Tires for Life

I think you need have no fear about changing your own oil. Just make sure you do it right (not to difficult) and keep the receipts for the oil and the filter. I buy the filter from Toyota along with a new drain plug gasket. I document the oil change mileage and date in a notebook and sign my name to it. You don't have to do that but I want to keep a record anyway. Check out the Magnuson Moss Waranty Act, it lets you change your own oil and a lot of other things without voiding your waranty. Just do a Google search for Magnuson Moss.

What kind of tires would the dealer use? Most people on this site want to upgrade to something else.

 

I don't know how common this "deal" is, since we did all our Prius shopping via email. The only time we set foot on a dealer's lot was for our initial test drive and final purchase (at a different dealer from the one where we test drove).

The test drive dealer did happen to offer "free tires for life" and we had plenty of time to read the brochure while waiting for the salesperson, who was 20 minutes late for our previously scheduled test drive. (We'd have gotten up and walked out, but this place was 5 minutes from our house and the next nearest Toyota dealer is about 30 minutes away.)

In this case, it wasn't any kind of Toyota-sponsored promotion. They offered the exact same thing at their Dodge dealership next door. Also, the offer didn't simply require that you have all the manufacturer's required services performed at the dealer's shop--you had to follow this dealer's "recommended" maintenance schedule. This not only meant service every 3000 miles instead of every 5000, but also included all kinds of additional stuff not included in the Toyota Passport.

I've long since tossed the brochure, but I guestimated that I'd only need to get around 10,000 miles out of a $500 set of tires for them to be cheaper than the "free" ones. I plan on stopping by this same dealership to pick up a new Prius brochure, so I'll grab their "tires for life" thing again while I'm at it and post the details.

 

Here in Tampa the dealer we purchased our car from - Courtesy Toyota - has the same program. Seems to me that becomes simply a question of how much one would have to spent at the dealer for all required maintenance service and compare that to what you would pay if you had it done by someone else or yourself. If you assume that your tires last 30K miles and cost $ 400 the answer will become obvious very quickly.

Cheers,

Tom
2005 Prius - Tideland Pearl
Tampa, FL

 

See my thread on why buying new Michelins and getting free rotate and balances is cheaper than paying for rotate and balances at your dealer!

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=12259

Pros and Cons are being discussed.

Nate

 

Brian,
I hope you get this.... I see where you are from and where you are talking about going. Unless you have a few thousand extra dollars to spend do NOT go to Serra. They are charging 2000 over MSRP for a Prius (that will buy you tiers for life right there

If you read my post
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=9...hl=hoover&st=40

you can see what kind of service I received at Hoover Toyota just down the road from Serra.

Not only that when I asked at Serra about them charging 2,000 over MSRP, I was told 'YOU people will pay anything we charge to get your hands on one of these. It's non negotiable, if you dont want the car we have a list of others willing to pay whatever we put on the sticker'. Is this REALLY the type of place you want your $$ going? Also this should tell you how Serra feels about it's customers!

Go to Hoover, you will feel a huge difference in the whole experience, and the charge MSRP, and I believe they have a few IN STOCK now. Its the first time I ever bought a car from someplace where I left feeling truly 110% satisfied with the entire transaction.

Andrew