Having been diagnosed with Colon Cancer, had surgery, and then chemo for it 3-months after buying my SUV. Now, I have only 16,000+ miles on the odometer.
My question is: why did I have to have servicing every 6-months rather than by mileage???
I live in FL and had my servicing done at Clearwater Toyota in FL.
The crux of my query is: was I ripped-off and do I have legitimate grounds to seek recompense/recourse?
Otherwise, I am inclined to take my car for servicing at Action Imports rather than back to the dealer given the “warranty” is expired.
Your thoughts?
L Bain
Good question. First off, hopefully after all those treatments you are feeling better. As far as the inspection and service intervals, some things should be done on time intervals if the car isn’t driven very much. These tend to be stuff involved with rubber and plastic, which degrade with time. Tires, timing belt, CV boots, seals, etc. Engine oil & filter changes should occur at least once a year imo. A 6 month intervals for look-see’s seems reasonable, even if not much actually needs to be done as a result. 16K isn’t that low of mileage for a 3 year old btw, lower than normal, 5 k per year, but not super-low.
To address your question, no, I don’t think you’ve been ripped off. Dealerships tend to have the objectdive of keeping the customer’s car is as nearly showroom condition as is practical So if there’s a question they tend to do rather than wait. You friendly inde shop will probably be willing to have a chit-chat session with you, so you can tell them your philosophy on maintenance and repair; i.e. you may prefer to wait unless there is a clear reason not to wait. Others may prefer to be more pro-active, and replace stuff that hasn’t yet completely failed. It’s a personal decision.
I have no idea if the shop you mention is a good one. The best way to find a shop is ask your friends, relatives, co-workers, anybody you know, which shop they use to repair their cars. From that list choose a shop that focusses on Asian cars, and who has a manager you like from your interviewing them.
If you look in your manual it may say oil change every 5000 miles or 6 months . Seriously , why did you not ask the service writer when the service was done?
Your drive line warranty may still be in the mileage or time so read the manual so you don’t void it.
I will guess that you took this vehicle to the dealer every 6 months as per the maintenance schedule, they didn’t come to your house and take the vehicle.
How should your service provider have responded when you asked for the service? With 10,000 mile oil change vehicles Toyota recommends 5,000 service intervals even on vehicles that the tires cannot be rotated.
Once a year/10,000 miles is too long to go without a general inspection. There are many people that skip the 5K, 15K, 25K etc. but performing these inspections I find damaged or punctured tires on 1 out of 5 vehicles and brakes completely worn in some cases between 10,000 and 20,000 miles.
If your vehicle goes unused for periods of time you may want to adjust your service schedule to match your vehicles needs. For example if you have only driven 500 miles in the last six months there is no need to rotate the tires however the fluid levels should be checked and the tires properly inflated.
I echo @George_San_Jose1 's response. When you authorize the work, I fail to see how you have any legal or moral grounds to gripe; hopefully, this experience will teach you to learn a little more about the questions you need to ask. It sounds like you don’t trust this service department, so don’t take it there anymore unless it’s the only place you can for a particular job.