Do you need to take your car to a dealer for service to maintain warranty

[Dpro]

What is your definition of asking for problems?

What is properly maintained all they do is change the oil. A careful car owner will do a better job than a oil tech all day everyday.
They slam the lug nuts on when they rotate the tires. They don't give two craps about using a torque wrench.

I just can't understand your opinion on this.

We can agree to disagree.

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Ok, while you feel the average car owner can do a better job than the guy hired to do a job. I see a lot of people who maybe should not be working on their own cars.. I sell engine mounts for drift cars I see that all the time.
Though getting back to the warranty. If one changes their oil themselves but does not know enough to inspect things one could miss a potential bigger problem down the road. While the dealer guy would note it on his inspection sheet because the car is in for a warranty inspection. Warranty work is not just oil changes if you are going to a reputable dealer.
I think you have come to the conclusion you have come to based off bad experiences I understand and get . I am just showing you my side of the coin so you might understand my view better.
Also if someone presents a car to me with a stack of repair deals for the last 10 years say I am going to assume its well maintained.
Records , Records,Records. When someone tries to sell me a car and they say they did this and they did that with no proof its kinda scary. Unless they are a friend who is a mechanic and I know they did it.
Thats my perspective. Agree or Not its all good.

You are missing the point. I’m not saying that a well documented history is not a factor, it is absolutely is - especially if it’s a tie breaker. What I am however saying is that the level of due diligence is lower for a $20k car/purchase vs. a $80k one. You’re not going to call on an food inspector to check the patty on your hamburger you are thinking of ordering at McD, but you (well, me) would bring a reputable house inspector when you’re buying one, new or not.

You know what in Los Angeles we have restaurant ratings for how clean they are which are usually displayed somewhere near the front or if not in a front window.
Even McD’s has to pass, the are grades A , B, C, D, basically one would not enter anything with a C lol.
There is no such thing of having more diligence towards the rating of one restaurant or another.
Its the same with cars Just because a car cost 80k does not make it more important to make sure everything is right with it.
A hooptie driving down the street not properly taken care of can be an accident waiting to happen that could affect you as the hooptie might hit you in your precious 993. Boy would you be upset.
The guy in the hooptie is like how did I know its a hooptie I do not need to inspect or maintain it.
Thats using your logic see the flaw?
All cars no matter what price should be maintained properly . Its not I buy it and drive it and forgot about maintaining because its not as much money as my expensive Porsche.
Thats exactly the type of thinking that leads to the hooptie scenario.

So you keep up with the line of thinking that because the car costs more its more important to maintain it. Lol

 

[Clint Beastwood]

You are missing the point. I’m not saying that a well documented history is not a factor, it is absolutely is - especially if it’s a tie breaker. What I am however saying is that the level of due diligence is lower for a $20k car/purchase vs. a $80k one. You’re not going to call on an food inspector to check the patty on your hamburger you are thinking of ordering at McD, but you (well, me) would bring a reputable house inspector when you’re buying one, new or not.

I own/have owned a wide variety of vehicles across various price points - some dailies, some garage queens, some just bonkers eternal projects. I will always pay more if there are thorough records of maintenance. There are some exceptions, i.e. I am shopping for a Pantera to bid on and because it's a ford 351 and a ZF trans I am not super picky about the engine maintenance records. If I had bought my wife's Giulia used instead of new you can be sure as [poo] I'd want maintenance records. I bought my FiST new because I didn't see any used ones with maintenance records that met my criteria, and a new Fist was only like 1k more than what people wanted for poorly documented used ones with 20-30k miles on them. With a Porsche, the purchase price would depend *heavily* on certain factors, i.e. an early Cayman, if the seller claimed to have had the IMS serviced, I would want to see records of that because I'd be willing to pay significantly more. If someone with an 80's 911 turbo could provide super detailed maintenance records (and most can!) it's worth a lot more, because nobody wants to adopt a poorly maintained air cooled turbo engine

As far as having dealers perform maintenance - one of my big job roles, what I get the big bucks for, is risk identification and mitigation. There are many risk mitigation strategies, but with a car that is under warranty.. if the risk mitigation strategy can be as simple as having the dealership perform oil changes for 20% more money than I could do it myself, but having them do the maintenance means there's nowhere else to point the finger if something should go wrong... its worth the 20% to me.

