oil change at dealership

[Mechanician]

Bottom line is dealers are not all the same, you will need to find out if you lucked into a good one.
A free oil change will be a good experiment to start with.
There are far too many blanket statements made about repair shops. Management styles vary greatly, based on the level of greed.

 

[E150GT]

That is mostly true. The Ford dealer down the road pays their lube techs $13 an hour. Do you think they really care? Doubtful, but our dealer pays $21 starting. They want them to care, stay, and move up to be more.

Yup and with that fact being probably mostly true and the fact that in my experience it's never a quick affair I choose to just do it myself. Ain't nobody got time to sit at the dealership for 3 hours for a simple oil change.

 

[burbguy82]

I think this is why the OP started the thread. I have had plenty of attempts to sell me un- needed services.

What is actually needed is typically listed in the service schedule yet many dealers continue to add extra. Better to be informed before you go.

agreed

 

[Patman]

Yup and with that fact being probably mostly true and the fact that in my experience it's never a quick affair I choose to just do it myself. Ain't nobody got time to sit at the dealership for 3 hours for a simple oil change.

A lot of people don’t do that though. They will choose a dealer close to their work and get the dealer shuttle to take them to work and pick them up.

 

[Dave Hess]

they usually use a lower end oil,often some cheap Mobil crap etc best to change your own oil if you can, consider a vacuum pump and suck it out the dip-stik hole,and hopefully the oil filter is easily accessible.

Mobil makes high quality Syn blend……. so it’s very good if they are not using Mobil 1.

 

[nomas]

I've never spent more than 45 minutes to an hour for my free dealer oil changes . I always make an appointment . Maybe that helps ..

 

[RobbS]

Finding a source of trustworthy and reasonable pricing isn't always easy. My mechanic charges $50 with my supplied oil and filter. Garage across town will change your provided oil and filter for $25. Reasonable waits.

 

[That John dude]

Yup and with that fact being probably mostly true and the fact that in my experience it's never a quick affair I choose to just do it myself. Ain't nobody got time to sit at the dealership for 3 hours for a simple oil change.

I've done a lot of oil changes, and I've never ran over an hour doing them including extra things like rotates, and fuel filters. I would always put air in the tires (spare tire also), and top off all fluids. What I call a correct oil change service.

 

[97prizm]

hello! i am taking my CPO 2022 honda accord in to the dealership for a complimentary oil change. i bought it at around 40k miles, and it's now almost at 46k, so i figured it was due for an oil change. this is my first car and the first time i am going for service. does anyone have any tips or advice for what i should be aware of at the dealership? i know sometimes the dealership service folks can be pretty scammy, so i want to go in knowing what i should do if something arises. thanks in advance!

Be wary of any "transmission flushes" especially this early on. Check your air filter condition as some (not all) will show you a really bad one and convince you that it needs replacement.

 

[E150GT]

I've done a lot of oil changes, and I've never ran over an hour doing them including extra things like rotates, and fuel filters. I would always put air in the tires (spare tire also), and top off all fluids. What I call a correct oil change service.

I'm sure the techs don't take an hour to change the oil on any normal car but every time I take a car into the dealer for simple service the wait is long. I'm sure they have 10 cars ahead of me. When I bought my first new car I took it to the dealer but eventually I grew tired of being in their waiting room and started doing it myself. I also remember being pissed because looking at all the receipts one day I saw they were using 5w30 instead of 5w20 that the oil cap said. I couldn't believe they were using the wrong oil. Of course back then I didn't know what I know now

 

[JeffKeryk]

I think this is why the OP started the thread. I have had plenty of attempts to sell me un- needed services.

What is actually needed is typically listed in the service schedule yet many dealers continue to add extra. Better to be informed before you go.

Yep. I've used Putnam Lexus for a few things; under warranty or service warranty work. Never an upsell. They use Mobil 1.
Now, upsells are not all bad if they are needed and is the work is above the vehicle owner's pay grade. But unnecessary price gouging is another story.
I believe Putnam is an atypical dealership.

