To service or not to service? That is the question.

To service or not to service? That is the question.

2005 Corolla (in Canada)

Toyota's manuals, documention, websites, etc all say the first oil & filter service should happen at 6 months/5000 km (whichever happens first).

My dealer says I should do it at 3 months/3000 km and even pre-booked the first service appointment right when I got my car.

I asked Toyota Canada about this and they say to go with what dealer says, factory is a minimum requirement.

However, I've heard others say that it's bad to do the first oil & filter because of something about breaking in the car. I'm also not very eager to do it for reasons of both time and inconvenience.

I consider myself an idiot on these mechanical matters. Any advice greatly appreciated.

I would say get it done and follow the schedule they told you. The reason being that if you run into some problems with your car that in any way is related to servicing, Toyota will not honor your warranty since you did not get the oil change/service at the time they had recommended. Which trim do you have ( CE, S, XRS or LE)??? If you have a CE, LE or S ( low revving engines) then you can probably get the first one done at 4000 KM or 4500 KM, but if you have an XRS then I would get it done on time at every cost since XRS engine is a high revving, very hard working engine (if you hit lift and rev up to 8300 rpm) that needs more attention if you want it to work perfectly 6-7 years down the road. I would recommend getting synthetic mobil 1 motor oil put into it.

Thanks. I guess I better try to find some "time" or way of servicing it.

true but how many people do actually go through all that trouble trying to find out when it was last serviced?? all people know is that its a new car, less the 5 miles on the guage, its good to go. Its brand new and that's all that matters to them.

Trim is CE. Toyota's warranty doesn't require me to get that early service, and I don't drive my car very much. They specifically said that I'm still complying with my warranty even if I wait until 6 months or 8000 km.

Under ECP, my first 4 factory recommended services are included. The contract says that my services at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months are included. The 12 and 24 jobs are more costly. My other worry is having to pay at 24 months if I do the early service.

My CE is a manual - odd eh? No plans to keep it once the 4 year lease expires.

I say get it done. even though its a new car, you never know how long it sits in the dealership not moving. I think this is why they want you to have it done the first month to make sure, your car will work well after the break in period.

Well they actually don't ask me to service during the 1st month. I'm past break-in. They want me to service at 3,000 km or 3 months.

Off the top of my head:
I know delivery is no earlier than July 26 - had to order. They said I couldn't have the car any earlier even if I wanted to. I picked up the car around mid August. The dealer knew well in advance exactly when I planned to pick up the car, and said that they didn't want to get it early because it'll hurt their cash flow a bit.

It's actually been in service twice within the first week for two defects (one cosmetic, the other's the starter).