Observation on Dealer “Service Packages”
The wife has a 2 year old Chevy Traverse that she really likes and we always have the oil changed at the purchasing dealer, who we really like too. I’ve always changed my own oil but at $38.95 for 5...
Forum Discussion
Skid Row Joe wrote:
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Sometimes the dealer knows best - I would listen to John - he was brought-up in the car business for over 40+ years.
OK, sure, sometimes the dealer knows best. But with all the other bogus maintenance some are trying to put on you, it's hard to determine when they're providing good advice.
But actually I've sampled most of the local dealers and have had pretty good experiences. The main problem has been a few people at the service desk; some act as if they're working on commission and really don't know much about the truck, others are fine. And there was one service manager who insisted that my new LT tires be run at 35psi, the pressure listed on the yellow sticker for the original P rated tires. 35psi put them at a lower weight rating than the original tires and the truck's GAWRs.
As for extended oil service intervals, yes, there were early mistakes when first introduced and sludged engines as a result. Haven't heard of any issues recently though. My daughter's 2005 Passat TDI (150-200K miles? on the odo) is still running smoothly with 10,000 mile (16K km) synthetic oil changes.
No idea whether Ford's got the oil maint intervals right for the EcoB, but I always ask for full synthetic just because it didn't seem right paying so little $$ for maintenance on the truck.
As for tranny fluid changes, I just follow Ford's recommendations there too. Haven't heard of any good reasons not to. But I did not with the Passat. VW said that tranny was supposed to last a lifetime with NO fluid/filter changes. Many of us disagreed.
So ya, the manufacturer can get things wrong sometimes, and the dealers and their staff can get things wrong too and try to over-sell maintenance. The internet helps us sort these things out. You just need to take all advice, internet, dealer, manufacturer, "with a grain of salt".