While I acknowledge that a knowledgeable owner can do a better job of oilchanges/maintenance than a dealership/quicklube, and I would weight the quality and detail of their records when investigating a purchase, if it's under warranty the fact that the dealership has records that *they* were the ones doing maintenance is of more value to me. Also, in many situations, the cheaper and more mundane a car is, the more lackadaisically it is maintained. Getting a warranty claim denied because I couldn't prove the oil change was done, or what grade/brand of oil I used, would be awful. Out of warranty? If it's a specialty vehicle with a cult following, the person I am buying it from has almost always had really thorough records of either doing stuff themselves or provides records from a well known shop that I can always connect with. With old italian cars the sellers are usually obsessive nuts. Many times I have been ready to hand over a fat stack of cash but I ask the owner several times "are you sure you want to sell?" and they say no, or ask me to give them first right of refusal when I decide to sell. Those dudes? Those dudes keep records, man.

 

[maestromaestro]

I own/have owned a wide variety of vehicles across various price points - some dailies, some garage queens, some just bonkers eternal projects. I will always pay more if there are thorough records of maintenance. There are some exceptions, i.e. I am shopping for a Pantera to bid on and because it's a ford 351 and a ZF trans I am not super picky about the engine maintenance records. If I had bought my wife's Giulia used instead of new you can be sure as [poo] I'd want maintenance records. I bought my FiST new because I didn't see any used ones with maintenance records that met my criteria, and a new Fist was only like 1k more than what people wanted for poorly documented used ones with 20-30k miles on them. With a Porsche, the purchase price would depend *heavily* on certain factors, i.e. an early Cayman, if the seller claimed to have had the IMS serviced, I would want to see records of that because I'd be willing to pay significantly more. If someone with an 80's 911 turbo could provide super detailed maintenance records (and most can!) it's worth a lot more, because nobody wants to adopt a poorly maintained air cooled turbo engine [emoji14]

As far as having dealers perform maintenance - one of my big job roles, what I get the big bucks for, is risk identification and mitigation. There are many risk mitigation strategies, but with a car that is under warranty.. if the risk mitigation strategy can be as simple as having the dealership perform oil changes for 20% more money than I could do it myself, but having them do the maintenance means there's nowhere else to point the finger if something should go wrong... its worth the 20% to me.

While I acknowledge that a knowledgeable owner can do a better job of oilchanges/maintenance than a dealership/quicklube, and I would weight the quality and detail of their records when investigating a purchase, if it's under warranty the fact that the dealership has records that *they* were the ones doing maintenance is of more value to me. Also, in many situations, the cheaper and more mundane a car is, the more lackadaisically it is maintained. Getting a warranty claim denied because I couldn't prove the oil change was done, or what grade/brand of oil I used, would be awful. Out of warranty? If it's a specialty vehicle with a cult following, the person I am buying it from has almost always had really thorough records of either doing stuff themselves or provides records from a well known shop that I can always connect with.

I don't think that we are in a disagreement. Obviously, the more information, the better, and this commands premium - more for the cars that are sensitive to lack of maintenance, P-cars being a good example.

Having said this, doing basic maintenance yourself is not and should not be regarded as subpar to that done by the dealer. In fact, given that oil changes are done by grease monkeys, I'd posit that my doing it is far superior than some understudy going like an ape on the oil filter.

To that end, if we are talking about costs, you should consider all of the time that it takes to get the oil change done at a dealer - driving back and forth and waiting there. Economists will tell you that you should value your free time at the same rate that you are being paid - so, if you are being paid "big bucks", then that oil change will be quite expensive.

I have a lift at home and can whip it up in half an hour, with better quality control. Granted, you may not have this option if you live in an apartment or are not mechanically inclined.

The original question was *should* you do it at the dealership. My answer is - feel free, but don't feel obligated, when it comes to the FiST.

 

[jmrtsus]

The only time a discussion of oil changes will ever come up is on an engine failure due to lubrication issues. Never in over 50 years of driving and doing my own oils changes have I ever had any engine failure due to lubrication issues. One went over 300K with Dino oil and ran good when retired. My son worked at Ford dealers as a tech. The oil change guys are the least experienced and trained. Hell no they are not touching my car, have already had one car returned with zero oil in it and drain plug lost!

