A 20,000-mile service for How Much?
One of our cars got serviced yesterday. That in itself is not noteworthy, except that I had to go back to the dealership, for the umpteenth time to get something taken care of that was missed on the original appointment.
I called the dealership. I asked for a certain service writer. (Always make friends with your service writer, service manager, and/or technician. It helps when you want to fudge a bit.) I asked about a 20,000-mile service. First, the dealership service and the factory book are different in their interpretation of these maintenance services. The dealership needs to make money, so they tack on some extras that boost the cost of the service. My guy at the dealership knows that I am cheap, and that my background is in auto repair. He told me that their 20,000-mile service is around $300.00. I told him that wasn't going to happen. First, I lease my car, so I don't care what happens to it once I turn my key in at the end of the lease. According to the factory, I only need to maintain the car to what their book says. It called for an oil and filter change, tire rotation, and replacing the air filter. I went for the oil and filter part, the tire rotation, and asked that the air filter be blown out and reinstalled, as long as it wasn't wasted. My guy wrote it up as a 20K service and stamped the book, but I didn't get the full service. A lot of it is inspect this and inspect that. It fixes nothing and if any of those things are wrong, warranty will probably cover it. Besides, what is an inspection? It is usually a visual scan of a part or fluid. To be truthful, even the most diligent mechanics know it is the factory's way of covering their butt if something fails and somebody winds up injured or dead, so that's why they say to check the brake fluid, or even replace it at this low mileage. To make a long story short, I brought my own synthetic oil. The dealership charges around $10 per quart, and I have found a place to buy synthetic oil that meets the car manufacturer's specs exactly, for $5.19 per quart. So I got an oil filter from the dealership, service, and a tire rotation. They did not replace the air filter, saving me $20.00. Total cost on a $300.00 service was around $62.00 (plus what I paid for the oil at the parts store bringing it to less than $85.00 + tax).
Now, you may ask, why did I have to take the car back to the dealership? Because the tech who rotated the tires did not count the plastic plugs that fit over the lug bolts when he removed them, and only put 19 of the 20 back on. One of them got lost. I went to a tire garage after the service was done as one of my tires had a nail in it, and while that was getting repaired, one of the tire guys pointed out the plastic plug was missing on the other side of the car. I called my friend, the service writer, and he told the tech to look for it. They found it outside.
Sometimes you gotta put up with some aggravation to get a good price.
I called the dealership. I asked for a certain service writer. (Always make friends with your service writer, service manager, and/or technician. It helps when you want to fudge a bit.) I asked about a 20,000-mile service. First, the dealership service and the factory book are different in their interpretation of these maintenance services. The dealership needs to make money, so they tack on some extras that boost the cost of the service. My guy at the dealership knows that I am cheap, and that my background is in auto repair. He told me that their 20,000-mile service is around $300.00. I told him that wasn't going to happen. First, I lease my car, so I don't care what happens to it once I turn my key in at the end of the lease. According to the factory, I only need to maintain the car to what their book says. It called for an oil and filter change, tire rotation, and replacing the air filter. I went for the oil and filter part, the tire rotation, and asked that the air filter be blown out and reinstalled, as long as it wasn't wasted. My guy wrote it up as a 20K service and stamped the book, but I didn't get the full service. A lot of it is inspect this and inspect that. It fixes nothing and if any of those things are wrong, warranty will probably cover it. Besides, what is an inspection? It is usually a visual scan of a part or fluid. To be truthful, even the most diligent mechanics know it is the factory's way of covering their butt if something fails and somebody winds up injured or dead, so that's why they say to check the brake fluid, or even replace it at this low mileage. To make a long story short, I brought my own synthetic oil. The dealership charges around $10 per quart, and I have found a place to buy synthetic oil that meets the car manufacturer's specs exactly, for $5.19 per quart. So I got an oil filter from the dealership, service, and a tire rotation. They did not replace the air filter, saving me $20.00. Total cost on a $300.00 service was around $62.00 (plus what I paid for the oil at the parts store bringing it to less than $85.00 + tax).
Now, you may ask, why did I have to take the car back to the dealership? Because the tech who rotated the tires did not count the plastic plugs that fit over the lug bolts when he removed them, and only put 19 of the 20 back on. One of them got lost. I went to a tire garage after the service was done as one of my tires had a nail in it, and while that was getting repaired, one of the tire guys pointed out the plastic plug was missing on the other side of the car. I called my friend, the service writer, and he told the tech to look for it. They found it outside.
Sometimes you gotta put up with some aggravation to get a good price.
Labels: 20K service
posted by archphoto at
1:58 PM
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