In August, I purchased a 2011 Honda Accord. We've put around 5,000 miles on it but mostly through a few long trips. The car is barely used otherwise. The oil life indicator still shows 50% and the dealership insists that I don't need to worry about an oil change til it hits 15%.

Is this normal/correct? I am used to changing the oil at least every 5K but this is the first Honda and new car I have ever had.

 

This could turn into a debate, so take all comments with that in mind.

I am one who follows what the owners manual and or oil life idicator tell me to do, not saying I don't check the level it at least once a month, I just change it when "said time/miles" has past. Use quality oil and filter and you should be good.

 

Your dealer is an honest one. My local dealer suggests I let them change my car's oil every 3k miles regardless.

The manual suggests a 7.5k miles interval for severe driving 3,75k miles interval for normal driving. You seem to fall into the "normal" driving category (highway miles). But if you really want to be safe (since who knows what "severe" really means vs. "normal"), take the average of the 2 numbers, which comes out to be about 5.5k miles. So I'd change the oil soon.

 

By the way, just in case you're new to Honda dealerships, all of them have service specials coupons on their websites you can print out (at least that's the case around where I live). I've never had to pay more than $30 for an oil change. Pretty cheap maintenance I think. (I considered changing my own oil but I'd save only about $10... ) So be sure to check if they have any coupons before you go in.