[scanboy]

Went to the dealer for DTC warning today, and was gonna get my first maintainance done, but service guy refuse to do the maintainance. I told him my car is over 1 year and has 12k on it, but he insist that I do it only when the car's computer tells me to. I thought we get oil change once a year? Is there any written proof that says owners are entitle to oil change once a year?
FYI, I went to South Bay BMW.

[Haywire]

well i just got off the phone with my dealership (canada) and this is what i was told. after the first year and a day, you are entitled to an oil change once a year, regardless whether or not your car has prompted you to take the vehicle in for service.

if youre like me and ownership of the vehicle is in its first year, you are NOT given that oil change...you would have to wait 12 months and a day before you were able to take advantage of that spiff. the garage also advised me that oil changes are good around 15ooo in areas where theres a lot of humidity (which is almost EVERYWHERE nowadays lol) he didnt recommend that you wait til the car prompts you for that first change, but he didnt stress the importance of getting the oil outta there before the prompt either.

Oil change at my dealership is $116 bucks, not too shabby...i had heard 2oo plus bucks.

* how bad is it to put a car away for a few months WITHOUT changing the oil?

P.s, hope this helps.

[scanboy]

mine is way past 12 months, I'm in my 15 months already, but he still insist that I wait.

Originally Posted by Haywire

well i just got off the phone with my dealership (canada) and this is what i was told. after the first year and a day, you are entitled to an oil change once a year, regardless whether or not your car has prompted you to take the vehicle in for service.

if youre like me and ownership of the vehicle is in its first year, you are NOT given that oil change...you would have to wait 12 months and a day before you were able to take advantage of that spiff. the garage also advised me that oil changes are good around 15ooo in areas where theres a lot of humidity (which is almost EVERYWHERE nowadays lol) he didnt recommend that you wait til the car prompts you for that first change, but he didnt stress the importance of getting the oil outta there before the prompt either.

Oil change at my dealership is $116 bucks, not too shabby...i had heard 2oo plus bucks.

* how bad is it to put a car away for a few months WITHOUT changing the oil?

P.s, hope this helps.

[darkphantom]

wait, so after the first year and a day, I am entitled to do so, as is the OP, so why would we be refused?

[darkphantom]

I have 6500 miles...

[Haywire]

Originally Posted by damadama

I'd find whatever u need in writing somewhere and go back to them with a more firm approach.

I think its absolutely absurd that they only schedule oil changes every 15k miles and yet they advertise zero maintenance cost for oil changes up to 50k miles. Do they really think its good to run engines 15k on no oil change? Most other manufacturers seem to recommend like every 5k and I know lots of ppl that want to do them every 3k.

as far as every 3oook, thats a waste... these engines are efficient, i dont see any practical need for it but what do i know.

Unless AMERICAN policy is different from CANADIAN policy (which i doubt) he is simply bullshiatting you... after one year, no matter what the mileage...you are entitled to ONE oil change! Now if you already had an oil change after your first year...thats it, you would have to pay for a second.

I wont be prompted to have my oil changed this year because im at 17ooo and my car is put away for the winter already. but next may, my purchase date...i will be entitled to my FIRST free change whether or not the car tells me to.

now if i get prompted to do the next one before the year is out...im guessing ill have to pay because i already pushed my initial change forward.

* BUT MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ONE OIL CHANGE A YEAR, prompt or not after your FIRST FULL YEAR OF OWNERSHIP under your warranty.

[SoCalTech]

Originally Posted by scanboy

Went to the dealer for DTC warning today, and was gonna get my first maintainance done, but service guy refuse to do the maintainance. I told him my car is over 1 year and has 12k on it, but he insist that I do it only when the car's computer tells me to. I thought we get oil change once a year? Is there any written proof that says owners are entitle to oil change once a year?
FYI, I went to South Bay BMW.

PM me with which service writer you talked to, your name, and any relevant info, and I'll try to see why they refused you.

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by damadama

I'd find whatever u need in writing somewhere and go back to them with a more firm approach.

I think its absolutely absurd that they only schedule oil changes every 15k miles and yet they advertise zero maintenance cost for oil changes up to 50k miles. Do they really think its good to run engines 15k on no oil change? Most other manufacturers seem to recommend like every 5k and I know lots of ppl that want to do them every 3k.

This topic has been beaten to death!
We are not driving a Ford or Toyota.
We are not running these engines with regular oil.

