Had Non-Dealer Service in MA Today

I was talking to my son last weekend about how my oil was overfilled at my last two oil changes so I was thinking of doing it myself, but couldn't do the tire rotation. He suggested a local foreign auto repair place that he had used and was satisfied with. He told me that this one would do what I wanted, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I stopped by there after work Monday and asked if he was familiar with servicing hybrids. He said he had done a few, so I shared my concerns about a local tire place that left a hybrid powered up the whole time they were putting on new tires (Hobbit's car), and the oil overfill problems I had had at the dealers I had gone to before. All the while he is nodding his head, saying they are not taking into consideration the oil remaining after draining or not paying attention while refilling. I also told him I needed the front underneath of the car repaired, admitting that it was my own fault for pulling too far into a parking space, and that the dealer would charge me big bucks to repair it. He suggested I drop by the following day on my lunch hour and he would take a look and see if he could fix it for a reasonable price.

I went back Tuesday afternoon armed with a half dozen of Hobbit's "Are you ready to service these?" flyers from his website to see what kind of reception I would get. Dick came out and checked out the underneath and asked me various intelligent questions like I actually knew what I was talking about. He said how about Thursday. He would do the oil with Mobil 1 synthetic like I wanted, rotate the tires (and didn't bat an eyeball when I said I was running them at 50/48 psi) etc. etc.

So this morning I disabled the SKS, left a couple of reprinted valet cards, instructions on how to idle the car when needed during servicing (from Hobbit's web pages)on the dash and front seat, along with the owner's manual, and dropped off the car with hopes that my gut feelings could be trusted when leaving my pride and joy in the hands of a stranger.

The day went by with no phone call, and after work I went to retrieve my car. Upon arrival I noticed the car was parked and had been moved, and the underneath had been repaired. A good sign, right?

Dick came to the desk and said it was all set, but that he had also changed the air filter because it was very dirty. He had to call Toyota, but they brought it right over! He said they filled the oil to "just a hair below the full mark" since it might drop a little after driving it around some. So I paid the bill, thanked him, and told him I would probably see him in six months.

He repaired the underneath for $10.00.
Rotated the tires for $20.00.
Labor for oil change and filter replacement was $10.00.
Paid a big mark-up for the oil - 48.50. (Buy 4 get 1 free card for oil changes)
Moderate mark-up for air & oil filters - 19.00 and 7.60; 1.50 for the gasket.
Tires left at the exact pressure they had been.
Oil was just as he said it was.

Was it worth it - for local, personalized service that didn't cost me half my Saturday? You bet it was!

Only down side was the battery was at 2 purple bars and mpg was 2 less than when I dropped it off. Minor issue easily rectified.

Now I'm all set for Hybridfest:dance: