What has been your experience in buying from one dealer, say they are 100 miles away, and getting all your service for the life of the vehicle, done at a different dealer located close by (say five miles away)?

Do you downplay it, or hope the servicing dealer doesn't notice or doesn't care. Does the servicing dealership give you the stink-eye, do they make it a point to ask you 'did you purchase the vehicle here' when scheduling an appointment, do you still get a loaner vehicle of the same type, etc., etc., etc.?

I am considering this. Am concerned the experience getting maintenance and service over the life of the vehicle might not be as good can be.

I have an ex-neighbor who purchase one state away, it was an Infinity vehicle. He instructed the selling dealer to not put on one of the emblems that attach directly to the painted surface, "Joe's Infinity, City & State." The neighbor used to say you can always take off a dealer's license plate frame with a screwdriver, but not a glued-on emblem is stuck on forever.

 

I use a different dealership than the one where purchased. They don't care where it was bought, they just want you to come back as it gives them business.

 

Dealers want the sale, the money is in sales/leases/extended warranty and dealer add-ons not service and when you trade-in they make money on both cars again. Basic and extended warranty cover a lot of repairs over quite a few years and it takes lots of scheduled maintenance to get remotely close to that.