Thanks for the advice, people. Today I have at my feet (it's getting crowded in here. . .
) a 5-litre container of Motul 8100 Eco-lite 0w20 synthetic for tomorrow's service on my Insight. The dealer has shown a distinct lack of enthusiasm for sorting out the right oil, even though I offered the part number Citrus Smoothie quoted. (Not recognised 'on the system', apparently). On the other hand, the rest of their work on the car can't be faulted.
It's a fairly typical scenario. They're a high-vehicle-turnover operation that, like a couple of big dealers I've encountered, have an inwardly focused efficiency based on current/recent/standard models that leaves the non-standard customer out of the loop.
It's understandable for a business sector that's running on tight margins with a strict, group-dictated business model to follow but it's their loss really, since someday I'll be in the market for whatever Honda finally alights upon as the 'new' Insight, and now I know how this dealer's interest fades as the vehicle gets a little older.
Like most people, I really haven't got the time to act as a service overseer and I'm on the look-out for an alternative service source. The London garage importer I got the car from at the start of the year talked about working towards selling a 'critical mass' of imported Insights into the UK to create a sustainable sub-population of cars and owners.
This would, he said, enable him to justify and operate a service-and-secondhand parts business. It sounded good to me but, so far, there's no further sign of life on this and the lack of follow-through or answers to emails suggests it's dead in the water. I would even have offered a voluntary hand on network communications for his vehicle parc. (It's what I do. . .)
Clearly, Insights in the UK are never going to form a population on the scale of, say, MGs and Triumphs, that would support the setting up of a Register with the purchasing power for establishing and maintaining a reliable source of parts. Neither could it be worthwhile for an independent (ex-Honda franchise, dare I say?) garage to operate an Insight sideline on bespoke servicing. From what I've seen here on InsightCentral, it looks as though UK Insight owners are generally self-sufficient individuals who almost take a pride in pursuing their own solutions.
And yet sometimes I wonder 'what if?
But then again, who's going to kick it off? Who indeed. . .
Oil change. . .
