Infiniti dealer trying to sell me synthetic oil

[sir1900]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted By: mbres2000
Thanks guys. I may go "old school" and do it myself. Walmart has 5-qt jugs of Mobil 1 0W-20 for $28. Wonder if I need to use a genuine Nissan/Infiniti filter?


They have 5 quart jugs of Castrol® EDGE® Extended Performance for $17 dollars just last week and I Maxed out my stash. Keep your eyes open it makes no sense to pay Stealership prices.


This.

Just because someone splurged on a premium car doesn't mean he has to be at the mercy of dealership prices.

Hmmm $95 for an oil change, or DIY for $25? Seems like a no-brainer. The OP can take that $70 he saved and take his wife/girlfriend out to a nice dinner.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: mbres2000
I just made an appointment to have my wife’s new Infiniti QX60 serviced. The service adviser says the car uses synthetic motor oil, which makes for a $95 oil change!


I'm going to give you a tip. Many oil change places will change the oil with conventional oil for $25-30. Which nets them a profit of $8 to $10. The dealerships add a TON of profit into the synthetic oil changes, by seriously up-charging for the synthetic oil. If you are going to use an oil change place, buy your own synthetic oil, and then ask them to change it for you with your oil, at their conventional oil change rate. Locally, my local shops will change the oil for me for $15 or so, if I supply the oil. This is drastically cheaper than paying the markup price that they charge when they provide the synthetic oil.

I took this picture this morning. $15 for 5 quarts of synthetic 0W20 SN oil at Wal-Mart. This is a good oil, that is SN rated, and meets warranty requirements for every car on the road that calls for SN oil. Since its a lease, I would ABSOLUTELY use the cheapest SN oil you can find that meets the specs. This SuperTech likely being the cheapest off the shelf oil you can find, if you don't deal with rebates.

If you do the oil change yourself, you should be able to get it done for about $22. If you take it to a shop, add about $15-20 for labor. So about $42 for a synthetic oil change, using your supplied oil/filter.

My sister in law had a Acura that required HTO-6 oil, which is synthetic only. She complained to me that the dealership was charging over $100 for an oil change. I told her the above method, and she saved $60 per oil change by buying the oil herself at Wal-mart.

Just make sure to watch the oil change guys, as some of them can be less than honest and will put YOUR oil into their trunk when you are not looking and just use the shop bulk oil.

 

[SatinSilver]

Just took the Camry in for a full synthetic 0w20 oil change for under $30 at the DEALERSHIP. Using the oem filter, labor, washer, car wash, 2 coffees, 2 cheese Danish(I know bad but they were small ones) = $25.76. Idemitsu 0w20 full synthetic on clearance at AA for $3 = $28.76. I make sure I go to one of the advisors I like to avoid the upsells. Free tire rotation done the week prior at the Ford Quicklane which is where the tires were installed. Normally the coupon price for a tire rotation and full syn oil change would be $80.

I did witness an older lady being sold on a new cabin filter, throttle body service with fuel additive, new wipers for $180. Plus the cost of an oil change so $80 there, and prob $280 out the door. Whew!

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
Originally Posted By: RichardS
I can’t imagine an Infiniti dealership stocking a synthetic blend 0w-20, so you’re either paying the $95 dealer price for the oil change, getting synthetic oil, and all the other things that come along with that dealership oil change, or you’re doing it yourself.

Several Honda dealers near me advertise oil change specials with the stipulation that synthetic cost extra. Newer Hondas take 0w20 but I wonder if these dealers just use bulk 5w30 or -20 on any car that comes in for the "special." 0w20 comes as a blend or full syn but I doubt these guys bother stocking 0w20 in both flavors. Only time you probably get 0w20 is when you pay for the synthetic service.


Our Honda dealer says 0w-20 specifically costs more, not "synthetic". I think it's $10; iirc 5w-20 is $49.95 and 0w-20 is $59.95 including tire rotation,

 

[Camprunner]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
if its a lease are you required to have it done at infiniti? then just say minimum required service.
Also can you still bargain for a prepaid plan that gets you to the end of lease. Then ypu dont need to worry about these things

That being said $95 in total for a service interval that has oil change for a luxury car at the dealer is a very reasonable price.


Really $95.00 reasonable? My Lincoln dealership charges me $39.95 for a six quart simi synthetic oil & filter change including tire rotation on my new Lincoln MKZ.

 

[dlundblad]

A leased car doesn't come with a free change package?

OP should hit the Nissan dealer. It'd be cheaper.

 

[raytseng]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: raytseng
Originally Posted By: mbres2000
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
0w20 = Synthetic.

$45-$50k+ for a car and $95 for an oil change is too expensive?

The reason we were able to get the car is we've been frugal (even tight) over the years.

Being able to afford a nice car doesn't mean we start throwing money out the window.

Um but you're leasing the car. Unless you have some tax advantaged situation, a lease is close to throwing money out the window. Again I would say you bargain for a prepaid service plan if you intend to just turn the car back in at end of lease. You can easily get 25% to 50% off their first offer. If you don't use dealer service it is an opportunity for them to ding you at end of lease.
Use your time to make more money.




So your saying that in order to keep a warranty intact you have to have it serviced at the dealer? You saying a bonafide (from else where) receipt showing all relevant info (millage, date, oil used, etc.) isn't good enough?

Your post is so misinformed on many levels....

http://blog.credit.com/2017/12/7-reasons-leasing-a-car-may-be-smarter-for-you-114081/




its not the warranty. its the turn in at end of lease.
If you think the dealer is a stealership of course they're going to give you a hard time at turn in if all you have is your walmart receipt for 5quarts.
as far as the other levels I'm wrong about not sure what you are talking about, please explain. Its pretty much a given that leases are financially a worse decision than buying. Especially when the OP is saying he is scrimping and saving versus he enjoys a new car every 3years and not worrying about the hassle of selling.

 

[arakele]

FYI, we have a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder which is the same as your Infiniti and the manual states 0w20 Synthetic or Conventional 5w30. For me unless an oil change costs me 20 bucks, I see no benefit to having someone else do it.

 

[HowAboutThis]

I do like a dealer change every couple years to check brakes and give the car a once over. Local Toyota dealer does a $60 synthetic change including tire rotation, brake life check, tire tread depth report, etc. Cheaper than most independents I've called and more provided.