Toyota Oil Change...ripoff ?? | Gripevine
It seems the "policy" here in Nova Scotia where I live, is to change the oil in new Toyota's every 6 months, even if the car is parked 25 days out of each month. They tell me they don't care how many miles are on the present oil, it has to be changed or warranty will be void. When I asked for a written confirmation, agent told me they were not allowed to do that. On the Toyota site, they say oil changes for synthetic oil for my car should be good for 10000 Miles (see link) http://www.toyota.com/owners/web/pages/resources/maintenance/synthetic-m....
So I guess we are really screwed if we want to change our own oil, probably immediately voids warranty I guess. This policy does not encourage me to think about purchasing another Toyota. Airplane engines, for instance, in major airlines, using synthetic oil and are NEVER oil changed, yes I said NEVER.....the oil is there for the life of the engine. So how come we have to change oil with very little miles on the oil.
It seems to be just a "money-making grab" by the dealers. No other brand has this policy that I know of. I would like to see this policy changed to reflect changing oil every 8000-10000 km, which is reasonable, we wouldn't change our fridge because it was 6 months old. I am sure they don't change the oil every 6 months for the cars that sit on the lot for 10-16 months before being sold. Lets use some common sense.
Comments
You are complaining about nothing since there's no requirement to ever go back to the dealer for service or anything once you buy the car unless you buy a car with free service for 2 yrs. like BMW is advertising and you want the free service.
You should take it somewhere else or do it yourself and follow the recommendations in your owners manual. Just be sure to save all the receipts.
Actually Toyota is advertising 2 yrs. of free maintenance now too so that shouldn't be a problem. Personally I do all my own service and wouldn't go to a dealer or shop for anything at all since I don't want the 19 year olds working there to touch my vehicle.
I live in Arizona. The weather here during the Summer is very hot. The dealer tells me that to change the oil every 10,000 MILES not KM. Now I buy the same synthetic oil and I change it myself and drive another 10,000 miles before another oil change.