Take if from someone who's been driving around without them for almost 3 years. You really don't need them, it's just a money grabber on the dealer's part. The OEM panels are widely acknowledged as being fragile, are frequently lost during winter, or not put back on by lazy oil-change monkeys. They offer very little if any damage protection to the business parts like the oil pan. On the other hand, an aftermarket
steel skid plate like the Panzer plate DOES offer aforementioned impact protection and (i'm pretty sure) comes with an opening to access the oil drain plug. I also suspect it won't be much more money than the OEM panels from the dealer. And of those I think the number is 3, one central and two side ones (I think).
