Hey All,

My car is between 4 and 5 yrs old (from production date) Just brought it to the dealer for an oil change and asked him if it needed anything else as my servive light is on. He explained that the car is due for a major service not based on miles but based on time, which I get. I purchased this CPO car last July when it was just past its 4 year mark. My question is wouldnt this service (or should it have) have been completed as part of the CPO process?

Thanks for your help....as usual

 

How many miles on car when u purchased and how many now?

 

21,700..23,900

 

This is where i feel it pays tio be diplomatic . In my opinion you might not need the service but on the other hand it never hurts the car (only the wallet) to do more service .

I've never felt pressured by my service but apparently you have .

So this is what I'd do --
I would either
a) find another dealership
or
b) I would ask what the best price they can offer for the service but also let them know that you are counting on them to make the car perfect and expect them to come through for you if and when you need them .

You end up with a up to date serviced car and a cushion that you met them at their recommendations but asserted your expectations.

 

I would check out the service schedule which may be in the car manuel and also on several websites.

The the 20K may have been completed awhile ago (by the dealer or previous owner) and they may be telling you that the 30K is needed. DIfferent stuff is done at the different intervals.

I agree with Larry that it doesn't hurt to have it done early but I would use an indy for the service.

Good luck

 

Thanks guys. Just to be clear they didn't pressure me at all. He did say the car was at less than 1/2 the mileage for the seevice amd in fact the 4 yrs was the driver I should have noted that I bought the car out of state and this dealer did not do the CPo. He quoted me what I think is a fair price after offering some discounts.

The main reason for
my question is to determine if the out of state dealer I purchased from did what they were supposed to on the cpo.


Just seems odd they would not have been required to to qualify it as a cpo.

 

I wouldn't think they would have to have advanced any scheduled maintenance in order to CPO. I could understand them doing it if you were under a thousand miles away but you've had the car for almost a year.

 

Yes but the car was 4 yrs old at the time I purchased it so logically if 4 yrs was the time requirement on the service wouldn't they be required to do the service?

 

Check your CPO paperwork to see if it was done. My car was in the same situation and it was done but I don't know if it's specifically a requirement.

 

The fact that you have doubts , and they are recommending service --
the car does have 2K miles , and 10 months along with a new state and different service drive ....
this all equals a clean slate opportunity .

This new shop is the one who has the team of guys you need to keep your 4 year old car in tip top shape .

I would do the service

 

The first thing I did after I got my car was to get the service done plus brake flush (every 2 years), set me back about $900. The previous service had been done 10 months and 2K before. I didn't want to take any chances, a small investment now is worth it in the long term.

 

This is the right answer!

When I bought my CPO car, it was 4 years old and had 12k miles on it. I think they wither did the 4 year, or the 20k service, prior to selling it to me, as a requirement of the CPO process - AFAIK.

The dealership where I bought my car did it, and I'm fairly certain that they didn't do anything extra that they didn't have to do, per the CPO process.

Besides the paperwork, contact the salesman and the service manager at the dealership where you bought it - assuming that's a different dealership than where you're taking your car now. They should be able to give you additional detail, or help you sort through the paperwork.

With all that said, you're probably due for a 1 year service. I just had that done last month. I had mine done early as I'm putting DD miles on my car (13k/year)

 

Contact the dealer that CPO the car and have them provide the service history so you have a goods baseline for all the work done. You mentioned that you purchased it at 4 years old - however, the dealer that CPO'ed it may have received the car much earlier than that and saw no need to complete the maintenance. If i remember correctly. some of the CPO requirements were more related to wear items - they cannot CPO a vehicle if it does not meet factory standards for the brakes and tires, no accidents, mileage, etc (I dont recall all the requirements). If you plan to keep this car and have a significant amount left on the warranty, you should consider getting the work done otherwise you could void the warranty or have issues with support of it.

 

I disagree . Even if the service overlapped and gets done twice he only gets one chance to make his first impression with a shop full of guys that he needs for the next few years .

Of course he can point out that they are wrong and if you don't think that affects their willingness to go above and beyond in the future then you are factoring out human nature . They would have every reason to label him a difficult customer and his car will never get the front line treatment. In life it's not always about being right .. it's about being able to tilt the scale to get things done right.

In my opinion .. he has a 60K used car that if it broke down on a Sunday it would be nice to be able call them up at home if he needed to . Unless of course he feels like going to school and learning how to be a technician .

As it is he does have 2K miles and 10 months. It can't hurt.

 

Whatever. He's a man and he can decide on his own. I still get special treatment at my dealership, after not taking their advice for 4 year service, etc. Last time I was in, they did some free work on my aftermarket battery.

In the end, though, I agree it's important to stay on their good side. I think I handled my situation well. I understand that I may need these guys on my side, but not where I want to shell out an extra grand (or whatever) in service that's not needed.