You want to take care of your car to the best of your ability, and this often means choosing where to bring it for both routine maintenance and unscheduled repairs. Whether your car is fairly new or aged like a fine wine, you likely struggle between having your car serviced at a dealership or at a friendly local mechanic. While there are certainly times when it makes sense to bring your car to the neighborhood garage, there are many circumstances where the best option is to make use of your dealership's service department.

Regular Maintenance Inside Your Warranty Period

If you drive a new car that's still under warranty, then regular maintenance such as oil changes and spark plug replacements should be handled at your dealership when possible. This is a good idea even if your particular manufacturer does not offer a maintenance warranty. By following your manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule and having this work performed at the dealership, you can help guarantee that any future maintenance claims will go smoothly. Some manufacturers even require that basic service be performed at dealerships for full warranty coverage.

Any Warrantied Work

It should go without saying, but work performed during your warranty period should always be handled by your dealership. Some owners may be tempted to have seemingly minor and cheap problems handled by a more conveniently located mechanic, but I can often be difficult to judge the severity of a problem before a trained technician has diagnosed it. Any unusual issues with a new, warrantied car should always be handled by a dealership service department.

Complex Work Requiring Manufacturer-Only Parts

Even if you are outside of your warranty period, some work should be performed by trained dealership technicians. This is especially true if you are dealing with a major problem, such as issues with your transmission or steering rack. Often, these parts are only available through the dealership and independent mechanics may not have as much experience working with them. Since the parts need to be ordered directly through the dealership network, it is unlikely that you will save any significant amount of money by having the work performed elsewhere.

Manufacturer-Specific Diagnostics

All modern cars make use of a standardized diagnostics system called On-Board Diagnostics II (OBDII), but many manufacturers use their own specific set of standards as well. In some cases, these manufacturer-specific diagnostics can provide drastically more information to technicians. This allows problems to be diagnosed much more quickly, reducing the amount of labor that needs to be spent diagnosing an issue. The equipment and software that is needed to interface with these systems are often not available to independent mechanics, making the dealership a much better option.

For more information, contact a company like Grey Chevrolet Inc today.

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