ToyotaCare services for those that offroad

So question -- has anyone managed to get their oil changed for free under the driven off-road/dusty condition provision of the maintenance schedule?

Don't really have a religious viewpoint with regards to oil change intervals, but I do like getting full value out of anything that is "included" with my purchase.

 

They will do it but the free oil changes suck. They broke off the filter housing drain tool in the housing when they did it while I was getting a new engine harness.

 

The 2yr/25k mile Toyota Care plan doesn't say "You can only get free oil changes if you drive on the pavement and keep your vehicle and engine bay clean." I don't see how me off roading my vehicle would alter the free oil change/tire rotation plan (that's all Toyota Care is, by the way).

Back when I had my 21' Tacoma, I took my truck in for the 10k mile free oil change & tire rotation. A guy pulled up in his decked out TRD Pro. It was lifted, had aftermarket tires and was muddy as fuck. But the truck was 1yr old, so he still got his free oil changes! The dealership gave him no static at all about it..

 

Nope. The dealer wanted me to pay extra for the severe service schedule

 

That’s what I was curious about.

 

My dealer said to just ask for the 10k service at 5k. You don’t get more changes, but you do get them at your preferred intervals.

 

Small #1 font page 2.

Its pretty clear

https://www.toyota.com/content/dam/toyota/toyota-care/toyotacare.pdf

 

I would talk to the dealer. Every dealer has a different maintenance schedule, mine does oil changes every 5k.

I just checked my maintenance records and it shows a synthetic oil change every 5k that I brought it in and they never asked me to pay extra. I'd have to pull paper copies to see if they actually did those changes.

During the toyotacare period I was just doing a lot of highway driving and didn't fall under the severe service category so I didn't care if they did 10k changes. It's interesting to see they reported changes every 5k without asking for more money. I know I get every 5k now

 

It’s a good way to condition owners if you think about it.

 

Yeah, I'll follow that up and say the "service advisors" are just paper pushers who have no idea what the techs actually do. A story follows...

Last time I went in, I'd added a spare tire carrier and changed tire sizes so my psi needs to be different than standard. So I put a sticky note on the head unit that said "5 tire rotation, 28-30 psi cold".

I had talked to a different advisor when I walked in and told her the same thing, then my regular advisor checked me out. He told me they did a 4 tire rotation and filled to 35 psi, per his computer screen. I told him that's not what I asked for. When I said 5 tire rotation, he told me they don't cross rotate like typical rotations and the tires may not wear correctly. So we called the tech on speaker phone to ask what they did. He said "yeah, we saw the note. 5 tire rotation, crossed front to back, put a back on the spare and threw the new tire in the front. Filled to 30 psi".

 

I was off roading within days of delivery. They could care less what you do with it. Lube techs are only looking at the drain bolt and filter housing.

“Toyota Care” techs stripped a couple of my skid bolt holes for free.

 

I guess to be clear, I really don't care if they know that I've been off roading. The skid plates will make that obvious enough.

I was just curious about getting more frequent oil changes without having to pay for them.

 

I pay for the 5K, 15K, 25K for oil change from my pocket and using free oil change for 10K & 20K. At the parking lot I do a little check to my ability for the skid plate install and oil newness check.

One dealership took money and didn't change oil. When I show the service manager the vehicle was taken back in and changed the oil. It was the 2nd mishap at that dealership and never went back. (For CO folks, it was Autonation Toyota.)