15,000 Mile Service

[flyingprius]

I have just finished my cross-country voyage from Albuquerque to college in Daytona Beach. I have 15355 miles on the car; meaning it's time for the 15,000 mile service. The maintenance guide indicates that this service is much larger than the 5,000 and 10,000. When I was in Albuquerque, I called Daytona Toyota and asked how much the 15,000 mile service costs. I was on hold for ten minutes and then they hung up. I called back, they seemed rather confused and quoted $216 to clean the injector heads and the engine coolant, and "of course, change the oil. haha.." I was reading the maintenance guide while he was telling me this; and no they aren't supposed to clean the injector heads... I was not very impressed with their answer so I called Deland Toyota, which is 20 miles away, and they quickly and politely quoted $160 while adding that they do a better job than Daytona Toyota. Well two weeks later, my partially insane father is here for my orientation and wants me to service it at Daytona Toyota while he is here rather than go to another dealership that seemed far more competent, but a little farther away. For some odd reason, I went to the dealership today and talked to the service advisor who quoted "less than 100$..."... Uh, I payed $75 for my last two services which are minor compared to the 15,000 mile. Something is fishy...So has anyone had the 15,000 mile service performed on their car yet? What did you pay? Should I take the car to this dealership? What's frustrating for me is that in Albuquerque lots of people own a Prius which makes me comfortable knowing the dealerships are experienced with the Prius, but here in my new southern home, people don't seem to know what a Prius is, including this Toyota dealership. Your 2 cents would be greatly appreciated. 8)

[mikepaul]

I'm less than 2,000 miles from my 15K service, so it would be nice to get a feel for the cost...

[FloridaShark]

Ah yes,Daytona Toyota home of Dan Dean and his internet special of a $39,000 package #9 back in mid-July. ukeright:

[htmlspinnr]

I just posted on this myself as I was getting my car service prior to my trip to/from SoCal and Phoenix this last weekend.

http://priuschat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?...p?p=33849#33849

BTW - screen averaged 50.3 heading out at 70mph cruise, and 45ish on the way back (headwind and 2 more people in the car). The trip back was also during the day where the A/C was working a bit harder.

[Susan5s]

Wish I knew exactly what servicing the car needs at each interval and what discretion (read: ripoff potential) the dealership has. Brought my 04 BC in to Toyota of Morristown today for the 10K servicing, which in the manual is described as precisely the same as the 5K service. I paid about $54 for that, if I remember correctly. Well, when the intake person was writing me up upon my arrival, she wrote $177, including the charge for synth oil. I kinda flipped out, and she said, well, if I wanted they could do the 5K service again - that's the minimum needed, but AAA recommends more than that for our area of the country (northern NJ). Knowing the brakes have started squeaking and that I've been on a couple of long trips since the 5K, I said, well, OK. Got the car back after 1 1/2 hours. The Prius Tech on my team said it's a different service from other Toyota cars' 10K, and "he knows what the car needs." So my bill came to about $120, or about $89 plus 4 qts of synthetic oil. Seemed high to me, and it seemed like I got double charged for oil, not simply charged for the difference in dino vs. synth, but I just wanted out of there. The good news is they gave me back one partly-filled qt of oil, so I know they didn't overfill the oil.

Regarding the question on overfilling the gas tank in other threads, the Tech told me, as Michelle V. said, gas can get into the charcoal canister if you overfill; however, it will eventually work its way out. You don't want to overfill regularly.

Susan
04 silver BC
10,150 miles

[jimofdg]

I found a useful chart on the Prius-2G Yahoo group's Files section. It lists the service intervals and which work will be done, along with some (unidentified) dealership's quote for the service. I think the 5K was $69 so you could use that as a guide. Anyway, the file is free to members and this group does not get spammed. Enjoy!

[bookrats]

Did some research & calling around re: price of the 15K checkup last week (go to the 2nd page of [url=http://priuschat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=249&start=20]this thread for more info).

In short, around Washington State and using some on-line data from Michigan and VA, the approximate price for a 15K checkup was between $135-$190.

[jamarimutt]

I change the oil as recommended and have the car fixed when it breaks. I never take the car in for periodic checks and maintenance.

