Toyota service denying me an oil change. Is this correct?
 

Got my GT 86 6 mo ago. Only put 2000 miles on her since I only drive weekends. Got a postcard in the mail (the 2 yr complimentary service) said time for 6 mo maintenance which include oil change, rotation, and checking of all fluids.

Called to make appt. The service adviser said only rotation and check fluids will be done since the car is low mileage. Said will do oil change in the next visit 6 months from now.

I wanted an oil change after the break in. Is the dealer right for denying me the oil change b/c of the low miles?

Just say you'll get your service done at a different dealer. My guess is they'll cave to get you in.

thats bull, back in 2013 my dealer gave me some shit like that. I said I want my oil changed now so do it now, period. Just be firm.

That being said, its always a good time to start doing oil changes yourself. Its super easy and fun to do. Also being in the Bay Area, I suggest you try stepping up to a oil that handles hot temps a little better than 0w20.

just my 2cents.

(also for future work on the car check out theracersline, its a little far but Neal is a good dude who does killer work on these cars. He is on this forum somewhere as well.

My dealer threw in a complementary oil change for the break in period at 1k miles. I went back at about 3k miles/6 months for the scheduled change. The service advisor told me I could wait until 1 year since I was low mileage, but I told them to go ahead and do it anyway so they did. If they don't want your business go elsewhere. Besides, if you're only driving short distances it might even be more important to keep changing it at low mileage - if you're not driving far enough to heat up the oil you could be getting condensation buildup in it. Not a problem if you're routinely driving far enough to get it heated up, just something to be aware of.

Definitely worth a try since I'm in the Bay Area and there are so many Toyota dealers close by I can go to instead.

When I bought my car at Capital Toyota, I told them I would never hit that mileage, so they said just to bring it in every x amount of months to get all the free services. They didn't care about mileage. First year I swear they were draining new oil out, new oil in.

I assume that Toytota would reimburse the dealer for all labor and materials, so why wouldn't they want to do an oil change to pad their bottom line?

I'm going to call City Toyota again tomorrow and see what they say.

Maybe they want to tell Toyota they did and really pad their bottom line.

Maybe they ran out of 0w20, does Toyota use that in anything else?

When I used to work in Service years ago, I believe it was Corolla, Prius, TC. It was only given when they paid for "Synthetic" which is 0W-20, it came from drums. We had 5W-20, but rarely used that since it came in bottles and we gave the left overs from the bottle in a bag to the customer since they did pay for it. Mostly carried 5W-30 and 0W-20 in the drums.

Not sure why they didn't allow a 6 month oil change since the book says 6500 Miles or 6 months, whichever comes first.

What does your maintenance schedule call for as far as time between oil changes?

I suggest you talk with the service manager and ask him/her to have the oil changed now, under your complimentary service agreement.


humfrz

Called the same dealership this morning and a different rep answered. Was ready to give them the "I'll take my business else wear" bit, but he said no problem after I told him about the postcard reminder for service and oil change. He looked me up in his system and set an appt for me for next week.

I'll see how it goes next week when I show up and one of their advisers check me in.

For future reference as others said it's always an Interval of Time or Mileage whichever comes first. A dealer should always do it that way otherwise you can easily complain to a higher up if you have the time and energy to do so.


For my car when I first got it they did the oil change after 3k miles no problem, most service advisors won't make a big fuss of it over a short oil change, tire rotation service

Service manual indicates that under Severe uses, they need to change oil every 3700miles or 3 and 3/4 months whichever cames firts. it is writing in the maintenance schedule