Prius gen 2 service @toyota or private garage?

[cybervic]

I owned a 07 Prius, and it is out of extended warranty this year. The mileage is about 95K, I only drove 3K-5K miles annually in the last 3 year. Is it still worth paying expansive service cost at dealership now that "Essential service plan" is no longer available and the new "5+ clubs" is much more expansive?

A independent trusted garage where I always take my car for MOT and Tyre/brake pad change charges £100 & £180 for a standard and full service, Toyota charges £152 & £272.  Besides that a local garage won't be able to do a hybrid Battery health test, Is there any other advantage getting my prius serviced by Toyota?
 

[Gerg]

42 minutes ago, cybervic said:

Besides that a local garage won't be able to do a hybrid battery health test

With the Toyota service schedule, if the car has had a main agent Toyota service within the last 365 days (or less, the timing is important!), then the previously passed Hybrid Health Check will underwrite the repair of any hybrid electronic/battery faults that show up on, or before, the next service.  This arrangement operates up until the cars 15th anniversary.  There is no extra charge for this.

Up until fairly recently, this scheme only operated for 10 years (which is still the case in many European countries).

 

[john p williams]

Trusted garage for all maintenance and servicing and Toyota for HB check.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, john p williams said:

Trusted garage for all maintenance and servicing and Toyota for HB check.

Don't think you can now have a Hybrid Health Check done separately, as it seems to have been absorbed into the Hybrid Electric Service.

[john p williams]

44 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Don't think you can now have a Hybrid Health Check done separately, as it seems to have been absorbed into the Hybrid Electric Service.

Thanks. I`ve not heard of that.What is it?

I answered on the basis of my Lexus experience.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Hybrid Electric Service is just the service for any hybrid vehicle, and this now provides the extended hybrid Battery warranty for vehicles outside the new car warranty.

All mention of the Hybrid Health Check went from the Toyota site earlier this year.

[john p williams]

34 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The Hybrid Electric Service is just the service for any hybrid vehicle, and this now provides the extended hybrid battery warranty for vehicles outside the new car warranty.

All mention of the Hybrid Health Check went from the Toyota site earlier this year.

Thanks for letting me know.

[cybervic]

On 10/28/2020 at 2:03 PM, Gerg said:

With the Toyota service schedule, if the car has had a main agent Toyota service within the last 365 days (or less, the timing is important!), then the previously passed Hybrid Health Check will underwrite the repair of any hybrid electronic/battery faults that show up on, or before, the next service.  This arrangement operates up until the cars 15th anniversary.  There is no extra charge for this.

Up until fairly recently, this scheme only operated for 10 years (which is still the case in many European countries).

Thanks for the info, I didn't know they do a 15 extended warranty on hybrid Battery. That makes intermediate service rather worth it for £152 this year. 
Full service would cost £120 more with 5+Club discount: Is it worth spending the extra for the following for prius? 

[Gerg]

1 hour ago, cybervic said:

Is it worth spending the extra for the following for prius? 

That is a very good point and there is unlikely to be a consensus on this! 

As another option, the extra tasks you have listed are not hybrid-specific (apart from checking the inverter coolant, which is ridiculously easy anyway), so any decent service garage that you trust could do these.  So if you were chasing value for money, then you could get another interim service at the main Toyota dealer next time, and then get these items checked elsewhere.  It depends on how much you 'cost' your own time and effort!

Additionally, your Prius uses a popular and reasonably priced engine oil that is available almost anywhere.  You might investigate if the Toyota dealer would reduce the price of the service a little if you brought in your own engine oil for them to use, instead of their Toyota-branded oil.  But even if they will do this, the saving won't be that large.

I've never owned a Prius gen2, but just looking on owner's reports, it would seem that the hybrid batteries are failing at around about 14 to 17 years of age.  A new Battery from Toyota is around £1200 fitted.  Apart from wheel bearings, hybrid batteries and simple, usual, wear-related items, these cars are often good for over 250,000+ miles.

That is assuming that some scumbag doesn't steal your catalytic converter (which you already know about?), which is far too easy on this particular model.  If you can work out how to prevent this, then the fitting of a new Battery if it does fail out of warranty, for, say,  another 5+ years of motoring, doesn't look like the hideous expense it first appears to be.  Maybe.  But that hybrid Battery price is already much cheaper than it is in mainland Europe, and it may go up with currency fluctuations and tariff changes when the 'transition period' ends in a couple of months.

I'm sure some owners will post some other angles on this.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Was the engine coolant changed when the car was 10 years old (presuming it has the Toyota Super Long Life coolant (pink))? If it was, it isn't be due to be changed yet.

[Chris Dance]

I would only trust a Toyota dealer to service and maintain my Prius. 

There was mention of a few years ago on this forum of a non Toyota garage putting a Prius up on a ramp; draining the oil and then the engine started. This wrecked the engine. They did not realise the engine was still "live". 

I expect their are some independents who are OK and understand the Prius; how do you know which ones are fully trained to work on Hybrid vehicles?

I have Toyota 3 year service plan.

[Dizzo]

I used to take my 07 Prius to a local main dealer for all servicing and repairs on the basis that despite the expense they had the expertise. However, at recent visits it became clear they weren't interested any more, and kept taking me to the showroom! On my last service visit they went one step further and told me it was "likely" that my car's head gasket had gone but that I could trade it in for a new car and I would get a good price for it. I then underwent a sales chat for around 10 minutes on the benefits of the new car. The hybrid check sheet was clearly nonsense and I smelt a rat. That was at 200,000 miles. It now has 270,000 miles on the clock and needles to say no problems at all with the head gasket or loss of coolant. I now take it to an independent in Huddersfield as I can't find any hybrid capable independents in Leeds where I live.
My own experience of the motor trade across the board is that they are very untrustworthy to put it mildly, and take full advantage where they can of their technical knowledge and the supposed lack of the same of their customers. Strangely the independent garage prices aren't all that much different to the dealer's, and in a lot of cases they are more expensive.

[john p williams]

35 minutes ago, Dizzo said:

I used to take my 07 Prius to a local main dealer for all servicing and repairs on the basis that despite the expense they had the expertise. However, at recent visits it became clear they weren't interested any more, and kept taking me to the showroom! On my last service visit they went one step further and told me it was "likely" that my car's head gasket had gone but that I could trade it in for a new car and I would get a good price for it. I then underwent a sales chat for around 10 minutes on the benefits of the new car. The hybrid check sheet was clearly nonsense and I smelt a rat. That was at 200,000 miles. It now has 270,000 miles on the clock and needles to say no problems at all with the head gasket or loss of coolant. I now take it to an independent in Huddersfield as I can't find any hybrid capable independents in Leeds where I live.
My own experience of the motor trade across the board is that they are very untrustworthy to put it mildly, and take full advantage where they can of their technical knowledge and the supposed lack of the same of their customers. Strangely the independent garage prices aren't all that much different to the dealer's, and in a lot of cases they are more expensive.

I think you have got this spot on Paul.