[knickstorm]

seems pretty simple, so i was thinking of going to a valvoline or something, but some of my buds say just play it safe, pay extra and go to your car's dealership........just wondering what you guys do...........and most dealerships wont do work on the car without asking you first right? like if i ask to get my oil changed, they're not going to go ahead change my brake pads or something, without at least telling me first right?

[subie_boy]

Hey Sup,

Naw the dealership shouldnt just go and do something without telling you, but if they see something wrong they will call you can ask if you want it fixed if your oil change comes with like their 10 or so point inspection. What kind of car do you have? I would say oil changes are pretty simple of a task, and taking it to like a valvoline or oil changers or somehting is prolly ok, but i normally prefer to get the OEM oil filter (something that the generic oil changing places dont have. I also dont like getting ripped off at the dealer paying like $60 for a oil change. My honest suggestion if you have the time and knowledge buy an OEM filter or depending on your car i know some people might be able to reccomend one thats better, go buy some oil, and just change it yourself. If you cant do that then like i said its up to you, but yeah the dealership will prolly do some sort of inspection and if they see something then they will ask you before performing any other maintenances on your car. I normally only take my car in for big check ups like the 30 60 90 thousand mile ones where i dont have the time nor tools to drain and flush my coolant, tranny, and diff fluids, timing belt, and etc. Just look at what package you purchase from the dealer and make sure it just for an oil change, otherwise yeah you'll pay like $45 for them to rotate your tires. hope this helps.

[Clix]

Most dealership and shops will not do something without your permission. If they do, that's kinda shady. But they will inspect your car for any problems and top off any fluids.

[90th.degree]

^Exactly what I did when I did work experience at one. If needed, we check if everything is good on the car, namely the wear on brake pads. If there's a problem, we notify the customer and see if they want to replace it or not.

And about fluid replacement, 9 times out of 10, the wiper fluid on the car is EMPTY so we top that up...

[ghost]

At every dealership, the owner of the car has to sign the contract saying that they allowed the dealer to work on their car.

The amount of work that is needed to be done is also on said contract.

If they find something wrong they will inform you usually right away.

IMO, if you really want a car to last taking it to the dealer is a good option as they lubricate all the hinges as well as topping off fluids, air pressure, underbody inspections, and much more

Hope that helped

[OMGHIyori2U]

seems pretty simple, so i was thinking of going to a valvoline or something, but some of my buds say just play it safe, pay extra and go to your car's dealership........just wondering what you guys do...........and most dealerships wont do work on the car without asking you first right? like if i ask to get my oil changed, they're not going to go ahead change my brake pads or something, without at least telling me first right?

If u don't want to do the oil change yourself, just buy your own oil at Walmart, Costco, Kragen's or whatever. Same goes for the oil filters and crush washers. Then go to any auto repair shop with those items and ask them to change your oil for you. It shouldn't cost more than $20 since u bring in your own oil and filter. If you're having other stuff worked on, sometimes they'll give u a free complimentary oil change. This doesn't apply to dealerships though.

[MPowerKai]

A dealership or shop cannot do anything to your car without permission from you first. The main difference between dealer oil changes and mom and pop shop oil changes is that the dealer will take a lot longer because they inspect everything on the car, after they do that they give you a list of what they recommend you should do to the car. The mom and pop shop will just do the oil change probably just check tire tread and brake wear and that's it.

If you can do it yourself or if one of your friends could help you that would be the best way, it's not that hard and it takes like minutes.

[PoppinBC]

There are a lot of laws covering you on this. If a dealer does work on your car without telling you first, they can't charge you, and if you don't like the work, you have the right to press charges. Check with your insurance company to see who they recommend for oil changes; sometimes regular auto shops are better.

[Krn_Track_Star]

ill say do your own oil changes cheaper plus you how you are getting good quality but if you have a new car and it has warrenty then you should be able to get your oil changes free. most dealers offer new cars a certain amount of oil changes free.

