Dealer Maintenance: Is It Worth It?

I recently bought a low-mileage used 2013 Tacoma 2WD from a Toyota dealership.

Toyota offers a a deal where they give me free tires for life if all my maintenance is done at Toyota dealerships, and I keep to the "5000 miles or 6 months - whichever comes first" maintenance schedule. This seemed like a reasonable deal until I went in for my first oil change and it cost me $70+tax.

I took my previous Tacoma to a local Firestone where I was satisfied with the service. An oil change there was more like $50 for high-mileage oil and less before I hit 100k. So I'm wondering how much going to the dealership will end up costing me more in the long run from higher maintenance costs rather than taking it to a non-dealership auto mechanic.

Can anyone offer up some experience/advice on this? Thanks.

(BTW I'm not a vehicle-savvy person so I'm not going to be changing my own oil.)

 

Short answer: nope.

 

For oil changes I would say it's not worth it.
You can go almost anywhere else for those of you don't have the skill set.

And think about it. Unless you're doing burnouts every day how long will it be until you need tires?

 

How often do you get free tires? Do you get to select the tire make and model?

 

My Dealer right now is trying to get me to buy the extended Toyota Care that will cover me for 45,000 miles. But yet the 30,000 mile service I believe is expensive and I know for sure they are not gonna do the actual 30,000 mile service. @big_jarv weren't you trying to get the Dealer to include all the services in the Manual for the extended Toyota Care they were trying to sell you?

 

I'd rather buy my own tires when they're needed. I'd guess there are limitations to what size/brand tire you can get. Does that include labor(mounting balancing)?

 

Buying the brand tires you want when you need them is a better deal. They will probably put original equipment Dunflops on there. All the scheduled maintenance past 25,000 miles can get pricey when done at a dealership.

 

Yes. I didnt pull the trigger because my Toyota care isn't up until July.

The service rep told me it would include the 30k service but I'm like you and was skeptical if it would be actual 30k service.

I also don't think I'll see 30k before my lease is up.

 

Yeah I don't think mine will honor the full 30,000 mile service either. Isn't it plugs, all fluids in the diffs, Trans fluid I think.

 

I made sure my dealership honored the spark plug change @30k mile service. They tried to tell it wasn't needed, I said look again at the manual. So they did it. I'd imagine they pull that off with a lot of other people though. Only reason I believe they changed mine is because I brought it up beforehand.

I just finished my "Toyota Care" package @45k. No intentions of going back to the dealer again.

 

Oh yea, one of the visits, I think @35k they wanted to charge me $50 to "clean the battery terminals". To be honest even going for the 45k service was tough for me, I almost wanted to forget it entirely, but that would have been dumb.

 

yeah nope.. do it yourself. saves you time money and frustration.

 

I did my own 30k service it was not hard and not that expensive.

 

Some of us are not handy enough to do it though? So when it comes time to replace the Tranny and diff fluids I will probably ask on here and pay someone to do it.

 

I do not think 30k includes replacing tranny fluid, if it does I missed it.

It is pretty easy to change diff and transfer case fluid, real easy. It is easy to change the oil. If you take your time and plan ahead the spark plugs are very do-able. Other than that its air filter and yer done I believe.

If you do it yourself you know it is done right, you know what fluids and plugs and such were used, you know that if oil drips somewhere it gets wiped off. You cannot put a price on these things. Also you know how to do it the next time.

If you are apprehensive watch some youtube videos first, hell they got those on everything from yer clothes dryer to yer truck.

 

I am at about 24,000 right now so it's my last Freebie. So who wants to come over and teach me how to do an Oil Change on my truck? I have the Fujimoto valve to put in as well. And while they are here they can change my Trans fluid, and Diffs.

 

Youtube will teach you.

 

No! If you are handy anb have the time you can find all the info needed here and do it yourself. Every time I take it to the dealership , they either lie or break something or scratch something. Don't let them touch your truck, they hide behind the Toyota certification but they are not really that experienced or careful. ( a least on the 3 dealership that I visited during my 60k.

 

I have looked at the threads and videos I do not think I will try to do the trans fluid myself. Generally speaking though I do the maint on my truck and my terminator.