For the first time in my life I have a car under warranty. My question is whether I have any flexibility when following the required maintenance schedules. I don’t want to void the warranty. I assume that if I exceed the required service mileage by say, a mile, I’ll be OK. But probably not if I exceed it by 10,000 miles. Is there some generally accepted leeway here? If so, shouldn’t it be written down somewhere? Or is the stated service mileage a hard and fast upper limit? My car is a 2011 Nissan Sentra SR.
Why take a chance here? It’s not that hard to do the service when it’s required.
Your warranty isn’t voided but if you have a problem that might have been caused by lack of maintenance it won’t be covered.
Many warranty items aren’t maintenance dependent, for instance the alternator quits, or a window won’t go up or down. Oil changes are important if you develop a problem such as excessive oil burning, or an engine knock from a bad bearing.
You must be able to document oil changes at least as often as the manufacturer requires for normal driving conditions. A receipt from a shop will document the oil changes if it has a date, miles on the car, and the car’s license plate number on the receipt. A DIY oil change might not provide you with enough proof of service for warranty purposes. How much leeway do you have? Since manufacturers can deny warranty claims I’d say zero unless you are a gamblin’ man.