Costly oil changes

[Benitoe]

Hi there. I am absolutely new to blogs and in particular this sight so if I am doing something wrong please let me know.
My big complaint about our Smart Car is the cost of oil changes. We live in Edmonton, Alberta and loved our car...little less love after our first oil change.
We have to bring it to the dealer and were charged about $270.00 the first time and $290.00 the second time. Highway robbery if you ask me.
I did complain when they phoned for their customer survey but was told that is what the are told to charge.
Any comments or contacts that I can complain a bit more to ?
It seems odd to me that they would do something ...other than that we love the car.
Thanx
Benitoe

[2smartArizona]

If the dealer is that high, and you do not want to change your own oil, I would find an independent shop to do it. Even on my BMW, and local dealer only charges $90 to change the oil, and that is with 7 qts of synthetic oil and a 13.00 filter.

If it were me, I change my own oil, I never have a dealer do it unless it is free. You can buy 5 qts of synthetic oil for between 17.97 and 23.97 at Wal-Mart, and high end filters are 10 bucks. I know not everyone wants to change their own oil though, so I would find a cheaper place.....the dealer is not the only place to get these things done.

[jediknight36]

I know there have been previous discuessions here about this but instead of telling you to search, here are the two schools of thought on this.

A) They do more than an oil change, they check your car out too in case it needs any in-warenty fixes. Its not just an oil change, its an inspection by a place that is authorized to work on your vehicle and knows it inside and out. Plus they only ask it every 10K miles.

B) Its much cheaper to do it yourself or go to a jiffy lube or similar place and get it done. You dont get the inspection, but it dosnt hurt so much in the pocket book.

Its your choice. Im putting back the cash from my tax return for it.

[SmartTech]

smart pdx only charges 59.95 for oil change and 99.95 for 10k (oil change and inspection) if you want to do your oil change walmart is a great place to buy mobile one! scp-parts.com has factory filters (oil, air, cabin). Even if you dont want to change your own oil you could probably find a local shop to change it for 10-15 with your oil and filter.

[BigWarpGuy]

Perhaps they were using imported French oil made by their finest refineries?

[jediknight36]

Thats about how much they charge here. Might see if I can do the oil myself and let them do the rest.

[2smartArizona]

I would doubt if they are looking for any problems with the car really. Mercedes policy is not to spend any money on warranty fixes unless it is a safety issue or the customer asks for a warranty fix. There once was a time when dealers would go looking for things to fix under warranty, but those days are gone.
My neighbor is Mercedes mechanic, and they only fix things that customers request to be fixed, and only if they are required to fix it under warranty. Wonder what the real smart policy is on this kind of stuff.

Warranties from a third party might be treated differently than factory ones though. I would never buy a third party one though....the companies never last long enough to make a claim.

[C-SMART-C]

You own a smart, but since it is made by Mercedes. Let charge Mercedes maintenance price.

Are you sure $270 is only oil change? Could your check your service writeup to see what other things are included in the $270 total.

Originally Posted by Benitoe

Hi there. I am absolutely new to blogs and in particular this sight so if I am doing something wrong please let me know.
My big complaint about our Smart Car is the cost of oil changes. We live in Edmonton, Alberta and loved our car...little less love after our first oil change.
We have to bring it to the dealer and were charged about $270.00 the first time and $290.00 the second time. Highway robbery if you ask me.
I did complain when they phoned for their customer survey but was told that is what the are told to charge.
Any comments or contacts that I can complain a bit more to ?
It seems odd to me that they would do something ...other than that we love the car.
Thanx
Benitoe

[jediknight36]

Originally Posted by 2smartArizona

I would doubt if they are looking for any problems with the car really. Mercedes policy is not to spend any money on warranty fixes unless it is a safety issue or the customer asks for a warranty fix. There once was a time when dealers would go looking for things to fix under warranty, but those days are gone.
My neighbor is Mercedes mechanic, and they only fix things that customers request to be fixed, and only if they are required to fix it under warranty. Wonder what the real smart policy is on this kind of stuff.

Warranties from a third party might be treated differently than factory ones though. I would never buy a third party one though....the companies never last long enough to make a claim.

Man, your cool but its statements like that that make people wary of a brand like this. I mean, Im sure its true for most companies. I mis-spoke. I meant they are looking for issues with the car. Most of the time, they are maintenance related not warranty related.

[Benitoe]

Smart up here says oil has to be changed every 8000 km (4800 miles) and they put nothing on the bill as to what they have done except to say 3 (2.7) litres of synthetic oil, oil filter (under $8.00) air filter (about $20) labor $200.
As I said earlier, we love the car and the mileage but they simple cost of an oil change tacks on about $50 a month. I wonder how many people realize this when they buy one ?
I also mentioned to the lady who phoned to check on what we thought of the service that if they were doing more than a simple oil change then they should mark that on the bill also....maybe that would cover it over a bit.