Foregoing free maintenance = Abandoning warranty?

I bought an 18 taco new and was told that I have to come for Toyota care service or I would void the warranty.

I am fully capable of rotating my own tires, changing my tires, installing tpms and reprogramming, oil changes, diff fluid change, belt change, spark plugs, air filters, wipers, light bulbs, just to name a few.

the only thing I can’t do is change the transmission fluid because there is no dip stick.

I did my own 15k service because it’s just tire rotation but got a call for the 15k service from the dealer.

apparently the dealer had scheduled all of my appointments for Toyota care already.

When my Toyota care ends, I’m not going back to the dealer unless it’s for a recall.

 

"I bought an 18 taco new and was told that I have to come for Toyota care service or I would void the warranty."

And the dealer lied to you. You can do your own maintenance as long as it meets or exceeds the manufacturers requirements and you will not void the MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY. I would strongly suggest you save receipts or some sort of documentation that work was performed. For example if your owners maintenance guide that you received when you purchased the truck says to change oil at 10,000 mile increments with XYZ spec oil, then you had better change the oil at or before 10,000 miles with XYZ spec oil. Changing it at 5,000 miles is fine too, just don't think you can get away with an engine warranty claim if you have been changing the oil at 15,000 miles. As for voiding a dealer offered warranty or some sort of extended warranty, well read the fine print.

 

I love the 'dealerphobia' posts. People make mistakes. You will make mistakes. Fearing the dealer service is foolish. There is no way they are in business not doing what they are paid to do. You paid for the maintenance, why would you want to walk away from money you earned? Not to mention you are missing Carfax entries that add value at trade in because your car was 'dealer' maintained.

 

It's illegal for a manufacturer to require you to have your vehicle serviced at a dealer in order to maintain warranty status. Now, if you're having Joe down the street change your oil Toyota could come in and say that he was changing it improperly or infrequently, if there is evidence of such (sludge, bearing wear, etc..) and deny a single warranty claim. But Ive seen OEM's try to deny warranty claims on vehicles that were never serviced anywhere except for the selling dealer.

 

Edit- Dam, didn’t realize the Tacoma has those annoying filters instead of the spin on. Oh well. Now I’m definitely letting them do it.[/QUOTE]

Only the 3.5L as the oil filter cartridge. Us 2.7L guys still get the spin on filter. Only filter cartridge ive ever liked was one mounted on the top of my motor. i.e. 2001 BMW 330ci, 6.0L Ford Super Doooty. I hate catridges mounted under the vic.

 

Everything is going to a cartridge.

 

Cartridges are fine as long as they mount them on the top of the motor. Cleanest oil chamge ever with a fumoto draim valve.

 

Also remember that if you have a warrsnty claim, the deslership cant auto deny your claim because maintenance wasnt done at the deslership. The burden of proof is still on them to prove that something you did, or didnt do caused the issue. Thats why they cant deny a motor warranty issue because you did an LED swap for your rear tail lights.

 

Actually you can set up your own login for CarFax, put in the VIN of your vehicle and report DIY and independent mechanic's maintenance and repairs to CarFax on your own. They even have a way to upload receipts too. You don't have to miss out on having car care recorded on CarFax because you didn’t go to a dealership. Also some non dealer shops report to Carfax.

 

Agreed, but sadly people see dealer maintained and are willing to pay extra.

 

To each their own I suppose, To me as a buyer seeing records with receipts that someone took care of it is a positive and not necessarily better if the dealer did it. I keep vehicles so long that when I'm done with them those things are not likely to be a large factor in its value. Keeping good records for a potential warranty claim is a good idea for sure.

 

Learned something new today. I'll have to check that out.

I typically keep a car until its not worth keeping running. Haha

 

This is what my carfax page looks like

 

I have never paid a dime in the years I been entering most of my maintenance for my Liberty there. I think the features to add your own service records was added in 2015, that's when I started putting records in. On my page I can see all the service info Carfax has added since the vehicle hit the first dealer lot before I owned it and everything reported by shops it went to that report history to carfax too. I plan to use this for future vehicles too.

 

I have done all my own maintenance on my truck and my dealer honored the warranty when I had an issue. Then again the issue was only a faulty LED bed light.