Overpriced 30k Service

[icarus]

Does anybody think that $279 for 30K service is too expensive,,,besides me? All that is involved is lube oil and filter, check fluids, cabin air filter and tire rotation.

This is the only time the car has seen the dealer except for the first "free" oil change. When mentioned that I ran synthetic oil,,, they said,, oh,,,that is $89 more! I said $89 more or $89? She "corrected herself and said,, oh just $89. $89 for an oil change!

I had them do the service since I was there,, except the cabin air which I had already done. (Cabin air filter service was $50! The filter cost me ~$15 from the same dealer,,, and it takes what,, 30 seconds to do?)

They did find a nail in a tire that they fixed, for $20,, not to bad considering the cost of everything else!

The bottom line is,, this is the last time this car will see the dealer unless it needs warrantee service. I will continue to do LOF every 5k and will take it to my trusted independent so that they can begin to learn on them. I understand that dealers need to make a profit,, but when you drive into a covered heated reception area, with 6 "service advisors" sitting around trying to lever more money out of people you realize that it aint coming out of my pocket again!

Icarus

[jayman]

Is there even a Toyota dealer in that part of Ontario? Or are you talking about Thunder Bay?

Yeah, that is highway robbery, to be sure. Just getting the quotes, I would have drove off

[NavyScotty]

good advice. Thanks for the warning.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by jayman

Is there even a Toyota dealer in that part of Ontario? Or are you talking about Thunder Bay?

Yeah, that is highway robbery, to be sure. Just getting the quotes, I would have drove off

Wilson Motors,,, Bellingham, WA We are in the our in between season.

Icarus

[jayman]

Gotcha

Seriously though, a quote like that I would have had a comment that rhymes with "duck shoe" and drove off.

[boppo]

Originally Posted by jayman

Gotcha

Seriously though, a quote like that I would have had a comment that rhymes with "duck shoe" and drove off.

I think most/all dealers try to clean out your wallet when you take it in for any thing. I have a 88 camry with 235k on it and it's been to the dealer only 6 times and all of those times they tried to take advantage of me saying you need this and you need that, case in point they said I needed a new water pump cuz it was leaking a little and 5 years later I changed it.

[SureValla]

I'd say that price is average. Here in the NYC/Westchester area they charge 450 for that service so consider yourself lucky

[qbee42]

When I had my 30k service done, the service writer quoted a fairly expensive price for the 30k service package. I asked him what they did at 30k for that price, and he handed me a generic sheet for 30k. I looked at it and said "Let's see, the Prius doesn't have one of those; you don't need to do that, there isn't anything to check here; normally you don't change that fluid until 100k..." He looked a little sheepish and said "Well, yea, that's a generic form. So shall we do it piecemeal?" The final cost was one-third the package cost.

Moral: Always take your service schedule with you when you talk to the service writer. It keeps them honest.

Tom

[icarus]

We picked up the car tonight,,,the tab was $281 before taxes.

Here is the breakdown Labor for 30 k service,, $180

Included, lof, tire rotation, replaced engine air filtrer, torqued steering and suspension components (really?) Inspect, ball joints, bake lines, exhaust system, fuel lines, tank band, fuel tank vapor vent fuel cap gasket (really?) radiator core and condeser, coolant, steering gear linkage and boots, cleaned (really?) and inspect brakes linings/pads.

Parts,,, engine air filter $20.44
w/w solve (whats this?) 2.50
Oil filter (Not too bad!) 6.48
gasket (drain plug?) 1.26 (copper washers sure are expensive)
oil (synthetic) 6.25 25.00
Total parts 55.68

Tire repair (nail) 19.95

Now the really interesting parts,,

Hazardous waste fee $1.11 (I have no problem with this)
MISC SHOP SUPPLIES 12.00 This is listed as everything from hacksaw blades to carb cleaner. (in fact carb cleaner is listed twice on their misc list,,, clearly people have complained about this before! Carb cleaner, choke cleaner, and carb SOLVENT! who knows what the difference is,, not to mention the fact that no Toyota that I know of has had a choke or a carb in 20 years!)

So we dropped the car off at 8:50 am,, at 9:45 they called to say it was done except for repairing the tire (they wanted to authorize the repair) So the way I figure it, they worked on the car for about 1 hour,, plus taking the tire to the tire shop. So the shop rate is ~$180 an hour?

Now I am not naive, in fact I know about flat rate tables and I understand that shops need to cover their overhead. I also realize that times are tough in the car biz these days,, but I think that trying to make it all up on the backs of potentially unsuspecting customers is un ethical if not criminal. In defense of the dealer,, they did give us an estimate before we started,, but I think that they bounce the number up high enough to make some real money,, but not high enough to get people pissed off.

I can take my car to Jiffy lube and have a LOF for ~$30,,, tire rotate from the tire store ~$20 Les Schwab will do it for nothing even if you haven't bought the tires there! For $100 I can get a soup to nuts inspection by a GOOD independent garage. As a matter of course, my normal shop, that does German, Swedish, and Japanese cars does a pretty complete inspection with routine LOF service for ~$50.

I think this is the last time the car will see the dealer,, unless some warrantee issue comes up. (They are scheduled to to the TSB on the Aux input audio system,,, the one that makes the I-pod squeal. I had to request that,, they weren't offering)

Icarus

[icarus]

Originally Posted by SureValla

I'd say that price is average. Here in the NYC/Westchester area they charge 450 for that service so consider yourself lucky

You're getting ripped off quicker than I. Why don't you take the car elsewhere?

Icarus

PS Too many people have been BS'ed into thinking that the dealer has to do the routine service to keep the warrantee valid,,, not so!

T