I have a 2019 Mazda CX-5 (Grand Touring Reserve, Turbo, All Wheel Drive). It is due for its 15,000 mile service. Is it normal now that 15K mile services are expensive? I’m used to this for 30K, 60K, and 90K services but not for the 15K.
My local dealership offers 3 levels for this service:
Recommended ($512.96)
Value ($473.01)
Minimum ($440.36)
The difference between Recommended and Value is BG crank case cleaning service and BG ethanol treatment.
I checked the price at another dealership (about an hour away). They charge $243.85 for their 15K mile service. They only offer 1 level.
Any opinions on what I should do? Do the local dealer prices seem outrageous and do you think they’re trying push extra services to run up the bill? Should I go to the less expensive dealer or the local one (but give them a list of what I want to be done)?
My local dealer is also more expensive on the 5K and 10K services ($153.16 Recommended/Value or $120.51 Minimum). The other place charges $63.90 for these.
In order to judge whether they are adding unnecessary services, you need to compare what they will be doing to the maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual. I can guarantee you the BG items are NOT part of the recommended maintenance schedule.
My Toyota has a factory maintenance schedule outlined in the manual. but the local dealer dreams up all sorts of other things that are “strongly recommended”.
I ignore those pull out a copy of the maintenance pages, and they usually stop "selling’ me on the extra service.
Strangely, just before the usually very cold winters we have they never offer to check the condition of my battery.
The 15,000 mile service includes; engine oil and filter change, tire rotation and replacing the cabin air filter, $240 seems about right.
“Dealer recommended” services can add brake caliper slide clean and lubricate, tire balancing, new wiper inserts etc. You need to decide if there is any value in the added services.
The advice you have received from NYBo, Docnick, Nevada_545, and TXdealer is all good advice, especially in light that they have nothing to gain…
Your Service Writer will always “upsell” the service; one, they might get a commission (and who would not want a little extra in the paycheck???) and really, the only harm is to your wallet… Or two, they are on “straight salary” so commission is not an issue, but it sure looks good at their annual review…
My Dodge dealer always tries to upsell me the “Severe Service” maintenance. My 2001 Dodge Ram 2500, diesel, 4x4, only gets about 2,000 miles on it a year and it is parked in a garage that never gets over 90 degrees in the summer, nor below 32 in the winter. So the most severe service it sees is me taking it out twice a month to keep the “fluids flowing and seals wet…”
Do what is required to maintain the factory (and/or extended warranty), you’ll get no extra credit for the "Dealer Up-Sells).
I would just add skip the BG treatments. It accomplishes little if anything.
The BG reps go around and talk service managers into providing their products. Most SMs are not that mechanically inclined and believe the hype; a.k.a. BS.
Think “Amway…”.
I would go to the dealer that’s further away . . . the one that charges $240 and only has 1 level
They’re probably sticking to what the factory lists for the 15K service . . . and no more
but you’ll want to confirm exactly what that includes
Even though it’s further away, it might be worth it to not have to listen to the upsell spiel
The dealer that’s further away might very well also have a lower hourly rate, which is something to consider when it comes time for bigger things, such as a transmission service, brake job, and so forth
What exactly does a 15,000 mile service on your vehicle entail? On my 2004 Toyota Corolla, it consisted of little more than an oil and filter change, and maybe an air filter change. The oil change at the Toyota dealer I used included tire rotation, inspecting the brakes, etc. I paid less than $100, and even adjusted for inflation, this should not cost anywhere near $450-500+.
I think that there needs to be some room above and beyond what the factory maintenance schedule recommends, based on the experience of the mechanics and what the service consultants see.
Factory maintenance often specifies no maintenance interval for transmission fluid. Almost everyone on this forum would recommend replacing the fluid at 30-60K intervals.
A service writer friend of mine started seeing an abnormally high rate of rear differential failures shortly after the powertrain warranty expired. As a result he now recommends diff fluid service every 30K on those cars.
There’s nothing in the maintenance guide stating that a BG Direct Injection Fuel Induction service should be performed every 30K miles. But if “Larry” had done that service every 30K, chances are I wouldn’t have had to replace his intake manifold because the intake tract was so carboned up one of the runner flaps broke.
Also, there’s a difference between the need for a service and the price of doing it. For the past several months we have been swamped with more work than we can possibly handle. Pricing is one way to control work flow; raise the prices until the car count is manageable. I think the motoring public can expect to see a significant rise in the price of car maintenance and repair in the near future.
