Qs about servicing your cars...

[Dancing Fire]

do you only go to the dealership? IYO,dealership service worth the extra money? Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh. How often do you change the oil?

 

[LoveLikeCrazy]

do you only go to the dealership?
i do my oil changes at the dealership, IYO,dealership service worth the extra money?depends on whats being done to the car, i wouldn't want to void my warranty so if it was something big i would have it serviced at the dealer...brakes, etc - i'd buy at autozone and have a friend put them on. Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh.havent reached those milestones yet, but usually they tell me when i get my oil changed when i should rotate tires etc, and i just let them do it. My car has maintenance minder so i will follow that. (honda) How often do you change the oil? when my car tells me to...LOL it ends up being around 5k miles....(again maintenance minder)

 

[chrono]

I don't know if it is worth the extra money but if you can afford a luxury car that costs over $40K, you can afford the dealership maintenance service. I bring mine to the dealership as I prefer to play it safe. If I owned a $20K car, I would just bring it to any regular place for service. I follow the recommended service schedule quite religiously as I don't have the time to keep track of what gets done when on my own.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

do you only go to the dealership? IYO,dealership service worth the extra money? Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh. How often do you change the oil?

I'd go to the dealership if I owned a luxury auto, but I don't and my Dh often changes the oil on my car. We change it between 3-4,000 miles. I'm not super obsessed with scheduled maintenance, however, do make sure to get my tires rotated on schedule b/c I have an AWD vehicle and the tires have to be rotated or they have to be replaced early (I learned this the hard way )

 

[kenny]

I do the oil changes, but all other service is from the Honda dealer.
I follow their recommend maintenance religiously.

Even though it is just one of the cheaper Hondas, I'd love to get few hundred thousand miles out of it.
That's why, in the long run I don't mind paying extra for the Honda dealer to service it.
I may be wrong, naive, and gullible, but IMO they know best what a Honda needs.
BTW, I have negotiated down the price of every Honda service I've gotten.
There is a lot of fat in their pricing.
Also when there have been issues after a warranty has expired I ask them to look at my decades of loyalty servicing previous Hondas and they'll often fix stuff for free.

The car's computer tells me when to change the oil based on climate, driving style etc.

 

[Rockdiamond]

On high end cars that I've owned, I'll only trust the dealership. The higher end service departments sometimes offer perks like a loaner car.
Do you lease or own it DF?
I think many people that lease do minimum maintenance.... like oil changes.
I've heard that's one reason that BMW and some of the other high-end brands include free oil changes.
Even Toyota is now offering free maintenance.

 

[february2003bride]

We buy new cars and keep them until the die, so for that reason, we go to the dealership, do all recommended services and keep all the records. I'm on my third Toyota Sienna minivan and DH is on his third Honda Accord.

 

[zoebartlett]

I was always under the impression that dealers charge more than other places for routine service, so I take my car elsewhere. I have taken it to the dealership a few times though. I get oil changes every 3,000, as recommended. My car (a Corolla) has over 112K miles on it and it's still going strong.

 

[Dancing Fire]

On high end cars that I've owned, I'll only trust the dealership. The higher end service departments sometimes offer perks like a loaner car.
Do you lease or own it DF?
I think many people that lease do minimum maintenance.... like oil changes.
I've heard that's one reason that BMW and some of the other high-end brands include free oil changes.
Even Toyota is now offering free maintenance.

We own all 5 cars,so I was wondering after the factory warranty has expired do you guys still go back to the dealership for services or try to find a less expensive shop for future services.

 

[Dancing Fire]

do you only go to the dealership? IYO,dealership service worth the extra money? Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh. How often do you change the oil?

I'd go to the dealership if I owned a luxury auto, but I don't and my Dh often changes the oil on my car. We change it between 3-4,000 miles. I'm not super obsessed with scheduled maintenance, however, do make sure to get my tires rotated on schedule b/c I have an AWD vehicle and the tires have to be rotated or they have to be replaced early (I learned this the hard way )

If you use full synthetic oil you can go 6-7K miles b/t oil change.

 

[sonnyjane]

do you only go to the dealership? IYO,dealership service worth the extra money? Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh. How often do you change the oil?

I'd go to the dealership if I owned a luxury auto, but I don't and my Dh often changes the oil on my car. We change it between 3-4,000 miles. I'm not super obsessed with scheduled maintenance, however, do make sure to get my tires rotated on schedule b/c I have an AWD vehicle and the tires have to be rotated or they have to be replaced early (I learned this the hard way )

If you use full synthetic oil you can go 6-7K miles b/t oil change.

Yup. 3,000 miles is what dealerships tell you in order to get you in there more frequently!

