[ronshock]

One would think that if Nissan/Infiniti really believes in the quality of their Infiniti branded cars, that they would step up to the plate and do a Covered Maintenance program. But unlike BMW, Lincoln, Cadillac & Volvo they do not. Even Audi's sad little "first oil change only" would be a little bone they could throw in.

BTW, here's a nice chart from May of 2013 that lists Covered Maintenance programs by manufacturer and the dollar amount that saves the car's owner. BMW is the most comprehensive and therefore saves the most $$ at $2788 over 4/50,000. But most of the others in that time/mileage range are in the $1200-$1500 savings range.

http://static.ed.edmunds-media.com/...maintenance.programs/free.vehicle.maint.3.pdf

 

[Q50Aggie]

How does "believing in the quality of their Infiniti branded cars" have anything to do with whether or not they pay for oil changes? Last time I checked you have to do oil changes irregardless if your car is quality or not quality.

 

[cvipgo]

Infiniti has maintenance service program that you can buy and mostly it's oil changes so its not cost effective to include in the price of the car, specially for reliable cars like Infiniti.

 

[EL_41]

BMW is the most comprehensive and therefore saves the most $$ at $2788 over 4/50,000

This is an excellent question to ask 18 year olds during ECON 101 course. I think most (well, some) of them will be able to figure out that the "savings" which you get with BMW are not actually savings in any way - BMW charged you all these costs up front for services you may never use. What if you total your car during the first year? What if you would rather have these services done at Jiffy Libe for 1/5 of the BMW cost?

Personally it's rather shocking how many adults confuse "included" services with "free" services...

 

[Slurm!]

I think that it is a nice touch that luxury car makers could add to their vehicles. I bet that many people won't even make use of the free oil changes for one. But it does set the brand apart from economy brands, and at this point it would make the brand equal to its luxury competitors. I don't see it as being that big a deal for Infiniti to throw its customers this bone.

 

[ronshock]

How does "believing in the quality of their Infiniti branded cars" have anything to do with whether or not they pay for oil changes? Last time I checked you have to do oil changes irregardless if your car is quality or not quality.

I guess I should have added more or worded it a little differently. I was thinking more along the lines that cars with comp maintenance should be seen more often by dealerships which could up the amount of other in-warranty claim issues that could be billed back to the manufacturer. Lower quality made cars could potentially have many more of those occur than higher quality ones.

 

[Young04]

This is an excellent question to ask 18 year olds during ECON 101 course. I think most (well, some) of them will be able to figure out that the "savings" which you get with BMW are not actually savings in any way - BMW charged you all these costs up front for services you may never use. What if you total your car during the first year? What if you would rather have these services done at Jiffy Libe for 1/5 of the BMW cost?

Personally it's rather shocking how many adults confuse "included" services with "free" services...

But the true savings would likely be some figure in between what is charged for maintenance and what Infiniti would have factored in to the price of the car. To use the BMW example, you think that BMW increased the cost of their cars $2,788 across the board when they introduced the "free" scheduled maintenance program several years back?

I think the OP's point is that at the end of the day, we are paying more by having to pay for maintenance separately.

 

[ronshock]

This is an excellent question to ask 18 year olds during ECON 101 course. I think most (well, some) of them will be able to figure out that the "savings" which you get with BMW are not actually savings in any way - BMW charged you all these costs up front for services you may never use. What if you total your car during the first year? What if you would rather have these services done at Jiffy Libe for 1/5 of the BMW cost?

So you're saying that a comparably equipped BMW vs. an Infiniti is patently $2788 higher in price? I'm not so sure about that. It seems to me that they use it as more of a "loss leader" like a retail store on certain items to get people in the door because they know a certain percentage of people will buy additional goods at regular margin-making prices. BMW (and other manufacturers as well) knows that the dealers can "sell" customers on other services in addition to covered ones. It is mainly marketing, and brand image building. Just questioning why Infiniti doesn't do that as well.

 

[EL_41]

It's a 100% certain fact that BMW added all these costs up front. Any producer or seller of anything that advertises free/included services does that. Somehow it still confuses people so I guess it works. To suggest that BMW (one of the most marquee brands!) has been running some kind of "loss leader" on every single car for decades is very naive in my opinion.

 

[JasonH]

BMW raised their cost on their vehicles.. you are still paying for it... the price of the car includes it...

