Extended oil change intervals.

[ctparts]

How does your store handle this? Do you try to get your customers in for an oil change in between?

Where does the education of your customer start?

I think it should start with the Sales Department. We are getting objections from our customers stating that Sales told them that an extra oil change is not required.

Our cars come from the factory with synthetic oil in the engine. Which should be fine for the extended interval but our customers do not opt for the synthetic oil change when they come in. We would like to see these people more often.

What are your thoughts and are you doing anything about it?

I will post this on the Parts Managers thread as well.

[gmservice1]

I don't know what kind of store you are, but first off we are a GM store. I believe the education has to and does start with the sales department. We do offer our customers free fluid top offs in between Maintenance 1 and 2 services. It's not something we force on our customers, but more an option and GM's recommendation. Most people are responsive to it. The biggest hurdle seems to be getting the staff on board to actually sell the Maintenance 1 and 2 services rather than the old LOF, rotate......

[Richard]

GM has sabotaged it's dealer body with all this extended service interval BS. Oil life monitor, 150K coolant, 100K plugs, no fuel filters.......it's all crap. We are all educated, and we know that GM's doing it to look good in the "cost of ownership" department. In the real world, it doesn't work, and somehow, we have to undo everything GM's done and reeducate the customer to PROPERLY care for their vehicle....

[cdnpartsguy]

I am with a Ford Dealer, and live in a "severe duty" climate as deemed by Ford(Canada). We still recommend maintenance services by the old 5000km interval, even though Ford tells 8000km on '08MY. Sales is on board and the customers seem to agree.

[topshop]

The changes are coming fast.

For what it's worth, a recent article in one of the trade mags (NOLN, I believe) noted that there is not even ONE vehicle currently being sold in the US that has a REAL oil life monitor (one that actually monitors the condition of the oil in the vehicle).

Every car that has an "oil life monitor" is simply doing math estimates based on several factors. For example, you could fill the crankcase with totally junk waste oil and the oil life monitor would think it is just wonderful as long as factors like mileage and so on are within the predetermined range.

I recall being told that back in the 60's or 70's Ford recommended 10K oil changes in their manuals and ended up replacing a lot of engines under warranty and then reducing the interval. Can anyone verify this? Or is it a myth?

Anyway, repairs due to poor lubrication look like a pretty good bet very soon. Even now we do more engine replacements (at staggering prices...to me anyway) than we have in the past 30 years.

Bottom line....reduce your oil and filter inventory and order up some engines...and transmissions and 3rd members (ask someone older what a 3rd member is).

------------------
Tom Ham
AutomotiveManagementNetwork.com

[RKing]

Let's face it, GM is not going to back away from extended services so get over it. It's our job to educate our customers and let them make informed decisions. We have actually increased or service grosses on less car counts by educating on the benefits or premium oils and asking for the sale. Sure we have lease customers who will only do the bare minimum, but 100% of our customers get the same message which increases our possibility of the upsell.

[gmservice1]

Tom, unfortunately I can't disagree more with what you've said. The only two vehicles that I can remember problems due to lack of lube were a '95 Cutlass Supreme with 33k on it and the original oil filter on it (rental car) and a Vibe where the oil filter was completely covered with rust it had been on there so long. These are both vehicles without oil life systems and were improperly maintained. I have never seen a failure on an engine with GM OLS to date as long as the customer monitors the oil level. I follow the OLS on my vehicles and would recommend any of my customers to without a doubt. Why would GM offer a 5yr/100k powertrain warranty if they haven't tested and proven this system?

[GMFXDOPSMGR]

The OLS system has been working on GM products for better than a decade now. I haven't seen any problems with it. Now most customers don't trust it and it works better with the "road" vehicles, but our customers still like the 3/3 services. Our menus give them the option to follow the OLS or we let them "Have It Your Way!" We still sell mostly the 3/3 and then upsale the items as recommended by Maintenance I & II. Haven't seen any problems.
What a lot of customers are confused about is the loss of an external fuel filter..trucks..They want to change it and we have to decline since it is in the tank. They think GM is trying to cost them more to drop the tank, but we explain that it is non serviceable.
Go Figure.....

[Rabbi J]

Well, first, let me say that I work for a Toyota Dealer. We still get alot of customers who go by the "old standard" that Jiffy Lube and most all manufacturers go by...3 months or 3k miles.

Toyota started 5k mile service intervals with certain 2004 models and now, with every model. The advent of the "MAINT REQD" lamp ( maintenance required indicator lamp) has new customers being retrained to follow Toyota's RECOMMENDED service intervals. Those are set directly from the manufacturer.

I would have to agree with what was mentioned earlier though, Maintenance DOES start with the sales department.

I believe that the salesperson should also introduce their customers to an ASM. That way, the service intervals are explained AND the first service appointment can be set.

We also hold New Owner Events every few months to familiarize new vehicle owners with our service facilities and answer questions via a Q&A session with a few writers and techs.

Mainly, we tell our customers that the Maintenance Light is just a reminder light and that the vehicle is due for service.

Vehicles are engineered differently and the tolerance levels are different now. We use 5W30 Conventional oil as a rule. If the customer requests it, we DO use Synthetic.

To date, we have not had any problems with customers changing conventional oil every 5k miles...

[ctparts]

Thanks for the feedback. For full disclosure we have Volvo here and Volvo has a 7500 mile interval. The cars come from the factory with synthetic oil but Volvo does not recommend synthetic with a 7500 mile interval. The owners manuals specifically state that conventional oil will be used at subsequent oil changes.

In our Service Department we have a very competitive synthetic oil change and we are slowly re-educating our customers. But I believe the initial education belongs on the sales floor. Including a visit to the Service Department on delivery.