Don't know much about other car manufacturers other than Toyota\Lexus but I can tell you if you own one be careful here.
In the mid 2000's Toyota started to introduce the concept of lifetime automatic transmission fluid put into a sealed transmission pan and NOT intended to be changed for the life of the vehicle under "normal" driving conditions. These were first introduced in the Lexus models and have since been worked into the Toyota line up. FYI my 07 Lexus IS 250 has one of these to give you an idea of how long they have been around. Now that said, the fluid CAN be changed and in some cases SHOULD be changed. These units take a special fluid otherwise known as Toyota WS ATF fluid. This is not typical ATF fluid and not compatible with conventional ATF. The process for changing it out is quite involved and not for the typical home gamer as there is no fill plug and you need some special tools and a level lift. You can drain it out but to backfill it requires a special tool to do so and it is backfilled until the fluid starts to drain out of the open plug. The vehicle is then started and allowed to warm up (with the plug OUT - there is a insert in the pan that must be removed to evacuate all the fluid and put back in to prevent the new fluid from escaping which when inserted will set the correct fill level the excess will overflow out the drain plug) and the temperature of the fluid has to reach a particular temp, then topped off again with the plug out until it begins to drip out. These transmissions cannot or should not be serviced by the average joe nor can they be "flushed" in the conventional sense as it will ruin them, in fact the FSM specifically states not to do this. It will destroy the electronic hydraulic valving which is responsible for the ultra smooth shifting. When should this stuff be changed? Well the jury is really out on this, for vehicles that are used for towing or outside normal use it is recommended this be done every 60K particularly important in trucks outfitted with this transmission. Otherwise never. I beg to differ on this concept however as like any fluid over time it does get dirty and can effect the operation of the transmission. When Lexus replaced the engine in my IS250 at just shy of 100K due to a CSB under recall - I asked the tech there while out in the shop looking at my engine all tore down about the transmission. He said don't worry about and stated unless there is a need to do it leave it alone. Said he could do it but there is no need. I had it done anyways. I have a buddy with a Landcruiser with this kind of sealed transmission, one day it started to shift funny and would slam into gear, the culprit, the fluid needed changing and at least on the LC, this is a common symptom of needing a fluid change and quite common.
With a conventional automatic transmission that takes non WS type transmission fluid, those should be done every 30K and it is imperative to use only Toyota T-IV fluid and nothing else or the clutch packs will be destroyed. Many independents don't know this or put in something that is supposed to be "compatible" only to find that folks are blowing transmissions left and right due to the wrong fluid being installed. The formulation of that fluid is such that it is impossible to make it compatible with every transmission fluid type out there. I don't care what it says one size fits all on the bottle - it's not worth dropping a transmission to find out it's simply not. The funny thing is going and getting factory fluid at the dealer is not terribly expensive, last case of it I bought it was about 5 bucks a quart.
Other manufacturers vary of course they will always recommend their own fluids and it's up to the owners to heed that advice or not. One thing you have to keep in mind is that as more and more advanced engineering and technology is put into the design of today's vehicles, simply dumping generic fluids in them is risking premature failure. Most cars are being designed to be as maintenance free as possible for the first 100K - beyond that is where you really need to be careful to do the required maintenance if your goal is to keep the vehicle for the long haul. The same can be said for coolant where many cars are coming with long life coolant - this stuff also is a special formulation draining it out and throwing in some generic stuff can and does in many cases create corrosion, attacks the gaskets and leads to premature failure.
I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on each Toyota\Lexus I've owned - to the amazement of many, but while I do believe these vehicles are extremely well engineered - that can only take you so far, they still require maintenance at some point or they will fail just like anything else.
There are some very competent independents out there if you prefer to bypass the dealer but I would highly recommend somebody who specializes in a certain make as this stuff is getting far to complicated to be a "generalist". I don't care how good somebody claims to be, all makes are to the point now where you can't just be mechanically inclined , pop the hood and start turning wrenches, or do so at your own peril. That may have been the case with stuff that is 20+ years old but not any more.
I hear it all the time well I drive such and such and put 300K and never changed this or that. Great, consider yourself lucky.
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