Service at a different dealer than you bought it from

I know this topic has been discussed before, but I wanted to add my recent experience.

Back in 2004 we bought a new Prius at Thompson Toyota in Doylestown PA. Took it there for service as needed, and over those years never had any problems at all, good experience.

Fast forward to 2010, we were looking to buy a new Prius in April. Found the best price (using the AAA buying service) at James Toyota in Flemington, NJ. Went to Thompson, they couldn't match that price, so we ended up buying it from James Toyota, saving well over $300 (including their free mounting of Hankook Optimo tires that I ordered from Tire Rack and had delivered to them).

Just got a letter from a service manager at Thompson Toyota (the one we did not purchase from), saying that even though we didn't buy it there, we're very welcome to come to Thompson for service, yada yada yada. I thought that was pretty nice of them to do.

Thompson is closer to my home, and besides the lower price, my experience with James Toyota was way less than optimal, shall we say.

Lesson learned for me -- don't necessarily go for the lowest priced dealer. And we can take our cars to any Toyota dealer under the factory warranty period.