For the next 3 years I have a service package included for the scheduled maintenance (belts, filters) so I will go to the dealership for that obviously. For oil we change it at home. After that, my husband is a pretty decent mechanic (has built a few engines from scratch) so he fixes the stuff he can and takes it to the garage on the nearest military base in order to use their jack and tools. Pretty spoiled in that regard, he did all the work on my old car.

 

[kenny]

Another reason to not automatically change oil every 3000 miles is using your oil longer is more green.

Certainly do what you feel is best for your car, but get educated on whether or not mandatory 3000 is right for you.
It may not be.

 

[rosetta]

Normal servicing for the Honda and Volkswagen.

Dealership only for the Audi, BMW, Mini and Harley.

We all have our own cars/bikes officially, but because we all drive all of them, we all share the servicing.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

do you only go to the dealership? IYO,dealership service worth the extra money? Do you follow the maintenance schedule by the book? i.e..30k check up,50k check up,blahh,blahh,blahh. How often do you change the oil?

I'd go to the dealership if I owned a luxury auto, but I don't and my Dh often changes the oil on my car. We change it between 3-4,000 miles. I'm not super obsessed with scheduled maintenance, however, do make sure to get my tires rotated on schedule b/c I have an AWD vehicle and the tires have to be rotated or they have to be replaced early (I learned this the hard way )

If you use full synthetic oil you can go 6-7K miles b/t oil change.

Yup. 3,000 miles is what dealerships tell you in order to get you in there more frequently!

For the next 3 years I have a service package included for the scheduled maintenance (belts, filters) so I will go to the dealership for that obviously. For oil we change it at home. After that, my husband is a pretty decent mechanic (has built a few engines from scratch) so he fixes the stuff he can and takes it to the garage on the nearest military base in order to use their jack and tools. Pretty spoiled in that regard, he did all the work on my old car.

Yeah, I've heard the 3K miles is stated so the vehicle is brought in more often, but it also depends upon what kind of car you have. I have a Subaru and they're known for burning oil as they get older/have more miles. My car is past the 3,000 miles right now and I'll take it in w/in the next month before we go on some longer driving to trips for hiking/camping.

About 50% of my oil changes have been done by my husband so we don't pay a lot. I don't trust a lot of places because one time I went to Jiffy Lube and the guy charged over $40 for a basic change.

My car has a lot of miles on it, so I'm more inclined to be careful in getting the oil changed just to be on the safe side. I know people who've driven their Subarus way over 200K miles and I'm going to be getting a newer car and my husband is going to have my car so we are hoping to keep it going for as long as possible. We've already had the head gasket go out on it and it had to have the transmission rebuilt...don't want to have any more issues!

 

[diamondringlover]

my hubby does all the work on our 4 cars, unless it something having to do with the computers then we take it to the dealer..he just rebuilt the motor in our son's 1986 Camaro his Dad was a mechanic and my hubby can work on just about anything!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Lexus dealership is a rip off...full synthetic oil change = $85. Toyota dealership = $55.

 

[Hera]

My brother is a service manager at Toyota. If you don't want to take your car to a dealership, then find a AAA approved auto shop. They require more certifications for their mechanics and you have recourse in case there's an issue with the servicing. They will open an investigation and they will fully look into what the issue was. They get quite a bit of referrals from AAA so they don't want to jeopardize their standing.

 

[artdecogirl]

We have a family member who works at a fast lube place so I have mine done there all the time, I did go to the dealer in the beginning when they gave us the "free" ones with the purchase and I go there for warranty stuff but otherwise always the fast lube. Of interest though, they have a bulk oil that they use there and my family member said not to use that so he puts some other kind in. I drive about 110 miles round trip to work 3-4 times a week so I am there every other month and they check the tires and air filters and all that other stuff, it is convenient for me and I get the family rate.

 

[JewelFreak]

My car is a VW wagon. I used the free dealer maintenance that came with the car (2 servicings), but after that go to my independent guys. They do a terrific job -- didn't even charge me for the last one -- I've used them for 10 yrs. They cost less than the fortune the dealer does & are nice & personal. Never owned a fancy car so don't know what I'd do. DH takes his vintage cars to a specialist.

--- Laurie

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My car is a VW wagon. I used the free dealer maintenance that came with the car (2 servicings), but after that go to my independent guys. They do a terrific job -- didn't even charge me for the last one -- I've used them for 10 yrs. They cost less than the fortune the dealer does & are nice & personal. Never owned a fancy car so don't know what I'd do. DH takes his vintage cars to a specialist.

--- Laurie

I don't think I'd want to own a fancy car...I'd be to worried about it getting bumped by doors, etc. We're looking at SUVs and even though some of the fancier ones look cute, I'm more inclined to go with the basic Toyota or possibly the Volvo my DH has picked out.