[Susan5s]

Doesn't that void the warrantee?

[CHART]

Warning……This is a long post!!!

Just took my Prius in for it's 15K service last week and all I can say is, "shoot me...shoot me now." I've never been "crazy" about a car before, but I love my prius! I bought it in West VA and live in mount Airy, MD. that puts me almost exactly in the middle of 3 dealers, 15 miles north is Westminster (Koons Toyota), 15 miles west is frederick (Darcars Toyota) and 17 miles east is Clarksville (Antwerpen Toyota.)

Initially I tried to be diligent and called each of the dealers to ask them:

- Do they have Prius Certified Mechanics?
- How many Prius' do they maintain

Of course, those who took my call (not all did) said, "we are the absolute best", etc. What else would they say. I eventually decided to take the car to Koons Toyota in Westminster for its 5K. I had been reading in this forum about issues, so I made sure to have them write on the ticket, "3.9 quarts of 5W30." At this time my tires were still set to factory so when I got the car back, I paid my $39 and went on my way. Later that weekend, I checked the oil and it was about 1/8th" over full and I freaked! OK, I didn't freak, but I did drive back to the dealer to have them check it out. Of course, they said, "if it was an inch over, I'd be worried, but that is fine." I asked why the receipt shows 4 units of oil instead of 3.9 and they blamed the computer ("thats the way it prints out.") I went on my way. At 10K, back to Koons. By now I had 40PSI in the front and 38 in the back and was reaping a pretty good increas in MPG. this time I reminded them of the 5W30 and waited for the car. I got it back, paid my $37 (go figure) and went home. Later that weekend (why won't I remember to check the car when I'm at the dealer?) I checked the oil and again it was a little over. I checked the tires and was half-way expecting them to be back at factory. Well, they weren't at factory. They weren't changed at all, except i now had 38 PSI front and 40 in the back!! I was Pissed!! the rotated the tires and didn't even bother to check the air pressure.

OK, now to the finale! 15K rolls around and I'm dreading the service. I'm seriously spending a lot of time wondering if I should change dealers. I finally covince myself that I should and make an appointment in Frederick (Darcars.) I also received the SSC 40D in the mail which I am also very worried about them screwing up during the download so I make an appointment at 8 am on a subsequent morning. I have a 10 am meeting, but no problem says the manager. I show up and ask for the 15K service. They say that will be 200 and something dollars!!!! What?????? I ask for the service that Toyota says I need. You know, oil, tires and check a few things. Oh, OK says manager. Anyway, I get the car back barely in time to get to my appointment and forget to check the car again!!!! They did tell me that they took care of my tires for me. A few days later, I check the oil. Still a little high, but not much (1/8" or so.) I check my tires. Not back at factory...not reversed....40PSI all around now. Sigh..... How hard is this????? I fix the air pressure and am now trying to decide what to do next service when i get a phone call yesterday from Darcars corporate office. "How was your service?" Well, I unloaded on her. She says to take the car back right now and she will call the manager. I tell the family to put the chicken away, we’re going out tonight! Justice!!! Off we go to Frederick. I go inside to see the manager and he acts surprised to see me (not a good sign.) I explained that corporate called me and he says, “oh, I told her that my Prius guy goes home at 5” and leaves it at that. I stare at him until he says, “I’ll check it for you if you want.” We go outside, he looks at it and says the same thing the Koons guy said (probably right from the “things to say to idiot customers guidebook” ) If it was more than an inch over, I would be concerned. This is fine. Then he finishes with, “I’m surprised that you called. Bob (or whomever worked on my car) has over 37 years experience on this car.” I tried not to laugh out loud and said, “not on THIS car” and he realized his mistake and said, “well, I’m just saying he’s a master mechanic.” Yeah, that’s who changed my oil. The master mechanic.

OK, so I’m blown off again. I’m not looking for a dealer to hold my hand, but some sort of acknowledgement of the interest I have in properly maintaining the car without making me feel like a pestering idiot for asking questions would be nice. That or maybe performing the service correctly and with a modicum of concern for accuracy. Either would be nice. I guess I’ll write back in a month with my experience from Antwerpen. I’m running out of dealers……Sigh.