By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
I also wonder if the fine print is that you have to follow the maintenance schedule?
at 12K/year, that is probably about 2 oil changes normally. at $30 a pop, you are talking alost 6 years. And of course, if something happens by then (sell car, wreck car) you are out of luck.
But, if it allows for every 3 month visits regardless of miles and you want to make a trip to the dealer ever 2,500 miles, and are positive you will keep the car 3+ years, go for it!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
GG--
Our local GMC/Pontiac/Buick Dealer lot looks pretty vacant, especially compared to the other dealers along the same stretch of road. They appear to have more used than new cars out front, which can't be an enticement to most buyers. The closest dealer in the next block sells Chevrolet so that can't help either although somehow they've managed to snag one new Camaro. Frankly, I can't understand what sort of hair splitting is required to move from Chevy to GMC trucks and SUVs, but there must be some rationale. At least Buick is ostensibly a step up from Chevrolet.
Meanwhile the Barry Sanders Hyundai/Chrysler/Jeep Supercenter has absorbed the Honda dealership next door and filled in the real estate between with used. I now see that the open field on the other side of the Honda dealership is being graded for something....maybe a lot that will carry Richard's mystery vehicle.
Gogiboy
Actually you should begin your own club of Gallic sounding cars:
LeSabre
Le Mans
LeCar
LaFemme
LeXus
At you meetings you should only serve wine, Brie and "French fries" no "American", steak or curly varieties.
Gogiboy
Again, this points to a bad connection somewhere between the battery and the jumper posts.
J, looks as if you were right. I wrote up the explanation in the Genesis thread.
Genesis Thread
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
My Fusion has free oil changes for life.
On the other hand, I did just pay about $25 to change the oil in Mustang myself.
Not only does my Fusion have free oil changes, I signed up for a maintenance incentive program and get 1 free for every 4 or 5 I have done.
I told the young lady they were free already, so what exactly was the free oil change under the program buying me? She replied that they were good for any vehicle.
You might want to check to see if the package is tied to a single vehicle.
You paid for them in the price of the car.
Sounds good though!
Talk about raining on someone's parade.
He was going to get ripped anyway on the purchase of the car so in that case the best way to look at it is they ARE free.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
1.Not transferable to the next owner
2.Not valid at other local Toyota dealers ,but valid at it`s chain/group of dealerships. It is a national group which has dealerships in many states. So it`s valid at all those dealerships including Toyota dealerships. But the next nearest Toyota dealership for that group is 150 miles away. So technically for all practical purposes valid at only my local dealership.
3.For the 3 month limit ,the grace period is 14 days. So if I miss the 3 month period+the 14 day grace-- I lose that oil change and will have to wait for the next one or pay from my own pocket. :P
Plan sounds good to me as I have been going to the same dealer for the past 8 years and they have been very good even after the change in management 5 years back.. Plus they have a free shuttle--drop you off and pick you up. And yes, I will be keeping my car for atleast 6-7 yrs. And will be driving it into the ground or donating it or will be gifting it -- no trading or selling privately for me !!
Only query I have is - do I go for the $399- Regular oil plan or the $799- Synthetic oil plan each for 3 mon / 3k miles per yr. I really like Synthetic oil and would prefer it but if it`s every 3k miles--then I dont know if regular will be enough? :confuse:
plus, one of the prime benefits of synthetic is longer intervals. if you are overdoing it already at every 3m/3k, you should be more than fine.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I agree that changing synthetic oil every 3000 miles is an overkill. However, the car manufactures always put a caveat on when to change oil by saying “depending on driving conditions” which is very true and the Quickie Oil Change stores sure do use that to their advantage. If you were to listen to these guys they’d have you believing that making 4 or 5 short trips to the grocery store in a month requires an oil change right then and there.
Needless to say, some form of reason should be used. Oils today are far better than 20/30 years ago so the old school thought of changing oil every 3000 miles doesn’t apply anymore. Given the way the “average driver” uses their car (short trips to the grocery store and plenty of 50+ MPH driving), any good quality oil should last 7500 miles. I’m not willing to say 10/15 K miles yet but that may happen in a few years.
