In need of advice on maintenance on my 2.5 yr old Yaris Sedan

[Yari-Chan]

I went in to the dealer to get an oil change for $24 and left the dealer 3 hours later with $691 less in my wallet. I feel horrible. I think I was being an idiot and just got cleaned out. Now I'm pissed and here to do some research and get some good advice from more knowledgeable folks at Yaris World. Next time I won't be so stupid.

Here's the service they did:
-First they said I was overdue for my 30,000 mi. service. I have 35,000 miles now. That would have cost me around $450 alone.
-Then they said I needed fuel injection system service. The service consultant explained it by saying that when I put gas in my car there is sediment that collects over time and instead of the gas spraying, it jets out like a sand blaster and would be harmful to the fuel injectors that I will be replacing with my 30K tune-up. He said they had told me about this the last time I was in so now it's worse.
-Then I was told that I needed to take care of my power steering system. I think it is a replacement of the fluids or something. This also was told to me last time I was in. I don't remember them saying anything about either one.

Does this sound right to anyone or did I get taken like I think I did?

What is absolutely necessary for maintenance of a Yaris sedan?

I would greatly appreciate some input from others.

Thanks!

[landrym28]

I had my 2007 sedan for 4 years, around 110,000km on the odometer (around 75,000 miles roughly I think). My most expensive service was around $200, but most of them usually ranged from $45 to $110. Every 16,000km's was the more expensive one. I never had to pay that much for a service. I never had to get any of those things done either that you were being told had to be done!

I could see maybe how you were over your service by 5000 miles, but that probably wouldn't be a gigantic impact to the point of $691.

[MadMax]

Sorry, but I think you were taken. If it's any consolation, most dealers are overpriced and like to insist on maintenance that isn't required...

Find a good, reliable independent mechanic and/or shop. I have no qualms about taking my Yaris to one because I know they do good work at a reasonable price. I have been a customer of theirs for years, and regularly send people their way; so there is trust.

I have never been fond of dealers, and have also thrown too much money away at them over the years until I learned better...

Cheers! M2

[eTiMaGo]

please confirm that they talked about power steering fluids... the Yaris has an all-electric power steering, with no special fluid required... If they did bill you for that, I think there'd be grounds for some kind of legal complaint?

[Yari-Chan]

Thank you all for your confirmation that I was ripped off.

eTiMaGo, as far as what exactly they said, I really can't guarantee that they talked about fluids but still, that is good information to know. The receipt is vague and just says, "Performed Power Steering System Service". I think I am going to request exactly what is "Performed" from now on.

landrym28, did you have any of your factory scheduled maintenance done at a dealer?

Madmax, I live in NYC and have no idea where I could find an honest, reliable, and reasonable mechanic. Do you?

My next question is, can I get away with just doing oil changes, tire rotations and factory scheduled maintenance from now on?

How often should I be going in for oil change and tire rotation? The dealer wants me to come in every 5,000 miles. Is that right? What about tire rotation? I've been doing tire rotations every 5-10,000 miles.

[Yari-Chan]

I once read on a forum that Yaris' don't need to have 4-wheel alignment done. Is that right? I just want to make sure just in case the dealer tries to sell me this service some day.

Thanks!

[Yari-Chan]

I once read on a forum that Yaris' don't need to have 4-wheel alignment done. Is that right? I just want to make sure just in case the dealer tries to sell me this service some day.

Thanks!

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by Yari-Chan

Madmax, I live in NYC and have no idea where I could find an honest, reliable, and reasonable mechanic. Do you?

Sorry, Yari-Chan, I couldn't live somewhere with such Draconian gun laws; so I try to avoid NY state as much as possible!

Actually, I have friends that have lived in NYC and I thought it was the norm not to even own a car there since 1) it's so expensive, 2) the traffic's so bad, and 3) you can get anywhere on foot, bus or by cab!

Out here in Texas we have a lot of wide open spaces between everything, so vehicles are almost mandatory (they don't like us bringing our horses to work! ).

Seriously, I would ask some of your friends with cars, and barring that, maybe this forum. I use the one for this area all the time!

Good luck! M2

[Yari-Chan]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

please confirm that they talked about power steering fluids... the Yaris has an all-electric power steering, with no special fluid required... If they did bill you for that, I think there'd be grounds for some kind of legal complaint?

Where can I get more information on power steering maintenance? I was looking at this thread and am a bit confuse at what you said about no special fluid required for power steering:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32589

[swidd]

You were told in 2009 to only do oil/filter every 5,000 miles, why you no listen??

There is no special 30,000 mile service. Look for yourself in the maintenance schedule/log that came with your car: its just oil changes and filter replacement every 5,000 miles. Not a single replacement item until 120,000 miles (in my manual) - although some things are smart to replace earlier, it will do mostly fine without.

There is no power steering fluid that I know of on a Yaris. It is electric, and never requires any servicing whatsoever. Closed bearings, so no lubrication is even possible.

Fuel injection service is absolutely not needed at 35,000 miles: there's a guy on here that ran 450,000 miles on a 07 Sedan and didn't replace fuel injectors. I looked inside my air intake/throttle body at 86,000 miles and its completely "operating room" clean without having ever cleaned it. There is a fuel filter and air filter that stops dirt from clogging up your intake/injectors, and at only 35,000 miles you wouldn't have clogged them up even if you didn't replace the air filter at all. Also, if you drive in NYC or NY, you're on paved road surrounded by trees or buildings. Not desert and dust.

