Maintenance at the same dealership?

[MilfShake2108]

This is my first car and this will be my first oil change ever.

Do I have to do maintenance at the dealership that I bought the car from, or I can just go to any Honda dealership in the city? Will this affect my warranty or anything?

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[ResortCasual]

This is my first car and this will be my first oil change ever.

Do I have to do maintenance at the dealership that I bought the car from, or I can just go to any Honda dealership in the city? Will this affect my warranty or anything?

No...although the dealer that you bought it from might incentivize you into having the service done with them.

Also, some may have had some service appointments baked into their buying price. In those cases that is probably the only time you'd have to go back to the same dealership. Otherwise, you are free to go to any Honda dealership you want - and in some cases even some Acura dealerships.

 

[Billy4202]

Just keep your receipts or your own maintenance log incase you decide to sell before it craps out.

Anywhere reputable is fine.

 

[cypress]

I echo what everyone else is saying. I have 3 dealerships within a 30-mile radius of me. I've had excellent experiences with 1, so so with the other and a horrible with the last one. Each dealer is different. Save your receipts and services records, because many won't be able to see the prior service you had done.

 

[brienp]

I would check with your dealer to see if you get anything special for using them. For example, contracted to my purchase, if I use the dealer I bought my car from for maintenance then tires are free for me and they increase the full warranty to 10 years, 100,000 miles. If I go to another dealer and have the same work done, although its still a honda dealer, its not per my agreement and I lose out on the lifetime free tires and the extended full warranty. Whether or not your particular Honda dealer has any incentives, like mine does, is the real question.

 

[mathdydx]

Just keep your receipts or your own maintenance log incase you decide to sell before it craps out.

Anywhere reputable is fine.

So how do you guys keep logs of your maintenance records for your cars? I used to keep a little spiral book in my car and would write the service that was performed, the date and place that it happened, and the mileage of the car. I still do this, but now just use a spreadsheet on Google Docs. I know there are apps that will do this too, but I like the setup of my google doc file.

I was listening to Car Talk a few months ago where a father called in. The dad kept excellent records of his maintenance in this little book and he wanted his daughter to do the same thing. However, she was reluctant to be as anal as her dad. They made fun of the dad for keeping service records in a little book. But to each his own....I love that I can go on my phone anytime and lookup when a service was performed, especially when the service techs are trying to sell you a service that you know you recently completed.

 

[maaaaackle]

So how do you guys keep logs of your maintenance records for your cars? I used to keep a little spiral book in my car and would write the service that was performed, the date and place that it happened, and the mileage of the car. I still do this, but now just use a spreadsheet on Google Docs. I know there are apps that will do this too, but I like the setup of my google doc file.

I was listening to Car Talk a few months ago where a father called in. The dad kept excellent records of his maintenance in this little book and he wanted his daughter to do the same thing. However, she was reluctant to be as anal as her dad. They made fun of the dad for keeping service records in a little book. But to each his own....I love that I can go on my phone anytime and lookup when a service was performed, especially when the service techs are trying to sell you a service that you know you recently completed.

They made fun of the dad? That's some bullshit. Keeping records is something that is a lost art amongst people nowadays.

Just keep your receipts, log em in excel, put everything in a folder, and when you go to trade in your car and they ask if you have records, show them everything. And I bet you just made more on your trade in then if you didnt.




As for OP, nah you dont have to take your car to the same dealership. They may sweet talk you into doing so. But any Honda dealership is fine.

 

[cypress]

They made fun of the dad? That's some bullshit. Keeping records is something that is a lost art amongst people nowadays.

Just keep your receipts, log em in excel, put everything in a folder, and when you go to trade in your car and they ask if you have records, show them everything. And I bet you just made more on your trade in then if you didnt.




As for OP, nah you dont have to take your car to the same dealership. They may sweet talk you into doing so. But any Honda dealership is fine.

Funny that this was brought up. I was very good about taking care of my 2007 Civic. I bought it brand new and the car was always taken to the dealership for maintenance. Although I had the records, I wasn't very organized and couldn't remember when the service was done and what it was. Took the car to a couple dealers, but they can't see each others records. After 155,000 miles it gets tough to remember what is done.

My dad kept getting on me about this and told me to keep the receipts and log them into Excel to have better records. When I finally sold my 2007 Civic and got the 2016, he gave me a folder with the car records and told me to get started on keeping track of the new records.

I do a lot of spreadsheets for work and business, making it a habit for this car makes too much sense.

 

[sonicBOOMgray]

I would check with your dealer to see if you get anything special for using them. For example, contracted to my purchase, if I use the dealer I bought my car from for maintenance then tires are free for me and they increase the full warranty to 10 years, 100,000 miles. If I go to another dealer and have the same work done, although its still a honda dealer, its not per my agreement and I lose out on the lifetime free tires and the extended full warranty. Whether or not your particular Honda dealer has any incentives, like mine does, is the real question.

I take a nice drive to get to my dealer but it's ok cause this thing needs nothing but good oil changes and I've already learned and have prepared for keeping ALL documentation not done at the dealer.

 

[2016civictouringblue]

Free oil changes for the first year got me to use the service department at the dealership where I bought my 2016 Civic Touring but I would not use them for service after the year ends. They have not been fast or accurate on things, causing me to have to return more than once to get things done right [A small problem with the wipers, a bigger issue with the navigation].

 

[bembol]

Except for warranty, I've never gone back for service after taking delivery.

I've DIY since my second and *knock-on-wood* I've never had issues where I have to prove I've changed the oil.

Lately I just take a picture of the receipt and the oil & filters.

 

[Billy4202]

Wondering why there isn't some way to record maintenance (optionally, of course) within the car itself. That'd be kinda cool.

 

[sonicBOOMgray]

Guys, should I redeem the free oil changes or do oil on my own. My dealer is too far for me to drive but I bought from them cause they were willing to deal the LX Hatch for less then 21k with Honda Sensing. I would rather use Quaker State 0w-20 instead of the Honda Full synthetic and the dealer buys in bulk and I like to use quart bottles or the gallon jug.

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