"Free" oil change

Don't blame Hyundai, blame the dealer. You received a premium that the dealer uses to get you to his shop. It has nothing to do with the manufacturer at all. The dealer is in business to make a profit and this is just an enticement to get you close enough to pick your pockets. Buy the cabin filter for about $12 and do it yourself rather that pay the dealer $70 for a ten minute job.

While I was

Most dealers are that way. I never use them for routine service.

Sure I blame the dealership, not necessarily Hyundai, as I mistakenly made it sound. We'll see if Hyundai responds to my experience when and if they read my email. THEN if nothing is done, I WILL blame Hyundai, too. I love my Sonata and will get another one - when the mileage is up around 40-50 mpg, which is entirely within their grasp, like every other auto maker. I did replace the cabin filter with an aftermarket one a couple of months ago, which means it probably ticked them off that it wasn't a Hyundai product.

Using a dealership for everyday maintenance is asking for trouble. In the waiting room yesterday, was a single mom getting her Accent worked on. They talked her into an alignment for $89.99, tire rotation for $30, while she was there to get her free $11 oil change. Of course, that's the dealership's fault.

I did pick up 3 more oil filters while I was there for $6.10 each, which is a bargain even though I bought a couple at a dealer in Pa. a month ago for $5.40. I told them to keep their $1.00 metal drain plug gaskets because I bought 30 of them from germanautoparts.com for $0.11 each. It is the same gasket as Jettas, Kia's, and others.

Why would you blame Hyundai in any way, if they don't respond to your email abou something a dealer is doing? Yeah - customer relations and all that crap. As you admit - it's not a Hyundai matter. It's a dealer matter.

It is. Sad, but true. Required maintenance is one thing but there is a lot of unnecesary maintenance foisted on unknowing people by unscrupulous people. Buyer beware.

It does say 'Hyundai' out front so I would HOPE that Hyundai cares and monitors how well its dealerships treat their customers because ultimately it boils down to how many cars Hyundai produces. Look at the Smart Car. Roger Penske is taking a very active role in monitoring and controlling how the dealerships treat HIS customers. After this morning's news showing every automaker except Honda down in sales, I would hope that Hyundai cares. It also showed that every segment was down with, of course, SUV's down the worst at 37% followed by pick me up trucks and then crossovers. Believe it or not Toyota was down but that was because they couldn't produce enough Pries.

The way dealer franchises work in the US, there is really nothing the manufacturer can do to punish the dealer.

Yeah - I know that in any situation one can always make a case that the manufacturer ought to be concerned for the unrelated actions of their representatives, and to a point that is true. But in this case you're talking about a dealership charging $11 for fees on an oil change offering that Hyundai had nothing to do with and more importantly, has nothing at all to do with the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. While it might be arguable that Hyundai should care about every little thing a dealer does, there is a practical limit to which one should attempt to hold a manufacturer.

Don't bet your house on how much Roger Penske really cares about those customers, despite published rhetoric. Once Roger's business picks up a bit you'll see that "care" drop off in direct proportion.

I bought a new Elantra in Jan. and have had the oil changed twice for free. They gave me five free oil changes for the first year and they are for sure free. No pressure to do anything else no fees.

This was brought home to me the other day when I got four new tires at Sears. As the last entry in the invoice, there appeared "Alignment -$69.95" This was on the replacements of a pair of front tires that had normal wear, no cupping, no uneven wear, at over 60,000 miles, just a lack of deep enough tread. . I had mentioned nothing about a desire for an alignment. I said "no, thanks" and they deleted the alignment. A few years ago, I experienced a large oil leak, and without checking its source, took it to an independent garage where I'd had honest work (at honest prices) done before. They called me a couple of hours later and told me to come pick it up. The charge was $22 and change, for just an oil and filter change. When I asked what the oil leak was, the mechanic said that the oil filter was a little loose and had spewed oil over the engine (they had not done the previous oil change so it hadn't been their fault.) They even cleaned up the engine at no charge. I shudder to think what a dealer would have diagnosed the problem as. I'd probably still be paying for it!

It all depends on the dealer. I'd like to think that most would have done the same thing, give or take the free cleaning. And that's actually been my experience at most dealerships where I've worked. Among seven different dealers, I cannot think of a single one where technicians were encouraged to pretend problems were worse than actual, or one that even knowingly allowed such practices.

On the other hand, selling unnecessary maintenance seems to be a profit-making staple, at dealers and independents alike.

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