Last night I went to a new owners meeting at my Honda dealer. In August I purchased a Civic Hybrid. At the meeting, the dealer told us to only use Honda Oil and Honda Oil Filters in the engine.
Is the dealer trying to make more money off of me? or is this legitimate?
Well, for hybrids, I’d agree with them. I wouldn’t trust them too many mechanics, unless they specify they work on hybrids. Another reason would be that if there was any oil related problem with the engine within the warranty period, and you haven’t used the Honda stuff, they could say “oops, sorry, you didn’t use our stuff, warranty is void, pay up.”
Your owner’s manual tells you what blend of oil to use. I doubt seriously that you need to use “Honda” oil. They don’t extract it, they don’t refine it, and I doubt that the dealer actually have a drum of oil that says “Honda Motor Oil” on it. Just go by the manufacturer’s, not dealer’s, recommendations.
Somehow the word “dealer” takes on a different, yet familiar, connotation when they act like this.
Yes, the only reason they hold those “new owner” meetings is to scare you into believing only they can adequately service your car. It is totally bogus.
Well, for hybrids, I’d agree with them
HUH…The Honda engine in the Civic is no different then any other internal combustion engine. There is no need what-so-ever to use Honda filters or oil.
First off…Honda does NOT make oil. No auto manufacturer makes oil. Honda does not make the filters either. It’s farmed out to one of the large filter companies…or more then one.
Use what ever filter that meets the Honda’s specs and for your vehicle. All dealers pull this. It’s total bull.
This is a first for me; new owner’s meeting! How about a support group for people who are going broke paying for Honda oil?!
Unless they give you said oil and oil filters for free, you are under no obligation to use their products exclusively
I bet your owners manual doesn’t even mention “Honda Oil”…This is total BS…
your owners manual doesn’t even mention “Honda Oil”…This is total BS…
My owners manual mentions Toyota oil and filter…OR EQUIVALENT.
Yeah, lots of different brands have those ‘scared straight to our service department’ meetings. They’ll say all kinds of nonsense. And a manual may say ‘use Ford oil MSI0-234r3 oil’ but then it says ‘or its equivalent’. That’s the key phrase. There is absolutely no requirement to use ‘Honda’ oil, but there is a requirement to use the correct grade, and, if specified, synthetic.
I like to take my wife’s Toyota to the dealer for routine maintenance anyway. There won’t be any problems with decisions that way. They will feed you lines like this all the time. If they required their own oil and filters, they would have to provide them for free.
Read your owners manual carefully. I think they will recommend Honda oil but then say or equal. The other fluids are another matter though such as power steering, brake, anti-freeze, where they have special additives. They are just about as cheap as any other quality product and the total cost difference would be minimal. Also you can get Honda filters for about $5 so I just don’t see any reason on a new car to use other brands. Our Acura dealer uses Mobil oil for their oil changes and not Honda oil.
I buy the oil for my Honda at my local parts store. I buy the store brand. I’ve been doing this for more than 25 years with no problems in any car. You don’t have to buy Honda oil, but if you take your car to the dealer for service that’s what they will sell you.
Honda does not refine oil. They buy it from someone, most likely whoever gives them the best price in a given year. Honda oil this year may not be the same as Honda oil last year.
How much is a quart of Honda oil?
I would love to go to one of those “new owner’s meetings”.
I suspect the knowledgeable regulars in this forum are the kind of people the dealers don’t want to attend or ask valid questions at these meetings.
Honda oil? I agree that neither Honda nor any other automobile manufacturer makes motor oil.
This does give me an idea. Maybe the oil companies should go into the automobile manufacturing business. These oil companies have excess profits and could purchase the ailing automobile manufacturers and specify that only the oil made by the parent company could be used in their automobiles. This would be profitable for the oil companies and might save the auto manufacturers.
The auto companies do have oil made for them. GM has Goodwrench oil, Ford has Motorcraft, etc. However, neither the dealer nor the owner’s manual says that oil with this label has to be used.
When I bought a Civic in 1999 the dealership had a similar seminar. They lured us there by giving us all free products for detailing our cars and told us horror stories about ?other? mechanics that had made mistakes on Hondas by doing things like putting antifreeze in the windshield washer fluid reservoir and messing up timing belt changes.
For some businesses this is a pretty effective model for selling products. You give a free seminar that includes a little knowledge and a lot of selling. It ends up being like a live infomercial.
Thanks everyone for validating my thoughts. The mechanic that regularly works on cars for me has a honda, so I will trust him to put the correct oil in for me.
Sally in CA
When I bought my Sedona, the Service Manager said “only use Kia filters” and rather than argue, I bought 5 right there, for about $1 more each than I would at AutoZone. No argument about doing it myself, and only removed one more point from them being able to be resistant to warranty service. Sure, they can’t do that legally, but it can take a while to convince them
I’m probably the only one here who actually benefiitted from one of those meetings. In ‘95 I went to a Saturn "New Owners’ Seminar" and won the door prize…a really decent set of Mr. Goodwrench sockets, SAE and metric, with ratchets etc.!
I didn’t learn anything, but I came away with a nice prize.
Naw, they don’t get that deep. Basically they just tell people where the gas fill hole is and where the buttons and knobs are.
I won a socket set door prize at the only one I ever went to!