Beware of prepaid maintenance packages

Ouch, you got ripped off.
That plan is for 10 oil changes/tire rotations, 2 cabin air filters and 2 engine air filters.
So you are prepaying $2100 for only ~$500 worth of maintenance.

Car Buying 101...
Never buy anything in the F&I office. Nothing. Decline everything, no matter how much they discount the price.
No extended warranties, maintenance plans, undercoating, scotchguard, paint treatments, blah, blah.
This is where the dealer makes their profit on new car sales.

This guys gets it.
 
I also bought my CX5 from Fremont Mazda and paid $2100 for prepaid maintenance - 75000 miles, 60 months. I got a maintenance certificate/letter stating those terms. My maintenance package is called "ultimate 3 / sched 1 / synth oil".

Ouch, you fell right into their trap and got taken straight to the cleaners.
 
That's exactly right.
We were not happy with the Oak-Tree Mazda service. Multiple service issues, e.g. like overfilling oil, not answering their phone, needing too many unnecessary appointments and more. In the last visit, I found out that they never checked the cabin air filter. AFAIK, it is probably the original, as it was not covered by the plan. What piece of mind do I get with "full circle" inspection, knowing they failed to check the filter? What other things did they fail to check?
However, we were a captured audience, all other dealerships in the area will require us to sit in traffic to get there. We take the other cars in our household to a local mechanic, which is honest and does everything quickly.

I will likely replace the CX-5 next year. Coming back to Oak-Tree for service, even only for warranty work, just gives me the shivers. A good enough reason not to get a new Mazda. On the other hand, we have 3 Honda dealerships all within reasonable distance, even more if you are willing to drive longer.

We did not finance the car. However, prepaid maintenance means you finance Mazda / give them a loan, which they return to you over time through service they provide to you.
We used up almost 5 years worth of this plan, so I don't feel that bad. However, I do feel cheated for getting a non-comprehensive plan with no paperwork, which was a simple bait-and-switch scam on the part of Fremont Mazda. Promising one thing then selling you another, then hiding the facts, by providing no plan documentation.

Why didn't you just take your Mazda to the local honest mechanic who does everything quickly, too? There's nothing different about routine maintenance such as oil changes and filters.
 
I think the point here is not what I paid but that I got a letter stating what I bought from the dealer that the OP did not receive as proof of payment.
 
I took the maintenance package on my 2018 CX5 GT and my wife's 2018 Miata. At our dealership, you get all of the paperwork displayed digitally on the desk in front of you, and the guy went through it line item by line item with a laser pen. You are then given a flash drive with all the itemized, signed paperwork on it. There were three grades of maintenance packages offered....silver, gold and platinum. Looking at the individual cost of the recommended maintenance services at the dealership, and considering the fact that I got a great deal because I was purchasing two vehicles there, I got my CX5 GT with the premium package for $29,950, taking the maintenance plan on both vehicles was a no brainer for me. On the two vehicles combined, I'm saving a little over $100 on all the maintenance services up to and including the 60,000 mile service. So far, both vehicles have had two services with zero charge. Everything was covered. So, for me it made sense.
 
I took the maintenance package on my 2018 CX5 GT and my wife's 2018 Miata.
Looking at the individual cost of the recommended maintenance services at the dealership, and considering the fact that I got a great deal because I was purchasing two vehicles there, taking the maintenance plan on both vehicles was a no brainer for me. On the two vehicles combined, I'm saving a little over $100 on all the maintenance services up to and including the 60,000 mile service. So far, both vehicles have had two services with zero charge. Everything was covered. So, for me it made sense.

I don't see how this makes any sense at all for you.

You are only "saving" $100, spread across two vehicles, over the course of 5 years??
What happens if...you sell one of the vehicles before that time, they are totaled in an accident, your local dealership closes, you move far away from a dealership, the service department sucks?
There are way too many what-if scenarios over the next 5 years to justify a supposed $100 "savings."

Besides, the $100 savings isn't real.
You are using the exorbitant, overpriced dealer service pricing as your comparison.
For example, instead of a $75 cabin air filter change at the dealer, you should compare it to a $12 filter bought on Amazon and 5 minutes of your time.

Over 60K miles, your CX-5 will only need...
- 8 oil changes (every 7500 miles) = $50 each, $400 total
- 1 engine air filter (every 36K miles) = $15
- 2 cabin air filters (every 30K miles) = $15 each, $30 total

You paid too much if the maintenance package was more than $450.
 
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I will add you should be able to cancel the plan as well if it doesn't seem to be working out. They prorate the refund. I ended up getting two at my local dealer and then cancelled one of them within 30 days which gave me a full refund. Sometimes they seem like a good idea at the time.
 
