I’ve been shopping around for a couple weeks, and a dealer told me yesterday that he thought lessees don’t need maintenance programs because the vehicles are covered by warranty. Realized I never see people discuss them here. Is there a general LeaseHackr opinion for or against maintainence programs (curious about wear and tear also)?
Maintenance is separate from a warranty, so I’m not sure why the dealer was so confused. Some manufacturers offer standard maintenance included in the lease, and others offer packages you can purchase at the time of the lease (usually rolled into the lease cost). Standard maintenance covers wiper blades, oil changes, air filters, etc. that are changed at the normal service intervals. I’m a big fan of them, especially if you can negotiate them down, which most dealers are willing to do. BMW used to have the best in my opinion, until they changed them recently to not cover as much. Jaguar has added standard maintenance fairly recently. It just depends on the manufacturer.
1 Like
I think is opinion was perhaps that his dealership marked the maintenance plan up such that it’s not worth it. (I.e Routine maintenance would be cheaper elsewhere, and big stuff is covered by the warranty).
I already lease a Leaf (with a maintenance plan around $1000), but am in the market for a CUV now and it the programs I’m seeing are all around $2000 (some closer to $2500) which seems fairly steep for routine maintenance. But again, the reason I’m on the forums is because I don’t know this stuff.
This comes down to manufacture and price.
For an inexpensive Honda, Kia, Chevy, etc, It would be a hard pass on any Maint coverage unless it was thrown in for free, close to free. Just not worth the time or the hassle to go to a dealership for an oil change, tire rotation, etc.
If you are looking at a very high end, high MSRP car, it may make sense to compare total costs for the maint plan. I had a BMW 540, and even doing the oil change by myself in the garage was a $150 expense.
2 Likes
You are correct that you shouldn’t pay anywhere near that for routine maintenance. A lot of dealers will try to mark up those plans for profit, but I’ve found them pretty easy to negotiate as part of the lease. You can take your vehicle anywhere for service, but I like the dealerships if you can get it done for a reasonable (not standard dealer pricing) cost. There was a post recently about Mercedes leases (C class I think) with maintenance included. If you use their configurator, a 3 year 30,000 mile maintenance plan on a C300 4matic is $1020, but these leases were negotiated with maintenance included for $10-$11 per month, which is well worth it.
I like the ease of going to dealerships as well, but here in NorCal it seems to be a real sellers’ market. I’m looking at Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Mazda CUVs, and I am having trouble getting anyone to get prices down to what I see people getting on these forums.
Knowing that these mainenence programs are inflated could help.
What about wear and tear programs? I realize they differ from dealer to dealer — are there certain things to look out for with them — in terms of red flags or signs that it’s decent?
I don’t really like the wear and tear programs myself. It really depends on how well you treat your vehicle. Sometimes, the tire and wheel programs aren’t bad but, in my opinion, it depends greatly on the quality of the roads and type of wheels and tires you have. On an SUV or CUV, you don’t have low profile tires that blow if you look at a pothole cross-eyed.
Wear and tear will generally cover any damage beyond the allowed damage at lease turn in. Ask the dealer for the turn in guide which will show things like what sizes scratches and dents would cause you to pay extra when you are done with your lease. If you are someone who tends to have more dings and scratches than that, it might be worth it, but you can negotiate the cost of that too.
1 Like
Am I reading this right? You paid $1k for a maintenance package on a Leaf? I leased one for 2 years and all it needed was a tire rotation.
1 Like
Personally, I’m not one for prepaid maintenance. For a 24/12 lease, it will visit the dealer for maintenance twice. And what if I swap it out before the 2nd visit? Just not worth it, IMHO.
1 Like
Yup. This is why I’m on these forums. I don’t know jack about cars and I’m trying not to get fleeced as badly next time.
1 Like
I’d suggest focusing on which CUV leases out the best for you, keeping in mind if any of them comes with any free maintenance included. If you buy a maintenance pkg, it just needs to make sense if you get a good discount vs what you would pay for the recommended maintenance at the dealer. I hear Tiguans lease out really well. Excess wear and tear might make sense if you beat up your cars, but again I think you’re putting the cart in front of the horse.
1 Like
This applies to me as well. We put fewer than 7,500 miles a year on either of our cars. With the ever-lengthening maintenance intervals on newer cars, that’s once a year trip to dealer for oil change and tire rotation. Worst it cost me over three years for maintenance is maybe $300 if I go whole hog and get the cabin filter replaced at year 2.
However, in this discussion, no phrase has ever been more apropos than YMMV.
Ha! I kill me. 
2 Likes