5/22    What a beautiful day! I just bought my first new car. I bought a
        Honda Accord LX. I didn't add any options but I have 29 days to
        think about adding them. First, the sales lady asked if I'd like to
        get Lo-Jack, option 2&3. "You have the #1 stolen car in America". The
        option guarantees 24 hour recovery service or $ back. At $699, she
        said the cost of it will reduce insurance cost and pay itself off
        during the lifetime that I own it (for +8 years). Is that really true
        or marketing BS? I'm sceptic of all salespeople. Secondly, she
        offered a full 3-year oil change, minor, and intermediate,
        services for $599 at her dealer, or at any PepBoys, and it would
        really save a lot especially for someone like me who drives over
        25,000 miles a year. She said if I go to the dealer all the time,
        which I do because I don't trust little shops, I'll save at
        least $1200 by buying this package. "Each intermediate service
        is already $150 and it'll pay itself by the first year!"
        Is this a good deal, or just marketing BS? I have 29 days to think
        about this. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
        \_ You can call your insurance company about the lojack pricing and
           do the math.  How often are you supposed to do those $150 services?
           My 5k service is $99 which includes a hefty fee for the synthetic
           oil change.  You don't need to go to the dealer for an oil change.
           And driving 25k miles a year means you'll hit 200k miles in 8
           years.  I really doubt you'll have this car in 8 years.  Long before
           then you have good chances of paying wads of cash to keep it going
           which you'll quickly figure out isn't worth it to keep a car with
           100k+ miles going in many cases.  Sure it's a Honda, blah, blah,
           but I'm guessing from your post that you'll be buying a new one at
           about the 4-5 year mark.  Good luck and let us know what you
           decide.  This is from a guy who drives his cars into the ground so
           I've got a good idea what those later repairs cost.
        \_ If your car is stolen you probably don't want it back. I'd skip
           the Lo Jack. I'd probably buy the maintenance plan, but it
           depends on what the intermediate service includes. Oil changes
           and minor service don't cost much. I have a 1993 Honda Accord
           with 135K miles that I bought in 1995 and I've spent less than
           $2K total on the car, but if I had the package I'd probably
           have taken better care of it (not that anything has done
           wrong). Does Honda schedule maintenance by how many miles you
           have driven? If so, the intermediate service is every how many
           miles? I was introduced to these sort of plans when I bought
           my BMW (which includes maintenance) and I rather like it.
           However, BMW maintenance costs a lot more than Honda maintenance.
        \_ Congrats on the car. Now try to get out of the habit of going to
           the dealer. I used to do the same, but you slowly realize that
           they all jack you, in terms of inappropriate diagnoses, over-
           charging you, etc. Find a big shop and take it there.
           \_ Depends on what's wrong. Dealers have really reduced their
              prices in an effort to be competitive and if they mess up
              you can complain to the parent company. You can also hold
              the threat of never buying another new car from them over
              their head. I used to be one of those guys who *never* went
              to the dealer and did a lot of work myself, but my opinion has
              changed as cars have gotten more complicated.
              \- where do you live? i know people in SF who have had their
                 cars stolen [including me] but nobody in the south bay,
                 one one person in berkeley, nobody on the other side of the
                 caldecott or on the peninsula and one person in oakland but
                 he wanted to have his car stolen. maybe just get an alarm?