Used Prius with no servicing till 40k?

Even if a third mechanic were to certify it OK, I'd as a matter of urgency replace the engine oil, and check if the inverter and engine coolants are OK, leave those alone.

We don't know theileage on the car yet.

 

If servicing (mainly oil/filter changes & tire rotation) were performed my the owner or an independent mechanic rather than a dealer then Carfax would have no record.
It might be worth checking the VIN for recalls that need to be performed though.

 

The odd part is that by 2012, the Prius had free service for the first 25,000 miles. You would think that they would do "free".

 

That depends. I took my 2017 in for the 5000 mile tire rotation & check. Based on that poorly documented experience, I chose to do the oil & filter change myself. If they lie about the tire pressures set (32 vs 39), can they be trusted with an oil change? They also said they did not check the battery because the Prius is different. Gen 4 (2016 & later) Liftbacks have the 12 volt battery under the hood like most other Toyotas.

 

If oil and filter change (and tire rotation) are not considered service then fine. Prius is a Toyota. It doesn't need fixing monthly. If it didn't get an oil and filter change for 40,000 mi run away screaming! A mechanic won't be able to tell if no oil change caused damage, until it fails.

Pull the dipstick and look at the oil on it (if any). I've personally never left oil in that long but I'm told it will be black. If it's clear or honey coloured they did the oil and filter themselves and it's probably ok.

 

I would run the V.I.N. through the Toyota Owners web sight and see if you can retrieve any service information. Also, consider that the vehicle had 2 years of free services. Someone had to reset the maintenance flag every 5 thousand miles. It’s unlikely that this was done without an accompanied service.

 

It's very likely (well hopefully) a case of maintenance done "under the radar". That's our car: if you look on the Toyota website, it's a basket case, only been in for a few recall items. The reality: I've DIY'd all the maintenance.

 

welcome!
could be some lazy owners here and there who figure oil changes aren't worth the time if they are busy. not going to effect anything in the short run, but i'm not qualified to judge the long run in that scenario.
it would seem that the most amount of wear would occur in a new engine, causing more debris in the oil, but i have no idea.

 

I'm more inclined to cast a dour eye on solely dealership serviced cars...

 

do you think they would say they changed the oil, but didn't? or maybe not change the filter? or forget to tighten the drain plug? or overfill by a quart every time?

 

Yeah there's been a few horror stories here. There's pros and cons I guess. My main take away: you can't put too much weight on dealership maintenance record, could be good, or no.

 

Dealership serviced cars tend to have this bit broken off, or nearly so:



Plus broken/missing fasteners.

 

You would think that being a relatively new car( low mileage), the previous owner/owners would have done their due diligence. It’s hard to say but I would be inclined to say that they did. Don’t get me wrong. There are fools out there that are incapable of even checking their own oil, let alone changing it. However, as I said, “ Someone had to reset the Maintenance flag”, either because of an annoyance or due diligence oil changes. Would I buy such a car? Sure...especially if CarMax sold it at a reasonable price and an extended drivetrain warranty was negotiated.

 

I purchased my Prius with 29k miles. I looked up the maintenance and nothing was listed. I asked the owner and he said, "Maintenance? What maintenance? I changed the oil twice and it's due for another change now. That's why the maintenance minder comes on when you start the car. "

He had a point. As per the maintenance guide, there's not much to do even at 40k miles ( oil changes, rotate tires and check fluid levels, while changing air filters when necessary). So, I just followed the maintenance schedule and it was easy, even for a novice like myself. I have the transaxle fluid on my tdl, based on advice here, but haven't gotten around to it.

 

A full brake inspection is on the US schedule, every 30K miles or 3 years.

 

Bought mine at 40K, the carfax indicated that the oil was serviced every 10K. Had no problems now at 119K. Getting ready for some serious DIY maintenance at 120K.

 

It is not important at all whatsoever. These go to about 500K miles in many cases with original parts!

The only way it shows up on carfax is if it goes in to the Toyota dealership or another large shop that enters it into the carfax system.

There really isn't much to do besides maybe tires in the first 40k miles.

 

Oil & filter changes are important too. but they were likely done if the oil looks good.