Oil Change
My Civic has a digital indicator that displays remaining oil life in 10% increments. When asked how it worked, by time, miles, or some other factor, the salesperson mades some vague, sweeping claims about the car recognizing city versus highway miles, dusy conditions, and several other factors that go into the calculation for oil life. It’s now clear that the counter expires at 5,000 miles. He also swore that it would be simple to reset it myself.
Yesterday I received my first coupon from the service department at Leith Honda. I was pretty stunned. I guess they’re the home of the $70 oil change. Click and Clack tell me not to rotate tires.
Comments (RSS)
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Ouch, $70? That’s insane for that service, and there is indeed nothing worse in this world than little lights that tell us when to change our oil.
The various Subaru dealers where I’ve had the oil changed over the years have never charged me more than $30 for the service, and generally rotate the tires for free if I ask.
Incidentally, C&C do admit that rotation will prolong the life of the tires, which is definitely true for front-wheel drive cars in particular because of the weight distribution (heavy end sitting on the drive wheels). On an all-wheel drive car, rotation is essential, actually. Back in the days of bias-ply tires, one could rotate willy-nilly, but the general rule of thumb in the radial tire world in which we live is not to change sides of the car, which also gets at their comment about the latest tire fad, namely directional tires. My bikes have all sorts of directional tire issues, but really, it’s mostly hype. If I put them on backward, I just have to pedal .06% harder. Convert than into gas mileage, and even I can’t get worked up about it.