Is prepaid maintenance worth it at $995?

I don't know if you can get that package after purchase, but I do know that Crown Toyota was the dealership that tried to do a bait-and-switch with me when I was shopping.

I called to see if they had any Prius' in stock, they said yes and I went down to look. The car had the factory sticker on the window and I asked if that was the price. They said yes. I said no other added fees beyond tax and license? They said no. I drove the car, it was white and I told them that I definately did not want white.

They said no problem. Then I told them that I wanted Salsa (at that time). The dealer I was working with told me that "Red is a bad color for resale value, besides it is not a very pretty red". He showed me a camry with Salsa and then said "You should really get white or driftwood". (Guess what colors they had in stock...go ahead guess.)

Then he had us sit down with their finance guy (we had told them from the git-go that we had financing in place and wanted to use what we had - credit union). He started writing and detailing the cost of the car, he wrote down the sticker price and then said "Plus $3,000 for the Fair Market Pricing..." Oh, and they only had package 6 when we said we were only looking for 1 or 3.

After about 1 hour (my hubby was humoring me, he wanted to leave well before that) we finally left. A bit aggrivated (read that quite pi$$@d off) about their hard sell tactics.

We went back to Claremont Toyota where we had driven the first one I had tried (I really wanted to see what the car looked like in red and that was why I was still shopping around). They were great.

We went through the Internet & Fleet Sales Department - "Dave" and also worked with a dealer "Abe AKA Fadi". No hard sell, MSRP, no "your color choice is bad", no markup after the fact. Oh, and free, as in at no extra cost, gratis, por nada, oil changes for as long as you own the car.

When they did get a Salsa 6 in stock (out of my price range I'm afraid) they called me as it was rolling off the delivery truck. I went to see it and helped pull the traveling plastic off the car before I test drove it.

As it turned out, I wound up deciding against the Salsa, not because of the exterior but because of the interior (if only grey had been an option... Toyota are you listening?).

They held, actually held, with no money in hand, no deposit, not even a promise that I would buy from them, a Silver package 3 for a week and a half without ever putting it out on the lot, while trying to find a Salsa Pkg. 3 to trade with another dealership for me.

I really think that is pretty much unheard of, especially for this car at this time. Now, I was there last week and did note that at that time they had a Salsa and a Seaside both with a markup and both pkg 6. However, the silver, black and white 6's were at MSRP.

One word of advice, if you do decide to get the leather option get that done after you buy the car. They are charging about $2300 extra if you take the car with the leather pre-installed, whereas if you buy first and then order the leather it is $1200 +/-.

They will also offer the extended warranty initially at a much higher price (they are a dealership after all and will try to make money), but if you tell them that you can get that from PriusChat for $985 they will match that price.

If you do decide to talk to them, make sure you get Dave or Abe/Fadi and tell them Tisza sent you and told you that they would take good care of you. I am sure they will be fair. If you do call them, let me know and I will call and check up to make sure that all goes smoothly.

Bottom line, I think the $995 would be better either put into a savings account for future routine service needs (where you get to reap the benefit of the interest earned) or saved to purchase the extended warranty when the initial 3yr./36,000 mile one is due to expire.

If you haven't bought from Crown yet, I would suggest that you check Claremont Toyota before you commit. They just seemed to be a better deal for my money.

Good luck whereever you buy your car. As long as it is a Prius I am sure you will be happy.

Take care,

Tisza

 

I won't buy from any dealer that does ANY markup. At least your first dealer added the markup on paper, mine hid it in the purchase price, and lied that they don't mark up like other dealers.

But to answer the topic question, basically all the car needs for at least 60K miles is oil, oil filter, tire rotaation, and 2 cabin and engine air filters (one each at each 30K). Doubt that would cost nearly $1000. You might want to change the ATF at 60K, but I don't think the prepaid maintenance covers that. Coolant doesn't need changing at 100K, and the plugs get changed at 100-120K.

I think the real question is, what does the prepaid maintenance cover on THIS car?

 

I think I pay $37 with tax for oil change and tire rotation at my dealer.

Correction, I was charged $45.42 out the door. I'll only keep going to them until I get at least one set of new tires. Their tire for life program requires that they handle all maintenance, so the $15-25 extra I am paying should be compensated by the value of new tires.