As far as the cars that have oil monitors, I’m not willing to go with these just yet. If you’re willing to take an oil sample and have it sent off to a good lab for analysis this is probably the best way to go. I did this a couple times back in the 70’s just to satisfy my geeky self but I haven’t done it since. I don’t think too many drivers are going to do this on a consistent basis so as to extend their oil change interval so that isn’t a viable option for most of us.
This is just my opinion on the subject although it is backed up to some extent by a couple conversations that I’ve had over the years with lubrication engineers/chemists (talk about a group of geeks :sick: ).
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Buick hasn't been a volume seller for GM, oh.....I dunno....in at least 2-3 decades as far as I can tell. And, GMC never, ever came close to the volume numbers of Chevy.
So, after Pontica went defunct, the Buick/GMC stores left behind have been left with two low volume brands to work with. Maybe GM did that by design so they didn't have to pay to shut down even more of their dealerships.
The Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep stores areound here seem pretty much in tact. The little "Mom and Pop" smaller/singular dealerships went away. But, the bigger ones....the ones owned by multi-brand dealers, seem to have weathered the storm. But, even there the only new(er) Mopar models I see on the road are usually PT Cruisers, Chargers, 300s. I don't even see many newer Mopar minivans on the road much. So, Chryco is selling very long in the tooth vehicles (at an expectedly bargain price), and not much else as best I can tell.
Thaks explorer. We were in london for 2 days, now in rome for 3 nites. The hire car ride from the airport was the scariest one yet. Going at full speed, changing lanes constantly, squeezing down lanes with about an inch on each side, motorcycles driving on bothe sides between cars....I don't know how he did it. Then our hotel is down a tiny lane with lots of turns and cross street where you hope no one is going thru the other direction.
The cruise starts on Friday, it costs about $2 a minute if it is like to the last cruise so I will check in, but not too often. Wish I did get floater miles! Have fun!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
How do you define fairly aggressive? I've always expected the upsell on low price or free oil changes I've gotten. Sometimes I would get the upsell on the items you mentioned, sometimes they would say nothing and let me go on my merry way. But, they would never pursue the upsell after I said no. That kind of pressure would be bad for business.
You talking to me? I know you are.
I rarely go to the dealer except when I need service work but I have been confronted with this up-selling on the few occasions when I have. As a result, where I run into this the most is when I buy tires and then return to take advantage of the lifetime balancing/rotation. Although I’ve dealt with the same tire store for quite sometime I’m always faced with them showing me samples of the oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, brake fluid etc. that they say NEEDS changing/flushed but I always decline because I know better.
The one time I went along with them was in 2001 when they said (then showed me) that the serpentine belt on my ’95 Bonneville needed replaced because of the typical hairline cracks. I was going to take care of that myself but when they said they would only charge $35 plus the cost of the belt to replace it (since I was already there) I said, “are you sure that is all you’re going to charge me do that work” (because I knew they would have to unbolt the engine mount on the passenger side and jack up the engine to get the belt on to do that job). The guy at the desk said, “oh, these guys do it all the time and they know how to do it without doing the engine mount thing”. I said, “OK, do it”. I got a call about 2 hours later saying, “Mr. jmonroe, we can’t do the belt change because we don’t have the “special tool” that is a dealer only item that’s needed to do the job but we did the balancing/rotation for you and you can pick the car up whenever you’re ready”. So much for doing it “all the time”. I decided I didn’t want to bother doing it and took it to the dealer a couple weeks later to be done; $105 with the belt including tax.
For the fun of it I ask the service guy at the dealer when I called if a “special dealer only tool” was needed to do this job and he said, “not unless you consider a 5/8 inch wrench to unbolt the motor mount a special tool”.
Just like I thought, looking for work and not being able to do it for the quoted price, so give the customer a line of BS.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
So, if the 200 is the mid-size sedan, and the 300 is the full-size sedan, why is the 500 a microcar? Seems to me the logic is a bit bass-ackward; wouldn't it be better if it were called the 100? Or the 50?