I took the maintenance package on my 2018 CX5 GT and my wife's 2018 Miata. At our dealership, you get all of the paperwork displayed digitally on the desk in front of you, and the guy went through it line item by line item with a laser pen. You are then given a flash drive with all the itemized, signed paperwork on it. There were three grades of maintenance packages offered....silver, gold and platinum. Looking at the individual cost of the recommended maintenance services at the dealership, and considering the fact that I got a great deal because I was purchasing two vehicles there, I got my CX5 GT with the premium package for $29,950, taking the maintenance plan on both vehicles was a no brainer for me. On the two vehicles combined, I'm saving a little over $100 on all the maintenance services up to and including the 60,000 mile service. So far, both vehicles have had two services with zero charge. Everything was covered. So, for me it made sense.

Was this at Mall of Georgia Mazda? I had the same experience with the documents on a USB drive on my CX-5.
 
I don't see how this makes any sense at all for you.

You are only "saving" $100, spread across two vehicles, over the course of 5 years??
What happens if...you sell one of the vehicles before that time, they are totaled in an accident, your local dealership closes, you move far away from a dealership, the service department sucks?
There are way too many what-if scenarios over the next 5 years to justify a supposed $100 "savings."

Besides, the $100 savings isn't real.
You are using the exorbitant, overpriced dealer service pricing as your comparison.
For example, instead of a $75 cabin air filter change at the dealer, you should compare it to a $12 filter bought on Amazon and 5 minutes of your time.

Over 60K miles, your CX-5 will only need...
- 8 oil changes (every 7500 miles) = $50 each, $400 total
- 1 engine air filter (every 36K miles) = $15
- 2 cabin air filters (every 30K miles) = $15 each, $30 total

You paid too much if the maintenance package was more than $450.

The maintenance package is good for any Mazda dealership in north America. It states that on my documentation, but my local dealer isn't going anywhere. Sure, if you want to hunt around for parts online and get your services performed by a local shop, you can save some money. But the reality for me is that the cost of the services at my dealership is displayed at the service desk, and if you total those displayed costs against what I paid for my maintenance package, I save just over $100 up to and including the 60,000 mile service. Also, by buying two vehicles at the end of the month, and in my case the end of the quarter, when the sales guys are hot to get vehicles into the book, there are great deals to be had. My CX5 was stickered at $34,300, I got it for $29,950. I can't remember the precise details on the Miata, but I paid just under $2000 under sticker price on that vehicle. So, given the totality of my deal, and our driving profile, taking the maintenance package made sense for me. It might be that I'm only ahead of the game because of the money I saved on the vehicle purchases, but I'm not mechanically minded and my local dealership is five minutes from my house. To each his own I guess.
 
The maintenance package is good for any Mazda dealership in north America. It states that on my documentation, but my local dealer isn't going anywhere. Sure, if you want to hunt around for parts online and get your services performed by a local shop, you can save some money. But the reality for me is that the cost of the services at my dealership is displayed at the service desk, and if you total those displayed costs against what I paid for my maintenance package, I save just over $100 up to and including the 60,000 mile service. Also, by buying two vehicles at the end of the month, and in my case the end of the quarter, when the sales guys are hot to get vehicles into the book, there are great deals to be had. My CX5 was stickered at $34,300, I got it for $29,950. I can't remember the precise details on the Miata, but I paid just under $2000 under sticker price on that vehicle. So, given the totality of my deal, and our driving profile, taking the maintenance package made sense for me. It might be that I'm only ahead of the game because of the money I saved on the vehicle purchases, but I'm not mechanically minded and my local dealership is five minutes from my house. To each his own I guess.

Bluegrass's point makes sense for some of it though. Dealers will charge you something stupid like $50 or more to replace an air filter which requires absolutely no mechanical knowledge, that literally anybody could change themselves in about 2 minutes, and the filters cost $10 on Amazon. So there are things like that that make the overall value of maintenance package not make a whole lot of sense.

On the other hand, if you are not mechanically inclined and are more of the perspective of "time is money", I can see wanting to pay $60+ for an oil change someone else does instead of $35 to do it yourself, but spend an hour under the car. It all depends on what you want to do.

Edit: But at that point, I'd rather pay for the individual service instead of a package that includes bad value items that ultimately don't save me anything and actually cost me more: i.e. air filters.
 
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There*s a sucker born every minute comes to mind here.

I've purchased Automobile Insurance every year since 1970 and used it once.
I've purchased Homeowner's Insurance every year since 1978 and never used it.
I can't tell you how much I wasted on Health Insurance throughout my life.

Heck, people pay for car insurance and then don't used it because they don't want their rates to go up!!!

I think your estimate on the birth rate of suckers is understated ;)
 
I've purchased Automobile Insurance every year since 1970 and used it once.
I've purchased Homeowner's Insurance every year since 1978 and never used it.
I can't tell you how much I wasted on Health Insurance throughout my life.

Heck, people pay for car insurance and then don't used it because they don't want their rates to go up!!!

I think your estimate on the birth rate of suckers is understated ;)

Tell me about it. My car insurance rates just jumped again to $213/month up from $183. A $30/month increase. Just speaking of the last 2 years, 2 years ago it was $132. All they could tell me was "my demographic, too many people moving here and causing more accidents, hailstorms, etc.".

