service dept at DARCARS Silver Spring?

[betshsu]

Anyone have experience with the service department at DARCARS in Silver Spring? We usually go to Koons in Arlington, but we work in Silver Spring now, so DARCARS would be more convenient during the week. Thanks.

[Tempus]

I use them and this is how I'd evaluate them.

They have good Prius Techs. I've made it a point to make friends with them. When you go you get assigned a "Service Team" which generally keeps you with one writer and group of techs. Not all teams have Prius Techs. I work with the "Blue" team.

They are like any other dealership in that they'll sell you as much fluff on standard service as you'll buy.

Their normal approach to standard mainenance interval service is to have "A", "B" and "C" level services, which correspond roughly to 5K, 30K and 60K-ish intervals.

However, that doesn't translate well to the Prius because it doesn't have a transmission to flush etc

They also try to include oil additives and such which I strongly disapprove of.

My approach is to xerox the service manual for the specific service you want, and spell it out. Tell them no additives etc specifically.

I also mark the tires to make sure they get rotated. Once they 'forgot'

They have been very good on warrantee service. They've resolved every problem I've had, except the shrunken early 04 fuel tank for which there seems no resolution.

I don't know how they are on out of warrantee work yet.

[betshsu]

Okay, I spoke to their service department and they seemed to be on the expensive side. I was quoted $120 for the 20k service--which is a basic, run-of-the-mill service. We paid $75 for all our previous services (except the 15k) at Koons. Edit: But perhaps the 20k just costs more than the 5 and 10k? Alexandria Toyota seems to cost just as much...

[Betelgeuse]

One point to make is that you should never ask for "the 20K mile service." They will try to sell you things that the car doesn't need (at great cost to you). My favorite was when someone here was quoted service that included "lubing the rear differential" (of course, the Prius doesn't even have a rear differential).

You should have gotten something with your car (separate from the manual) that outlines what services you need at each interval (most of the time it's just an oil change and tire rotation, plus changing some air filters from time to time). You can also take a look at galaxee's excellent guide to get an idea of when you need something more than just an oil change and tire rotation.

[Bob64]

The prius does have "transmission" fluid to change. It's the transaxle oil :P