 

[That John dude]

I'm sure the techs don't take an hour to change the oil on any normal car but every time I take a car into the dealer for simple service the wait is long. I'm sure they have 10 cars ahead of me. When I bought my first new car I took it to the dealer but eventually I grew tired of being in their waiting room and started doing it myself. I also remember being pissed because looking at all the receipts one day I saw they were using 5w30 instead of 5w20 that the oil cap said. I couldn't believe they were using the wrong oil. Of course back then I didn't know what I know now

That’s honestly fair. Some dealers are absolutely terrible. They stack customers up to meet their “numbers”, but let the customer suffer by waiting around. Where I work I wouldn’t trade it for anything we go above and beyond for our customers daily, and we make really good money for the area. We have people from all around us, even an hour drive (Or more) from bigger cities coming to us where they have 3+ dealers local to them. I hate seeing all the negative things about dealers, but I also understand why people feel that way after seeing what they’ve dealt with. I myself had a bad experience with a different brand dealer, and swore them off completely.

 

[E150GT]

That’s honestly fair. Some dealers are absolutely terrible. They stack customers up to meet their “numbers”, but let the customer suffer by waiting around. Where I work I wouldn’t trade it for anything we go above and beyond for our customers daily, and we make really good money for the area. We have people from all around us, even an hour drive (Or more) from bigger cities coming to us where they have 3+ dealers local to them. I hate seeing all the negative things about dealers, but I also understand why people feel that way after seeing what they’ve dealt with. I myself had a bad experience with a different brand dealer, and swore them off completely.

And we did use the Lexus dealership and they are pretty good but you pay for that. I would drop the car off and hop in a nice brand new loaner and head to work. Drop it back off and pickup my car when the day was over. That was nice. But sadly that car is gone.

 

[JeffKeryk]

And we did use the Lexus dealership and they are pretty good but you pay for that. I would drop the car off and hop in a nice brand new loaner and head to work. Drop it back off and pickup my car when the day was over. That was nice. But sadly that car is gone.

Yep. Part of the Lexus purchase price is the service you get. At least in my experience, it is a cut above. Lexus really pioneered the customer-for-life methodology.

 

[Gawardawg]

My boss was, let's just say, rich. She took her drop dead gorgeous Mercedes to the dealership for tires. I asked hey why and she told me, "Because they're Mercedes Michelin tires...."

What ever her problems maybe, money wasn’t one of them.

 

[Gawardawg]

Every now and then dealerships will have a tires sale. Seemingly on par with your average tire shop. Buy three get one free stuff.

 

[JeffKeryk]

What ever her problems maybe, money wasn’t one of them.

You have no idea how right you are... I give her credit, she came from the streets of Vietnam, worked so hard to get ahead. I wouldn't be surprised if she were worth $100M today. She was very hard on me, and others, but very rewarding for results. She changed my life.

 

[Gawardawg]

I get the 2023 Honda HRV oils change at the dealership. At least while the warranty is in place. I know not needed. But it’s a pain in the ass with it so low to the ground. I’m going to build me some wooden step up ramps for it and start doing it myself when the warranty is out.

 

[D1dad]

Put a new air filter in and see if they recommend a new one. Years ago my wife took her car in for a recall after I had just replaced the brakes. Sure enough, they recommended a brake service.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

I get the 2023 Honda HRV oils change at the dealership. At least while the warranty is in place. I know not needed. But it’s a pain in the ass with it so low to the ground. I’m going to build me some wooden step up ramps for it and start doing it myself when the warranty is out.

I have a 2025 HRV. Our local dealership gets good reviews for everything except returning your car on a timely basis. They always want you to leave it, even for a simple oil change. I tried my oil extractor on it but there's an obstruction preventing me from drawing more than 2 quarts. So... I ran it up on a couple of 2x6 boards and that gave me enough room to just barely get to all the fasteners for the splash shield. I removed the shield and discarded it. The drain plug and filter are up near the front so with the car on the boards, it's easy peasy to change oil and filter. With Honda's recommendation of changing the filter every other OCI and shopping the Autozone clearance table for oil, the car is cheap and easy to maintain. As always, YMMV.