Maintenance schedule issues with dealer

[russv]

I was just curious if any other low mileage drivers have had this issue with the dealer. According to the manual the 1st service should be done at 7500 miles or 7.5 months, whichever comes first. The manual states that the service should not go beyond 7.5 months. I am at 3900 miles and 7.5 months. I took my FRS to have the fuel pump replaced one week and then the ECM replacement the following week and each time the dealer said I needed to wait for 7500 miles for the 1st service. I just made a call to Scion to explain the issue, who put me on hold, contacted the dealer and immediately had the service writer on the phone. (Good on you Scion). I'm not sure why the dealer is not on the same page with Scion. Most dealers want you in sooner. I'm thinking it may be a reimbursement issue with the cost of service factored in to the selling price and the incentive for the dealer to put off the maintenance as long as possible. Any thoughts or dealer experience.

[CaptainSlow]

Not sure - doesn't make much sense for them to put off service until later...not like you're asking for a service at 7.5 months AND at 7500 miles.

[tbwoodlee]

When I bought my FR-S the dealer said bring it in after 7,500 miles for the first service. I was like "alright, cool no problem." When I drove the car off the lot, the little sticker in the top left (which was promptly removed) said 10,000 miles. Lastly, after 3 months I had a piece of mail that arrived that said bring her in for service at 5,000 miles. At this point I was like "just make up your damn mind already!"

Around 4,900 miles I had a low tire pressure light and I was feeling particularly lazy that day, so I took my car in for service along with my piece of mail that said 5000 miles on it. The head service tech asked why I was bring it in early and I showed him the piece of mail. He said not to worry about it and bring it in every 7,500, they aired my tire up for me and I rolled away without service.

Finally, I took it in at 7,500 for her first service and after I picked her up the new sticker in the top left (promptly removed) said 12,500 for the next service, which again is only 5,000 miles. I don't think the dealership here knows what the hell to do so they just throw numbers around.

[russv]

When I bought my car it had a sticker on the inside windshield that said 5,000 miles. Then I got a postcard from the dealer saying it was due for the 6 month service. Don't understand why this confusion happens but seems a problem with all brands.

[Kunzite]

That's silly. The regular maintenance is one thing, and servicing the car e.g. for issues like fuel pump, another.
If a dealer tries to make you have your car go through regular maintenance more often than it should (a number of km/miles or a certain period of time, whichever comes first), he's trying to scam you. Please note that, in some cases (hard driving conditions) it is normal to use shorter intervals/mileages.
I would look for official information about this, but 5000 miles is ridiculously low (unless as a first check-up).

[ruskymx]

I think it has to do with the techs & advisers not being familiar with the service intervals with our cars, which they need to learn.....like 7 months ago.

Most Toyota's require oil changes at 5,000 with dino oil or 10,000 miles with synthetic. One exception is the Tacomas with the 2.7L 2TR 4cyl, which requires synthetic oil and 5k intervals. Our cars are 7,500 with synthetic so out of habit or the system generated notices, we are being told incorrect intervals.

I had my oil changed at around 1200 and I had to pay for that our of pocket, which is completely understandable. My service department told me that Scion will foot the bill for my 7500 service, which will end up being at around 10 months time frame. My car is currently garaged until 3/1 or later depending on the weather.

Ruskymx

[fledonfoot]

I'm a service writer at a Toyota dealer.

You can service your car whenever you want. You get a maximum of 2 years or 25,000 miles of scheduled maintenance, so for our cars it's three total services, max. The date the claim is submitted to Toyota for reimbursement is irrelevant as long as it is less than 2 years from your DOFU/delivery date. In theory, you could come in three times on the same day and use them all up if you asked us to.

I did my first service at 1,000 miles (two weeks after delivery, i drive 30,000 miles a year) and when I run national service history I see that my 7,500 mile first service claimed and paid to the dealer, and just did my 15k last night at 7500 miles.

[mangostick]

My dealer told me that they'll do the free maint for 25k..but oil change interval was every 10K mi....

wut? .. uh... oh hell no..

So I'll be doing all my own work and keeping tight records for this car. I dont trust the dealer cheaping out like that. I'd already done the first oil change at 1500mi so I'll be doin my own with oem parts every 5K mi there after. Its an easy number to remember and I drive the hell out of this car. 7500 mi is under "optimal" conditions. If you live on the east coast (anywhere) you'll never meet those conditions from relative humidity alone. 5K mi it is for me.

[HotLavaMann]

I took my car in for service last Saturday at the dealership. The service rep and I talked about the correct synthetic oil to put in the car, etc. I waited around an hour, she then said it was all taken care of.

She called back on Wednesday and apologies because even though she said they changed the oil, she admitted that they actually hadn't because it wasn't due until 10K miles and that she thought it was ok to not tell me that. (WTF?) And when she mentioned to her service manager that I was in for an oil change but they didn't need to, he strongly corrected her that it was an FR-S and said they absolutely were required to change the oil. So I take it in tomorrow to get the oil changed again. Pain in the butt and I'll have some words with the service rep about lying to me but I'm glad the service manager had the integrity to correct the problem.

Maybe I'll get a free TRD air filter or something for the hassle.