How I got screwed by a dealer with prepaid maint.

Call Toyota's customer experience hot line and file a complain. (800) 331-4331

Oil changes cost around $20. I do it myself if it's not too cold out.

You should also post which dealer it is so others can beware. Good luck!

 

I had heard that you have 30 days to back out of the prepaid warranty. Is this true?

 

Which dealership was this?

 

"MSRP" on a pre-paid maintenance plan, if you can even find it in print somewhere, is meaningless (as it is, to a slightly smaller degree, on an extended warranty).

Those guys could look straight into the eyes of Jesus himself and say the same thing as was said to you.

If it makes you feel any better, someone here paid $2400 for an extended warranty sold (at a slight profit) through PriusChat for $990.

 

Prepaid maint is a waste of money. The cost of maint for the first 100k miles is not even $670!!! Tell them you want your money back or you are giving them a BAD review.

 

Technically you can wait until the 3/36 warranty is about up.

 

For my '04 I waited until two years and 35,600 mi.---at which time I decided to keep it another few years.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yuanja @ Mar 17 2006, 02:33 PM) [snapback]226110[/snapback]</div>

Sorry you feel screwed. But it's not a crime to sell a product at a profit. This is why so many of us hate car dealerships: they sell at the highest price a customer will pay rather than at cost + fair margin.

I don't know whether or not you can get a refund on the maintenance plan, but I rather doubt it.

Fellow posters: there's a difference between the prepaid maintenance (PM) plan and an extended warranty (EW) plan. Owners can buy a PM plan if their car has less than 6k miles, and an EW plan if their car is still covered by the original 36k warranty.

My thoughts on PM: $670 is cheap since it covers 3 major services (plus minor services). Each major service can easily top $200. However, if you're paying for it with financing, this means that you're paying interest in the $670 from day one, and this increases the actual cost of the PM plan.

 

I got a customer satifaction survery from Toyota in the mail this week, about 3 weeks after I picked up my car. There is plenty of room for comments/complaints. I may fill it out online. I wasn't 100% satisfied with my experience with their financial guy, so I plan to submit my complaints that way.

My car came in a month before I expected it, so I wasn't quite ready to handle that aspect of it when I picked up the car. Luckily I am just so happy with the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yuanja @ Mar 17 2006, 05:33 PM) [snapback]226110[/snapback]</div>

Yes you can get a refund. I did by calling up the dealer and demanding a refund. If you do it within 30 days there is no penalty. I got a refund for my extended warranty as well as my prepaid maintenance and then bought both from Ron Gannaway from here. http://www.vfaq.net/docs/ExtendedWarranty.html scroll down halfway and look for Crown Toyota Kansas

 

I just want to thank you for posting this. I to got screwed at Elk Grove Toyota. They told me I had to buy my warrenty the day I purchased the car or else I couldn't get it. The price was $1,495.00 for 6yr/75,000 miles. I just called and canceled my policy and going to buy mine thru this website for $985.00 for 7/100 coverage.. I'm so glad for this group to help other owners!! Thanks again..

 

I'd like some advice on whether or not I got screwed on the purchase of prepaid maintenance. Yesterday, giddy to receive our prius at long last, I purchased the 7/100k warranty and the "classic" auto care prepaid maintenance (40,000 miles, essentially a coupon book for 8 oil changes). I paid $1370 for the both of them as a package -- some simple math reveals that I effectively spent $380 on the prepaid maintenance compared to what the warranty here goes for.

I'm going to re-type a small part of the brochure here. What I bought does not appear to be specific to the Prius. Coverage includes: oil and filter change, lubrication of key chassis parts, and 19-point inspection. This is again the "classic" prepaid maintenance from Toyota.

When I reviewed the scheduled maintenance guide for the prius, every 5000 miles looked like: oil change, tire rotation, inspection, plus extras at multiples of 15. The finance guy said that this plan covered the oil changes and inspections, so effectively all I'd pay for is tire rotations plus the extra stuff at 15 and 30. I figured I could get the tire rotation done elsewhere, and I am planning to replace the air filters by myself and go "by the book" instead of "packages" on the multiples of 15.

Questions:

1. Was the finance guy correct that all recommended inspections are covered by this 19-point inspection. Or is, for example, the inspection of the "fuel tank vapor vent system hoses" at 30,000 going to cost extra (given that dealer might be mad at me for not buying a 15k or 30k package, or not having them do tire rotation, and that the dealer where I'm having the work done will probably not be the one where I bought the service plan due to distance considerations)?

