Like any other dealer, BMW dealers like to see you as often as possible consistent with good customer satisfaction. The car business is what it is no matter which manufacturer we're talking about. Every contact they have with you gives them another opportunity to impress you with their professionalism and good will, and possibly make a sale or a future sale. The local BMW dealer has free car washes every Saturday, for example, no matter how long you've owned the car you bought from them. (My family owned a car dealership when I was growing up.) No. It's a Castrol synthetic in anything recent. The oil looks different both new and old than conventional oil. However, at 30K miles, a 330i should have had 1-2 oil changes depending on the service it's seen, and it should not have significant buildup under the valve cover. Mine has no significant buildup at 88K, nor does my wife's 323i at 107K. <snip> Yes. The first oil change on recent BMWs is likely to be at about 15K miles. That's less than the interval you're using with Mobil 1 in your Civic. My Accord was my first "experiment" car, the one with which I started to follow the manufacturer's service schedule rather than being more aggressive and changing oil and filter every 3K. I did do the very first oil change early just to get any crud left over from manufacturing out, but since then I have changed it only when the service indicator turns to red, which it does faithfully every 7,500 miles. Honda specs regular 5W-30 oil, and that's what I use, along with the Honda filter. Now, 19 years later at 218K, the car is falling (well, rusting) apart around the drive train. The engine uses no noticeable oil between changes, gas mileage remains good, and the engine seems as peppy now as it was when new. Had I changed oil every 3K I'd have done 72 oil changes by now rather than the 29 or so I've actually done, so at $25 or so per change for oil and filter, I'm $1,075 to the good--in fact, the money I have saved on unnecessary oil changes now exceeds the residual value of the car (according to Kelly Blue Book's website)! And that's changing the oil myself. Had I paid to have it done I'd have saved more than double the car's current value. In reasonably average service I see no concrete reason to be more agressive than the manufacturer's recommendations with our Honda, BMWs, garden tractor, etc.
Like any other dealer, BMW dealers like to see you as often as possible consistent with good customer satisfaction. The car business is what it is no matter which manufacturer we're talking about. Every contact they have with you gives them another opportunity to impress you with their professionalism and good will, and possibly make a sale or a future sale. The local BMW dealer has free car washes every Saturday, for example, no matter how long you've owned the car you bought from them. (My family owned a car dealership when I was growing up.) No. It's a Castrol synthetic in anything recent. The oil looks different both new and old than conventional oil. However, at 30K miles, a 330i should have had 1-2 oil changes depending on the service it's seen, and it should not have significant buildup under the valve cover. Mine has no significant buildup at 88K, nor does my wife's 323i at 107K. <snip> Yes. The first oil change on recent BMWs is likely to be at about 15K miles. That's less than the interval you're using with Mobil 1 in your Civic. My Accord was my first "experiment" car, the one with which I started to follow the manufacturer's service schedule rather than being more aggressive and changing oil and filter every 3K. I did do the very first oil change early just to get any crud left over from manufacturing out, but since then I have changed it only when the service indicator turns to red, which it does faithfully every 7,500 miles. Honda specs regular 5W-30 oil, and that's what I use, along with the Honda filter. Now, 19 years later at 218K, the car is falling (well, rusting) apart around the drive train. The engine uses no noticeable oil between changes, gas mileage remains good, and the engine seems as peppy now as it was when new. Had I changed oil every 3K I'd have done 72 oil changes by now rather than the 29 or so I've actually done, so at $25 or so per change for oil and filter, I'm $1,075 to the good--in fact, the money I have saved on unnecessary oil changes now exceeds the residual value of the car (according to Kelly Blue Book's website)! And that's changing the oil myself. Had I paid to have it done I'd have saved more than double the car's current value. In reasonably average service I see no concrete reason to be more agressive than the manufacturer's recommendations with our Honda, BMWs, garden tractor, etc.
you're right, repeat business comes from the ability to cultivate and maintain a professional relationship. however, when service costs are borne by the dealer, not the client, they my be happy to bring you in for coffee and donuts, but they are /not/ going to bring you in for oil changes every 3k miles because it's losing them money. i've read that is specified, but i have a hard time believing the dealer's actually using it in my friend's car - evidence to the contrary in fact. frankly, because of what i'd read, i was surprised. yes, but analysis shows the bmw to be wearing faster.
you're right, repeat business comes from the ability to cultivate and maintain a professional relationship. however, when service costs are borne by the dealer, not the client, they my be happy to bring you in for coffee and donuts, but they are /not/ going to bring you in for oil changes every 3k miles because it's losing them money. i've read that is specified, but i have a hard time believing the dealer's actually using it in my friend's car - evidence to the contrary in fact. frankly, because of what i'd read, i was surprised. yes, but analysis shows the bmw to be wearing faster.
Yes, but they weren't generating any customer satisfaction due to astronomical service costs, they were losing sales to everything else on the market based on bad service experiences based on cost, that's why they went to service-included pricing. J.
