Go easy on the kid, he probably hasn’t saved up enough from the Taco Bell gig to cover that bill 
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Reminds me why I service my own cars. Did a sort of 200,000 mile service with my friend on his 07. Bit over $100 in parts and maybe 2 hours of time total.
That I won’t argue. NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS!?
All the services are super easy. My friend is also fairly new to auto repair. Spark plugs are a 10 minute job tops. As long as you don’t overtighten them (if you don’t have a torque wrench, just snug them up), there’s nothing to worry about. The tranny fluid change we did in another 15. All you need is a long hose to fill it back up since there’s no dipstick. Just as easy as changing oil aside from that (and ATF should always be changed every 60,000 miles or so for the maximum service life). As for coolant, the very 1st job I ever did with him was swapping the radiator on his old car.
A basic toolkit is around $40. And plenty of guides online in case you want to save yourself some money in the future. That’s how I started.
I’ll definitely look into it in the future, especially once I have my own car that I’m paying for out of pocket. For now, I don’t think there’s a return policy on work that’s already been done, so there’s not much I can do. Thanks for the tips.
Wow, it’s been a while since I updated this thread. So here it goes…
I went on my first proper roadtrip in the Prius since I got it over summer, that was a fun experience. Even managed 50 MPG average, on a round trip from Sacramento to Mammoth Lakes and back.
The Prius also starred in its own episode of Typical Seat Assessments, that’s definitely worth a watch.
I also took it to San Francisco the weekend after Thanksgiving, to visit my grandparents. Here’s a not so scenic shot in the Coit Tower parking lot.
Big news happened on January 1, 2020, when the Prius reached 100,000 miles. Midway through the Cars and Coffee New Years Drive, in fact.
Also I got a dashcam for the Prius, which I reviewed for TSA.
And my most recent adventure, earlier today in fact, I visited the old nuclear power plant at Rancho Seco. It’s been decommissioned since 1989 but the cooling towers are still there, and still enormous.
And that’s it for Prius updates. The anti-car-guy car is still soldering on, and making this car guy pretty happy.
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