[ghost]

ill say do your own oil changes cheaper plus you how you are getting good quality but if you have a new car and it has warrenty then you should be able to get your oil changes free. most dealers offer new cars a certain amount of oil changes free.

On your idea of the new car warranty,

That is false.

An oil change is part of maintenance so you still pay

If you really want to save money I HIGHLY suggest you read your owners manual

[Krn_Track_Star]

naw dude every new car you buy no matter if it is american of japanese or european they all offer free oil changes with teh basic warrenty. i know bmw gives free service for 4 years without buying the mataince program. its all covered under the basic warrenty.

[OMGHIyori2U]

naw dude every new car you buy no matter if it is american of japanese or european they all offer free oil changes with teh basic warrenty.

no they don't. It is up to the dealer whether or not to give u a free oil change (and you'll have to have purchased the car from them to get one).

BMW is different. After those 4 years are up, you have to pay.

[ghost]

naw dude every new car you buy no matter if it is american of japanese or european they all offer free oil changes with teh basic warrenty. i know bmw gives free service for 4 years without buying the mataince program. its all covered under the basic warrenty.

I work at a VW dealer and we don't have that included in the warranty.

[Adionik]

I'd never ever get my oil changed at the dealership. For whatever reason if I was too tired to change it myself

-Walk into walmart
-Get jug of Penzoil Platinum for $19.99
-Drive to little oil change shop, yada yada $10 labor
-????
-Profit!

[Krn_Track_Star]

no they don't. It is up to the dealer whether or not to give u a free oil change (and you'll have to have purchased the car from them to get one).

BMW is different. After those 4 years are up, you have to pay.

well i guess here in dallas almost every dealer offers free oil changes. vw here offers 5 free regular oil changes and 3 free tire rotations. nissan/infiniti offere 3 free oil changes reg and 3 free tire rotation with oil changes = 6 oil changes and 3 free tire rotations. yeah and bmw offers free oil changes for 4 years which is pretty good. basicly here everyone is competing against each other so we get alot of deals.

like with my g37s they offered me free 7 years warrenty coverage and it covers everything from wear and tear, tires and oil changes because they didnt want me buying a bmw. so i got a heck of a deal.

so yeah my bad i guess it all depends on the dealership.

[willyumyummy]

i personally would never take my car to the dealership to have anything worked on. i have a S2000 and i do all the work myself, i fortunately have a friend that owns a shop so i work on the car there all the time. dealerships are known to overcharge for everything and they tend to try to get you to fix a bunch of stuff that doesn't need fixing. the dealership doesn't use anything that's "better" for the car that you can't purchase at an automotive store. oil is oil....honda/toyota/bmw/mercedes oil just has their name slapped on the bottles. most of the time, the oil is valvoline or mobil 1 oil that the car manufacturers use anyways. if you can't do it yourself, take it to a jiffy lube or something and just tell them you only want an oil change.

[PoppinBC]

I'd never ever get my oil changed at the dealership. For whatever reason if I was too tired to change it myself

-Walk into walmart
-Get jug of Penzoil Platinum for $19.99
-Drive to little oil change shop, yada yada $10 labor
-????
-Profit!

I used to do this with my old car, but I found out that my dealer does oil change, with the same oil as you (Penzoil Platinum) for a fantastic $17.95. <---that is much better in my book, no hassle, just 45min. of wait, which means I go grab a sandwich of something and then it's ready.

[CatGoesMeow]

my dealer charges me 120.00 for a Mobil 1 Oil change (7 qts)

I only pay cuz I get a free fountain drink and a loaner for the day

[coreansurfer]

you should not pay more than 40 for an oil change(non synthetic)

[jowyun]

my dealer charges me 120.00 for a Mobil 1 Oil change smile.gif (7 qts)

I only pay cuz I get a free fountain drink and a loaner for the day laugh.gif laugh.gif

Sadly, that's about the same price for any "luxury" vehicle...