Manipal Motors: Only our engine oil saar!

[viper_711]

I had a very interesting experience this morning and thought I should share it with the forum.
My Palio 1.6 was booked for 2nd free service at Manipal Motors and an engine oil change is required as a part of this service.
I reached there and the service advisor did his usual routine of checking odometer, valuables in car, dent inspection etc etc and then asked me if there were any specific problems or instructions.
At this point I told him that I will be bringing my own can of engine oil and he should not have the Castrol 15W40 put in the car.
He mumbles some warranty issue and I told him that the oil I would be getting would meet or exceed the standard as mentioned in the owners manual. To this he replies that the data system would reflect that I have not replaced the oil as per service guideline and would create warranty issues in future. He advised me to speak to the Service Manager.

The Service Manager calmly tells me that it is company policy to put only 'authorised' oil into cars. I showed him the owners manual which specifies the grade and recommends a brand called 'VS Max' and asked him if this is the one that they will be using. To which he replies "No saar, we use Castrol 15W40"
He insists that this is company policy and he cannot allow any outside consumable / part to be installed. I ask him to show me his company policy that restricts a customer from putting an equivalent consumable of his choice. To this he has the cheek to reply that it is also company policy not to share any such documentation with a customer. He even spoke to his superior and confirmed that he cannot give me in writing anything related to this matter of company policy.

Now I know that I can get the oil changed elsewhere too. My problem is the dealers refusal to note the fact that oil has been changed as per Fiat guidelines.

I brought the car back and have written to Fiat helpline about this and am awaiting their reply.

Has anybody had similar experiences in the past? If yes, how were they addressed?

[siddartha]

make a scene!, dont take it sitting down.

[dadu]

Somebody had similar issues, I cant remember who, but eventually they allowed the customer oil, use the search pls.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

@viper_711: Check with Rajan (PatchyBoy) who has a 1.1 Palio and he uses MOBIL1 and though there were some issues he made it a point those guys (Cannot remember the Servicing center though) budged to change without any issue.

Also contact Shahnawaz (khan_sultan) as he has a 1.6 Palio, but not sure about which oil he uses, but he might give you some heads up and pointers on your woes with the servicing center folks.

Cheers

[dadu]

Originally Posted by VJ_MAVRICK

@viper_711: Check with Rajan (PatchyBoy) who has a 1.1 Palio and he uses MOBIL1 and though there were some issues he made it a point those guys (Cannot remember the Servicing center though) budged to change without any issue.

Also contact Shahnawaz (khan_sultan) as he has a 1.6 Palio, but not sure about which oil he uses, but he might give you some heads up and pointers on your woes with the servicing center folks.

Cheers

Yes, it was patchyboy and at Manipal Motors only. Read his thread here (Fiat service woes: Whose fault is it anyway?).

Post#1 and #13, they allowed him to use his own oil.

[condor]

It's not just Manipal Motors, but most of the A.S.S centers would be following that method.

They buy the oil in bulk, and sell it at retail rates. Makes it a good contributor to their operating margins. (Most items are handled like this, though).

The service history not reflecting the oil change is an excuse.

[nitrous]

They purchase oil in 210 Litre barrels and charge 1L pack prices(per litre,of course).
Plus oil distributors focus a lot on the garage sector and bend over backwards wrt deals to please them for regular orders.

Thus,lubricants are one of their major profit makers for service centres.

[Mpower]

You have to go to a small garage if you want this kind of flexibility. For all you know there maybe some fine print that says that BYOP is not allowed. I doubt that FIAL will support you in this issue.

At most, they might agree to procure VS max themselves and make you pay thru the nose for it.

[finneyp]

Viper, nothing to worry, goto GreenTracks, Hosur Road (Fiat Tata ASC).
They will do the needful.

[speedzak]

Let's be realistic guys!
This is one method where the service centre gets to make some good profit. Many service centres in the world follows similar practices when it comes to consumables.
As a customer, we are required to follow a service centre's policies which are sane and right. If we aren't happy with a certain policy, then we can't make them change for us. We should choose another service centre who doesn't have these kinda policies/will accept these kinda requests.
If there's a policy(s) which is completely wrong or injustifyable, one has the freedom to challenge it thru legal orders.

I suggest you follow Finney's advice. Take your car there.

[phamilyman]

I see no reason why they should use your engine oil.

How can they verify the quality of your engine oil?

[Raccoon]

I'm really surprised at some of the reactions above. Customer has every right to make a choice of what he wants to use... as long as it does not harm the product and hence result in loss to the manufacturer by way of warranty claims.

I belive they have anti-monopolistic laws which cover this area in countries like the US. Gawd knows when we will wake up and smell the coffee.

Also, it has been my personal experience that service centrers have attempted to use wrong grade of oil (Hero Honda dealer). It is also quite possible that the oil they give us is adulterated with used engine oil, to pump up their profits further. And I firmly belive I have the right to protect my intrests. In fact, here the company's reputation and profit is also a concern as using the wrong oil would very likely damage my bike.

As for the above post of the dealer not being able to verify the quality of the oil a customer supplies... the concern is laughable. Most customers will be bringing a sealed can of oil from a major oil company... so it can very easily be checked!

[DieselFan]

I fully agree with Raccoon. Customer has every right to make a choice as long as it meets the specification of the manufacturer. MASS (Kalyani Motors) where I have my regular service lets you to get your oil, oil flush if needed even engine oil additive which is recommended by Maruti.

I do not think it is right to insist on using only their oil to make more profits there are other ways to make profits other than milking customers like this.

[Raccoon]

Which oil additive does Maruti recommend??

Actually most customers are not intrested in lubes. Most of them dont even know which lubes/coolants/etc has gone in their car!! We in forums like this are clearly exceptions... so I really dont see why these dealers should make a fuss about the v few exceptions they come across and loose goodwill. In fact another thing they can do is keep sealed individual cans and sell them to the customer. They would make profit that way too.. tho I guess it will be less than the loose (barraled) oil they use. Some garages do this. In fact Chowgule Ind, our MUL dealer did this at the 1st service. But they only only Maruti Genuine Oil (MGO) from Servo, etc... which I wouldn't be keen on using.

[Sankar]

Agree with the above two posts. If the oil meets the manufacturer recommended specifications then there is no way the showroom has the right to deny the customer his choice of oil in his car.