Dealership or Jiffy Lube

[aekdb1564]

My daughter has a 3 year old Mazda CX-5 and the dealer has her convinced she should ONLY have her maintenance done there. I'm talking oil changes, alignments, etc. What's your take? I said on anything other than when you need OEM parts, you're fine. But dad's are wrong a lot...lol

 

[wlong01]

I'd skip Jiffy Lube. Too many horror stories. Find a competent shop or use the dealer.
I've only taken my two CX-5's to the dealer, it's about the same price for oil, rotations, alignments, tires, etc. They have a nice lounge with free drinks, wide screen TV and they're fairly fast plus you build up goodwill with them if you ever need them to go to bat with corporate Mazda.

 

[Mazdiod2]

They don't need much, so unless the dealer is fabricating problems or extra expensive extra services she shouldn't need to see them very often.

 

[BoomerZoomr]

I also would avoid quickie lube places… many more horror stories there than dealerships or dedicated mechanic shops. I use the Mazda dealership, but there is a Nissan dealership in my area that does synthetic oil changes for around $45… and it doesn’t have to be a Nissan. Check around if price is important.

 

[Jmaz]

For a three year old CX-5 that's still within power train warranty I'd use the dealer and avoid the quick lube places like the plague. At the dealer the service will be (or should be) correctly done and documented and most likely some other things checked (with a hard copy) as part of the process and maybe get a decent car wash thrown in too. And maybe the occasional tire rotation also. At least that's what I got for the first 6 years after purchasing mine. After that went back to doing oil changes again myself.

The mention of Jiffy Lube reminded me of years ago having a company car in for an oil change at JL, and while in the waiting room, watching some young guy trying to upsell a transmission flush to an elderly woman. The thought of some "kids" getting into my car's transmission lines (CX-5 is safe here) to do a flush is a scary thought. Then there's the air filter, cabin filter and windshield wiper upsell.

 

[theblooms]

This is the deal with Quick Lube joints: they will NEVER use the correct oil filter for your motor. Ever. They only have 4 or 5 SKU's of oil filters, and they pick whichever one physically threads onto your car, with ZERO regards to wether or not it's actually the right rating for your car.

They also use the cheapest bulk grade oil they can get, and it's never going to be synthetic like nearly all new cars require.

Avoid those places.

Simply find a good local independent, have him do the work.

 

[N7turbo]

They also use the cheapest bulk grade oil they can get, and it's never going to be synthetic like nearly all new cars require.

At least Jiffy Lube does use synthetic oil. I can't speak for others.

But yes I would prefer the dealership. Here, the maintenance shop is called Quick Lane and operates on most vehicles but is attached to the dealership.