Is the extended maintenance worth it?

No I feel these plans are a high profit dealer add on and are not worth it.
The "special" oil change and tire rotation cost $89 at my dealership for a 2015 Prius plugin.

 

These plans are calculated to make money based on statistics. Occasionally, they come in handy, but in the majority of cases, they are just overpriced insurance.

When I lived in Montana, there was an exposee done about how people were being duped on extended warranties on used cars. Sometimes, the "warranty" doubled the cost of the car, and the terms weren't clearly spelled out. The dealers were apparently making stuff up, based on how gullible they thought the customers were.

I know of one case (for an electronic item) where someone bought the store warranty on a PDA, ( a $300 Palm Zire) thinking it would provide extra coverage. Shortly after he bought it, it slipped out of his hand, and he dropped it about 3 inches onto a table, and it stopped working. He brought it back to the store (a large office-supply chain) and he was told that the manufacturer's warranty would have covered it, but it was obviated when he bought the store warranty, which excluded breakage due to dropping. He found out that he had paid extra for reduced warranty coverage.

 

Your friend with the PDA was misled. The manufacturer's warranty is never nullified by the purchase of an additional one. I suspect he bought a "grey-market" PDA without a U.S. warranty in the first place.

 

not worth it.

 

+1

 

The OP's plan is extended maintenance, not warranty.

Anyway, both are a waste.

 

I'm not sure I understand the distinction.

 

Isn't extended maintenance just pre-payed maintenance plan, doesn't cover component failure? I'm not that sure myself.

 

He may have been misled, but that's what he was told as the reason Staples wouldn't do anything for him.

 

It's either an extended warranty or a prepaid maintenance plan. The original post can be a bit confusing but I believe the question is about the prepaid maintenance.

The new car already has 2 years/25000 miles of prepaid maintenance. The addition plan, if it starts from day 1, is an overlap. My bigger concern is that the dealer is feeding you pure BS. The PiP uses the same oil & filter as every other hatchback. Pay for the maintenance as you go, it's cheaper that way. If your dealer really charges $300 per oil change then after the Toyota Care expires you need to find another shop or DIY.

 

PiP filter and oil is the same as a regular Prius.
Dealers charge ~ $45 for oil+filter change using Toyota recommended, excellent products.

Cancel both plans

 

The pre-paid maintenance plan covers only scheduled maintenance. It is real easy to see what the tradeoff is: find out what the dealer would charge for all of the scheduled service past 25K up to the limit in the maintenance plan, and compare that to what they are charging for the pre-paid maintenance. This is assuming that you plan to use the dealer for the maintenance, and not DIY or done at a non-dealer shop.

The extended warranty covers things that break outside of the factory warranty. It is commonly known to be extremely over-priced insurance making big $$$ for the dealer.

 

I'm getting, thru dealership parts dept:

Toyota 0W20 liters: $5.65 (Can)
Filter element: $8.53
Drain bolt washer: $0.98

The PIP is same items I think.

 

At best, you'll just give money to the dealership now that you would otherwise spend later. At worst, you'll have an irresponsible, overpriced, and incompetent shop serving your car (not all dealerships are created equal, nor do the have the same service rates). I'll bet you'd do just as well if not much better by taking advantage of the oil change specials that the dealerships offer from time to time, rather than prepaying now for maintenance service now.

Come to think of it, does a maintenance package require you to get the service done at the particular dealership that you buy it from? I would assume not, but I'm not sure.

To sum it up, the answer is no. Keep the extra cash and retain and ability to take your car wherever you want for service in the future.

 

And skip the 'minor' services.
Personally, I swap tyres around and change the oil/filters in my driveway. Once a year, about $20.

 

Salesmen always have a way of making things make sense when they don't.

 

The maintenance package is from Toyota, and can be used at any Toyota dealership. The service records are kept centrally, so no matter which dealership you go to, they can tell what you have had done and thus what needs to be done (from Toyota's perspective, anyway). This central service record is viewable by the owner, if you want to check what it thinks has been done. I bought the maintenance contract, and when I take it in, I tell them to do whatever is covered by the contract, and don't even bring up any of those "extras" that service departments are so fond of. The only correct value for my bill is $0.00