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Thread: Car Maintenance Contracts

  1. #21
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geila View Post
    This is what the program covers: my comments in blue [ETA prices are per occurrence]

    Every 6 months or 7,500 miles:
    Lube, oil and filter changes (with synthetic oil) $60
    Tire rotation $40
    Multi-point inspection (what ToomuchStuff said)

    Every 15,000 miles:
    Cabin air filter replacement $30-50
    Engine Air filter replacement $20
    Wheel balance $40

    Front wiper blade replacement every 12 months $20-50 depending on the quality of blades they use

    Wheel alignment every 30k miles $80
    Front Brake Pad replacement one time during the term of the contract Only pads, not rotors (if needed)? This cost is more variable but you'd be OK budgeting $250-400 for a front-brake job and that includes more replacement parts than just the pads.
    IMHO just not worth what they're charging for it. I note that they're not covering the battery (it may or may not have a warranty from the OEM) or bulbs; tires would come with their own manufacturer warranty).

    Pretty much anyone with opposable thumbs in a temperate climate can change an engine air filter and, on most cars, the cabin filter isn't much harder. The most expensive components there are the filters themselves. Wipers are not difficult to replace; I typically spend more time getting the wipers out of their blister packaging than I do putting them on the car.

    Some of the work being done requires equipment most people would not have in their garage at home but would be available at any place that calls itself a service center -- and there's nothing here to which a dealer would bring special useful expertise (any good tech can look up the service requirements, replacement part numbers, lug-nut torque figures, etc.). The dealer's service department might know to look at a part of the car that, by design or use, has become problematic ("they all do that") but you'd have to know about that to ask them about it and then determine whether their repair "opportunity" was looking out for you or looking for your purse.

    Still wouldn't do it. Even if you do none of this work yourself, you're ahead putting that money in a subaccount and using it for the maintenance and wear items and repairs this agreement does not cover.
    Last edited by SteveinMN; 12-30-18 at 1:25pm.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  2. #22
    Senior Member
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    I remember many years ago now, around 1990, when I bought a new Mitsubishi Colt (made in the US) they were leaning on me really hard to buy the maintenance package, which was $3000. That was a whole lot of money in those days! In fact, 20% of the price I paid for the car. I think they thought because I paid cash for the car that I had lots of money to throw around. Anyway, I told the guy I was buying a New car so I wouldn't have to spend that kind of money on it. He countered, and I said, "Wait, give that contract back. If this car is going to have so many problems, I don't want it!" They back peddled real quick, hauled out all kinds of statistics on what a reliable car it would be- and it was! In all the years I had it and drove it to over 200,000 miles, I never spent that on it.

  3. #23
    Geila
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    Thanks, everyone. I will not be buying the contract. It's been good to become a bit more knowledgeable about car maintenance.

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