That dreaded prepaid maintenance plan...

Prepaid maintenance is always a bad idea, at least from an economic standpoint.

Tom

 

do you mean extended warranty plan

 

Unless you got a hell of a deal on your prepaid maintenance, I think it's probably a bad idea. We get our car serviced at the dealer, and in the first 30K miles, we've probably spent a total of ~$400 on service.

The routine service on the Prius is dead-simple and, other than inspecting things, just involves changing the oil and rotating the tires. We replaced our own air filters at 30K miles ($30 and <10 minutes) and put on new tires (due to the crappily short tread life on the crappy stock tires) just recently (for ~ half of what the dealer wanted to put on NEW versions of the crappy stock tires).

PLUS, you live in the Bay Area, the home to one of the best independent shops I've ever heard of. Plus, they service hybrids!

 

Remember that dealer add-ons are profit, prepaid maintenance among them.

While repair of hybrid components can be problematic for a shop without specialized training, more routine repairs and maintenance usually require none. Oil and filter changes, tire rotation, and inspection of brakes, suspension components, belts, fluids, etc. can be done easily enough by any competent mechanic or yourself. Only some of the less-frequently-required maintenance items, like coolant changes, might be better done at a dealer.

For the 47,000 miles I've owned the car, I've paid for nothing except the cost of oil and filters and our $16 annual state safety inspection. I change my own oil/filter and cabin and engine air filters. Oil changes are easy and can be done without lifting the car, though ramps make access easier. The air filters can be done with no tools in two minutes apiece; no one should ever have to pay to change those, either by the job or prepaid. A local Goodyear dealer rotated my OEM Integritys for free, and the dealer I bought my Michelins from does the same. I inspect my own fluids and I rely on the state inspection for brakes (not that I ever expect to replace them), suspension, exhaust, and other safety-related items that I can't check without lifting the car.

 

At the dealer. Unless something major fails, the Prius is inexpensive to service. A major failure isn't covered under prepaid maintenance.

Your dealer sells prepaid maintenance to make more money, pure and simple.

Tom

 

Also, remember the pre-paid maintenance plan is also sold here, probably cheaper than what the dealer is trying to sell it for.

 

As far as changing the oil goes, the Prius has nothing but a regular gas engine. Changing the oil is the same method, when i took mine in for its first oil change they asked if I wanted the 5,000 mile service for $62.95 or just hte oil change for $29.95. The 5k service is just oil and tire rotation and inspection of everything else. Oil change, $29.95, tire rotation-30 minutes in my driveway, jack, and 2 jack stands.

 

Good point. The prepaid maintenance plan is available here through Troy/WarrantyShack.com/Toyota of Greenfield, MA for $875 for the 4 year/ 55,000 mile Premium Plan. It has a MSRP $1375.

http://priuschat.com/forums/sponsor...rius-extended-warranty-service-contracts.html

But note that unlike the Toyota extended warranty, you have to check with your individual dealer as to whether he would accept the Toyota prepaid maintenance plan. I would think that OP's dealer would because he sells the plan. But maybe he's only willing to accept the prepaid maintenance plan if it's bought from him (at a presumably higher price than Troy's). If that's the case, I don't know if that's permitted or allowed by Toyota.

 

If you plan to keep the car a long time and are putting a lot of miles on it such as 15K or more a year I found it wise to get the tires balanced, rotated and aligned at a tire shop that sells a lifetime contract for about $175. We have a chain of stores out here called Discount Tire and they sell those contracts. I have used them for years for both my cars. Every 5K I go in and get rotation, balance and 4 wheel alignment for as long as I own the car. Can't beat a deal like that. I have had my 2008 Prius less than a year and I already have 26K miles on it. A 4 wheel alignment alone cost $80 all by itself if I had to purchase it every time I came in.

 

I have my tyres rotated for free at the place I bought them.
I change oil & filter myself twice yearly with a good synthetic for about $25/year
I replaced air cabin and engine air filter once for about $30. Trivial DIY
Rear windshield wiper blade was about $4 through the Toyota dealer parts store.
Tyre pressure monitoring during fuel refills, and car fluid and belt checks during oil changes: free.