 

[Ford ST]

The only time a discussion of oil changes will ever come up is on an engine failure due to lubrication issues. Never in over 50 years of driving and doing my own oils changes have I ever had any engine failure due to lubrication issues. One went over 300K with Dino oil and ran good when retired. My son worked at Ford dealers as a tech. The oil change guys are the least experienced and trained. Hell no they are not touching my car, have already had one car returned with zero oil in it and drain plug lost!

Bingo and they mostly work in teams which makes the quality-control even worse.
Now some oil guys actually are decent and care it just depends on location.

A slower dealership/shop will have regular technicians change the oil I did.
I got paid peanuts though for it.

The type that work at jiffy lube hell no you don't want them touching your car I'm sure there's some exceptions.

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[Hypergram]

I don't think that we are in a disagreement. Obviously, the more information, the better, and this commands premium - more for the cars that are sensitive to lack of maintenance, P-cars being a good example.

Having said this, doing basic maintenance yourself is not and should not be regarded as subpar to that done by the dealer. In fact, given that oil changes are done by grease monkeys, I'd posit that my doing it is far superior than some understudy going like an ape on the oil filter.

To that end, if we are talking about costs, you should consider all of the time that it takes to get the oil change done at a dealer - driving back and forth and waiting there. Economists will tell you that you should value your free time at the same rate that you are being paid - so, if you are being paid "big bucks", then that oil change will be quite expensive.

I have a lift at home and can whip it up in half an hour, with better quality control. Granted, you may not have this option if you live in an apartment or are not mechanically inclined.

The original question was *should* you do it at the dealership. My answer is - feel free, but don't feel obligated, when it comes to the FiST.

I'm actually taking an economics class right now. What you are talking about sounds like an "opportunity cost" the total cost of following a certain path when compared to another. When taking the car in for service, you're paying the explicit cost for the service itself, and the implicit cost is the amount of time (or what you could have been doing with it) lost. Also, you're lucky that you have a lift at home. I would kill for one.

 

[maestromaestro]

I'm actually taking an economics class right now. What you are talking about sounds like an "opportunity cost" the total cost of following a certain path when compared to another. When taking the car in for service, you're paying the explicit cost for the service itself, and the implicit cost is the amount of time (or what you could have been doing with it) lost. Also, you're lucky that you have a lift at home. I would kill for one.

Welcome to the world of economics. Indeed, this could be regarded as an opportunity cost, but quantifying the value of your sitting at home twirling your thumbs instead of watching the paint dry at the dealership is going to be challenging. So, you better make it count. (Also, look into the decision theory, quite interesting confluence of economics and psychology).

As to being "lucky"... This is not luck, but the outcome of my investment of my time into all these diplomas on the wall. So, you're on the right path and will arrive at some point where you are going to have a lift in your garage.

 

[Hypergram]

Welcome to the world of economics. Indeed, this could be regarded as an opportunity cost, but quantifying the value of your sitting at home twirling your thumbs instead of watching the paint dry at the dealership is going to be challenging. So, you better make it count. (Also, look into the decision theory, quite interesting confluence of economics and psychology).

As to being "lucky"... This is not luck, but the outcome of my investment of my time into all these diplomas on the wall. So, you're on the right path and will arrive at some point where you are going to have a lift in your garage.

Fair enough. I guess it's not luck, just hard work and the necessary space and finances. I'm hopeful as my career in Economics and IT goes on, I'll have a lot more time and finances to turn my occasional hobby into something a lot more fun! I'm looking to get a job at a Firestone as a beginners tech to earn some money and experience that will hopefully transfer to working on my own car.

 

[Ford ST]

Luck can be defined in many ways.

Just as hard work could be defined in many ways.

If hard work actually paid a roofer would be the highest paid profession in the world.

Financial success is a mix of luck, choices and hard work. Luck could be defined as being born into a wealthy family, having a opportunity fall in front of your feet, being physically healthy from good genetics so you don't have big medical expenses.

Don't let a job title or a piece of paper on the wall define who you are It doesn't. It's a tool just like a ratchet in the toolbox nothing more.

We live in a ever-changing world you'll probably change jobs multiple times in your life that have nothing to do with each other.
At the end of the day the guy who works at McDonald's but actually treats people decently is a more successful person than the doctor that beats up prostitutes.

