually used this to help me get $550 back from Toyota on a repair for my Sienna (when you call customer care they KNOW if you have been in for the services or not)
c) This is a description of the 30k service - sounds like more than just an oil change to me

• Replace engine oil
• Install Genuine Toyota dual-stage oil filter
• Rotate tires
• Balance tires
• Replace cabin air filter (if applicable)
• Replace engine air filter
• Inspect and service brakes
• Inspect EFI system
• Check for diagnostic trouble code(s)
• Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis

It seems to me that if you're not a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to car maintenance then the plan will be good. On the other hand I really do want to be talked out of this as I hate the idea of paying so much up front ...

 

Don't do it! It is a money making scheme for the dealer. No insult intended to you, but the dealer knows that the type of person that buys this maintenance program is an easy "mark" to sell more things to in the future, and they have you as a captive customer.


OK, you asked to be talked out of it.

 

Thanks jboltt. But on the other hand, the dealer is gonna get me even harder if I go for the maintenance there without a plan. Remember, the price I'm planning on getting for the prepaid is NOT the price my dealer wants to charge me - it's at a 50% discount. At that price I'd definitely save money if I go to the dealer. So it's really a question of whether or not to go to the dealer for maintenance. This being my first brand-new car AND a hybrid I'm thinking that I WOULD like to go to the dealer rather than jiffy lube or a local shop that may not have expertise with hybrids.

Is it true that getting service done anywhere other than a Toyota dealer voids the warranty?

 

My experience with dealer's color coded services ("green", "yellow", etc.) is that the identified services are more than the factory specified service by one color. That is, the dealer is recommending 15K mile service at 5K mile intervals, and 30K service at 15K intervals, and so on. I save myself a lot of money by asking the dealer to do ONLY book recommended service, which is one color down from the dealer flier recommendation. I still get the "discount" flier price, but I choose the right color for the mileage per the factory recommendation. Just compare your service schedule in your manuals to the dealer fliers.

Another money saving (and time wasting!) step is to skip the dealer tire rotation and balance, and take to to one of the many tire dealers that do it for free, such as Discount Tire. The tire dealers want to sell you new tires when it's time, and want you to feel obligated to buy from them, after all the free rotations and balances. Fortunately, they are usually well priced on the tires, especially compared to the dealers. More importantly, I find the tire dealers are much better at doing excellent wheel balancing than most car dealers.

-- Alan

 

Thanks Alan, sounds like good advice. However, even if I only do yellow service for every service except the 30k and then do the green (supposed to be every 15k) then it will total $852 w/tax (and there is some BS supplies charge they may tack on). So I'd STILL be saving with the prepaid plain (which averages out to $61/service plus I'd get those extra services at 15k, 30k and 45k).
Guess I've talked myself into it -- assuming I can really get the $675 price.

 

Physicsdude,

You will NOT "void" your warranty by having work done to your car by someone other than a dealer. As long as you have receipts for supplies (oil, filters, etc.) and a log of when they were changed, you are golden. Federal law requires Toyota to furnish the burden of proof that your maintenance caused the problem and that is very hard to do.

I keep my receipts, change the oil and filter on time, change air and cabin filters before they are required (20,000 miles), rotate my own tires (inspect and blow dust from the brakes at the same time) and do any other work required.

If the car ever throws a MIL code, I have the readers to diagnose the trouble. The EFI gets checked and when needed, the throttle body will be cleaned. All fluids are checked and topped of at every fill up. I must confess however that I have NEVER "checked and tightened" the nuts and bolts on the chassis.

Regardless of who does the work on the car, Toyota can never "void" the warranty. They can deny a warranty claim but as I stated, they have the burden to prove that your actions (or inaction) caused the problem.

As for resale value, I have NEVER had a problem trading or selling my vehicles. Several of them were sold to the technicians at the dealer. I have the records for every tank of gas, every quart of oil, filters, plugs, brakes or anything else that has ever been done to the car. It probably doesn't hurt that I am more than a little **** about the cars appearance either.

Most buyers will realize that a car maintained by a careful, knowledgeable owner will be in much better shape than one taken care of by the careless kids working in the oil change bays at most dealer shops.

 

Thanks GeorgiaHybrid.

This is great to know and sorry if I was perpetrating a misconception - it's may just be paranoia on my part. However, what if something DID go wrong and it WAS your fault (might not happen to you but could happen to me) or if it was Jiffy Lube's fault? Then you're up a creek, whereas if you went to the dealer it seems Toyota would be obligated to fix the issue.

It still seems to me that for someone who's busy, not very experienced with maintaining their car, or both might be well served by the prepaid maint plan assuming they get it at a discount.
Another thing is that this would help people avoid getting ripped off even more by the dealership in that first 55k miles - i.e. the dealer can't claim that the mfr "recommends" something that costs extra - it should be included with the prepaid plan.

Really? I think most people would prefer a car that was taken to the dealer every 5k miles over an owner-maintained car.

 

Physicsdude,

Several items here.

Toyota will not honor a warranty claim if the dealer, "Jiffy Lube", you or anyone else "screws up" your car. It would be your problem (or the shop that messed up) to repair the car. An example of this would be the failure to tighten the oil filter correctly, the car loses all of its oil and the engine seizes up. Your problem to fix.

If the engine seizes while full of oil however and Toyota claims that you used sub standard oil and filters and that was the reason for the "failure", they have the burden of proof to show why. I wish them luck in trying to prove that Mobil 1 oil and Mobil 1 or Wix filters (in my case) are "sub standard". It will also be impossible for them refute the evidence on the frequency of my oil changes, times, mileage or anything else that was used as I have all receipts and an extensive maintenance log on the car.

If you are not familiar with maintaining a car, by all means do what makes you feel comfortable. I have worked on mine (and others as a tech in my past) for over 35 years and feel confident enough in my ability to maintain both the car and my warranty.

As to the "dealer" maintained cars, you never know what happens in the service bays. I do know several techs however and while buying some Toyota coolant at my local dealer, several of them let me know about the "idiot" kid in the oil change bay that was working on his first TCH. He knew everything about it, proceeded to drain the oil and was removing the filter when the engine fired up. He had left it "on" but the motor was not running. They don't think anything was hurt during the 5 seconds or so before the engine was shutdown by another employee but this is what you get. No "master tech" was involved, just an 18 year old kid.

If I need (or know of someone wanting) a used car, I make some calls to several dealers (the techs, not the sales guys) and fellow car nuts to see if there is a car available that was maintained by an **** owner. They will rarely need a “cleanup” by the dealer (or anything else done to them) and offer a great deal (and usually a better car) compared to “dealer maintained” car priced for the same amount. There are 3 techs that want “first dibs” on any car that I plan to sell or trade but family or the people that I work with have always gotten them first.

Speaking of which, I need to get off of here and get started on my daughter’s car. It will have the timing belt, balance shaft belt, water pump, cam seal and crankshaft seal replaced this weekend as part of its maintenance schedule.