We are driving a BMW with VANOS with fully synthetic oil.
Do you know that the next oil change is calculated by how you actually drive your car? It's not a random number. I don't know if BMW changed the method but it used to be an algorithm based on the average MPG. The better the MPG the longer the interval--the lower the shorter. This makes sense.

I am a statistician for the Department of Defense and I perform statistical analysis on items used out in the fleet to see when the appropriate interval is to calibrate.
I'm sure the same has been done with BMW.
If they have determined that a 15k oil change is sufficient then I have no problem with that.

If you do have a problem with this then you have every right to change the oil yourself and pay for it yourself.

Sometimes I determine that a calibration interval for a test instrument is 36 months, but if people want to calibrate it every 18 months then that's fine. They are just wasting money since there's no need.

Yes, I agree that if you are tracking your car on a regular basis then it's a good idea to change more frequently but for a daily driver, it's fine.

[scanboy]

The reason I post is because he claims that I get the wrong info from whatever source I got that (oil change/yr) from. He was telling me that the oil change/yr is "recommended" for "older" cars and told me that he could give me an oil change etc. but I'll have to pay for it. At that point I wasn't too happy about it and was thinking of getting some solid written proof and show it to his face when I go pick up the car, that's y I wanted to know if anyone would know where I can find something that's written proof about this. I've only read about this oil change/yr from this site, so hoping someone here might know.

[Mr. 5]

Every time you start your car, you will see how long left you have before your oil change is due.
That's the proof and that's what the dealer goes by.

Now, there are certain cars that are different. The M3 gets an oil change after the first 1200 miles. Then the next one is about 15k miles after that.

I do tons of freeway driving. When I had 10k miles on my car, my OBC said that I had 10k miles left for the oil change.
I occasionaly track my car and I didn't want to go 20k miles before an oil change so I did it myself.
No harm no faul.

[scanboy]

Thanks for the input. I actually have no problem doing it at 15k or whenever the car tells me to, I was a little unhappy that I have to make a second trip when I'm not too far from 15k and based on what I've read on this site, I was expecting to get an oil change, but.... anyway, just want to see if there any thing written about this that's all.

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

This topic has been beaten to death!
We are not driving a Ford or Toyota.
We are not running these engines with regular oil.

We are driving a BMW with VANOS with fully synthetic oil.
Do you know that the next oil change is calculated by how you actually drive your car? It's not a random number. I don't know if BMW changed the method but it used to be an algorithm based on the average MPG. The better the MPG the longer the interval--the lower the shorter. This makes sense.

I am a statistician for the Department of Defense and I perform statistical analysis on items used out in the fleet to see when the appropriate interval is to calibrate.
I'm sure the same has been done with BMW.
If they have determined that a 15k oil change is sufficient then I have no problem with that.

If you do have a problem with this then you have every right to change the oil yourself and pay for it yourself.

Sometimes I determine that a calibration interval for a test instrument is 36 months, but if people want to calibrate it every 18 months then that's fine. They are just wasting money since there's no need.

Yes, I agree that if you are tracking your car on a regular basis then it's a good idea to change more frequently but for a daily driver, it's fine.

[scanboy]

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

Every time you start your car, you will see how long left you have before your oil change is due.
That's the proof and that's what the dealer goes by.

I know (learned that today), but didn't know they are so strict on this.
I was talking about proof of the oil change/yr deal, as I'm not too sure now if this is true.

[SoCalTech]

In case you missed post #8, pm me which writer you dealt with and your name, and I'll try to figure out what happened.

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by scanboy

I know (learned that today), but didn't know they are so strict on this.
I was talking about proof of the oil change/yr deal, as I'm not too sure now if this is true.

Yep, one time I went in to get something fixed and I had 1300 miles left for the oil change. They wouldn't do it.
I was pissed but they didn't care.

[Kodak]

You are entitled to a free annual oil change regardless of mileage for 4 years if you purchased a new car, its called "Low mileage annual oil change" as per BMW.
I would recommend that whatever BMW location you plan to have any work done , ask them to perform a " Standard Scope" using your key FOB , and to give you a copy of the "Print Key Data', this copy will show you what services are due for your vehicle.

If they still refuse, I would suggest you call BMWNA directly in front of him or speak to his supervisor , get his name if they still refuse , then call BMWNA.


oil change
Went to the dealer for DTC warning today, and was gonna get my first maintainance done, but service guy refuse to do the maintainance. I told him my car is over 1 year and has 12k on it, but he insist that I do it only when the car's computer tells me to. I thought we get oil change once a year? Is there any written proof that says owners are entitle to oil change once a year?
FYI, I went to South Bay BMW.

