Free lifetime oil and filter changes at Buena Park Honda

[CRV-Dude]

I got a letter a week ago stating "Free oil and Filter changes for life*".

Than at the bottom it reads:

*Free oil and filter changes for Life requires all future vehicle maintenance to be performed at regular scheduled intervals at Buena Park Honda. Maximum 100,000 miles (Not transferable if vehicle sold). Must present letter at time of service write up.

This is a pretty sweet deal. Anyone else got this? :)

BTW, how do I know when is my scheduled maintenance? Should I stop by at a certain amount of month or mileage driven?

[2RedV's]

I got a letter a week ago stating "Free oil and Filter changes for life*".

Than at the bottom it reads:

*Free oil and filter changes for Life requires all future vehicle maintenance to be performed at regular scheduled intervals at Buena Park Honda. Maximum 100,000 miles (Not transferable if vehicle sold). Must present letter at time of service write up.

This is a pretty sweet deal. Anyone else got this? :)

BTW, how do I know when is my scheduled maintenance? Should I stop by at a certain amount of month or mileage driven?I'll guess you have an 07 or 08? With oil change intervals possibly at 10,000 miles (per the service schedule and or use of the maintenance Minder), this means they give you between 10-15 oil changes in 100,000 miles. At $30 each, this is $300 - $450 over 100,000 miles. I put in bold and italics the fine print.
You agree to have all of the other service done at the regular intervals as specified by either them, the owner's manual or the vehicle's maintenance minder. This would send them several thousand dollars worth of fluid changes, checks, etc. over 100,000 miles. Many of these items one can do themselves.

[Black Pearl]

I'll guess you have an 07 or 08? With oil change intervals possibly at 10,000 miles (per the service schedule and or use of the maintenance Minder), this means they give you between 10-15 oil changes in 100,000 miles. At $30 each, this is $300 - $450 over 100,000 miles. I put in bold and italics the fine print.
You agree to have all of the other service done at the regular intervals as specified by either them, the owner's manual or the vehicle's maintenance minder. This would send them several thousand dollars worth of fluid changes, checks, etc. over 100,000 miles. Many of these items one can do themselves.

Unless this dealer is a real nice guy, you have to smell a rat. They sure as hell don't need to be giving this deal to move cars off the lot. Thus one would have to assume that they are doing it to move cars into the service bays. We have seen on the forum dealers claiming that the transmission fluid should be changed every 20K. With the maintenance minder keeping the service schedules a big secret until the code appears on the dashboard, the abuse factor here could be overwhelming.

If you are going to have the car serviced by the dealer anyhow, it might be OK. But I think you are going to get a lot of extra service that has no basis of reality to the maintenance minder. As such I think one would have to insist on using the maintenance minder as the rule. However, it is common knowledge on the forum that the rear axle fluid needs to be changed more frequently than the maintenance minder would suggest. So how does the average person know when they are being hornswaggled?

Rear axle fluid is good example of how the dealer can recoup his loss. I have no idea when I should change it except when I get a 6 on the maintenace minder. The interval on this forum suggest 30,000, but we have also seen problems at 15 K on the 07's. But let's assume that the dealer is a good guy and changes it every 30 K. First you have to know that he is actually doing you a favor, because you haven't seen a 6 pop up. We have seen reports that the dealers are charging $150 to change the fluid (20 to 30 minutes of labor). Three changes in 100K at $150 and voila you got your oil change money back.

How many owners belong to forums? The potential for being raked over the coals is huge here and all the while you think the dealer is being a great guy!

Of course, there is nothing preventing the average owner from being raked over the coals and still paying for the oil changes.

Personally I don't trust the dealers. We have had too many shaky episodes revealed. Obviously not all dealers are not disreputable, but as Henry Kissiger once said of politicians "Ninety percent of the politicians give the rest of us a bad reputation." Be careful.

Oh yes, how does the 100K limit qualify as lifetime? Are you going to die at 99,999.9 miles?

[Sandpebble]

Only company giving free maintenance is BMW. Like red said , you can do most yourself for a fraction the dealer will charge.

[2RedV's]

Only company giving free maintenance is BMW. Like red said , you can do most yourself for a fraction the dealer will charge.The BMW free scheduled maintenance is the best deal going. You know you are not going to get raked over the coals, since there is no incentive for the dealer to do questionable work that isn't required by BMW.