Time to make the purchase... T4R Trail but have question about Toyotas Care Plus

[mook21]

Is Toyota Care Plus worth it? I understand the every new Toyota comes with Toyota Care which covers maintenance for 2 years / 25,000 miles. We just did my wife's 100,000 maintenance on her Ford Freestyle and it was $500+. I see you can purchase Toyota Care Plus for up to a total of 5 years, 75,000 miles (so is that on top of the 2 included, or is it only up to the 5 years?).
1. What are people out there paying for this? What discounts and where can you buy them?
2. Is it worth it, just from a Toyota specified maintenance of oil changes and 30,000, 60,000 etc. ?
3. What are other's experiences with this program?

I know the dealers try to ambush you when closing the deal with add ons like this and want to be as informed as possible before getting to that point! Have an additional question on stereo but will post separately.

 

[homeyclaus]

If you have every intention of getting the vehicle serviced at only the dealer, the answer is "maybe."

When pushed for the service plan, ask them for a copy of the owner's manual, then look at the maintenance schedule, and ask them for approximate prices for each of the service types. This varies by dealer, and varies a lot depending on the vehicle.

If they push back hard on that, you know they're trying to hide something from you.

Also, watch out for the fine print - the plans may cover basic maintenance but include wear-and-tear stuff, so you're still buying brake pads and rotors, air filters, and so on.

From a maintenance perspective, 4Runners have never needed very much. Aside from air filters and brake pads as needed: Grease on the driveshaft splines every 5000 miles, and an oil change every 10k. Coolant change every 5 years, and iridium spark plugs every 100,000 miles. Cabin air filter and new wiper inserts every fall.

My math:

Even at the dealer this should not cost more than $80 per service, $500 for the 100k service, and I suppose $900 for a 4-wheel brake job with new rotors. On an annual basis this would be between $75 and $200.

 

[philsey]

Agree with homeyclaus, do the math. I did, and the math works for the EW if you go in prepared with internet pricing (for the EW) and get your dealer to match. Their cost is likely half of list price, and if you make the sale contingent, it might make sense to you.

But for retail $ - no way.