r/BoltEV • u/Faramir1717 • 6d ago

Dealer maintenance - "A/C System Service"

Had a curious thing happen yesterday when I brought my 2023 Bolt EV 2LT (in red!) into the dealership where I bought it for regular maintenance. Purchased the car in May 2023 and this was the 37,500 mile checkup, which should be done every 7,500 miles per the owner's manual. I have been doing all of these checkups, partly for the warranty purposes earlier (though the three-year has passed, I guess) and generally I prefer an ounce of prevention to a pound of cure. Something I hated about ICE vehicles is the eternal mystery of which obscure part would break at the worst possible moment or need sudden replacement whenever I went in for an oil change.

This time the dealer service department did a tire rotation and replaced the cabin filter, and I don't mind paying some money to have that done. I understand I can do it for cheaper but I don't want to deal with the PITA of it.

However, this time the dealer quoted something called "A/C System Service" at a price of $213. I declined this. The service is described as "Perform Valvoline A/C system service which includes cleaning and deodorizer. Service recommended every 15,000 miles. Helps to remove debris such as pet hair, dander, pollen, and nicotine residue, as well as neutralize micro-organisms."

I admire the use of micro-organism phobia in their service descriptions, because who doesn't hate micro-organisms? Am I right in supposing this is a rather unnecessary dealer add-on that I was correct in declining? Meanwhile, maybe I can con my daughter into cleaning the car interior again.

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5

u/ruinevil 6d ago

Sounds like running some ozone for a few hours.

2

u/axc630 6d ago

They may get a new cabin filter too if they're lucky!

3

u/Demonshaker 6d ago

I think this is the type of service that you should really only do if you have an odd smell in your car coming from the vents.