Are Acura, Infiniti, and Buick still premium

Tell them to get in line at Costco, behind an ancient wrinklie, watch and wait. And wait.

I was in engineering school in the mid-80’s, of all my friends that interned at GM in the summer, nobody wanted to go work there after graduation. One of my friend that did work there (he never interned there) quit after 2 months after someone puts a note on his Sentra to tell him to move his car from employee lot to the visitors lot.

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The note came from Nissan legal department :slight_smile:

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Catch me if you can! Let me know if you need help with your new fangled iPhone!

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Buying a used luxury car, even though they have depreciated to the price point of a new premium car espesially Infiniti as I know at motor trader, are still going to carry the same high dollar service and maintenance requirements. Unless you can truly afford a luxury car and just want to buy a used one to save yourself the depreciation vs buying new, you shouldn’t purchase one just because they’ve hit a price point that is in your budget.

Not true. You can get a car serviced & maintained at any reputable/reliable mechanic. You don’t have to go to the dealership &pay their high prices.

A lot of people don’t live in areas where there is overabundance of reputable and reliable mechanics. Now you can technically make it cheaper even with the dealer if you take Acura to Honda or Infiniti to Nissan as the hourly rates are usually cheaper this way, however even that is geographically dictated.

May be but to assume that you have to take the car to the dealership & pay their high prices is wrong.

Again, it’s very situational. You saying that guy’s assumption is wrong in a complete absolute is just as wrong. Like everything else one must do research into options before plopping down thousands of dollars on an item. If someone will go with the assumption that they can get cheaper service at a local mechanic and that mechanic just doesn’t exist, they are going to have a bad time.

I didn’t assume, i provided a fact that one doesn’t have to take a car to a dealership for servicing & maintenance.

But I think you just want to argue today for the sake of arguing.

The individual said the below

Which is a clear assumption that if you buy a luxury car , you have to pay high dollar for service and maintenance. Which is not absolutely Not true.

If you have trouble finding a mechanic or you live in some remote place where they have only a luxury car dealer but no other service station, then that is an exception not the rule.

Some random thoughts… Assuming you want to keep an older luxury vehicle, especially a German one (or really any car for that matter) and don’t have unlimited $$$ to spend on dealer maintenance.

Routine maintenance on the essential items like oil changes, filters, spark plugs and brake fluids. Essential to utilize forums and youtube videos to learn more about your car, common issues and reasonable DIY solutions and prevention that can save thousands of dollars and lots of headaches.

Even if you don’t do the work yourself, you will be educated on what needs done, what to look for and how to see through dealer BS recommendations. Audi WPB charges $350 an hour for labor (+ tax and shop fees). It’s like hiring a McKinsey Partner to work on your 7 year old Audi/Porsche.

For Audi/VW, a basic VAG-COM reader is a must. Also making a list of known issues and making sure those are watched and addressed before your warranty or CPO period ends.

Find a reputable local mechanic that works on German cars. Ask friends, family and coworkers. Read reviews. They exist and can save you thousands. Always start with a smaller maintenance item and see how it goes and note the vibe you get from the shop, owner and front desk staffer.

Or just roll the dice, pay exhurbinant German dealer service shop fees and hope for the best.

These 2 are very different things. I know a ton of service stations around me that I wouldn’t let near my kid’s tricycle let alone a luxury car. And the actual good ones charge roughly the same amount as dealerships because they know their worth and quality.

I mean yes, you are completely right, I can take any car to a dude in an autozone parking lot who will do the repairs right there, charge very little and you’ll never find him again, but that doesn’t mean that there is a cheap mechanic option available.

In my experience, most parts on luxury cars just carry a higher price tag, so no matter who is doing the service (even if it’s you in your driveway), there’s a higher price tag to be had.

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Again, i was not trying to argue the case for the local mechanic or their reputation or their availability based on geography.

I was trying to make sure that anyone reading realizes that it’s a false assumption that a luxury car has to be serviced by the dealer with high prices. That’s it.

Now who’s arguing for the sake of arguing? :wink:

Reminds me of the ‘building equity’ cartoon posted yesterday.

I had brake jobs (rotors and pads) in a 2007 328i and a 2012 Rx couple of years ago, both by independent shops. The 328i costs over $600 and with the Rx it was $250 including an oil change. I trust both shops (more than the dealer) but the German shops are really within 10% of dealership quotes whereas the Rx service was crazy cheap. It’s probably easier to find “cheap” Japanese indy shops that German ones.

I always take Lexus to Toyota dealerships, the difference is substantial.

Depends. Yes for sure German Indy shop work is going to be more than much more common Japanese Indy work.

Here Audi West Palm Beach is $350 an hour for labor (+ tax and shop fees). A couple years ago, I had OEM brake rotor/pad quotes on my '14 A6 from the dealer for $2K+ when I had a routine oil change and final CPO work. And the battery for $650+

I bought top of the line, much better than OEM rotors and cermaic pads (minimal annoying brake dust which is my pet peeve on German cars) and brake fluid (<$400 total). Took them to the Indy shop and they changed them out for $200 an axle including the brake fluid change.

I went to Audi forums and youtube, bought an OEM Bosch battery from Pep Boys and changed out my battery all for under $200 - hidden in the trunk under the spare tire. And I am not good at auto repair stuff. But was good to learn more about the car with an hour of total effort.

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A lot of times you don’t have to pay dealer prices at the dealer. When they tell you the price just look at them like “are you out of your mind?” And most times they come up with coupons, specials, and other random offsets to bring the price down to earth.

Sure, to a point. You can likely knock off 10-20% of the 100-200% inflated price to have a McKinsey Partner rate charged dealer technician work on your 8-year old German car… but then you are playing the overpricedcardealerservicehackr.com game on a ridiculous $300+ an hour labor rate. Genuine OEM parts from the dealer, labor time sheets, aren’t usually very negotiable.

Knowledge is power. So knowing what maintenance is needed on your car and being aware of common issues puts you in a better position at the dealer or with an indy shop or on your own for simple DIY.

Also never hurts to have the “free 87-point dealer inspection” report to investigate line items after the fact and as needed before leaving the dealer to ask the service rep to point out the issue(s) under the hood, get their recommendation, etc. Just to see what they say. Never sign up to do the work when caught off guard with the multi-thousand dollar “dealer recommendation.”