Yes, but they weren't generating any customer satisfaction due to astronomical service costs, they were losing sales to everything else on the market based on bad service experiences based on cost, that's why they went to service-included pricing. J.
"service-included pricing" which costs them hardly anything because at 15k per service, they hardly ever touch the car! 4 years or 50k miles - that's three [max $50] oil changes. and once your "included" service period is up, brakes suddenly are kaput, and cost a freakin' fortune. they need new $200+ disks each time you change the pads - if you use bmw pads anyway. [use akebono ceramics and magically, disk wear goes away. strange that.]
"service-included pricing" which costs them hardly anything because at 15k per service, they hardly ever touch the car! 4 years or 50k miles - that's three [max $50] oil changes. and once your "included" service period is up, brakes suddenly are kaput, and cost a freakin' fortune. they need new $200+ disks each time you change the pads - if you use bmw pads anyway. [use akebono ceramics and magically, disk wear goes away. strange that.]
Or maybe most do. Your owner's manual says...what? about oil changes? Does it have a maintenance minder system?[/QUOTE] When it says a maint is due, then it gets done. That means that at least three of us do the manual. I guess he doesn't thing the manuals are written for a reason. Perhaps the part where it says "don't do this or you will be killed or seriously injured" applies for him, either. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Or maybe most do. Your owner's manual says...what? about oil changes? Does it have a maintenance minder system?[/QUOTE] When it says a maint is due, then it gets done. That means that at least three of us do the manual. I guess he doesn't thing the manuals are written for a reason. Perhaps the part where it says "don't do this or you will be killed or seriously injured" applies for him, either. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Some would, and then you'd see a blog entry on The Consumerist about how Samsonite bags suck and they wouldn't even take the owner's phone call about how Samsonite owes him $25,000 because his bag didn't prevent the bills from leaving the opened suitcase.[/QUOTE] Off to alt.humor.best-of-usenet with you. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Some would, and then you'd see a blog entry on The Consumerist about how Samsonite bags suck and they wouldn't even take the owner's phone call about how Samsonite owes him $25,000 because his bag didn't prevent the bills from leaving the opened suitcase.[/QUOTE] Off to alt.humor.best-of-usenet with you. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
a) a bill of sale is practiclly worthless without some kind of "authentication", ie the notary I used when I sold my Civic. 2) I think Apple would be covered by the same law as pawn shops and auto dealers. If they accept something for which they have a reasonable expectation that the presenter is the legal owner, they are under no obligation to return it to the legitimate owner without compensation. Bullshit law, yeah. In some states (such as Texas) certain shops may be identified by police as "known" fences and this doesn't apply. Trick is, you won't know unless you force the cops to say so and the shop won't know unless you take them to court with the above mentioned information. Which the cops don't want them to know until the nail them big time, not for your iPhone 3G that only sold for $99 back in July. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
a) a bill of sale is practiclly worthless without some kind of "authentication", ie the notary I used when I sold my Civic. 2) I think Apple would be covered by the same law as pawn shops and auto dealers. If they accept something for which they have a reasonable expectation that the presenter is the legal owner, they are under no obligation to return it to the legitimate owner without compensation. Bullshit law, yeah. In some states (such as Texas) certain shops may be identified by police as "known" fences and this doesn't apply. Trick is, you won't know unless you force the cops to say so and the shop won't know unless you take them to court with the above mentioned information. Which the cops don't want them to know until the nail them big time, not for your iPhone 3G that only sold for $99 back in July. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Thus spake "Guy" <> : Errh, you're suggesting doing your oil at 3500 miles and the manual says to do it when the MM says so, which for most folks is around 5-7K. So, who's being overly conservative and who's tossing away money? Let's see: "I don't care what the manual says." So, as the others have said, you are doing research to support an already developed solution. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Thus spake "Guy" <> : Errh, you're suggesting doing your oil at 3500 miles and the manual says to do it when the MM says so, which for most folks is around 5-7K. So, who's being overly conservative and who's tossing away money? Let's see: "I don't care what the manual says." So, as the others have said, you are doing research to support an already developed solution. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Had friend with a 79 CRX (same as mine except for color) that didn't self change, but it was capable of at least removing the oil very quickly. I was amazed that Honda built the car with a 5 or so inch drain plug right under the #3 piston. Oh, and that was also the reminder that he needed to replace the rod and all the bearings. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
Had friend with a 79 CRX (same as mine except for color) that didn't self change, but it was capable of at least removing the oil very quickly. I was amazed that Honda built the car with a 5 or so inch drain plug right under the #3 piston. Oh, and that was also the reminder that he needed to replace the rod and all the bearings. -- - dillon I am not invalid I love my country, It's my government I fear. Hey, turnabout's fair play.
There is nothing wrong with frequent oil changes and grease (for those vehicles that have grease fittings). It is the cheapest form of maintenance available.
There is nothing wrong with frequent oil changes and grease (for those vehicles that have grease fittings). It is the cheapest form of maintenance available.