The dealership tried pulling the same shit on me when I turned 30,000 miles and had it in for an oil change. If you refuse they get pissed and may hurt your car intentionally to force you to pay to fix it. Dealerships are crooks. Anywhere you can't SEE them working on your car is well... not to be blindly trusted. I sometimes stand in the cold outside the garage looking at the work the mechanics do, and even at independent shops I insist that I get to participate/be present for an oil change. There have been many news segments in the media about car repair and service shops intentionally breaking cars so customers will come back with a problem they can fix easily, while charging full price. Unless you have found your own personal mechanic that you know you can trust, you have no way of knowing which of the random places you take it in to will be the bad apple.

Edit: (Btw. when they said overdue for service, were they referring to their "special 30,000 mile service" or "service package", or did you skip an oil change entirely (i.e. no oil change from 25,000 to 35,000)? If you skipped the oil change it still isn't grounds for any extra services, just replace oil as usual and hope for the best -- if you used synthetic you were likely still within spec anyway).

Tire rotation is not needed every 5,000 miles. You only need alignment if you notice the car pulling to either side and not tracking straight on highway, or if you notice uneven thread wear (inside or outside of tire worn more). Your front tires wear much faster than the rears, so you just have to do a tire rotation in time to put the rears to the front so you'll wear them out at the same time. The stock tires only last ~40,000 miles -- you should've saved that $691 and bought new tires, and maybe a fire extinguisher to stop Yaris from burning if it catches on fire! If you run winter tires, perhaps plan rotations to always keep good thread on the rear tires to keep the tail stable in the winter. Point being; rotations are performed to wear the tires evenly so you can replace all four at once; doing it super often is a waste of money.

I would go back to the dealership and raise hell; specifically yell and scream in front of new customers about how they sold you a car that according to them required maintenance at 35,000 miles although it was designed not to. Clearly their product have failed

Per my calculations, and per my own expenses so far at 87,000 miles, the regular maintenance expense through 100,000 miles will be just over $1,000 for the mandatory stuff (and that takes care of items like alternator belt and spark plugs that will keep the car running past 100k as well). I've spent lots more, but only for voluntary upgrades. Judging from the reliability experiences posted elsewhere on this site, you can be very certain that there will not be any other issues while running this car.

Your main argument when they try to sell you shit is that they will have to cover it under warranty if they seriously think it is broken. It was sold to you with specific maintenance requirements, and any required maintenance in excess of that should be treated as a warranty/lemon issue, especially at 35,000 miles - it practically just rolled off the assembly line.

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by Yari-Chan

Where can I get more information on power steering maintenance? I was looking at this thread and am a bit confuse at what you said about no special fluid required for power steering:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32589

that guy has a 2001 Echo, those still used hydraulic power steering :)

[nemelek]

A lot of dealers have their "own" service schedules. Transmission and cooling fluids changes are usually bumped up by 1,000's of miles. Take a look at how proud my dealership of their prices. Look at the cabin filter change.

Say no to everything. Than do your research for your next visit.

[eTiMaGo]

kind of a sad spiral.... high service prices cause more car owners to want to DIY, causing dealers to try and squeeze more and more out of servicing, especially from owners who are not too car-savvy :(

And it explains why not a lot of people over here DIY, I mean, I went for an oil change (Mobil 1 full synthetic), and got the car washed, waxed and interior vacuumed for the wallet-breaking amount of......... $35

[Yari-Chan]

Well, thanks to all of you!!! I had to fill out a Toyota survey and I told them exactly how unhappy I was. They called me today and wanted to know if the service consultant could call me tomorrow. They gave me a free oil change for now. Tomorrow, I am going to talk to the consultant. I am going to be a royal pain in the ass asking question after question answered to my satisfaction. With all the research I just did and all the information from all of the kind people at Yaris World, he is going to be sorry he ever ripped me off. Thanks so much everyone!!!

Thanks to this incident, I've organized a file and a notebook where I keep all my maintenance records and notes. I wrote down everything I learned so, Swidd, I'm going to listen and remember well this time around.

[swidd]

Take it to another place than where the crook is. He/she may be looking to take revenge by disabling safety features in your car. They did it to me.

[Yari-Chan]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

please confirm that they talked about power steering fluids... the Yaris has an all-electric power steering, with no special fluid required... If they did bill you for that, I think there'd be grounds for some kind of legal complaint?

Well, I just talked to the service consultant. He did confirm that they replaced the power steering FLUID!!!

I was charged $80 for that. The 30,000 mile tune-up would have supposedly topped off the fluid but apparently it needed replacing instead of replenishing.

I'm calling him back to get my $80 back.

[Yari-Chan]

I just called the service consultant again today. I told him that I did my research on the Toyota website and found that my car does indeed have all electric power steering and I would NOT have EVER needed my power steering fluid replaced. He told me to come in to show me. I refused and he said that he would get a manager on the line to talk to me. When he came back on the phone he said that he did some of his own research and fumbled around with some BS and said the manager was going to call me back. I asked him what he found out and made him confirm that I was 100% correct in saying that he sold me a service that I didn't need. He fumbled around BSing some more and got off the phone as fast as he could. That was at 9:30 this morning. 6 hours later, no phone call from the manager. I am going to call them back to tell them I want ALL my money back. I was taken to the dry cleaners without a doubt and I have proof. I am going to write to the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General as well as the manager of the service station. They will not be happy with what I write on the Toyota survey that comes from the headquarters. I learned my lesson. I hope they learn theirs.

[swidd]

Kick them so it hurts! Its hard to prove, but if they said "30,000 mile service" and not "optional 30,000 mile service", you could argue that the 30,000 mile service per the service requirements of Toyota are only those listed in your maintenance schedule (which boils down to oil and filter replacement only). If you agreed to their service estimate based on false information (which you did), they will have a hard time against you in small claims court. They will not want to go there seeing as they probably didn't do anything expensive with your car, thus have more to lose in court than by just refunding you.