Meanwhile on my side: No accident claims or anything at fault, ever. No tickets since 2010. 1 ticket in 2011 reduced down to a "defective vehicle" which was no points and like $30 fine. All of which dropped off my rates years ago.

Just to drop it back down to $192 a month, had to up my comprehensive deductible to $1000 to mach my collision which is also $1000 and a good way to figure I'd probably never use it.

So what am I paying for again?

Shopping around again, but seems they are all at these screwy rates for a 28 year old male in Denver who is apparently part of the highest risk demographic even though I am historically very low risk.

All they can do for me now is drop coverages which I am not willing to do, or else use some tracking app on my phone to "save up to 20%" when I drive and I just am not on board with that sort of thing. Besides I'm sure they'd ding me or something for not taking 10 minutes to accelerate from a stop like I am a grandpa driver or something.
 
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if you want to hunt around for parts online and get your services performed by a local shop, you can save some money. But the reality for me is that the cost of the services at my dealership is displayed at the service desk, and if you total those displayed costs against what I paid for my maintenance package, I save just over $100 up to and including the 60,000 mile service...

Maintenance plans should only be purchased if...
- You are OK with paying 4x more than necessary for routine maintenance at the dealer.
- Want to lock yourself into having to have all maintenance done at the dealer for the next 5 years.

Unless you have money to burn, these plans don't make sense. You could save much more than that $100 on just 1 cabin air filter change for your two cars.
It only requires 2 minutes to order the filter on Amazon and 2 minutes to install it.


considering the fact that I got a great deal because I was purchasing two vehicles there...
It might be that I'm only ahead of the game because of the money I saved on the vehicle purchases,
You played right into the dealer's hands, by falling for their sales pitch on these overpriced packages.
Dealers are willing to discount the vehicle price because they can make it up on the back end when you purchase these extremely high margin add-ons.
This is one of the oldest dealer tricks in the book.

How much did you pay for both maintenance plans? $3000? $4000?
All of that money is pure profit funneled back into the dealership. In other words, you essentially paid close to MSRP for your CX-5.
 
Tell me about it. My car insurance rates just jumped again to $213/month up from $183. A $30/month increase. Just speaking of the last 2 years, 2 years ago it was $132. All they could tell me was "my demographic, too many people moving here and causing more accidents, hailstorms, etc.".

Meanwhile on my side: No accident claims or anything at fault, ever. No tickets since 2010. 1 ticket in 2011 reduced down to a "defective vehicle" which was no points and like $30 fine. All of which dropped off my rates years ago.

Just to drop it back down to $192 a month, had to up my comprehensive deductible to $1000 to mach my collision which is also $1000 and a good way to figure I'd probably never use it.

So what am I paying for again?

Shopping around again, but seems they are all at these screwy rates for a 28 year old male in Denver who is apparently part of the highest risk demographic even though I am historically very low risk.

All they can do for me now is drop coverages which I am not willing to do, or else use some tracking app on my phone to "save up to 20%" when I drive and I just am not on board with that sort of thing. Besides I'm sure they'd ding me or something for not taking 10 minutes to accelerate from a stop like I am a grandpa driver or something.

I tell you what REALLY stinks is that some underwriters have started pulling customer's credit scores and deciding that those of poor credit are higher risk and deserve higher rates.

I have a friend who ran into hard times, and Allstate jacked up his rates solely based on his FICO drop. Being a long-term customer is meaningless.
 
At our dealership, you get all of the paperwork displayed digitally on the desk in front of you, and the guy went through it line item by line item with a laser pen. You are then given a flash drive with all the itemized, signed paperwork on it.

Great idea. Hope more will do it in the future.
 
Maintenance plans should only be purchased if...
- You are OK with paying 4x more than necessary for routine maintenance at the dealer.
- Want to lock yourself into having to have all maintenance done at the dealer for the next 5 years.

Unless you have money to burn, these plans don't make sense. You could save much more than that $100 on just 1 cabin air filter change for your two cars.
It only requires 2 minutes to order the filter on Amazon and 2 minutes to install it.



You played right into the dealer's hands, by falling for their sales pitch on these overpriced packages.
Dealers are willing to discount the vehicle price because they can make it up on the back end when you purchase these extremely high margin add-ons.
This is one of the oldest dealer tricks in the book.

How much did you pay for both maintenance plans? $3000? $4000?
All of that money is pure profit funneled back into the dealership. In other words, you essentially paid close to MSRP for your CX-5.

Nope. Both plans came in at just under $2400 combined. Still a lot of dealer profit there, but if you want to deduct that off the CX5 deal, I'm still ahead of the game. Plus I got a 'family loyalty deduction' of $1000 because I was buying two cars, and I was close to $2000 under sticker on her Miata. I'm not saying it's a great deal on paper, guys, of course it can be done cheaper, especially if you are mechanically minded and change things out yourself. I'm not interested in messing around with cars, I just like to drive them. I'm not a sucker though, and I came out of this deal pretty well.
 
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