When a dealer offers 10% off maintenance?

On Jul 11, 7:23 pm, Tegger > wrote:
> "G-Man" > wrote :
>
> <top posting corrected>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Tegger" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> "G-Man" > wrote in news:1399tus8b9ugl52
> >> @news.supernews.com:
> >>> " > wrote
>
> >>>> and tell them to do whatever kind of maintenance is necessary. >
>
> >>> You my friend are a service managers wet dream!
>
> >> He didn't say he told them to perform whatever REPAIRS are necessary,
> >> just maintenance. What he's doing is GOOD.
>
> > I don't agree. Most dealerships go way above and beyond what is in
> > the "What is needed" schedule.
>
> True, which does no harm except to make your wallet a bit thinner and
> your car more reliable.
>
> I myself go above and beyond the official maintenance schedule and have
> done so for 16 years. The car now has nearly 300,000 miles on it and is
> wonderfully reliable.
>
>
>
> > I would go as far as to agree to everything that IS on the schedule.
> > Even that is crap sometime. I learned when at 60k on an accord years
> > ago, they changed the drain plug. There was nothing wrong with it,
> > but it was on the schedule. This was YEARS ago.
>
> Replacing a drain plug is NEVER on ANY "maintenance schedule" outside of
> TSB or recall replacement. I do not believe you.
>
> --
> Tegger

The OIL drain plug can require replacement after several removal/
replacements during oil changes.
So, perhaps the mechanic noted that the hex head was becoming a little
worn and relaced it. I replaced mine
on my 2001 Civic a few years ago for that reason, and am about to
replace it again. But I change my oil 4 times per year
due to the high miles I drive (110/day commute). But it is NOT on the
maintenance schedule to replace it.

wrote:
> On Jul 11, 7:23 pm, Tegger > wrote:
>> "G-Man" > wrote :
>>
>> <top posting corrected>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> "Tegger" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> "G-Man" > wrote in news:1399tus8b9ugl52
>>>> @news.supernews.com:
>>>>> " > wrote
>>>>>> and tell them to do whatever kind of maintenance is necessary. >
>>>>> You my friend are a service managers wet dream!
>>>> He didn't say he told them to perform whatever REPAIRS are necessary,
>>>> just maintenance. What he's doing is GOOD.
>>> I don't agree. Most dealerships go way above and beyond what is in
>>> the "What is needed" schedule.
>> True, which does no harm except to make your wallet a bit thinner and
>> your car more reliable.
>>
>> I myself go above and beyond the official maintenance schedule and have
>> done so for 16 years. The car now has nearly 300,000 miles on it and is
>> wonderfully reliable.
>>
>>
>>
>>> I would go as far as to agree to everything that IS on the schedule.
>>> Even that is crap sometime. I learned when at 60k on an accord years
>>> ago, they changed the drain plug. There was nothing wrong with it,
>>> but it was on the schedule. This was YEARS ago.
>> Replacing a drain plug is NEVER on ANY "maintenance schedule" outside of
>> TSB or recall replacement. I do not believe you.
>>
>> --
>> Tegger
>
> The OIL drain plug can require replacement after several removal/
> replacements during oil changes.
> So, perhaps the mechanic noted that the hex head was becoming a little
> worn and relaced it. I replaced mine
> on my 2001 Civic a few years ago for that reason, and am about to
> replace it again. But I change my oil 4 times per year
> due to the high miles I drive (110/day commute). But it is NOT on the
> maintenance schedule to replace it.
>
eh? how are you damaging it??? if you're using the correct wrench,
that's not going to happen.

> The car now has nearly 300,000 miles on it and is
> wonderfully reliable.
>

You Tegger are now MY wet dream :-)

300K ? I love it!

G-Man

>
>
> Replacing a drain plug is NEVER on ANY "maintenance schedule" outside of
> TSB or recall replacement. I do not believe you.
>

I don't care who you believe. I am old :-)

This was back around 1982 or so. I was young. Did I see it in writing?
No, but it is what I was told. This is when I made the decision to do my
own work. Up to a point. I'm not going to do a timing belt/water pump
change, but I do most of the other maintenance.

BTW, I just got a Prius after owning nothing but Hondas for the last 27
years. This is going to be a learning curve. I got it just for my commute.
I still have my '05 Pilot and my '06 Accord V-6 NAV. The Prius is a fun
little car. I'm averaging 55 Mpg.

G-Man

wrote in
ups.com:

> On Jul 11, 7:23 pm, Tegger > wrote:

>>
>> Replacing a drain plug is NEVER on ANY "maintenance schedule" outside
>> of TSB or recall replacement. I do not believe you.
>>
>>
>>
>
> The OIL drain plug can require replacement after several removal/
> replacements during oil changes.



