Happy with the local dealer

I stopped by my local Toyota dealer this afternoon to get some suspension parts for an older Camry. Strolled over to the service bays, asked if I could make an appointment for the 5K service (only at 4K now but headed out on a trip of at least 3K in 2 weeks). "Come on in" was the answer, done in 40 minutes including washing it.

Can't beat that.

 

The kicker is: I didn't buy the car from them. I shopped there, but they only had Advanced with interior color I didn't want, and they weren't moving on prices. So, I bought mine out of state. The service guys hadn't seen many of this model - I would bet that dealer sold a half dozen Primes last year. But, I'll be taking the Prime to them for the service included in the purchase price, then I'll do it all myself.

 

I had a similar conversation. "How do you like it", "how far does it go on electric", etc. I told him I didn't buy it from them, and the service guy could care less. I'm just another customer generating revenue (not a lot on this type of work, but they hope to capture you for life).

 

That is true. It's like selling inkjet printers - the printer is cheap but the ink is expensive.

 

Update for the 10K service - scheduled the appointment for 7 am, work was complete by 8:10 am. Doughnuts, cookies and coffee in the waiting area. Interesting that there were no sedans or Prii on the showroom floor - there was a Sequoia, Highlander, RAV4 and two Tacomas. That must be where the local market is headed in this area of the country.

This time they didn't bend my front license plate in the car wash - I specifically mentioned this to the service advisor at check in.

The dealer's listed price (no charge to me) for this service is $85.25. Labor $64.40 and parts $20.85. They use bulk 0W-20 oil at $4.24/quart. I may do what @jerrymildred did and take a jug down there and see if they will sell me oil cheap. Otherwise, 5 quarts of 0W-20 at local Walmart is $22.88.

Of interest, there is a standardized Multi-Point Inpsection Form attached to the invoice. The "Preventative Maintenance" section is interesting - they recommend a number of services that are well above and beyond the service intervals specified in the manual. In the attached snap, some of the items are not applicable to this vehicle, but some are. Hybrid cooling system at 60K, alignment annual or 15K, brake fluid at 45K, CVT service 60K. I am sure a lot of customers see this on the form and assume that is the Toyota recommendation.

 

"Genuine Toyota oil" is a marketing term. Toyota buys their oil from an oil company, packaged with their label. From the owner manual:

Oil grade: ILSAC GF-5 multigrade engine oil

Recommended viscosity: SAE 0W-20​

The matching spec to ILSAC GF-5 is SN. This has been in place since 2010, so I'm confident that whatever 0W20 was in the barrel meets either of those two specs and meets the technical requirements.

Edit - now that you have piqued my curiosity, I called the dealer and they told me that the bulk oil is "Toyota brand oil".

 

What specs do they list on the back of the Toyota bottle? SN, SN-RC, SN Plus, ILSAC, etc.

 

As would I. I'm just curious what specs they advertise on the back; ILSAC only or additional specs. If the specs match Mobil 1 cans, then that's a confirmation that it's Mobil 1 in the bottle.