[SoCalTech]

A standard scope has nothing to do with the key fob. A standard scope is interrogating the fault memory, resetting the service lights with the tester, then clearing the fault memory.
And the low mileage oil service does not show up on the key reader.

[NaTuReB0Y]

re: oil change --- every 20,000+ miles for me..........from my dealer

total of two free oil changes during the free maintenance program in 3 1/2 year of ownership.

but 7 warranty work done on the car.........

warranty

free maintenance

[scanboy]

Originally Posted by Kodak

You are entitled to a free annual oil change regardless of mileage for 4 years if you purchased a new car, its called "Low mileage annual oil change" as per BMW.
I would recommend that whatever BMW location you plan to have any work done , ask them to perform a " Standard Scope" using your key FOB , and to give you a copy of the "Print Key Data', this copy will show you what services are due for your vehicle.

This is good info, where is this printed? in the user manual? what page?

[scanboy]

Originally Posted by SoCalTech

In case you missed post #8, pm me which writer you dealt with and your name, and I'll try to figure out what happened.

Do you work for BMW dealer? I appreciate the offer, but since you're not involved in the "service I didn't get", couldn't he just ignore you/refuse to talk to you? Anyway, I just want to be in a better position next time I go in for some stupid warning.

[Kodak]

I don't believe its in the manual, but the last time I went to BMW because I received a call from a different dealer stating that my annual oil change is due.
I went to the closest dealer and asked them If they can tell me if I was really due , they asked for my key FOB and printed it out for me the ' Print Key Data' copy with a list of any service due which shows an approximate date/mileage due.It is true that it does not show if it needs the 'Annual oil change'. But at least you would know what and when certain services would be due.

**If the dealer still refuses, call BMWNA right in front of them.

Below is some info that might assist you regarding the oil changes.

"BMW mandates a low mileage oil change after 1 year in service.
i would check with another dealer....there's an SIB for it:

BMW issued SI 00 04 01 on October 25, 2001 to
clarify the oil change situation for low annual mileage owners.


“A limited number of BMW owners accumulate very
low mileage on their BMWs annually, in some situations insufficient for the
Service Interval Indicator System to call for an Oil Service or Inspection.
However, all BMWs should have an engine oil change at a minimum of once a year,
regardless of whether synthetic or petroleum-based oil is used.”


As a part of the BMW Maintenance Program your
dealer should perform the annual oil service and update/stamp the Service and
Warranty Information Statement but SHOULD NOT RE-SET THE SERVICE INDICATOR
SYSTEM.


If your driving pattern remains constant (i.e.,
low mileage) the Service Interval Indicator System will under most circumstances
( i.e., excluding really low annual mileages) call for an Oil Service within the
next 12 months at which time your BMW Center’s service department should perform
the oil service (including oil filter replacement), update/stamp the Service and
Warranty Information Statement and RE-SET THE SERVICE INDICATOR SYSTEM.



If the annual oil service occurs within 60 days
of the time when the Service Indicator System would call for an Oil Service or
Inspection, then the upcoming service should be performed and the Service
Indicator System reset.


In situations where you request a more frequent
oil service (at your own expense) than as called for by the Service Interval
Indicator System, the same logic applies – your dealer should not reset the
Service Indicator System until the maintenance is performed that is called for
by the System. This is especially critical for vehicles still covered by the BMW
Maintenance Program. "


Please see your BMW Center’s service department
for more details or questions.
__________________

Originally Posted by scanboy

This is good info, where is this printed? in the user manual? what page?

[SoCalTech]

Originally Posted by scanboy

Do you work for BMW dealer? I appreciate the offer, but since you're not involved in the "service I didn't get", couldn't he just ignore you/refuse to talk to you? Anyway, I just want to be in a better position next time I go in for some stupid warning.

I am a technician at South Bay BMW. I just wanted to try to help you out and figure out how we could get the service done for you.

[piezo]

While the SIB referenced in post #21 ought to be sufficient clear up the SA's confusion, you can always show them the boldface note from the service and warranty supplement:

Note: Change oil at least once a year.

It's just past the description of CBS indicators on models w/ iDrive (~p.6)

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...antyBooks.aspx