Hi, board. Owner of '09 Sonata. Due for my first 'complimentary' 3000-mi oil change from Dealer. Tough thing, I'm very much outside of location where I purchased it (Dealer in NJ, I'm now up in Rochester NY temporarily) The question is (for some reason this was tossed around and ignored by my dealer), if I decided to do oil change myself or a Jiffy-Lube type establishment, would this jeopardize or invalidate my warranty? I never got a straight answer from anyone. What precautions/logging should I take to avoid a headache from dealer high time a big warranty job comes up...?

(ha ha scenario)

"...oh, the engine pooped out"

"Records show You didn't get oil change from us initially"

"Ummm, I was like 500 miles away, and was at 3000+ so I opted for the Jiffy Lube. Here's the receipts with all mileage and whatnot"

"Well, that's your problem isnt it, now who goes 500 miles away from their dealer when an oil change is due anyways?" (I know, but this logic could exist, in the perfect world)

"Warranty?"

"NO!"

Laughs, MT

 

Short term I would contact the local Hyundai dealership in Rochester. I bet they will honor the 3,000 complimentary oil change, just do not say how temporary your situation is there.

Long term, Hyundai actually encourages some do it yourself maintenance. Chapter 6 of your owners manual is titled "DO-IT-YOURSELF MAINTENANCE". This section will tell what service items you can deal with and which ones are suggested for dealer service. After you read that section, read Chapter 5, "VEHICLE MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS". My 08 Sonata also came with a small service record log book that I have made entries into, but I'm also cautious about saving receipts. I understand Hyundai is a stickler about using genuine parts, including filters. Personally, I plan on performing most of my own oil and filter changes, maybe spark plugs, but having the dealership service the car every 30K. So long as I keep records of the service, my local service manager was OK with that schedule as a compromise. I am sure he is making a list and checking it twice for my first 30K visit.

Jiffy or Quicky Lube businesses? I understand many people do not have time, skills or tools to service their own cars, so these place are handy. I have seldom used them, and the few times I did, nearly always had problems or issues to deal with. I now avoid using such places. Regardless, no Jiffy lube place will stock Hyundai filters and Hyundai has been adament about using their OEM filters (http://jerrystout.us/sonata/tsb/afte...%20filters.pdf).

I also suggest you read some of the threads on this and other Hyundai forums regarding dealerships. Some (like mine) appear to be fairly pragmatic about warranty service whereas there are those that look for any excuse to deny a warranty claim. This situation would be true for any make of car you purchase in the U.S. Hyundai does not require that you have warranty work done at the orginal dealership the car was purchased at. If you do end up with a warranty claim, it never hurts to contact more than one dealership to see if you are being treated fairly.