We just purchased a Honda Odyssey 2020 EX-L. The fiance guy offered at the closing an option to buy the Honda Express Service for $1599. This includes all of the regular services up to 60k miles and any new tires needed. When I calculate the regular service prices (5k, 10k, 15k, 30K, 45k, 60k miles) it comes to a total of $2,251. So it appears to be a good deal to get the maintenance service for $1599. However, my inner self questions the finance (slimey) guy…thoughts? We have two weeks from purchase to decide if we want this maintenance option.
That is 6 oil changes, maybe a set of tires, you can find expected tire mileage for your tires at tirerack.com What all services are included, trans fluid service? Brakes are probably not on the list. Do you have a list of what will be done at each service interval?
These are typically not a great deal, but I guess it could be OK.
But -
Are you for sure keeping it 60k miles?
Are you for sure going to live where you can use that dealer (I doubt it’s transferable)?
Are you comparing its cost to the service specials most dealers often run, or to their full price?
I’d pass, just on the pretty certain odds it’s not a good deal, but it’s up to you.
Pre-paid maintenance has become common, about half of the customer vehicles that I work on have this maintenance contract.
That sounds odd, are you sure this isn’t just tire road hazard insurance?
I was wondering about the tires - does it say what kind you’d get? There’s a huge range in cost/quality out there.
Also - if those are the only service intervals provided, they’re missing some oil changes, unless that’s covered separately.
I’d pass.
There’s always a chance your relationship with the dealer could sour. Or you might need to move, and that dealer would no longer be an option for service.
I’d rather have the money in my bank account.
Honda Care prepaid maintenance can be performed at any participating dealer. The maintenance plan is transferable to the next owner.
Is “Honda Express Service Maintenance” the same thing as “Honda Care”?
I’d want to make absolutely sure this was a Honda-backed plan, and not one put together by the dealer. A friend bought a Honda, and wondered why the dealer provided a ‘maintenance schedule’ that included twice the work that the Honda maintenance schedule included.
It’s a win-win if everything you said is correct. The dealership gets money up front which offsets the slight cut in profit (I’d rather have $100 in a decent-yield investment now than $125 in small chunks over the next 6 years). And that money is going to them, rather than some other shop. And you spend less money. I’d love to see a set of factory tires make it 60k miles, so it’s pretty likely you’ll be taking advantage of the tire replacement, and on some cars that’s worth $1,000 right there.
I’d ask what kind of tires you can expect to get when they need replacement. If they’re gonna hook you up with Goodride tires (yes, they’re real, I swear), then maybe skip it. But if it’ll be a good set of tires, then it’s hard to see the downside if your math is right.
+1
I used to work with a woman who–against her husband’s advice–paid for several years of pre-paid maintenance on her Honda Accord sedan. When she decided a year later that she needed AWD, and she got rid of the Accord, she lost all of the sizable amount of money that she had “invested” in that supposedly money-saving agreement.
2 Likes
Not for the OEM tires. We didn’t even get 20k miles out of the lousy Continentals that came on our 2012 Ody. I am convinced the tires mounted at the time of manufacture are not the same quality as those you buy later on. I had a similar experience with the Camry I bought new. Subsequent tires I bought have gone 60k+ miles under the same conditions.
The tires may vary from one car to the next, but both of our 2017s came with michelin tires and no problem looking them up.
Do you have to take your tires down to the wear bars before the tires will be replaced? If so, that’s a dangerous situation if it happens in the winter.
I guess you missed my point. I could look up the Continentals that came on the Ody too but this-
There have been a few discussions about this in the past on this site…
Just saying he could look up the tire mileage expectancy, and see if replacement tire cost would be a factor.
Every new car that I have ever bought suffered from very premature treadwear, except for my '97 Outback, which came from the factory with Michelins.
With my 2011 Outback, I didn’t even wait for the tread to get down to the wear bars before I replaced the OEM Continentals. That should tell you how crappy those Contis were.
1 Like
Another thing that bothers me on these prepaid maintenence deals is you are signing over a degree of control.
For example, what if you’re wanting new tires for whatever reason, and the dealer won’t agree to pay for them, under their standards?
Or, what if you want your oil changed prior to whatever time or mileage they dictate? It would rub me the wrong way to have to “pay twice” for such services.
Again, I’d keep my money. And the control over my car.
3 Likes
This could easily happen before a long vacation, so this is a good point.
I have about 39,000 miles in my 2017 Accord. The OEM tires still have a lot of life in them. Almost all of it was highway driving, FWIW.
Mainly highway for me too. I tend to get 60 to 70k out of a second set and I’m not choosing the high mileage types. The OEM tires on the Ody were the worst ever.