I’m fully in agreement that maintenance recommendations do not go far enough. I am no believer in “lifetime” anything.
I just don’t go along with the BG model.
I did find one thing that BG was good for. I had a somewhat stiff hydraulic fork on a Harley I used to have. Added a couple ounces of BG oil treatment into each fork leg and improved the ride immensely compared to the usual fork oil.
I tried some BG products on my own cars and saw no improvement in any area.
Let me add two -more-cents to what has already been said. Once you pick a dealer to perform the work, stick with that dealer, make the effort to get to know them and that should be one of the criteria in selecting who you will want to work on your car. I’ve posted about the two dealers who service my 2019 Toyota Corolla SE and my 2020 Honda Fit.
And the “proof is in the pudding” as to “loyalty pays.” The dealer that I bought the 2019 Toyota is the same dealer who sold my wife her '85 Corolla. They still honor the “life-time” oil changes and state inspections on the '85. The Service Writers know us our name by sight, (yeah, we pay for that kind of service), we bring Cheese Biscuits, Egg McMuffins, and other snacks when we bring the cars in for service and we have even done it when we did not need service, but had some “great coupons…” and did it just for fun. On the few occasions, that we showed up unexpectedly, we always got our cars looked at immediately, even if a mechanic was taken off a different job…
Now down to the nitty-gritty, the Toyota is dealer is head and shoulders above the Honda dealer for customer care. When you pull into the Toyota dealer, a “Take-In” attendant checks the car over, writes up the mileage, and moves the car out of the way. You then go into an air-conditioned office area with the service writers. Besides being air conditioned, it’s quiet, no garage noise to shout over, especially with everyone wearing masks and a piece of Plexiglas in the way. When the phone rings while you are speaking to the service writer, they ask the caller to hold…
The Honda dealer’s intake area is right in the garage, your drive in, get out, and wander around waiting for a service writer to get off the phone. You have to scream to be heard, and you cannot tell who is asking who, what… If the phone rings, that caller gets their immediate attention.
I’ve spoken to the Service manager and the General Manager and suggested that they install some soundproof walls about the 4’ walls in the intake area, and asked if the service writers could put phone callers on hold while they are taking in a customer, it all fell on deaf ears… I do not bring treats to the Honda dealer…
So, find the dealership that you will want to stay with, it pays…
Thank you everyone! I appreciate all the posts. I’m not the most car savvy person but my instincts are usually pretty good (and my instinct told me that no way should this service cost $400 - $500+). I love my car and I want to take care of it and keep it for a long time but I don’t want to get ripped off either.
I’ll look at what’s recommended in the manual and get an estimate from the dealer for those services. If it’s still really high or if they try to give me a hard time, I’ll go to the other (more reasonably priced) dealer. I might just go to them anyway and see how I like them.
A service manager at a dealer where I worked bought into the BG treatment for everything; no matter the mileage. Car has 5k miles on it? Needs the whole BG shebang. SM was an idiot and even the VW factory rep called him much worse than that. Only time I’ve ever heard the rep use profanity was when referring to the SM.
He would tell people the BG services would increase their fuel economy by 5 MPG; easy. Two weeks later people would come back and question that number because it was not happening.
Having the spine of a squid, he would not tell the customer “I’m more full of crap than an Xmas turkey”. He would send the car back to service to get looked over for a non-existent problem. And then stiff the techs for wasting their time…
We sell BG products but only on an as needed or experience recommended basis. If I have valve timing codes and find a sludgy oil control solenoid, I also recommend an EPR/MOA performance oil change service. If it’s a direct injection engine that I see commonly get carboned up by 100K miles (VW/Audi, Kia), I recommend a BG induction service every 30K. Not every car needs these things, but when I do recommend it you bet I can demonstrate why.
I agree in this case, I was just making a point in general about maintenance schedules being woefully insufficient for proper long term operation.
For the OP, prices for her 15K service at the shop where I work:
Synthetic oil change: $89.95
Tire Rotation: $15.00 with the oil change, $44.00 if the car’s not already on the hoist.
Air filter: $25
Cabin filter: $35 parts, $36.60 labor
Might need wiper blades: $40/pair
Concur w/most the other posters here, absent clear evidence otherwise, only have the services done that are recommended in the maintenance schedule for 15 k miles. If you want to splurge on an add’l service, I think what I’d do is have the coolant replaced.
