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SMartin
MMT Pro Member
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:58 am
Posts: 179
Location: Northwest, AR
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 Re: Dang dealers Dealer maintenance is a crime.
I bought a car for my wife two years ago; it came with an unlimited mile power train warranty and a big a$$ asterisk. I’m paraphrasing, but it only covered internally lubricated parts. Which translated into valves, crankshaft, pistons, some of the transmission, and the ring and pinion. No axle shafts, no a/c, no fuel pump, no alternator, no block, no gaskets, no seals, nothing that normally breaks on the car. In addition, you had to have all your scheduled/recommended maintenance done by them, at the dealership. This included oil changes at every 3,000 miles (most new cars, including this one, say every 5,000 miles but I still do 3,000, because that was the way I was taught).
I did some math and used a little common sense on the situation and realized that:
A) If I did all of that stuff, nothing would ever break and then be covered by warranty, because it would be replaced before it got worn out. Thus I would have no need for the warranty because nothing would ever break.
B) After I spent all the money for the required/suggested (but mostly unnecessary) maintenance, it would just be cheaper to either rebuild the motor/transmission if it ever went out. So in short, it would cost me more money to maintain the warranty with a slight chance that I would even be covered by it.
It costs me $20 bucks to change the oil in my driveway, $30 if I use the local quick lube business, and $40 at the dealer plus a 60 mile round trip with $3-$4 gas. That is over a $200 savings in a year just on oil changes. No brainer for me.
As a side note, I do maintain my own vehicles. Regular oil changes, all filters, transmission service, rear ends, flush radiators, plugs, wires, brakes… or I used to. My wife’s car has a sealed transmission. That means that in order to change the fluid and or filter, you would have to drop the entire transmission and break it apart. I guess Dodge wants to keep their reputation of 75,000 mile transmissions.
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