I bought a 2014 RDX on March. This is my first car, and I am new to this auto maintenance. Yesterday I received an email from my dealer saying my RDX is due for service. But MID says nothing. Car has a mileage of around 4800 miles, engine oil life 35%.

Now what kind of maintenance are due every 6 months? Is there a checklist? Owner’s manual says to check several items monthly which I do. Two of my friends bought new cars on the same weekend as me, both have their tyres rotated, oil changed, etc for free from their dealer as a semi-annual maintenance. Since I haven’t purchased any maintenance plan, I’m not sure if I can get any such services for free, or do I even need those services. Trying to schedule a maintenance through acura.com gives me a long list of maintenance items to choose from. This list confused me even more!

 

Follow your maintenance minder and read your owner's manual for what the codes mean and you should be good. There is no need to do anything extra than what the MM calls for on your car.

The dealership is just trying to generate some extra revenue at your expense.

 

Why not visit your dealer, and ask? that will give you an opportunity to make *friends* with the personel, in case you ever actually *need* to have a serious problem resolved - they will know who you are. Just asking does not mean that you have to have any service recommended, performed. And you can ask about purchaseing a service plan, if desired. Continue to read this forum for other maintenance suggestions.

 

Horsemanure.

The letter the OP received is a dealer attempt to refill their wallets.

The car will start nagging you at about 15% oil life to get a service. Generally around 6-7k miles.

Dealers are counting on non-savvy customers to sell unneeded services.

 

any time you get a letter from the dealer and it's NOT a recall, it's a ploy.
a ploy to get you in the door to spend money.

"We want your car! Trade it in now to get the best trade-in value"
yes, they want your car so that you can buy a brand new car that day.

and as you found out the "service due now" letters.
they dont keep track of your mileage and therefore have no clue if you need service.

Dont get hooked, bait line and sinker.

 

What does the manual say?

 

You must be new here It is against the rules to read the manual.

 

Ha ha ha......... That's funny

 

Pheh - nothing wrong with the dealer sending a reminder. Simple marketing using simple estimates of when you might need service. Our Honda dealer did that all the time and usually included a coupon for a discount larger than the 10% I got just for asking.

 

Follow your Maintenance Minder. For your new RDX the first maintenance will be A1. This is oil, filter, top off fluids (A) and rotate tires (1). All maintenance is via the MM.

I would suggest only doing the maintenance listed in the owners manual, not any add ons that the dealearship will offer.

 

+1. You can never trust any dealer. Even for my BMW, that has free maintenance, the dealer keeps trying to get me to sign-up for "optional" maintenance that I have to pay for.

The dealer receives awards every year from BMW for offering "world class" customer service and is a Top 20 dealer in the country, so even the best of them still try to screw you.

 

I wouldn't visit but would call the service dept. and ask. I did just that the first time I got one of these automatic emails. The service guy said no problem waiting until the low oil life percentage triggered it's service notice. Now I just watch for that.