Maintenance Plan

[Pulpitis]

I just recently purchased a new EX35. The dealership offered an Infiniti Maintenance plan for 3 years, 4 years, and 5 years that covers all maintenance. They told me that I have 3750miles or 3month to decided if i wanted to purchase it. Has anyone done this? Is it worth it? Also, is the price negotiable for the maintenance plan?

[jmess]

Congrats that you didn't fall for the sales pitch. These plans provide mega profit margins for the dealer and minuscule value to the consumer.

Follow schedule 2 in your service and maintenance guide. Don't get suckered into service packs that include things not specified in schedule 2. The EX isn't the space shuttle and schedule 2 covers it for 90% of the real world.

[EibachMBZ]

jmess, not exactly right...I have calculated the service cost and I am a little pissed that my dealer did not mention this while I purchase my car.Yes, the EX is not a space shuttle but with all my calculations for servicing my car at "friend's shop" with "hooked-up" pricing it comes really close to the service plan pricing.The price dealer offer you will be retail, you can still negotiate the price with them and you can't imagine how cheap my brother got his 5 year service plan for.

Pulpitis, you should get it but make sure you ask for a big discount.I am not sure if you can at this moment because we got it before we actually complete the purchase of new car.

[jmess]

So you added up all the schedule 2 service cost and the dealer offered you a better deal? The bundles I saw were based upon service packs loaded with stuff you don't need. It was far simpler to use the pay as you go plan.

[EibachMBZ]

jmess, I guess its all depend on the type of the plan you purchase.We purchase the Premium plan for 60 mo/75000 miles for the FX.Nearest Infiniti dealer is just 10 min away so oil change at 3750 is very convenience for us.Yes, there is a lot of things you don't need since they are just "inspections" but combined with extended warranty it is nice to know the car is covered for long period of time. The best part is everything is pro-rated so you can get your money back when you decided to.FX is not a cheap car to service especially with the 30K and 60K service, I think it’s worth it.

The plan for EX is cheaper than the FX, that is why I wish I have it...

[Pulpitis]

Thanks for the info guys. The plan they quoted me was for premium maintenance. 4 years $2500, 5 year $2900. What deal should I be asking to get?Also can I get the service plan at a dealership that didn't sell the car to me, if they offer it cheaper?

[EibachMBZ]

Hum... That’s a bit high compare to what we got for the FX...We got the 5 yr maintenance plan + the 7yr extended warranty for I believe a little over $4000 for the FX35. (EX needs to be cheaper than that because it falls under different category)Dealerships make money on this, so you should be able to get it at other dealership if they offer you better deals.

[jmess]

To contrast the pay as you go/need schedule 2 plan:

In two years and 17K miles my EX has cost me $330 for service and Nissan parts. I had three dealer oil changes and one dealer wheel alignment. For parts I purchased Nissan wiper blades, engine air filters, and a cabin air filter from an online discounter and installed them myself. In the past I use to do my own oil changes but I am getting lazy.

To keep the costs down I handle the tire rotations and use my own flashlight to do the visual inspections. With new cars there is very little real mechanical service work required until they get a lot of miles on them. The dealers do "safety" inspection during oil changes to drum up additional service business.

I did all the service work on my 02 IS300 SportCross for 3 years including oil changes then sold it back to a Lexus dealer for cash. The dealer resold the car as a Lexus Certified used car. So my service records passed the Lexus sniff test :-)

[Jason Tucker]

Thanks for the info guys. The plan they quoted me was for premium maintenance. 4 years $2500, 5 year $2900. What deal should I be asking to get?Also can I get the service plan at a dealership that didn't sell the car to me, if they offer it cheaper?

Got 60 month 75,000 plan...$1810. I'll have 75,000 in three years as it is a Co. vehicle so the months and 75,000 mean nothing to me. They say I'll save $800 for the service with the 30,000 & 60,000 being the biggies. Basically Infiiniti Corp. says the plan means the dealers has to charge you wholesale labor rates...no mark up.

[jmess]

Got 60 month 75,000 plan...$1810. I'll have 75,000 in three years as it is a Co. vehicle so the months and 75,000 mean nothing to me. They say I'll save $800 for the service with the 30,000 & 60,000 being the biggies. Basically Infiiniti Corp. says the plan means the dealers has to charge you wholesale labor rates...no mark up.

If they include a couple of alignments in the plan then that isn't bad for 5 years factoring in a "your time = money ratio".

[Pulpitis]

Got 60 month 75,000 plan...$1810. I'll have 75,000 in three years as it is a Co. vehicle so the months and 75,000 mean nothing to me. They say I'll save $800 for the service with the 30,000 & 60,000 being the biggies. Basically Infiiniti Corp. says the plan means the dealers has to charge you wholesale labor rates...no mark up.

Did you get that rate at a dealership or through Infiniti Headquarters? If at a dealership, which one? Also, if I would purchase the maintenance plan can I go to any Infiniti dealership to get my car serviced?