 

[Young04]

BMW raised their cost on their vehicles.. you are still paying for it... the price of the car includes it...

Yes, but my point is that they didn't raise the cost of their cars dollar for dollar so some savings is likely being realized.

 

[EL_41]

Yes, but my point is that they didn't raise the cost of their cars dollar for dollar so some savings is likely being realized.

If you could find some data to support your case it woukd be helpfull. I agree that I have not presented data to prove my case either. However, my case is a logical business decision. In your case you're just hoping they didn't make the logical business decision...

Even though I dissagree, let's assume you're right. Basically what you're saying is that the "true" cost of service is say $3000 but BMW only raised the cost of each car by say $2500. You call this "$500 savings". I call this "I still have to pay $2500 for something I wasn't going to buy". Why force this on every single buyer?

 

[Young04]

If you could find some data to support your case it woukd be helpfull. I agree that I have not presented data to prove my case either. However, my case is a logical business decision. In your case you're just hoping they didn't make the logical business decision...

Even though I dissagree, let's assume you're right. Basically what you're saying is that the "true" cost of service is say $3000 but BMW only raised the cost of each car by say $2500. You call this "$500 savings". I call this "I still have to pay $2500 for something I wasn't going to buy". Why force this on every single buyer?

I doubt anyone has actually conducted a full on analysis of this so we have nothing to go on other than anecdotal evidence. But I will note that if BMW raised the prices of their cars to the penny, it would simply be too transparent - the same model goes up in price almost $3,000 in one year? Come on. People aren't that dumb - they would simply walk away. Therefore, what YOU say is, in actuality, the illogical business decision.

To add to my point, let's look at other companies that include some service in the price of the car. I am intimately familiar with Volkswagens (first 3 years/36K miles - free service). I definitely don't remember the price of cars shooting up when they introduced this program. Same with Volvo. I know some domestics offer some "free" scheduled maintenance but who pays attention to Ford and Chevy

But at the end of the day you are right - by including (a good portion of) the service cost into the sales price of the car, BMW is, as you say, forcing everyone to get service through BMW. To do that under the guise of a marketing ploy actually makes good business sense to me.

 

[Gandhi]

They don't have to raise prices. They can reduce costs.

 

[EL_41]

BMW is, as you say, forcing everyone to get service through BMW. To do that under the guise of a marketing ploy actually makes good business sense to me.

It makes good business sense *for BMW* but not for consumers. Why would I care as a consumer what's good for BMW? If you care about what's best for a car manufacturer then I suggest you order every single option and pay MSRP.

 

[Young04]

It makes good business sense *for BMW* but not for consumers. Why would I care as a consumer what's good for BMW? If you care about what's best for a car manufacturer then I suggest you order every single option and pay MSRP.

Ummm...first, at no point did I say any of this was a good "business" decision for consumers. Second, and more fundamentally, you got it backwards. Since when are consumers "in business?"

Also, I never said that I, as a consumer, act in the manufacturer's best interest so your little jab misses the mark entirely. All I said that it was a creative little ploy by BMW to make even more $ - hence a good business decision.

 

[ronshock]

- by including (a good portion of) the service cost into the sales price of the car, BMW is, as you say, forcing everyone to get service through BMW. To do that under the guise of a marketing ploy actually makes good business sense to me.

Right. And another thing that is true (though I certainly won't be as funny as to proclaim it as a "100% certain fact" - regardless that I certainly believe it to be true in this area) is that BMW's covered maintenance program directly helps their CPO program - primarily of course with leases. By having vehicles properly maintained during the first 4 years to the manufacturers specifications, the used (or in the preferred industry nomenclature - "Pre-Owned") inventory coming back to market is of a higher quality level than those not maintained as stringently. This helps both the manufacturer AND dealers in generating additional revenue.

 

[EL_41]

" All I said that it was a creative little ploy by BMW to make even more $ - hence a good business decision."

So why are tiu advocating this as a consumer? I'm very confused...

 

[cvipgo]

You can get prepaid Infiniti Elite 2 maintenance on Q50 for about
$1500 for 6yr/90k miles (at least 12 oil filter/changes, air filters, cabin filters, trans oil, and lot more per the book.
$1700 for 7 yrs/105k miles
$1900 8 yrs/120k miles

 

[Gandhi]

Those are not the numbers for the new Q50