Does my car really *need* all the services the dealer is suggesting?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So my car is approaching 30,000 miles, so I figure it’s probably due for an oil and filter change and tire rotation. Mazda happened to send me an email with a coupon for an oil change at one of their dealers, so I went to their website to make an appointment, entered 30,000 as the mileage, and the site offered me a choice of three “service packages”, the most expensive of which is nearly $1000!

Here’s some of the items included in what they call the “minimum” service:

  • Replace engine oil and filter. Rotate tires. Ok, standard stuff so far.
  • Replace air filter. I guess I might be due for an air filter by now.
  • Inspect brake lines. Inspect disk brakes. Inspect fuel lines and hoses. A bunch of other “inspections”. I guess that can’t hurt, but is it really necessary?
  • Lubricate door locks and hinges. Maybe nice to have but again, truly necessary?
  • “INSTALL - Premium Engine Oil Conditioner.” Ok… now we’re getting into what seems like borderline scammy upsell territory to me.
  • “INSTALL - Premium Universal Coolant Conditioner.” Sure…
  • “PERFORM - Battery Service (CLEAN Battery Cable Ends and Terminals, INSTALL Anti-Corrosion Pads).” I haven’t had any issues with the battery. This sounds like another useless upsell to me.

Again, they claim that’s the “minimum” service. The pricier packages include things like “Replace brake fluid” – I don’t think I’ve never had the brake fluid changed on a car in my life. Something called “Fuel Induction Service”, which I guess is some sort of fuel system cleaning. “Engine Crankcase Cleaning Service”. “Frigi-Fresh Sanitizer Service”.

I don’t really need most of that stuff, other than the oil change and tire rotation, and maybe the air filter, right? I take it Mazda’s service department has gone the way of Jiffy Lube and is just trying to push a bunch of useless extra services.

2

The first three items on your list are good. The rest are bullshit. Go to Jiffy Lube instead. Your dealer are trying to rip you off. Just get JL to do the basics and nothing else. Then drive away. Or find an independent oil change place.

3

What is the itemized cost of replacing that air filter? An air filter costs ~$20 at your local auto parts store. That is probably the easiest thing to DIY, easier than changing wiper blades. And you can DIY to inspect it, too, to determine if it even needs replacement. Auto service places love to change your air filter and charge you for it - it’s super easy and quick for them, too.

And I can guarantee any “courtesy inspection” will yield another few hundred in “recommended maintenance.”

Find an independent auto shop and never go to a dealer for service, unless part of a recall or covered under warranty.

4

In my experience, Jiffy Lube will also try to upsell you.

5

I agree with @silenus, although I would avoid chain oil change places and do a Yelp search to find a solid independent garage.

(also, it might be a bit early to be checking brakes, especially if they charge you for it and you do not notice any issues)

mmm

6

My experiences with quick-lube places have been similar. I’d suggest finding a good local independent repair place, if one is in the OP’s area. I may be fortunate, but we have such a place near us, and they’ve been pretty trustworthy as far as not upselling, and explaining what needs fixing, and what is still good for a while.

7

What others say, but I also look in the owner’s manual. Typically they ask for a lot less than U.S. dealers recommend. I found this on the web:

Mazds 3 Scheduled Maintensnce

My link shows some big country-to-country differences. I guess this reflects varying road quality, but also suggests there is not much deep science behind some recommendations.

8

You’ve driven 30,000 miles without an oil change?

9

No, I’ve had it changed every ~5000 miles. Previous services didn’t included most of these recommendations that I can recall, apart from perhaps the “inspection” items.

10

I’ve found that dealers back down when I ask if the suggested upsell is recommended by the car manufacturer.

11

Yea, that was the first thought, too. :pleading_face:

Oops, just saw that the oil was changed every 5K miles. Nevermind.

12

Agree 100%.

Find an independent mechanic. Look at reviews, ask around. Have them do the routine oil change and air filter replacement. Look in owner’s manual for when brake fluid and coolant needs to be replaced, and have your mechanic do it.

13

I’d say that it’s reasonable all the way through lubricate door locks and hinges. That’s a reasonable thing to do, but it’s also one you can do yourself in a minimal amount of time. All they’re going to do is spray your door hinges with something like this, and squirt some of this into your locks, then charge you five times more than full cans of those products would cost.

Air filters are probably the single easiest thing to replace yourself on a vehicle. Just go to Wal-Mart or your local parts store, find the right filter, and look up how to do it in your manual or on YouTube.

But the “engine oil conditioner” and “coolant conditioner”? Seems extraordinarily sketchy. If your Mazda is anything like my Honda, it says outright in the owner’s manual “Your vehicle does not require oil additives. In fact,they may adversely affect the engine performance and durability.” and “Do not add rust inhibitors or other additives to your vehicle’s cooling system. They may not be compatible with the coolant or with the engine components.”

At best they’re not going to help because engine oil and coolants are highly engineered products that are ready to rock right out of the bottle, and at worst, they’ll alter the oil and coolant’s chemistry and properties for the worse.