Not at all. If not abused, the drain bolt is good for the life of the
car.

The drain pan hole threads, on the other hand, have a tendency to expand
and make the plug fit loosely, eventually stripping the assembly
entirely.

A new plug can slightly extend the useful life of damaged oil pan
threads just because its thread peaks haven't worn off yet.




> So, perhaps the mechanic noted that the hex head was becoming a little
> worn and relaced it.



The hex head never wears out, unless somebody was inept or used the
wrong tool and rounded it off.



> I replaced mine
> on my 2001 Civic a few years ago for that reason, and am about to
> replace it again. But I change my oil 4 times per year
> due to the high miles I drive (110/day commute). But it is NOT on the
> maintenance schedule to replace it.
>


I change my oil six to eight times per year, and have done so for
thirteen years. This is a total of 78 to 104 removals and installations
of the drain bolt. The same drain bolt has been in use for those same 13
years and still torques up to 30 ft lbs with no leaks. The hex is
perfect.

Torque spec is actually 33 ft lbs, but I go a bit light at 30. This in
order to be gentle on the pan threads.


--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

"G-Man" > wrote in
:

>> The car now has nearly 300,000 miles on it and is
>> wonderfully reliable.
>>
>
> You Tegger are now MY wet dream :-)


Down boy!


>
> 300K ? I love it!
>


Current mileage is 290,483. At the pace I drive, I figure it will roll over
by about late winter or early spring.

I post my odometer he
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/mileage.jpg

The local Acura dealer tells me they have two vehicles that come in which
have higher mileage than me: A '97 1.7 EL with 435,000 miles, and some
other car that has about 375K. I don't know the year or model. Original
engines in both. Both still pass emissions.



--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

On Jul 11, 10:03 am, "
> wrote:
> What does it mean if a dealer tells you they will give you 10% off
> maintenance? Will they really give you the discount, or will they
> jack up the price by 10% so that it doesn't mean anything?

My Toyota dealer has their std maintenance (15K, 30K, 60K...) prices
clearly posted behind the service desk. My Honda dealer offers a 1-
page list with the same info. A 10% discount means 10% off the posted
prices. They also will do 10% off any additional work they might
suggest; and they always suggest something additional. Nearly any work
they suggest will be included in their OEM shop guides that also list
the labor time for the work. They charge by those guidelines, that
provide PLENTY of time to do the work (and go for lunch and/or train
another tech. in the procedure). So, no, they don't jack up the
already excessive labor prices.

Gotta luv 'em.

On the other hand, your local dealership can't make it off new car
sales. They need a thriving used car and service business to turn a
profit.

ACAR wrote:
<snip for clarity>
>
> On the other hand, your local dealership can't make it off new car
> sales. They need a thriving used car and service business to turn a
> profit.
>

unless a dealer is utterly incompetent managing their franchise, that
simply can't be true. if you check company accounts for fleet
purchases, cars are bought in volume for prices as low as 50% of msrp.
if an end user can buy them that cheap, you can bet the dealer can too.

On Jul 13, 9:35 pm, jim beam > wrote:
> ACAR wrote:
>
> <snip for clarity>
>
>
>
> > On the other hand, your local dealership can't make it off new car
> > sales. They need a thriving used car and service business to turn a
> > profit.
>
> unless a dealer is utterly incompetent managing their franchise, that
> simply can't be true. if you check company accounts for fleet
> purchases, cars are bought in volume for prices as low as 50% of msrp.
> if an end user can buy them that cheap, you can bet the dealer can too.

While I've seen domestics that cheap, I haven't seen Hondas sold at
50%. And notice how the domestics are trying to get out of that
unprofitable practice.

ACAR wrote:
> On Jul 13, 9:35 pm, jim beam > wrote:
>> ACAR wrote:
>>
>> <snip for clarity>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On the other hand, your local dealership can't make it off new car
>>> sales. They need a thriving used car and service business to turn a
>>> profit.
>> unless a dealer is utterly incompetent managing their franchise, that
>> simply can't be true. if you check company accounts for fleet
>> purchases, cars are bought in volume for prices as low as 50% of msrp.
>> if an end user can buy them that cheap, you can bet the dealer can too.
>
> While I've seen domestics that cheap, I haven't seen Hondas sold at
> 50%. And notice how the domestics are trying to get out of that
> unprofitable practice.
>

but you said "your local dealership can't make it off new car sales".
it's the manufacturer that takes it in the shorts from deep discounting,
not the dealer.