Welcome to Stories of the Mechanically Declined! Every month we highlight a story or situation that reinforces the need for drivers and shoppers to understand their vehicle, how to maintain it, and how it works.
This month’s story comes to us from Edwin Greene, a service advisor at a luxury car dealership in the Greater Toronto Area. Greene shares a simple story that highlights the importance of understanding a vehicle’s maintenance requirements as well as its maintenance and running costs, before you purchase it – especially if you’re a first-time luxury vehicle owner.
The Complaint
Greene said he had a customer arrive a few weeks back in a luxury SUV they’d purchased used from his dealership about a year ago. The vehicle had lit up a message in the instrument cluster, advising the owner that it was due for some regularly scheduled maintenance and an oil change. The customer also badly needed a new set of tires, which he planned to purchase and install during this visit to his shop.
“The customer had owned this vehicle for about a year,” Greene says. “The maintenance system was advising that it needed a little attention in some areas, and the tires were in poor shape, and badly in need of replacement.”
Greene’s staff received the vehicle and prepared a quote for the customer after checking its service records and maintenance requirements against their database.
In addition to a new set of tires and an oil change, the vehicle needed an inspection, some light servicing and lubrication of braking system components, an intake system cleaning procedure, and a coolant flush. Greene’s staff also determined that the vehicle had a burned-out headlight that needed to be replaced.
“The customer asked to see a quote for all work required before we started, so we put one together and showed it to him,” Greene says. “When we did, the customer seemed dismayed, said he couldn’t afford the repairs, and started asking about which of the maintenance really needed to be done.”
The servicing costs were reasonable – a few hundred dollars for an oil change, coolant flush, intake system cleaning, and brake servicing. “This servicing also includes a full inspection of the vehicle, just to be certain there are no other concerns.”
Greene explains that many customers perceive this additional check as a way for dealers to punch up the bill, but that dealing with problems early is a good idea. “For instance, we had this other customer a few months back who was upset that we found a leak in their transmission and suggested they fix it while it was in the shop. It was a leak from a cooling line, which was a pretty easy fix. They declined to have us repair it, and a few months later, that cooling line let go, and the transmission lost all of its fluid and failed. Fixing the cooling line would have cost about $200, but replacing the transmission was several thousand.” The gist? Vehicles are machines made of parts that wear down, and often, you can spend a little now or a lot later.
Back to Greene’s luxury SUV shopper, who didn’t know what to do. He became angry, questioned the need for the maintenance work, and accused the dealer of trying to rip him off.
The big-ticket item was the tires.
“This SUV had 22-inch wheels on it,” Greene said. “It was this customer’s first luxury vehicle, and he probably hadn’t looked up the cost of replacement tires before buying it. With wheels that big, replacement tires are very, very expensive. He was looking at nearly $1,900 dollars, just for new tires – and that was a sale price, too.”
The vehicle also needed a new headlight, at a cost of about $400.
“This vehicle had a xenon lighting system,” Greene explained. “These tend to last a lot longer than normal halogen bulbs and perform better, but the parts are pricier to replace when they do eventually wear out.”
Adding the cost of the servicing to the brakes, the coolant flush, the intake system cleaning, and the (synthetic) oil change for a big V8 engine, the customer’s total bill was over $2,700.
The Outcome
This customer was in over his head, and he knew it.
“He simply couldn’t afford what his vehicle needed,” Greene said. “We see this sometimes, not that often though. Our dealer sells a lot of used luxury vehicles to customers who have never owned one before. And, every so often, those customers don’t realize that a luxury vehicle is often pricier to maintain than a more mainstream car.”
The angered customer decided to simply have his oil changed, for about $120, and left the dealer with a burned-out headlight, badly worn tires, and no servicing performed.
Now, Greene’s customer was driving around in a beautiful luxury crossover with bald tires, one headlight, and overdue servicing to various components.
This vehicle got no intake system cleaning, which helps maintain fuel mileage and performance. No brake system servicing to help fend off potential issues with brake system components and excessive wear. No coolant flush, which can help prevent problems with engine cooling while prolonging the life of various cooling system and climate control components.
Lesson Learned
In all likelihood, with numerous important maintenance jobs skipped over, the customer’s vehicle would experience accelerated wear and a greater likelihood of larger problems down the line. Out of date servicing could also reduce the lifespan of the vehicle, as well as its resale value.
“It’s unfortunate – you’ve got to do your homework before buying a vehicle like this,” Greene comments. “Maybe you can afford the up-front price, but can you afford to keep it running? With a luxury vehicle, you’ve usually got a high-performance engine that requires synthetic oil – and this one had a V8 engine, so it needed a lot of it. Big wheels mean more expensive tires. High-end lighting systems mean more expensive replacement parts. And while most of our customers understand that regular servicing and maintenance help their vehicles last longer and protects their investment, some customers think coolant flushes and brake system servicing is just a money grab, and decline. We often see them back later, with even bigger problems.”
