“Free” is often an enticing proposition. After all, at face-value, what’s not to like about free? And if that free service or product is something you’ll need in the upcoming future

, all the better… right?

These days, it’s pretty common to find a car dealer that’s willing to give you plenty of “free” along with the purchase of a vehicle. Over the years, we’ve seen these giveaways range from:

» A year’s worth of unlimited free carwashes
» Free oil changes for a year
» And even lifetime free oil changes!

But “free” is not always better. And often, “free” comes at a cost.

Many times, the cost of a free giveaway is built into a vehicle’s price. Additionally, those giveaways have fine print that customers may not be aware of. For example, free oil changes often include only standard SAE engine oils – not synthetic oils.

In short, these offers unnecessarily raise the price of the vehicle. And sometimes, poor disclosure of the offer details can create a lot of frustration, as described in this situation on Car Talk.

At Poquet, our cars don’t come with free oil changes or even free car washes. The reason is simple: We’re committed to providing our customers with the absolute best quality vehicle at the best possible price.

Image: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr, licensed under CC BY