Q regarding leasing and service

[astroboy]

the bolt is the first car i've ever leased.

i contacted GM and GM financial with this question and they were unable to answer.

am i contractually obligated to bring the car in for service?

as an aside, the original dealer has me scheduled for september, which doesn't make sense - i am on an 8k mile/yr lease and the service interval seems to be 7500 miles. i want to cancel this service appointment and re-schedule next year when i'm closer to 7500 miles with another dealership. but that got me wondering, what happens if i never bring the car in for service? as you know EVs need little to no maintenance anyway, so the whole thing is mostly a waste of my time...

 

[LeftieBiker]

You are obligated to have the car serviced, but it can be done by any mechanic, or even yourself, as long as you document it. Few leasing services do much to verify it, though. You can also follow whichever service schedule applies to you, which is usually the "light" one. Dealers always use the "severe" schedule to schedule service, as it makes them more money.

 

[astroboy]

thanks - so since the local chevy dealer's website popped up with '7500 mile' service when i tried to schedule, i'll take it in near 7500mi.

 

[LeftieBiker]

That's fine. And if it is a few miles over 7500, that won't void the warranty either.

 

[sgt1372]

You are NOT "contractually" obligated to bring your car into a Chevy dealer for service.

You are only contractually obligated to maintain the car in "good order and repair" and"maintain and keep in the vehicle a record of all maintenance performed on the vehicle. " This is stated in Paragraph 23 (g) of my GM financial lease agreement.

However, the only maintenance required for the Bolt is a tire rotation every 7500 miles and a new cabin filter every 2 years or 22.5k miles. You can do the tire rotations yourself or at any America Tire location for free and you should only have to replace the cabin air filter once during the lease (it's really simple to do).

FWIW, I've leased many vehicles and, while I always serviced the vehicles as recommended, I never had anyone check the "service history" of any vehicle that I returned. They just inspected the vehicle for mileage, tire wear, body damage and general operation. As long as it all checked out, I was NOT assessed any additional fees after the return.

So, I wouldn't worry about the service requirements under the Bolt lease.

 

[michael]

I concur. When I had my last lease return inspection, the guy looked under the hood, checked that the fluids were at normal levels. I think that satisfied him that the car was getting reasonable maintenance.

 

[astroboy]

thanks for the advice, everyone. i will likely take it to a dealer around 7500mi because supposedly the first two service appointments are free anyway. i've replaced the oil and cabin filters on my various priuses so the bolt cabin air filter should be no problem... i'll just do that myself.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Dealerships will warn you that "neglecting service" will void the warranty, but in fact that only happens if a breakdown or malfunction was directly caused by neglecting a specific part of maintenance. Example: bearing failure from solidified motor oil that was never changed.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Didn't know you could get an 8k/year lease. At that rate, and with two free service appointments you'll never pay anything. Might as well let them rotate the tires as they have to adjust your tire pressure readout to show the new positions.

Cabin filter is easy. On a Leaf, you have to be a contortionist or pull out the whole glovebox.

 

[d2170]

However, the only maintenance required for the Bolt is a tire rotation every 7500 miles and a new cabin filter every 2 years or 22.5k miles. You can do the tire rotations yourself or at any America Tire location for free and you should only have to replace the cabin air filter once during the lease (it's really simple to do).

My family have leased 5 electric cars. They are all front wheel drives. We drive the EVs hard for the fun of instant torque, so we don't bother with tire rotations and just change the front tires when they wear out after 18 to 24 months. All our leases are 36 months. You got an EV, have fun with it !

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

That's interesting. I'm thinking of leasing a Bolt and putting some good performance tires on it right away, for the fun of it, and to stop the silly tire chirping. Then switch back to the original tires after 2-2-1/2 years for the return.

Is there a thread on performance tires already?

I've never rotated tires on the Leaf I have now, just replaced the fronts after two years. I did rotate them on the 2012 but the front corners wore out anyway.

 

[astroboy]

i dunno why but we went thru the original tires on the 2011 leaf quite quickly. at around 25k miles i ended up getting new tires despite rotating the OEMs. i just figured they were crappy tires.

i noticed today that we already have a quarter-sized scratch on the passenger front wheel, outboard near the tire. strangely there is no damage to the tire in the area so i'm not sure how it happened, but it must have been a curb. i assume this is considered normal wear and tear? does the "credit card" rule apply to wheels?

 

[sgt1372]

i noticed today that we already have a quarter-sized scratch on the passenger front wheel, outboard near the tire. strangely there is no damage to the tire in the area so i'm not sure how it happened, but it must have been a curb. i assume this is considered normal wear and tear? does the "credit card" rule apply to wheels?

If you don't point it out, they probably won't even notice it. Even if they do, I'd doubt it would be a problem.