Let’s see…is there anything worse than sitting at the Toyota dealer waiting for your car’s annual service checkup?  Maybe losing your smart phone? Maybe the sound of your dentist’s drill approaching your open mouth?  

After two hours of waiting in the Toyota dealer’s “lounge” last week, I learned that my 2016 Prius with only 26,000 miles “needs” almost $1,000 worth of work. My car runs like a charm, has a few discreet scratches and gets me where I need to go.  But the service people are paid to repair, and they are good at finding worn-out or “broken” things to replace.

I was able to delay a couple of recommended fixes to next year (when I might not even be driving anyway) and cut the bill by $200. 

It could have been worse…