“One things for certain, almost everyone comes out of a service surprised at something!”
A woman who bought a Honda Odyssey on the understanding that it came with a year of free service turned up for her second oil change and got a surprise charge.
In a video with over 900 views, Amanda (@the.daily.debt.dr) asks in the caption, “Was I silly for thinking a year meant a year?”
“When we bought it [in February], we were told you get a year of service,” she says.
She had already used one oil change earlier in the year.
“I went today because it’s time for an oil change again. This is my primary car, so I do put quite a bit of miles on it.” She says she was told an oil change and tire rotation would be $133.
So, she asked why it wasn’t free. “He looked, and he was like, ‘Yeah, but when we say a year, Honda really just means basically one oil change and one tire rotation,’” she says. “So, I mean, I just paid it.”
Motor1 contacted story subjects. We will update this story if they respond.
Honda’s complimentary maintenance program is called Honda Service Pass, and the Odyssey was the first model to carry it. Announcing the 2023 van in May 2022, Honda called it the “first Honda to introduce new Honda Service Pass, covering select factory-scheduled maintenance for 2 years or 24,000 miles.”
The program announcement published the same day sets out the terms. Honda Service Pass “covers select factory-scheduled maintenance, as indicated by the vehicle’s Maintenance Minder system, performed at a participating Honda dealership for the first two years or 24,000 miles of vehicle life, whichever comes first.”
The plan “includes standard oil and filter changes, tire rotation and multi-point inspections.”
The unit of measurement is not a count of visits. Honda says the benefits are “services determined by the vehicle’s Maintenance Minder system during the plan’s active time period.” The plan is “fully transferable to subsequent owners while active,” so a used Honda inside the window carries it over.
Amanda told commenters her first oil change came at 7,000 miles and this one at 12,000, and that she goes “whenever my light comes on,” which is the Maintenance Minder making the call.
What the video does not establish is the piece that settles it: whether the van is new or used, what model year it is, and whether the year of service she was promised was Honda Service Pass or something the dealership wrote itself. “I’m trying to find my paperwork,” she replied to one viewer.
Plenty of viewers reached straight for false advertising.
“That legit false advertising,” wrote Amber.vs.Debt. A commenter posting as D went further: “I’d blast it on the news.”
There is a federal guide covering promises of this kind. The Federal Trade Commission’s guide on the use of the word “free” says that when such offers are made, “all the terms, conditions and obligations upon which receipt and retention of the ‘Free’ item are contingent should be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer so as to leave no reasonable probability that the terms of the offer might be misunderstood.”
Putting them in a footnote flagged by an asterisk, the guide adds, “is not regarded as making disclosure at the outset.”
Whether that helps her depends on what the dealership put in writing, which is why the useful comments were the ones telling her to go and read it.
“Do you have ‘1 year of service’ in writing?” asked a viewer posting as YO SOY EL AVENTURERO. “If someone told me one year, yes I would assume 12 months free routine service.”
SafiyaSaidWhat was firmer. “Read your paperwork. If they represented and you signed ‘a year of service,’ unless it specifically states one maintenance, they owe you $133 period.”
Eric the Red named the document. “Look at your ‘we owe’ sheet,” he wrote. “If it’s in there, you get it.” The we-owe, or due bill, records anything a dealership promises during the sale but does not hand over on the day.
Her conclusion was to take the work elsewhere. “Now, I won’t go to Honda,” she says. “I’ll just go to like my local place and get a cheaper oil change.”
Commenters pushed back. “Cheaper doesn’t mean better,” wrote Aaron, and Amanda wavered in the replies: “I honestly will probably still go to Honda.”
On the warranty, though, she is free to go wherever she likes. The FTC tells car owners that “you don’t have to use the dealer for repairs or maintenance to keep your warranty in effect,” and “it’s illegal for a dealer to deny your warranty coverage because you had routine maintenance or repairs done by someone else.”
The exception is the one that stings here. “But if the warranty says that the work will be done for free, the dealer or manufacturer can make you use repair facilities it chooses,” the same page says. Complimentary maintenance is tied to the dealer network by design, so the independent shop down the road is always going to hand her a bill. The agency also tells owners to keep records of every service, dealer or not.
Amanda’s own verdict, filed before she went looking for the contract, was resignation. “I thought I was going for a free oil change,” she says. “Joke’s on me, I guess.”
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– The Motor1.com Team