Scotty, I took my 2015 Camry with 62,000 miles to a dealer and asked them to exchange my transmission fluid. They all but refused to do it insisting that the sealed transmission lasts the "lifetime" of the car. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing in maintaining my car. Should I insist they do the work or take it somewhere else? I want the "lifetime" of the car to extend as long as possible.
Your past the powertrain warranty period now (5 years/60,000 miles), so no longer bound to them - I say good riddens to them. Find a good, independent mechanic to work on your Camry from now. I have never been to the dealership for anything the last 25 years. It’s not hard to work on those cars, change the fluids, so a good, honest independent mechanic (similar to Scotty) can do it. Even you can do it - if you are mechanically inclined and feel comfortable! If you plan to get the most life out of the vehicle you should be changing every 40,000-50,000 miles (drain and fill, with filter change if applicable).
Take it somewhere else. It is not a rocket science.
To a dealer, “lifetime” means 100,000. After that, they don’t care because it’s off warranty and if it dies you buy another car.
But for anyone reading this forum, lifetime means lifetime, and no fluid lasts forever. So yeah, change it. And I agree with DW that a 50k interval is about right for most cars as they age.
Be aware that changing fluid on a “sealed transmission” will likely void the warranty, but once you are off warranty it doesn’t matter.
Don't listen to them . Find a better place to have it done.