Total maintenance over 75k miles and four years: $133.45

 

i was hooked into purchasing the prepaid maintenance plan from the dealer, i kind of regret ever buying it, i should of gotten a refund for it, i paid 1395.00 and my car payments are $30 more each month because of it. i am kind of having fun showing up at a completely different toyota dealership each time, kind of a tour. so far i think the best wifi is fremont toyota, heh, piercy toyota has the worst wifi, very, very, very firewalled. blocks a lot of websites, i believe this is probably because they are directly across the street from the county jail, they also make you pester a cashier for a username password or more internet time...


toyota will prorate the coupons too i thinkif you want a refund, but i used to many

i wrote a letter to the program administrator asking him to send me more coupons (for any coverage between 55,000 miles and 95,000 mles), and i expect them to either ignore it or write me back saying no, but i figured it was worth a shot. i also asked toyota to come up with cheaper maintenance plans for us prius owners , because it sounds like the prepaid maintenance plan costs the same money no matter what toyota you buy

with what i paid its like $125 per oil change.

prepaid maintenance coupons are accepted at every toyota dealership i tried.

they are just preprinted with your selling dealers address, but it doesn't matter

 

Prepaid maintenance is even more of a waste of money than is an extended warranty. In 54 months and 32,000 miles the total scheduled maintenance cost for mine has been $240, with a dealer changing the oil and me replacing the air filters.

 

Such hatred for this plan. Guess I must be in the minority.

I for one have been previously spoiled by owning a luxury automobile and the ease in which I could get in and out of the dealership when maintenance was required. With this in mind I said yes before the salesman got the whole question out of his mouth. The fact that when it's time for some maintenance I can head on over to the dealer, drop my keys. have a nice hot chocolate and watch the news in pleasent surroundings, then pick up my keys and drive away without a care is really nice. I don't have to worry about money changing hands, whether I tightened the oil drain plug, if I did all the maintenance I needed to do or did too much. It's very relaxing and sometimes I even get a little nap in.

Otherwise it's going to the store to get parts, digging through the garage, under the car getting dirty, cleaning up the garage, disposal of used fluids and worrying that I missed something. And if I did miss something and that something causes damage I guess it's back in the wallet I go as I pay for whatever mistake I made.

If the dealer breaks it, the dealer pays for it. Nothing like free new stuff.

Had a maintenance rep come out with a sad serious look on his face and told me the mech broke my windshield while fixing some plastic thing. I think I actually said woohoo and laughed. All I heard was We're going to buy you a new windshield.

 

It isn't the issue that people don't want to or can't change their own oil. There's nothing wrong with that.

The issue is that the prepaid maintenance is a very expensive way to do it. The maintenance schedule for the Prius calls for an oil/filter change and tire rotation every 5,000 miles or 6 months, and an engine air and cabin air filter replacement at 30K miles. All the rest of the items are "inspect" only.

Even at $875, this is a lot -- allowing $50 for the air filters, this is $75 per oil change and tire rotation. If you pay anywhere near MSRP and finance it, the numbers get really insane.

Just pay cash for the service as needed.

 

i have discovered an oversight!!!!

we are all talking about the platinuum prepaid maintenance plan which has a msrp of $1,375.00, toyota does sell a cheaper plan for us !! the classic plan has the same roadside assistance same mileage/term and its msrp is only 710.00 !!

the difference between the platinuum and the classic is that the platinuum includes 3 major maintenance intervals (15000,30000,45000) which does not apply to us

i dont know of any other differences between the classic plan and the platinuum

we are all being oversold on the platinuum which does not include extra benefits for us

that lowers it to like $64.54 per interval

i wonder what troy's price on it is

 

Good catch Rigor!

BTW I misquoted the MSRP of the platinum maintenance plan. It's $1355, not $1375.

Personally, I'll probably never go with a prepaid maintenance plan unless it's sure to save me money over what I would otherwise pay for the way I choose to maintain my car given my driving habits (e.g., I drive less than 5000 miles a year and I like Mobil 1. So I change my oil and filter once a year with Mobil 1 oil and filter).

 

today toyota wrote me back basically saying no to coverages between 55,000 and 95,000 to make what i paid fair so i think i will write them back for a refund for the 15,000 30,000 and 45,000 service interfvals and see if they at least want to do a conversion to classic