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[Hypergram]

Luck can be defined in many ways.

Just as hard work could be defined in many ways.

If hard work actually paid a roofer would be the highest paid profession in the world.

Financial success is a mix of luck, choices and hard work. Luck could be defined as being born into a wealthy family, having a opportunity fall in front of your feet, being physically healthy from good genetics so you don't have big medical expenses.

Don't let a job title or a piece of paper on the wall define who you are It doesn't. It's a tool just like a ratchet in the toolbox nothing more.

We live in a ever-changing world you'll probably change jobs multiple times in your life that have nothing to do with each other.
At the end of the day the guy who works at McDonald's but actually treats people decently is a more successful person than the doctor that beats up prostitutes.

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Well said. This thread evolved from whether or not to take your car for regular service to life lessons and philosophy.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Fair enough. I guess it's not luck, just hard work and the necessary space and finances. I'm hopeful as my career in Economics and IT goes on, I'll have a lot more time and finances to turn my occasional hobby into something a lot more fun! I'm looking to get a job at a Firestone as a beginners tech to earn some money and experience that will hopefully transfer to working on my own car.

Just don’t go into network administration in the small to mid market instead of segmenting networks with vlans and intelligent designs a lot of smaller companies want to move towards smaller flatter networks that focus on wireless, so it’s better to be something else + have network certain. Right now? Automation! PowerShell, salt stack or other automation experience goes to the top of the pile. Network only applications wind up being weeded out because they expect a ton of money for a really narrow scope. It’s different at large scale though, still lots of work there

 

[Hypergram]

Just don’t go into network administration in the small to mid market instead of segmenting networks with vlans and intelligent designs a lot of smaller companies want to move towards smaller flatter networks that focus on wireless, so it’s better to be something else + have network certain. Right now? Automation! PowerShell, salt stack or other automation experience goes to the top of the pile. Network only applications wind up being weeded out because they expect a ton of money for a really narrow scope. It’s different at large scale though, still lots of work there

My plan is to run the technical side of the operation for a consulting firm up in Chicago, Crowe. At the moment, they only have two people in that department so there's a lot of room to grow there.

 

[maestromaestro]

At the end of the day the guy who works at McDonald's but actually treats people decently is a more successful person than the doctor that beats up prostitutes.

Somebody you know?

I think the person you are describing falls more on the sociopath scale that the one that measures success.

 

[Ford ST]

Somebody you know?

I think the person you are describing falls more on the sociopath scale that the one that measures success.

I did personally work with someone that was embezzling money. It was definitely sweet justice when he finally got caught.
He was a terrible person and he lost everything.

The point I was trying to make is we put way too much focus on someone's formal education and job title as a way to measure their value / success as a person.
If we would put the value of a person based on how they treat others / living things we would probably have a lot better society.
I worked in a senior center for two years and it kind of helps change your perspective on the meaning of life.


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[TyphoonFiST]

My dad mentioned that I need to keep up service with the dealer (for my 10k service in this instance) in order to keep my warranty in order. I know about the Magnuson-Moss act, but in your opinions will it make any difference if I just do the service myself or take it to the dealer in terms for future service/warrantable work?

NOPE

 

[maestromaestro]

You know what in Los Angeles we have restaurant ratings for how clean they are which are usually displayed somewhere near the front or if not in a front window.
Even McD’s has to pass, the are grades A , B, C, D, basically one would not enter anything with a C lol.
There is no such thing of having more diligence towards the rating of one restaurant or another.
Its the same with cars Just because a car cost 80k does not make it more important to make sure everything is right with it.
A hooptie driving down the street not properly taken care of can be an accident waiting to happen that could affect you as the hooptie might hit you in your precious 993. Boy would you be upset.
The guy in the hooptie is like how did I know its a hooptie I do not need to inspect or maintain it.
Thats using your logic see the flaw?
All cars no matter what price should be maintained properly . Its not I buy it and drive it and forgot about maintaining because its not as much money as my expensive Porsche.
Thats exactly the type of thinking that leads to the hooptie scenario.

