I just came from a local Toyota dealer who performed the first regular factory scheduled service for our 2016 Toyota Camry.
Let’s start from the beginning…
No timely reminders about upcoming scheduled maintenance were delivered to us. We didn’t receive a phone call or e-mail notification from Toyota about the six month service. Toyota dealer where we bought the car mentioned that we will be notified about the inspection, but we weren’t. Not a big deal, if everything goes well with a car…
Choose a dealer and schedule an appointment
Closest Toyota dealer located within walking distance to our house and I decided to bring our 2016 Toyota Camry there for an inspection.
It is pretty easy to make an appointment if you need to service your vehicle. Few years ago I would probably call the dealership, but now it is much faster to schedule service online at a dealer’s website. I just followed simple steps and added factory required service package to the card, chose transportation option, date and time for an appointment and provided contact information.
Inspection time
How long you have to wait while your vehicle is in service will certainly depend and no one can tell you exact time. We came for an inspection early in the morning and there were not many cars waiting in the garage. I drove inside, gave the key to a service guy, provided all necessary information and went to check new cars inside the dealership. In about 40 minutes they called us and provided a customer copy receipt with a key from our vehicle parked outside.
What to expect
The first 5,000 miles or six month service of our 2016 Toyota Camry was very basic multipoint inspection which included following tasks:
Exterior
Horn operation, head lights, taillights, turn signals, brake lights, hazard warning lights, exterior lamps (check for damage and operation), windshield wiper and washer operation, windshield glass.
Interior
Dome light, amp light, dimmer combination meter, cabin air filter, parking brake operation, check installation of driver’s floormats.
Under the hood
Air filter, battery condition (cables / clamps / corrosion), battery state of health, cooling system (leaks), hoses (cracks / damage / leaks), drive belts (cracks / damage/ wear), radiator core, air condition condenser.
Fluids
Oil level, windshield washer, coolant level, power steering, brake reservoir, transmission.
Under vehicle
Drive, CV shaft (damage, leaks, boots), steering linkage (damage / leaks / worn components), suspension (damage / leaks / worn components), fluid leaks (engine / transmission / differential), exhaust system (damage / leaks / corrosion)
Tires
Tread depth, tire damage / abnormal wear, rims, wheels, lug nuts, tire pressure in all wheels adjusted to 32 P.S.I. Tires rotated.
Brakes
Brake lining
All points were checked and OK at the time of inspection.
Questions and concerns
From the very first week of driving our brand new 2016 Toyota Camry, I’ve noticed some strange noise periodically coming from the rear of the vehicle. First, I was blaming spare wheel in the trunk and didn’t pay much of attention. With a time, this issue started bothering me more and more. I cleaned up the trunk, double checked if spare wheel was tighten well, took out car jack and lug wrench from the trunk and drove the Camry for a couple days paying double attention to that particular noise which still didn’t go away.
At the time of inspection, I’ve raised my concern and explained to a mechanic the problem. Unfortunately, they were unable to duplicate the issue.
Practical necessity of this service
At the time we purchased our 2016 Toyota Camry I was very excited about this free maintenance for the first two years or 25,000 miles, but after first service I must say there was not much done to the car except tire rotation. As I see, theoretically multipoint inspection is certainly good, but practically there is a very low probability something will go wrong with a new car unless it is a factory defect, which should be covered by 36-month/36,000-mile warranty.
To summarize the story – first service was performed, but the concerning issue wasn’t identified. I might need to bring the car for an inspection again.