 

What exactly do you get for that?

I hate when they say "inspect". Exactly what do they mean by that? You can "inspect" a tire by looking at it and saying "Yep, that's a tire", or you can REALLY inspect it by feeling around it, running it through a balancer, even dismounting it and see if the inside shows any problems.

Most of what they "inspect" should take no time at all, and many places will do it for free, esp if you get some service done, such as an oil change/tire rotation.

 

HI!

I picked up my Super White pkg 6 at MSRP last Friday from Toyota of Hollywood and they were GREAT! I worked with Evan from fleet and when I called him on Thursday he was very honest with me. This is the second car we've bought him from. My husband bought a 4-runner two years ago from Evan. Told me exactly how many Prii they had on the lot (about 8 or 9) and that I didn't need to rush down as he didn't see them all selling before the next day.

As this is my first new car EVER and I was getting kick nice person financing from my credit union, I got the premium maintenance and the extended warranty.

They offered the maintenance for $670 to 55,000 miles. Hmm..They didn't tell me that MSRP for it was $995 though.

I got the extended warranty for $1000. They originally wanted 12-something, but after reading the boards, I probably could have reduced it even more.

I'm taking the car back in for the leather interior ($1495) and wood grain dash (??) next week. Evan was very honest. Told us that we could/should get the tint and XM on our car done somewhere else as the dealer charges a lot more.

 

I'd check this out carefully. Pueblo Toyota offered us a prepaid service plan. When we showed it to our regular mechanic, he opined that it was heavily padded with non-required maintenance. (Which is not to say that there wouldn't have been some potential benefit to having it done, but he didn't think it was a good deal.)

This was, btw, our only vaguely bad experience with Pueblo Toyota - in dramatic contrast to Toyota of Colorado Springs, which tried to slap on an extra $3k when the car we'd ordered showed up in November.

 

Well, I'm at the 22K mark on my 04, and I've spent about $120 in service so far oil changes and some new wiper blaces. So at 45K, I expect to spend about $200-250. $995 seems pretty darn high...

You can get the extended warrantee up until the end of the 3rd year after you purchase your vehicle, but Toyota will probably want to "inspect" it for a fee before giving you the insurance then.

Dave

 

I don't think wiper blades are covered under the maintenance contract.

 

That's about the going rate, but it is an insurance policy. Like any insurance policy it's priced to make a profit for the seller, so it's always cheaper to self-insure (that is, keep enough cash on hand to cover any repairs).

 

That's true for the warranty, but prepaid maintenance is supposed to be a discount for paying upfront. My auto insurance was drastically reduced by paying upfront. However, as stated, there are items you are paying for in the prepaid maintenance that you either don't need, or are overpriced to begin with.

 

Aghhh!!! Thank you. Yes, he did write "maintenance", not "warranty". $995 must include the dealer's special accelerated boat payment package. Costs a little more, but darn well worth it :_>

(Hmm, the edit function doesn't seem to allow deletion of a post after it has been replied to...)

 

I decided against the extended warranty. They aren't offering the warranty to be nice; they're doing it because they make huge profits from it. The cars rarely need much work, so Toyota gets an additional 1000 bucks off the top and it costs them virtually nothing. You can always add it later, as long as the original 3 year/36k warranty is in effect, should you decide you want it.

 

You can get it through this site for less than $1K, so how is Toyota getting $1K?

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/toyota-ser...ted-vt3130.html

 

Update Toyota Care Plus 2011

Hi - new proud owner of a Prius V. What great fun.

Just curious about the prepaid maintenance with Toyota Care Plus. Between now and 75k, my owner's manual doesn't have a lot scheduled beyond oil changes and rotating the tires. Even with inflation, it is hard to imagine that this will add up to the price of the prepaid contract.

This should be a simple calculation...the price of the contact is "X", and the current price of scheduled maintenance is "Y"...I know the "X" part, but does anyone know "Y" as my dealer is being cagey.

Many thanks

 

Short answer - DON'T BUY

The Prius is so reliable - that only Toyota will come out ahead on the deal.

oh . . . one other thing -
:welcome:
nice having you on the forum jwucsd. There's enough knowledge here to keep you reading for a long long time.