Dash Board Oil Change Service Reminder Indicator

[Joe Marconi]

Dash Board Oil Change Service Reminder Indicator

 

We are having more and more people extending their oil changes because they are paying attention to the oil change indicator light on their dash. We just had one customer who called us because she has almost 9,000 miles on her 2010 Honda Civic and the oil change indicator still says 50%. I told her you can’t go 18,000 mile before you oil and filter is changed. She said she called the dealer and the dealer told her to wait until the percentage is down to 20% or less. I told her that’s crazy. She came in for the oil change and tire rotation and we urged her to pay attention to our reminder sticker of every 4,000 miles and not the indicator.

 

How are you dealing with this?

[newmansauto]

Dash Board Oil Change Service Reminder Indicator

 

We are having more and more people extending their oil changes because they are paying attention to the oil change indicator light on their dash. We just had one customer who called us because she has almost 9,000 miles on her 2010 Honda Civic and the oil change indicator still says 50%. I told her you can’t go 18,000 mile before you oil and filter is changed. She said she called the dealer and the dealer told her to wait until the percentage is down to 20% or less. I told her that’s crazy. She came in for the oil change and tire rotation and we urged her to pay attention to our reminder sticker of every 4,000 miles and not the indicator.

 

How are you dealing with this?

I use oil change reminder stickers, email reminder, and post card. for some people I even have to call them!

[xrac]

Dash Board Oil Change Service Reminder Indicator

 

We are having more and more people extending their oil changes because they are paying attention to the oil change indicator light on their dash. We just had one customer who called us because she has almost 9,000 miles on her 2010 Honda Civic and the oil change indicator still says 50%. I told her you can’t go 18,000 mile before you oil and filter is changed. She said she called the dealer and the dealer told her to wait until the percentage is down to 20% or less. I told her that’s crazy. She came in for the oil change and tire rotation and we urged her to pay attention to our reminder sticker of every 4,000 miles and not the indicator.

 

How are you dealing with this?

 

All I can say is that is insane. Honda's are great cars but they won' t stand up to that. Mostly we talk to the customer who is pushing oil change intervals and tell them what we have saw and why we wouldn't do it.

[DewayneP]

The big thing I hear is "the dealer said the warranty would still be in effect if I follow the monitor". How much of a fight will there be with the dealer when the engine is shot at 50,000 miles because they were doing oil changes every 12,000 miles? There is no way to tell what the monitor was at when the oil was changed, is there? I can see manufacturers using this to deny powertrain warranty claims.

[Jeff]

Most of my customers will still follow a minimum 7k service. And I tell them ya still gotta come in so we can at least check tires, belts, hoses....! ON the other hand I have a lot of seniors ( it is Florida ) that only drive 3-4k a year!! At that rate the car would be 6 years old before it got its first peek under the hood And many folks dont know the difference between the SES light and Maint light ! I get many a panicked call to only find the Maint lamp on! At least it got em into the shop! Give em an education, tell to come see me for "ALL" the services, give it the quick 23 point and send along!

[Joe Marconi]

Most of my customers will still follow a minimum 7k service. And I tell them ya still gotta come in so we can at least check tires, belts, hoses....! ON the other hand I have a lot of seniors ( it is Florida ) that only drive 3-4k a year!! At that rate the car would be 6 years old before it got its first peek under the hood And many folks dont know the difference between the SES light and Maint light ! I get many a panicked call to only find the Maint lamp on! At least it got em into the shop! Give em an education, tell to come see me for "ALL" the services, give it the quick 23 point and send along!

 

I have been thinking that maybe in the future we should create a maintenance interval that does not have to include an oil change. Think about, for customers using synthetic oil and with the direction that the car makers are going extending oil change intervals, you may not see the car often enough to check other vital service items. What about something like this...

 

Basic Maintenace Service (between Oil changes)

*Check tire pressure and adjust

*Check for tire rotation

*Inpsect and top off fluids

*Inspect cabin and air filter

*Check exteriori lights

*Inspect belts and hoses

*Includes multi-point visual inspection

 

ALL FOR ONLY $??.??

 

Any thought? Just thinking for the future.

[xrac]

What price point would you offer?

[Joe Marconi]

What price point would you offer?

 

I am not sure, just got to thinking about this after reading about factory extended oil services and the fact that we seem to base our service intervals around the oil change. There are other services, systems and components that need attention aside from the oil change. People don't check anything anymore themselves and with the self service gas stations, simple things like wipers, fluids and tire pressure are never looked at.

 

Maybe a $19.95 charge to go thru the check list? Another challenge would be to get the consumer to buy into it. I wonder if the quick lube industry is thinking of something like this. With car counts down at most quick lubes, they must be concerned. Maybe we should keep this to ourselves...what do you think?

[FROGFINDER]

I advise my customers to come in every 3-4 months or 3-4k miles so that i can check fluids,lights and tire air for safety.I place the reminder sticker on the windshield and send them a reminder card. I often have people telling me that my oil change price is too high or that they have blank % left on the oil life. If the car is on the drive i then check the oil and tire condition/tire pressure in front of them . More often then not the oil is low and black, 20 psi in the worn tires and the state inspection is expired.

[xrac]

I am not sure, just got to thinking about this after reading about factory extended oil services and the fact that we seem to base our service intervals around the oil change. There are other services, systems and components that need attention aside from the oil change. People don't check anything anymore themselves and with the self service gas stations, simple things like wipers, fluids and tire pressure are never looked at.

 

Maybe a $19.95 charge to go thru the check list? Another challenge would be to get the consumer to buy into it. I wonder if the quick lube industry is thinking of something like this. With car counts down at most quick lubes, they must be concerned. Maybe we should keep this to ourselves...what do you think?

 

How about $19.95 including all fluids or $9.95 plus fluids?

[Jeff]

The problem I see is charging for this service. We as an industry have spoiled the consumer with the "$xx.xx lof with FRE inspection". Now they dont need the lof per the car makers recommendations and we want to charge them for the "free" inspection. That is when we will all be thieves again! Ya Ya I know the doctor charges for the "well" visits...?? I will generally lift the hood, check the tires and ADVISE on the fluid levels. Need a gallon of washer fluid..$2.95, etc. Otherwise thanks for stoppin in and see me again in a month. Make a note in the customers files and call them in a month if they dont come by. Now this probably would not work at the larger shops where ya gotta make the techs times but for me, its just me and my son. Now if I get em coming i with the new belts and filters installed and wantin the "free" then I get a little cranky!

[Brianp]

I use 6 months and 3 or 5k as the intervals. I highly recomend to the customer to follow these guidelines and have a few who use the light or gauge. they are the ones that have to live with the damage done. It wont happen under the warranty it will once it is gone. I almost guarentee a vehicle would make it 36,000 miles on one or 2 oil changes and nothing else. Will it be useless afterwards? Practically but it willbe out of warranty. Its all about educating the customer.