:P
We rose at 6 AM and started getting ready to leave. My wife said that she didn't sleep a wink last night thinking about the Flex. She said that it was just too big, and that she was afraid that she wouldn't enjoy driving it. Knowing that I was so pleased with our choice, she hated not to go along with it. I assured her that we didn't have to buy the Flex. She stated that she would be much happier with the XXXXXX (mystery car). I told her that the mystery car would be fine with me, if that was what she really wanted.
As soon as the Ford dealer opened at 8 AM, I called to cancel our appointment and to thank the internet manager for her time and trouble. She had offered us the Flex at $2,600 below invoice plus $6,000 for our '03 Explorer. It was really a good and fair offer based on all of my research on the Flex and our Explorer. I thought of Isell at the time. He would agree that a person should cancel their appointment and not keep a salesman waiting. When I worked in personnel, I would hate it when a client didn't cancel an appointment. The internet manager was very nice about it. She said that if we changed our minds, to just give her a call.
As for the mystery car, our local dealer doesn't have the color that my wife wants. He's looking. I also have two other dealers looking. I contacted them via the internet. Not sure that I should have done that to the local dealer, but I want others looking besides one person. Also, I want quotes from more than one dealer. I'm afraid that the search is still on. I'll continue to keep you up to date.
Richard
Was that without any rebates or dealer incentives?
All that does is add the Flex (my favorite in this race) to the list of what it's not! The mystery vehicle remains the mystery vehicle....
If you want the nice Internet lady to not be upset you can buy me the Flex. Oh, wait. It's too big....
They are 'kissin cousins'.
I thought that could be it, too.
How about Dodge Journey?
Oh boy here we go; ‘driver’ got to her, it’s going to be the GLK. :surprise:
I told her that the mystery car would be fine with me, if that was what she really wanted.
You better rethink that. You’re going to lose a poster buddy you know. ‘driver’ is going to fall out of the boat when he hears about this. Canadians only know about hockey they don’t know how to swim.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Don't worry, the Lab doesn't really shed that much.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Man, Ford must be hurting. Sorry to see the market like it is now.
Too bad.
We'll have to have richard negotiate a Fusion....
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Well, I have two hours and eight minutes and it will be wrong.....
I don't mind sharing the deal with you. The window sticker was $43,185. Ford offered $4,000 in rebates. That left $39,185. The dealer kept the rebate and lowered the price to 32,995 which was $2,600 below invoice. With $6,000 for my '03 Explorer, I would have paid $26,995. The dealer had received five new 2011's. He was moving this last 2010 off his lot as an advertised "Special". I don't expect it will be there too long at that price. I researched 46 Flex Limiteds and none had that low a price for a limited that was brand new with the same options. Even the certified used ones were higher in price. I tried once to negotiate an additional $1,000. The internet manager said that there was no way that they could sell it for less. I didn't push the issue because I believed her in this case.
Explorer: You said that if the Flex was too big, then the Explorer would be too big. The Flex is a foot longer (201'' compared to 189'' for the Explorer) and the width is four and a half inches wider than the Explorer (83 and 1/2 compared to 79'').
Explorer and Houdini: Forget the Aspen and Dodge Journey. It's not a Chrysler product. I loved the Aspen as much as I did the Flex, but it was too big also. I had to break the news to my favorite salesman at the Chrysler place. He's such a great guy and he understood.
Fezo: Remember. She didn't like the new CRV's or the Pilot. It's not a Honda.
I'll be in touch soon.
Richard
Snake - at least you got the born date correct!
Anyway I found what the mystery car is:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Richard
Your picture of the mystery car is neat. The only problem is that it would probably cost me $80K today.
Richard
Must be richard's nephew driving it. Richard is in the passenger seat.
At least you will be very well fed from the sounds of the culinary skills in the household!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I had to come back because I have some good news and who better to share it with but dear friends.
Here it is...
I finally broke down and got myself a 2008 IS250 Prem Pkg Black/black with Nav+backup camera+bluetooth+sport wheels.
ps...if I forget to mention a name it, please forgive me.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Oh no.....
My condolences.....
May his soul rest in peace.
A true legend on this forum.