I joined to forum for advice on service. The dealer provided me with a listing of recommended service intervals and costs. At 30,000 miles they are looking for $339.00 for their maintenance, which includes draining and filling the coolant and drain and filling transmission fluid. The car is running well and i am not convinced i need to spend $100, $200 , and or $339 every 5,000 miles. I regularly change the oil every 4-5,000 miles. Please advise if some of this is service overkill as I was looking forward to fewer service charges from an old volvo and their recommendation is just as much! Thank you, Kathy Bell

 

Greetings Kathy.

I understand your concern.

Have you consulted your owner’s manual to find out what scheduled maintenance is listed? I ask because the link below appears to provide different info then your dealer.

http://smg.toyotapartsandservice.com/

At the site select your model (Camry Hybrid), year (2008) and number of miles (30K) to find out what maintenance is required.

My own opinion is this: Even with the Hybrid version most scheduled maintenance is not critical. Most people are better off money wise by doing scheduled maintenance at 30K, 60K, 90K act with only oil/filter changes in between.

The car is under the original or extended warranty (if you opted for this). Typically this just means keeping up with the oil changes to keep it in force on the engine.

How long do you plan to keep the car?

Toyota has no mileage/time listing for changing the trans fluid or coolant, just inspections. The coolant and trans fluid appears to be deemed inspect and change if required. But fluids do not last forever and changing them sooner then later will add life to major components.

If this were my car and I was going to attempt Volvo life of 200K-300K plus would change the oil/filter every 5k. Change the trans and coolant at least every 60K but 30K is better. Do the air and cabin filter change at 60K as scheduled and have them look at the brakes.

Any after market shop even Jiffly Lube can change the engine oil but save the receipts proving you had the service done in case of warranty issues on the engine. This method is cheaper and avoids having the dealer bug you about additional costly maintenance.

You save money between major inspections at 30K/60K/90K and come out ahead money wise.