Originally Posted by mathnerd88

I would say the techs at Infiniti has more experience with our cars since they work with Infiniti vehicles at all times. They probably see a lot more G35's than a non-Infiniti dealer. There are complicated problems that I feel only a specialized Infiniti Tech can solve.

I have gone to a regular mechanic to get my transmission fluid changed, and all they did was put some Getty generic transmission fluid into my car, not Matic J/S as what was required. As for oil changes, I obviously just go to a random shop and bring my own oil because I don't want to do my own oil changes during the winter time. For simple stuff (battery, regular oil changes) you definitely can go to a local mechanic for those services or do your own stuff. For more complicated stuff, I would much rather trust a dealer.

My local mechanic also does TB cleaning for only $35, which I find very cheap. I'm afraid though that they will do something wrong that could mess up my TB. They may disconnect the cable to the TB, which would cause a TB relearning reset procedure, or accidentally touch the butterfly, or screw it up somehow. At least with a dealer, I can have a peace of mind that if they screw up, they will replace the parts with a genuine OEM part free of charge. Throttle bodies don't come cheap.

Now this is the biggest difference between a local mechanic and an Infiniti dealer. The problem is that you get a lot more peace of mind going through a dealer (and of course, it depends on the dealer.)

My dealer recently spent over $3000 on my car, free of charge even when it was out of warranty because while they were fixing my car, they accidentally broke something and replaced everything with OEM parts. I wouldn't be able to say the same for other local mechanics if that same thing happened (which could happen to anyone here, regardless of how good mechanics are.) I would be happy to spend $50-100 extra for the insurance of something that could catastrophically happen.

Originally Posted by matts08x

100% of what you mentioned is exactly what I addressed above. And it's 100% what Infiniti, or any dealer, wants you to think (and it's not necessarily wrong, it's just not the way to save money). A good mechanic (again, very hard to find) who runs his business with integrity (even harder to find) will not just throw in some bush league transmission fluid in your car without checking, and be able to go home and sleep at night without even caring if it was the right fluid--to use the example you used. I have gone to a local mechanic for years who would go the extra mile to ensure that his shop is using the highest quality parts (and sometimes that may mean using OEM parts of course). He would also stand behind his work 100%, so there comes the part about integrity.

I agree with you; many local shops are there to make a buck and run. They couldn't care less if they ever see you again. Business is business for them. There is no personal connection. BUT, if you find the right local shop, you can save tons of $$$. And quite frankly, I would have more confidence in my local mechanic working on my pride and joy G35x than the people at the Infiniti dealer who want to charge me $1,000 an hour to fix a valve stem on the wheel .