As far as I can tell, there should be no difference between changing the oil in my 05 G35 6MT Sedan and a Maxima. We only have one Infiniti dealer in town and they charge double for a G35 oil change then they do a Maxima oil change. When I called around to Nissan dealerships, they charge double to to service Infiniti too.

When I confronted the dealerships, they couldn't justify the increased service rates. The dealership I go to is a Infiniti/Nissan dealership. The same guy that works on my G35 works on the Sentra, Maxima etc. They just said "We just charge more" even though it isn't anymore difficult or more work. I started changing my own oil.

Are you guys finding that with your dealers too?

 

You think Infiniti is bad, try Porsche. I change my own oil because $40 for DINO oil is a joke. However I can understand why they do it. When a dealer changes your oil, they're somewhat responsible for the engine during that oil change. If one of their guys doesn't put the oil pan screw back in properly or forgets the oil cap you can starve the engine of oil and have a critical problem which they're responsible for. It'll likely cost more to replace the car/engine in this event so it's like a built in insurance.

My buddy has HRE wheels on his Audi and NO one will mount tires on them because they don't want to accidentally scratch them. Discount Tires finally agreed to do it but they charged him $75 per wheel as the mounting fee (instead of $10 like a normal car).

I know that's not apple to apples but that's probably why they do it. Hey he bought an Infiniti, he can pony up for the more expensive oil change and we can justify charging more.

 

There is more labor involved for a G35 oil change. One must remove 16 bolts and drop the undercover before getting access to the filter. That's 15 minutes in additional labor. They've got to make money. No one works for free.

 

I am debating if I want to use my "free" first oil change at the dealer. I am very leery of letting others work on my car since I don't trust them (other than my indy). But yea the extra margin could be the ground cover stuff and also since you are using a "higher" tier oil and different checks on the car?

on a side note - anyone using a synthetic blend for oil? I want to convert to Syntec once I get up to 10k miles, but until then use a blend (from what I've heard). Any suggestions?

 

The Maxima should have underpanels as well. My 99 does but it's pretty easy to bend out of the way. I doubt that because the car has more expensive parts, the oil change costs more. The oil and filter should be no same as any other VQ car both Nissan and Infiniti. The labor might be more involved with having to remove panels, but it that's the case, it seems like they would tell you. My best guess is that the dealers have an unspoken agreement to charge more to work on cars they don't sell. That way, they will not steal business from each other.