16,000km Maintenance visit at dealership - tips?

[i2004tor]

Hi there,

I'm about to take my 1-yr old 2006 Corolla in to the dealership for the 16,000km (i.e., 1st major) maintenance check-up. I don't anticipate any problems, but I am paranoid about the service guy at the Toyota dealership coming up to me in the waiting lounge to propose some expensive repair(s) out of the blue. I'm pretty much a car novice.

Do you guys have any tips or advice for such a situation? Possible repairs or maintenance items that commonly come up around this mileage, for instance?

Thanks in advance.

[thephenom]

For 16k maintenance, it's more of an inspection more than anything else.

There shouldn't be any major parts that needs fixing, even if there were, it should be under warranty. I can't see anything really wearing out at 1yr/16k km, that means it'll be a "defect" of some sort.

If you are weary about what is offered, ask them to note it down and you'll think it over. (You can always ask for more help here and fix it another time)

[Pete_Coach]

Your car is still under a full warranty and if there are any things (outside of wear items like brakes, tires windshield wipers) the dealership will take care of them. This is a very good opportunity to complain about all the little things that have annoyed you or caught you attention during the first year. Write them all down and make the shop look at them all. It will be one of the only times that you will get free labour on the car. All they can do is say there is no problem, but you will have a record of making a complaint, so that in the future, if it occurs again, you can say I was here about this issue before.

[Un4GivN]

There was also an 'optional' warranty work for the door sill. I can't recall exactly what it was, and can't find into on Google either, but maybe ask them about it if you want. :P

What a completely useless post this was. lol

[wlee]

i was paranoid too when i heard the $2,000+ repair for 112,000km maintenance of my camry 2002, i'm very much car novice and even knew overpaying still went ahead (don't have time shop around and don't know any bodyshops), dealer offered 10% discount.

repair: replaced air filter, replaced leaving water pump, p/s flush, brake fluid flush, replaced trans pan gasket, replaced front&rear disc & pad etc, 4 wheel align etc.

totally charged 11 hours equivalent labor ($99/hr), should i be charged actual hours worked or fix priced labor

[ES_Revenge]

totally charged 11 hours equivalent labor ($99/hr), should i be charged actual hours worked or fix priced labor

You're charged labour based on the times in the book. If you don't know what I mean by "in the book" it means there's a set of guidebooks that determine the "industry standard" labour times for certain services.

Sometimes a tech or mechanic will spend more time than published for the repair/service but you still pay the time in the book; other times they'll finish much faster than the time in the book, but again you pay the time in the book. It kind of balances out that way I suppose.

However $99 an hour is excessive, IMO. However it's a typical labour rate of stealerships (that's why they are called that btw).

Though you've already gone ahead with the repair, I would advise to stay away from a shop with that high a labour rate.

As for the OP the best tip I can give you is never have your car maintained/serviced at a stealership, unless you really don't care about the money. In any case, for a 1yr old car, with 16k kms on it, there should be pretty much nothing except an oil change to do. There's not much else (other than very simple checks, lubrication, etc.) that they should be doing at that age/mileage.

[BeaverLiquor]

a few years ago when i brought my dads car in for the first major maintenance at toronto honda while he was at work, man you should have heard the isht the guy was trying to sell me...rotor refinishing, engine cleaning, refinishing the inside of the break drums, something with the intake and a nail in the tire (can't remember the exact terms since it was a while ago) for a total of $800-900...

i told them i'd get back to them...

funny thing everytime i went back (i told my dad they were crook's but he insisted i bring it to them...) they told me i needed extra things done and aways had a nail in the tire...

[funky_monkey_99]

a few years ago when i brought my dads car in for the first major maintenance at toronto honda while he was at work, man you should have heard the isht the guy was trying to sell me...rotor refinishing, engine cleaning, refinishing the inside of the break drums, something with the intake and a nail in the tire (can't remember the exact terms since it was a while ago) for a total of $800-900...

i told them i'd get back to them...

funny thing everytime i went back (i told my dad they were crook's but he insisted i bring it to them...) they told me i needed extra things done and aways had a nail in the tire...

sure the other crap the dealer was telling u was bs...but if they kept telling you about the nail in the tire every visit..are u sure that there was indeed no nail in the tire? did u check yourself?

[BeaverLiquor]

sure the other crap the dealer was telling u was bs...but if they kept telling you about the nail in the tire every visit..are u sure that there was indeed no nail in the tire? did u check yourself?

there is a tiredepot near me and i go there to get my tires so the guys know me pretty well, so i asked them to check my tires everytime toronto honda told me i had a nail. out of the 4 times that toronto honda told me i had a nail they only found a nail once.

[superdsi]

Your car does not need any maintenance. Why go?
It won't affect your warranty. It is a Toyota. You will in most cases not need the warranty. Best tip. Drain the regular oil out of your car replace it with
synthetic, change it every 20,000 km. Get your car looked at every 100,000 km by a mechanic you can trust and you will not anything else.
I have a Acura 1.6 EL with no maintenance (change oil every 20,000km) runs as good as new and has 325,000 km on it. Maintenance with today's cars is a waste of money.

[i2004tor]

Hmm..... Thanks for all the input, guys. I really appreciate it.

[i2004tor]

Your car does not need any maintenance. Why go?
It won't affect your warranty. It is a Toyota. You will in most cases not need the warranty. Best tip. Drain the regular oil out of your car replace it with
synthetic, change it every 20,000 km. Get your car looked at every 100,000 km by a mechanic you can trust and you will not anything else.
I have a Acura 1.6 EL with no maintenance (change oil every 20,000km) runs as good as new and has 325,000 km on it. Maintenance with today's cars is a waste of money.

Intriguing. I am tempted to follow your advice.

Anyone else feel the same?

Thanks in advance for the ideas.