After the initial warranty period, if I don't do all recommended maintenance....

If you look at your owners manual, there really aren't too many services up to 100k miles. Oil changes, filter changes, and tire rotations are pretty much it.

 

Technically Toyota could refuse warranty if you have not completed the services described in your Warranty Manual. Whether they would do that or not is another question ? I would think it would be on a case-by-case basis and depending on the warranty failure.

Anyone other than Toyota can perform the maintenance services but you need to keep good records showing that the services were performed during the prescribed time frames.

 

You do not list a location, so none of us can state with any confidense what your warranty is but it may be as long as 10 years/150,000 miles.

 

Part of the reason I never buy an extended warranty, is that I'm always a little relieved when the original factory warranty expires. I know it sounds weird, but I like the freedom of not necessarily having to follow the recommended factory maintenance schedule and/or being tied to the dealership for service.

With the Prius, you do have the Hybrid Battery warranty and the powertrain warranty. But I think even if you deviated from the lock-step recommendations of Toyota, if anything happened they would be hard pressed to prove that it had anything to do with a lack of following the recommended maintenance, because as pointed out, most of the recommended maintenance boils down to Oil Changes and Tire Rotations.

I pretty much DO follow the recommendations on a new car, as Oil Changes and Tire Rotations are pretty cheap. And the investment into a brand new car, it just seems "cheap" to try to save pennies NOT following the recommendations. But once the bumper to bumper "New Car" warranty expires, I think it's up to you. Any hybrid component or power train component that is still under warranty, I think Toyota would still cover. Doing an Oil Change or Tire Rotation on your own dime, and perhaps on your own schedule is NOT going to affect the Hybrid Battery, and/or conceivably the power train. If you do decide to NOT continue to follow the recommendations at the dealership or by the book? Yes, document everything you do have done and when. If you are "religious" about Oil Changes? Tire Rotations? I think you'd be fine.

 

But that needs a clarification.
The missed maintenance and the failed part have to be closely associated; not rotating the tires is not an excuse for a failed transmission.
And they have to have some good evidence that the missed maintenance actually WAS the cause.
They can't just make a wild guess.......but you might need a lawyer to get that part right.

 

ToyotaCare is not any part of any warranty.
The hybrid emission warranty lasts until 10 years/150,000 miles, so far as I know no warranty expires until 3 years/36,000 miles.

 

Less is not a problem.
I plan to have mine done around 7K and tire rotations done at the same time.

 

While doing all these tire rotations, have a look at the brakes once in a while.

 

You know, I don't think that will be a problem........as over the years, almost every brand of shop I've dealt with invariably tries to sell me pads and rotors WELL before I really need them; caliper rebuilds too sometimes.

 

Eidling, the oil change interval is 1 year/10000 miles. After the "free" service expires they are on your dime. Take the car anywhere you want or do it yourself as frequently as you like.

 

It depends on the definition of "etc.?"

Actually, the Toyota preventive maintenance schedule is the bare minimum that you want to do if you plan on keeping the car for more than a few years and want to avoid costly repairs. For example, Toyota calls for only cursory brake inspections on the 2010 Prius; however, dry rear caliper brake pins can cause the rear brakes to drag, seize and the rear brakes and wheel hubs to fail if the caliper pins are not cleaned and lubricated around 30,000 miles. Rear brake and/or wheel hub failure can each cost several hundreds of dollars each to fix.

Prius preventive maintenance is relatively inexpensive compared to other cars; however, Prius repairs are orders of magnitude more expensive than other cars. Grease is cheaper than steel.