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Dealer for Life Programs
alienstarguest
Member Posts: 5
Anyone have any good insight on these 'Dealership for Life' programs offered by some dealerships ? Thoughts ?
So far I have found these to come in various different flavors:
1. One dealership I went too has a life program that will replace tires on your vehicle for the life of the vehicle when they go below a min tread spec. Ofcourse you must have all scheduled services done there. I did not like this one because if you miss one scheduled oil change then its over and it is only tires. That is it, just the tires are covered for life.
2. Another dealership had a life program the offered free oil changes, tire rotation, and car washes (car wash 1 per 30 days) for life. It also covered the motor for as long as I owned the vehicle (including all engine internals, timing chain, camshaft, valve springs, oil pump etc.) at no extra charge. Again, all scheduled maintenance must be done at this dealer. This one seemed pretty appealing to me (wound up purchasing my new Frontier here based on a number of other reasons, but thought the program was decent as well).
3. Another dealership said (I did not see any paperwork), that they would do all scheduled maintenance free for 5 years. (All !!) Thats pretty good too, except I live too far away from them and don't really like the place from my impression.
In any of these cases if you move away its over, you will lose the coverage. Luckily I know I am going to live here for the rest of my life or at least the next 20 years.
I forgot to mention - the one that offers the free oil changes uses Mobile One synthetic. I used this on my 95 Nissan PU and its still running at 320k. I'll bet that the oil and filter are not free, just the change. I hope they are not going to charge $8 a qt or something rediculous. I just am very sceptical about these dealer for life programs. Most people likely just default out of the program at some point or another but the dealer uses it as draw-in to seal deals. The dealership that I am referring to does have a good track record though. They are out in the country far from any major city and have been selling Nissans for 35 years god bless em.
Any experience you have with plans of this nature would be appreciated. Please comment. Thanks.
So far I have found these to come in various different flavors:
1. One dealership I went too has a life program that will replace tires on your vehicle for the life of the vehicle when they go below a min tread spec. Ofcourse you must have all scheduled services done there. I did not like this one because if you miss one scheduled oil change then its over and it is only tires. That is it, just the tires are covered for life.
2. Another dealership had a life program the offered free oil changes, tire rotation, and car washes (car wash 1 per 30 days) for life. It also covered the motor for as long as I owned the vehicle (including all engine internals, timing chain, camshaft, valve springs, oil pump etc.) at no extra charge. Again, all scheduled maintenance must be done at this dealer. This one seemed pretty appealing to me (wound up purchasing my new Frontier here based on a number of other reasons, but thought the program was decent as well).
3. Another dealership said (I did not see any paperwork), that they would do all scheduled maintenance free for 5 years. (All !!) Thats pretty good too, except I live too far away from them and don't really like the place from my impression.
In any of these cases if you move away its over, you will lose the coverage. Luckily I know I am going to live here for the rest of my life or at least the next 20 years.
I forgot to mention - the one that offers the free oil changes uses Mobile One synthetic. I used this on my 95 Nissan PU and its still running at 320k. I'll bet that the oil and filter are not free, just the change. I hope they are not going to charge $8 a qt or something rediculous. I just am very sceptical about these dealer for life programs. Most people likely just default out of the program at some point or another but the dealer uses it as draw-in to seal deals. The dealership that I am referring to does have a good track record though. They are out in the country far from any major city and have been selling Nissans for 35 years god bless em.
Any experience you have with plans of this nature would be appreciated. Please comment. Thanks.
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Comments
The killer was the fuel filter change at 30k. Which initially didn't look bad, but in calling the dealership the filter is located under second row drivers side seat and involves quit a bit of labor... total price $287. My dealership went out of business about a year ago... so no tires for life for me.
Looks like you got the "Rims for Life" deal.
That dealer should get Life +20 for that slimy stuff.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Yep, I was only about 7k miles from needing new tires when they closed their doors and opened up under the same name selling only pre-owned. I called several times to speak to the general manager, as I felt I was entitled to some restitution as I had faithfully brought my minivan in for service for over 2 years. Heck, I probably would have settled for a free oil change, stale popcorn and some flat soda. But, the GM never returned my calls... and I'll never buy a used car from Craig & Landreth Preowned. :lemon:
About 3 years after they started it when it was getting to where some people were needing tires the Dealership didn't close but they sold it and the new owner changed the name, and would not honor it.
Imagine being a sales guy there who stayed through the change (which allot did) and having to tell customers that you used the tires for life close on that the new owner is not honoring it. That was ABC Ford that offered it, we are XYZ Ford.
They have really never fully recovered from it. That was 3 or 4 years ago and I still get customers in my office talking about how ABC Ford screwed them.
I tried to pin the dealership down for an answer on a replacement tire, but instead got the runaround. Service sent me to parts, parts sent me back to service. Nobody knew... so I guess they weren't changing out to many tires. Or, maybe they were putting on tires from Pep Boys. :sick:
The 17" OEM tires, Dunlop SP 4000, on my Mazda MPV were hardly cheap, around $138 a tire. But, there performance was mediocre at best.