Hybrid Car Care

Finding Hybrid Car Care

Hybrid car and truck maintenance and service can certainly be performed at the dealership, but for those who don't live close to the dealer or who choose to take their hybrid to another mechanic, there are certain things to look for.

While the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) may certify hybrid service technicians in the future, they have not as yet set a date for such certification, so the ASE sticker you see in the window or the patch on the technician's shirt will not tell you if the technician or the shop has been trained to work on hybrids.

That being said, there are thousands of trained hybrid car and truck service technicians in the United States, and while it's true most of them are affiliated with dealerships, that is not the case with all of them.

Anyone who has been trained to work on hybrids will have credentials and will most likely have them prominently displayed in the shop. If not, don't be afraid to ask to see them as most technicians will be happy to show them off. If not, you might want to look elsewhere.

The best time to find a service technician to perform routine maintenance or fix your hybrid car problem is before it is necessary. You don't search for a family doctor in the emergency room, and neither should you wait until there is an emergency before you find a hybrid service technician that you're happy with. The owner's manual that comes with your car will provide a wealth of hybrid car info that will let you know how often certain systems need to be serviced. While some hybrid car owners won't take their car to a non-hybrid trained service technician for any service or maintenance, others don't mind doing this for non-hybrid issues. It's a personal choice really.

Remember, too that if you drive three hours across the state line or to another city to purchase your hybrid, you may have to take the same drive again for service or repair, if you have a hybrid car problem. This might be necessary if there is no dealer or independent service technician in your area who is trained to work on hybrids.

Although many people choose to let the dealer perform all the maintenance while their car is in warranty, federal law stipulates that the warranty cannot be voided (as some dealers have erroneously told customers) by having another qualified technician perform the work. Of course, if you're having a warranty-covered service or repair performed, you'll want to take it to the dealer so you won't be charged.



Hybrid Car Care Training

Hybrid car manufacturers are training thousands and thousands of hybrid car and truck service technicians. While Toyota™ trains hybrid technicians regardless of whether they are affiliated with a Toyota™ dealership, Ford™ and Honda™ only provide the hybrid training to their dealer-located service technicians. Alternatively, there are private companies and schools that offer the training.

Carquest Technical Institute® offers training to service technicians that will enable them to diagnose and fix a hybrid car problem, as well as perform simple maintenance and service. This training is provided through Carquest's® instructor-led classrooms, as well as via the Internet.

Toyota Technical Education Network™ (T-TEN) works with trade schools and community colleges all across the United States to train service technicians to work on Toyota™ cars, including hybrids. There are approximately 50 "Toyota™ Universities" handpicked by Toyota™ to further develop skills necessary to service and repair Toyota™ vehicles. Whether the service technician is affiliated with a dealer or has an independent shop, this is one way to receive training and hybrid car info.


Warranty and Maintenance Information

With a few thousand hybrid service technicians spread out over the entire United States, it may be a challenge to find an independent technician or shop to service your car or diagnose and repair a hybrid car problem. In addition, since much of the equipment needed to service and repair the hybrids is quite expensive, small shops will have to evaluate whether or not they want to spend the money on the equipment and training necessary to work on these cars. Obviously, if a particular shop won't be seeing many hybrids, the owner may decide it is not economically feasible to work on them.

The good news is that the warranties on the hybrids are outstanding! For example, the Toyota Prius™ covers its hybrid parts with an 8-year, 100,000 mile warranty. This includes the battery, which is expected to last the life of the vehicle or about 150,000 miles, which is a plus, because just replacing the battery in any hybrid will cost a few thousand dollars.

With the hybrid technology still being so new, there are not a lot of hybrids on the road that are out of warranty, so we don't know yet how difficult or expensive it will be to repair these cars. By the time hybrids are the car next door though, many more service technicians will have been trained and the out-of-warranty costs will be common knowledge.

It's an exciting time for the hybrids and thousands of consumers have benefited from tax breaks put into place specifically for those who purchase new hybrids. Others purchase them to help the environment, and many have purchased hybrid vehicles in response to inflating gas prices. For even more hybrid car info, go to www.hybridcars.com.