2. What are folks here paying that go to a dealer for the standard visits (not multiples of 15k) for oil change, tire rotation, and inspection? Help me figure out whether this is more or less than $380/8 = $47.50. I'd be having this done in Madison, WI.

3. I realize that I can cancel these now for a full refund. I want the warranty for sure, but if I want to cancel the maintenance, I am guessing it'd be in the dealer's best interest to let me cancel it separately so they will still make $$ on the warranty. But if not, can I cancel the 7/100k from them and then buy it elsewhere (e.g. this site), on the same car -- or does cancelling that at one dealer preclude me from ever buying it again?

I'm picking up my second prius at a different dealer in a couple days. I learned my lesson here that I just need to say "no thanks" a lot, and I will be working on the courage to do so (and educating my wife in the meantime to do away with that "concerned" look that helped break me down in the finance office). I sincerely appreciate any advice that the more experienced prius owners / car buyers here can offer.

 

I'm betting on $0.

No EW, no PPM.

Oil changes cost about $11 or $12 when I do them at home.
Tire rotation was free, took about a half hour to do that myself.

I've had the car about 117 days, have about 13,000 miles on it and plan to drive it past the EW period before putting more than oil changes and air filters in it.

My Ford F250 went 111,000 miles with oil changes and a new air filter now and then. If Toyota is built so good, why do so many people buy the extended warranty and all that junk?

No matter what part goes wrong later, someone is going to tell you how 'that part' is not covered under the warranty that you bought, sorry.

Skip it..

 

I also originally purchased the optional 'extended warranty' which covered my new Prius up to 100K miles. After getting home and reading more about it on this forum, and reading the fine print on the back of the paperwork, I called the dealership the next day to cancel. It's right there in the paperwork you signed. You are not obligated but I do believe you only have 30-60 days to cancel it before they will take something off the top. So 2 days later I went back to the dealership to sign a piece of paperwork, and voila! about 10 days later the check for the refund was in my mailbox. It was easy!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Taco Mel @ Jun 11 2006, 07:30 PM) [snapback]269789[/snapback]</div>

What you may have purchased is pre-paid maintenance at that specific dealer and a 3rd party Extended Warranty. Read the fine print of what was sold to you. Extended Warranty should be throught Toyota Financial Services and the pre-paid maintenance should be good at any Toyota dealer for all items specified under the miles in the Maintenance booklet that was part opf your owner's package you got at delivery. If it is the Toyota EW then you'll get the package form Toyota Financial Services in about a week. You can cancell within 30 days (I think there's a small fee to cancel).

 

I feel so used...so violated!

I bought my '06 package 7 on May 11th and bought an aftermarket EW because the finance guy told me Toyota didn't offer one with high mileage (I put about 30K miles/year on my car). The one I bought was for 5 years with unlimited mileage from Western General. I got raped for $1600!!! I also bought the prepaid maintenance for $825 (offered here for only $670)!!! I've NEVER paid sticker for a car but had to pay that for this one, since it was in such high demand! Then to get raped in the finance office, just because I wasn't sure of what I was getting into with a hybrid car, is an insult! :angry:

After finding this site and doing some reading, I'm going to cancel my policy and buy the Premium Toyota plan through here for almost half! Thank you all for all your info. Anyone have any suggestions on my canceling these through my dealer?

 

mehrenst, it was not a third party warranty. Both were genuine Toyota
Financial Services products. The warranty was the platinum, 7/100k.
The prepaid maintenance was 4 year, 40k Toyota "classic" service.
After thinking about this for a while, I realized that I was probably
posting here for validation on my decision to cancel, so I've decided
that I do indeed plan to cancel the prepaid maint. but stick with the
warranty. And, if this brings me any trouble, I'll cancel both, and
re-buy the warranty here. Thanks for the feedback.

 

We placed an order for a 06 Silver Prius with HK pacakge #6 last month. The dealership (Toyota 101) called us today and said someone gave up the order and asked me if we are interested.

We dropped by the dealership and furnished the sale as of today but the car won't be in the dealership until July 3rd. Does it normal?

The gal from the finance department offers the pre-paid maintenance for $1295. I have 2 Toyotas ( An old Corolla GTS and a IS300) and usually do the maintenance on my own.

I really wonder if there is anything differences in maintaining the Prius.

The 670 pre-paid deal from the forum attracts me. Since I expected the new car will be driven more by my old folks.....