Hi everyone, as my Mazda car is becoming older and older, I hate having to pay $380 for a service through the official Mazda service dealers.
Does anyone know any other certified mechanics that can do the Mazda cars for cheaper. They need to have all the tools available to upgrade any software and reset the "Service Due" mark to the year after.
Cheers.
Thanks for sharing. Would VTNZ or AA use the correct grade?
Its more around generally what they have available and whether they consider it close enough. Everyone "should" use the correct grade, but reality would indicate this doesn't always happen - especially with some more obscure/less common grades.
What year mazda do you have? There is a hidden menu that you can get into and disable/extend the "Service Due" flag?
Model is 2016. Oh really?
Yeah I have a late 2014 Mazda 6 (NZ New). Ill have a look through the menu and see if I can find it. It 'may' be the same for you.
My 2 cents.
1) You may have a warranty that says you need to use a Mazda Dealer, so check that.
2) Anywhere decent will be able to do what you say.. to be safe find out exactly what grade of oil you car uses/needs and ask them which one they will be using and make sure it's the same.
3) Generally a servicing only involves changing the oil and filter with a bit of a general checkup. It's actually a very easy to do yourself.
Read the manual for your car. I've checked it out for my vehicles and was a bit shocked actually. You can end up paying a lot for minimal work at 'Dealership rates'. For instance on my Hyundai Elantra I got a quote for certain service work to be done by the Hyudai Dealership. They included an oil and filter change. I had done that myself recently so went back to them for a quote excluding that work. The difference was $236 ! Now, the filter costs me about $20 at Repco and the Oil on special is about $50. So you can see why I do it myself. Also much of the 'service work' is simply a visual "Inspect this/that/other" etc etc lots of which is done during a WOF check.
I doubt you have to go to a Mazda dealer for a service for the warranty to hold. Any MTA registered mechanic will do, so long as they record the service history in your manual. It's probably out of warranty this year anyway (5 years?) Remember, the CGA covers you for mechanical issues so long as it's serviced; not necessarily by Mazda. Going to the dealer is a dealer ploy.
Once the warranty ends I suggest doing the oil and filter change yourself, you'll save yourself at least $250 (dealer) or $100 (mechanic) every time.
Mazda dealership = Ford dealership. I have used the latter ages ago and they will charge an arm and leg just to do anything. So yes, you are doing the right thing by avoiding them now.
We use a Mazda dealer for some things; it can make sense but things are incredibly variable. Like they quoted $147 for a replacement spot light lamp which I replaced myself in 3 minutes with a $24 like for like lamp from Supercheap auto. But then needed some other suspension components replaced and the Mazda dealer was significantly cheaper or on par with other local mechanics. So just shop around is the usual answer.
If you hate having to pay $380, I would say have a think about how much you would like to pay. If its next to nothing, the logical answer is going to be DIY, otherwise its likely the $380 probably isn't that dissimilar to what other mechanics are likely to charge - give or take a few coffees - ie everyone needs to make some money from the process.
If you do go down this path; just ensure that who ever is doing it is using the correct grade of oil (not close enough) as I have heard that mazdas can be a little precious about that.
I am in the similar boat; but will just do the regular servicing myself (all you need is some basic tools and a little time), and then the main intervals still take it into the dealer to get everything checked/etc.