The battery service is another one that you can do yourself in ten minutes with a tiny crescent wrench, a small wire brush, and $5 worth of those red/green terminal pads and dielectric grease sold at any parts store or Wal-Mart. I think they even sell it in a little kit together. But I wouldn’t go disconnecting my battery as a preventative measure, unless I had some way to keep constant voltage to the car’s computers, or else it’ll have to relearn everything about the way you drive, etc. And realistically, unless you’re seeing a bunch of corrosion, you’re good. That service isn’t going to do much to prevent it.

Brake fluid is replaced periodically because it does absorb water from the air, but the interval is typically a lot higher than 30k miles. Same with the intake cleaning- sometimes the MAF sensors do need cleaning as do the intake valves on a GDI engine, but that’s WAY later than 30k miles.

As for the crankcase cleaning and Frigi-fresh stuff, that sounds like abject BS to me.

14

Gonna disagree here. A number of manufacturers, including the maker of my cars, recommend a 2 year interval for brake fluid replacement. Mazda appears to have a two year interval on their maintenance schedule. Toyota and Honda seem to say 3 years.

in any case, it appears to be near-universal that it’s a time based interval now, not mileage, because brake fluid absorbs water at the same rate whether it’s being used or sitting in a driveway.

15

Hinge lube?!? Too funny.

Ok, in case it’s serious, I’d decline on the principle that more lube, at these positions, is far more likely to get on my pants or coat or shoes than adding any benefit… whatsoever. Find something else imaginary for them to fix, rattling license plate or floormat anchoring. Edit: or doorhinge lube on the brake disks, lol.

Guys, my messageboard said no to the door hingejob but reminded me that the sunvisors are squeaking something fierce.

16

Yea, I was suprised to see this. Does this mean they’re going to add some kind of additive to the oil and coolant? If so, they’re doing more harm than good, especially with the oil. In 99.99% of cases, you should never add an additive to the oil when changing the oil in a regular car.

17

Fair enough; I was mostly going by my old Dodge, which didn’t have a listed interval, and my wife’s old car which did, but it was fairly long. My new Honda says 3 years, and so does her Lexus.

But I think the part of the OP’s question that I’m looking at all squinty-eyed is the part where they mention that it’s “part of the pricier packages”, instead of being a regular maintenance item.

That sets off warning bells for me; if it’s something that the manufacturer recommends at a certain interval of time or mileage, they’ll tell you that outright. If they’re trying to sell you stuff that you don’t need, it’s going to be in the context of “premium” maintenance, and sold with a sort of implication that while you’re not outright negligent, you’re doing the bare minimum if you don’t go with one of these packages.

18

Indeed the best course of action. A good independent shop that will tell you when you really need to do specific services. Which isn’t always when the owner’s manual says.

19

My father in law, who has restored a couple of vintage trucks and does most of his own car maintenance always swears by just using the same can of CLP BreakFree he uses on all his guns. He’ll buy 3-5 cans a year and like WD40, it just gets used anytime! Not sure I agree (though it does do fine by my firearms), but seems like it’s a popular option for people in both fields of interest.

Back to the OP though, my ignorant opinion is largely in line with the others, yes to the first three, the rest seem expensive, though… I’ll admit that some cars (not all) have slightly hard to access cabin air filters as well as other filters where I might be willing to say screw it, I’ll take the overcharge rather than bothering to do it myself.

I know my Subaru dealership did good work on the car, but absolutely ruthlessly upsold me a couple of times, after which I hit up a couple of local places that fixed issues at 1/3 the price. My new Toyota, well, it’s a PHEV, and a lot of the services aren’t going to be able to be done at the average mechanic shop, but it’s on them (or rather, built into the price) for the first two years - we’ll see after that.

20

It depends on the chain, and your geographic area. The oil change place near me is great and never tries to upsell me on anything, and since they specialize in oil changes it’s very fast and convenient. They’ve even done minor mechanical things for me for free, like replacing a burned-out taillight bulb when I provided the bulb.

My opinion of dealership service is mixed. Their whole business model is “full service” in the full and sometimes most scammy meaning of the term. They’re fine for new-car warranty work, but not a good choice for routine maintenance as they’ll be overly expensive and try to oversell.

But dealerships can be good for difficult problems because of their expertise on the specific vehicle. Many years ago I had a dealership repair a tricky coolant leak problem on a minivan that involved a rupture in a pipe carrying coolant to a radiator in the rear. At that time I didn’t have a good trusted mechanic, so I took it into a chain auto repair place who quoted me a ridiculously high price and then couldn’t get the part.

I took it to a dealership, and though they didn’t have the part in stock either, they were able to source it quickly. Their cost estimate was less than the scammy place. And when they ran into problems and the repair wasn’t done at the end of the day, and they didn’t have a loaner available, they provided a free rental car. It was a very positive experience, although service quality obviously varies greatly with different dealerships, some of which are scum.