So you keep up with the line of thinking that because the car costs more its more important to maintain it. Lol

Dude, now you missed my point TWICE.
I could type in all caps, but won't - I am not (repeat - NOT) saying that one should not maintain a cheap car. I am however saying that I wouldn't go into quite as much detail when buying a 20K car (I WILL have a very close look at its present condition, but would not be as concerned about some holes in its history), but you bet your ass I did my E39 M5 and the 993 inspected up and down, and turned out cars without documentation.

And your analogy with health inspection of McD is false. Your health inspection is like an annual car inspection - it's a snapshot. So, as I said, you won't ask for an inspector to come with you every time you buy a burger from them. But if you were buying something like this :Linky, I would advise to bring an ICP device to ensure that that topping is what they say it is.

And in your 'hooptie' scenario, its driver is likely to get into an accident not because he failed to maintain his car, but because he is either high/drunk/was texting. That's just statistics.

Peace, bruv.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I did personally work with someone that was embezzling money. It was definitely sweet justice when he finally got caught.
He was a terrible person and he lost everything.

The point I was trying to make is we put way too much focus on someone's formal education and job title as a way to measure their value / success as a person.
If we would put the value of a person based on how they treat others / living things we would probably have a lot better society.
I worked in a senior center for two years and it kind of helps change your perspective on the meaning of life.


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I have a couple degrees and don't make my money doing anything pertaining to them lol.
Managed to avoid student loans so that was a big positive.

 

[Dpro]

Dude, now you missed my point TWICE.
I could type in all caps, but won't - I am not (repeat - NOT) saying that one should not maintain a cheap car. I am however saying that I wouldn't go into quite as much detail when buying a 20K car (I WILL have a very close look at its present condition, but would not be as concerned about some holes in its history), but you bet your ass I did my E39 M5 and the 993 inspected up and down, and turned out cars without documentation.

And your analogy with health inspection of McD is false. Your health inspection is like an annual car inspection - it's a snapshot. So, as I said, you won't ask for an inspector to come with you every time you buy a burger from them. But if you were buying something like this :Linky, I would advise to bring an ICP device to ensure that that topping is what they say it is.

And in your 'hooptie' scenario, its driver is likely to get into an accident not because he failed to maintain his car, but because he is either high/drunk/was texting. That's just statistics.

Peace, bruv.

I did not miss your point. I tried to be nice and not point out that your point came off as I own a Porsche it deserves better snobby.

There I said it excuse me for it but thats how you came off! The restaurant inspections are done at least once a month not annually by the way.

P.S. I don’t watch Fox news lol so do not reference a totally biased one sided news service.

Oh and finally on the hooptie comment it actually is true, people do get in accidents because parts on cars fail. I have seen it first hand.
Maybe you have not. Of course high drunk or texting can cause and does cause accidents but lol they are not the only thing and stating that statistics rule out everything else is just blind assumption on your part.


I am not your bruh and your peace comment is condescending at best.
You do not know me and assume a lot .

 

[Ford ST]

I have a couple degrees and don't make my money doing anything pertaining to them lol.
Managed to avoid student loans so that was a big positive.

Cool. I know 4 engineers very well with different degrees of study none of them use it. At one time they all did but they realized the industry kind of sucks.
2 of them own a chain of gas stations, and Subway's they are brothers. One is my sister-in-law's husband super nice guy he's a firefighter, and the other does something with a HVAC company commercial.

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[maestromaestro]

I did not miss your point. I tried to be nice and not point out that your point came off as I own a Porsche it deserves better snobby.

There I said it excuse me for it but thats how you came off! The restaurant inspections are done at least once a month not annually by the way.

P.S. I don’t watch Fox news lol so do not reference a totally biased one sided news service.

Oh and finally on the hooptie comment it actually is true, people do get in accidents because parts on cars fail. I have seen it first hand.
Maybe you have not. Of course high drunk or texting can cause and does cause accidents but lol they are not the only thing and stating that statistics rule out everything else is just blind assumption on your part.


I am not your bruh and your peace comment is condescending at best.
You do not know me and assume a lot .

I own more than a Porsche, just to add more fuel to your frothing. How it "came off" says more about you than you think. Don't try to be nice, not your strongest suit. But, you're right, you're not my bruv, so take your own advice and don't assume. You somehow decided to make it personal, but that's not the first time that you did that, and I'm sure not the last.