Where should I get my new Prius checked out?

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if I should post this here or in the maintenance/care board but I figured I'd go here first.

I put the bulk of this information in the "Weird Stuff..." thread so I do apologize if you are reading this twice. Technically I have two separate questions so I wanted to separate them but since I gave the entire history of the purchase and the car on that thread I thought it most efficient to just copy and paste. Please see the bottom of the thread for my new questions.

I just bought my Prius used last Wednesday. It's an 08 with 84500 miles, smart key, nav, bluetooth etc. I think it is a package 8.

When we went to test drive the car I had called ahead so the sales person had it waiting for me when I got there. He said that we would need to wait a minute or two to drive the car because it had been sitting without a test drive for a while and it needed to charge. It drove well and looks as if someone took immaculate care of it. I don't think they were bringing it to a Toyota dealership for maintenance as there weren't many maintenance records on the car fax report.

So I have only been driving it a few days and I don't really have much of a commute. So far I have driven it home from the dealership (12 city miles as it was rush hour and I took back roads), driven it to and from work twice (work is only 0.5 miles away, when I close my store I have a 3 mile round trip to and from the bank for deposits). My longest trip so far is up to my sisters house and back (about 15 miles each way).

Total I have around 65 miles on it from purchase and am averaging 42 MPG. Given my type of driving I find that MPG to be acceptable. What I have noticed is that my car doesn't even run at low speeds, sub 15 mph, on the electric motor. It engages both motors at these low speeds. Certainly once I have warmed it up it seems that it does engage only the electric motor sometimes but very infrequently. When I first turn the car on it is very quick to have the ICE charge the battery before I even get moving. When I did the maintenance test this is what I found;

12.1
11.8
14.2

Certainly after reading this entire thread I would be lead to believe that I am in fact in need of a battery replacement. It is very possible to think that it is still on it's original battery. The car was manufactured in Sept 08 so it is about 3.5 years old, and as mentioned has 85000 miles on it. Can I be sure at this point that the 12Volt needs replacing? Or do I need to get it out for a longer trip or two prior to making that conclusion?

Thanks so much for the guidance. I am really glad to have found this forum. You all seem awesome! I might get it out on the highway for 45 minutes or so today. My test numbers by the way are from having it sit overnight and coming out and doing the test before even turning it on this morning.

New questions:

1. Even though I bought from a Toyota dealership, do you all think it makes sense to have another Toyota dealership take a thorough look over the vehicle? If so how much should this cost?
2. I've read that most people feel that for regular maintenance that your mechanic can do the job but that for anything related to the hybrid system you should take it to Toyota. Is this the general consensus? I really trust my mechanic and hate car dealership's service departments with an extreme passion. One of the only times that I took my civic to the dealership they told me I needed to spend $2000, drove it off to my mechanic and he said I only needed an oil change and a brake cleaning. The car ran 2 more years without fail and we are talking about a car with 200,000 miles plus.
3. It seems that Toyota recommends oil change and regular maintenance every 5000 miles. I will only be driving the car 7-8000 miles yearly. How frequently should I get it serviced to be safe? Every 3 months, 6 months, or just do it every 5000 miles regardless of time?

Thanks so much!