Service at the dealer...

[geoff5093]

I've gotten my 5K and 10K mile service done at the dealer, for $60 a pop (just the oil change and tire rotation). With the bigger 15K and 30K mile services coming up, i'm wondering if it's really worth it getting all the service done at the dealer, or would it be fine to get it done at a local shop? The shop is very reputable, and is a family-friend of ours, which is where we bring all of our other cars.

The main reason I haven't decided is because i'm worried that if something does go wrong with the car, I wouldnt want them to say they cant fix it because the service wasnt done there. I'm sure most of us including me dont mind getting the service done at the dealer for the first several years or so, but once the car gets old i'm sure a lot of people just say screw it to the high price dealer and go to the cheaper quick-lube places.

[IPDaily]

if i were you, i'd do the smaller things like oil changes, tire rotations, etc. at a shop, and the bigger service intervals like 30 and 60 at the dealership...

[bigloubumpin]

I'm getting my 1st 3 oil changes for free,thats a no brainer right there & after those are up I might just do the quikie places.I just hate waiting at the dealer for an hour or so just for an oil change & they never bring the car in at the appointed time.I pretty sure ur not gonna blow the engine anytime soon,so decide what will u be comfortable with.

[Erock08SE]

I feel like anything besides oil changes is such a rip off at the dealerships, i mean its a new car half the things they inspect during your 5k and 10k service is not needed, and sometimes get the feeling they dont even do it. It doesnt justify paying 100 + for them to check ur air filter and say its good when your car is brand new.

[touringcamry]

The only difference is that at 15000 miles they'll change the air filter and possibly the cabin air filter and inspect more stuff.

[geoff5093]

Originally Posted by Erock08SE

I feel like anything besides oil changes is such a rip off at the dealerships, i mean its a new car half the things they inspect during your 5k and 10k service is not needed, and sometimes get the feeling they dont even do it. It doesnt justify paying 100 + for them to check ur air filter and say its good when your car is brand new.

I agree, I've heard from a few people here that they paid anywhere from $150-$200 for the 15K mile service. I mean the only thing you really need to do is change the oil ($25), air filter ($10), possibly a new cabin filter. As far as I know you dont really need to check the brakes and such until you get around 20-30K miles.

Once the car is a few years old it just wont be worth spending all that money on unnecessary services. But do you think I should get work done at the dealer such as when the brakes need to be replaced?

[ShawnM]

You can have these services done at any shop. Theses are nothing more than fluid changes and inspections that anyone can do and it will NOT void your warranty. Just keep the copy of the bill to prove you had the services done elswhere.

[geoff5093]

Thats good to know. I was looking over the 15K and 30K service details:



It seems like if I tell the dealer not to do a few things, such as not to change the air filter since I can do that easily, that it wouldn't actually count as having the 15K mile service completed. I can easily top off all the fluids as well, and it just seems like the dealers will do all this "inspecting", and obviously shouldnt find anything wrong with a new car, it's just to eat up time so they can charge you more. I mean the car shouldn't need anything more then an oil change, tire rotation, air filter, and check over some of the essentials. And is it actually necessary to have all those systems flushed at 30K and 60K miles?

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by geoff5093

I agree, I've heard from a few people here that they paid anywhere from $150-$200 for the 15K mile service. I mean the only thing you really need to do is change the oil ($25), air filter ($10), possibly a new cabin filter. As far as I know you dont really need to check the brakes and such until you get around 20-30K miles.

Once the car is a few years old it just wont be worth spending all that money on unnecessary services. But do you think I should get work done at the dealer such as when the brakes need to be replaced?

Inspecting the brakes, for the most part, is just checking brake pad wear that takes 1 or 2 minutes at most if you are rotating the tires. I guess they might adjust the parking brake also.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

I know i don't have an 07, but i do need my rear brakes done on my '02, and the dealer quoted me 169 EACH side (Canadian)..I got a quote from the shop that put my springs in. 250 for the rear, installation included + tax ofcourse. Now i haven't found out what rotors or pads they quoted me for, which i plan on doing before i book an appointment. But as far as brakes the dealer seems to be a ripoff...

I'd watch for warrenty problems, like if you go somewhere else will it affect your warrenty at all?

[geoff5093]

Originally Posted by Punks_Not_Dead5

I know i don't have an 07, but i do need my rear brakes done on my '02, and the dealer quoted me 169 EACH side (Canadian)..I got a quote from the shop that put my springs in. 250 for the rear, installation included + tax ofcourse. Now i haven't found out what rotors or pads they quoted me for, which i plan on doing before i book an appointment. But as far as brakes the dealer seems to be a ripoff...

I'd watch for warrenty problems, like if you go somewhere else will it affect your warrenty at all?

Well I know that the dealer I go to charges about $75 an hour, vs $50 an hour from the local shop, and they also dont up the price of the parts themselves. I also feel more comfortable asking the local shop to install say, performance pads then asking the dealer to install them.

I believe when I went to the dealer and asked how much they would charge to install my TRD springs, they quoted me at about $350 or so, whereas the shop quoted me at $200. However I believe there is a standard 4 hour install process that is giving, and the shop would only charge me for the time it took, so if it only took 3 hours they would only charge me $150. Toyota however would charge me that price even if it only took 2 hours.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

Sounds like what they told me, 400 to install the springs on a standard 4 hour installation period..even if it only took 2. My dealer charges 90 an hour lol

[Mike Murrell]

Originally Posted by Erock08SE

I feel like anything besides oil changes is such a rip off at the dealerships, i mean its a new car half the things they inspect during your 5k and 10k service is not needed, and sometimes get the feeling they dont even do it. It doesnt justify paying 100 + for them to check ur air filter and say its good when your car is brand new.

You understand what goes on at a dealership. It would scare people if they knew just how much of the maintenance work they pay for is never done.

Maintenance work is a huge rip-off at dealerships and for that matter - at just about any type of garage.

The Quick Lube shops and small mom-n-pops get hammered by the local TV new stations when they pull their "sting" operations for the 10PM news, but the BIG indy shops and dealerships are just as guilty.

The TV people don't pick on them because of the big advertising $$$ the TV stations pick up from the behemoth shops. Joe Blows garage doesn't pay the TV stations advertising $$$, so they pick on him.

On any almost weekly basis, I go out in the parking lot at work and show people all of the maintenece items they paid for, but never got. It's rare that I inspect a car that doesn't have at least 2 or 3 maintenance items that were not replaced, but charged for. Most of this work was done at dealerships.

Do yourself a favor and learn to do your own basic maintenance.

[Erock08SE]

My dad is a mechanic and told me when i first bought my car that i should at least get some oil changes done at the dealership just so that if anything ever ( knock on wood) goes wrong they at least have you on record as coming in so that they wouldnt give you a hard time. My friends have experienced awful service with nissan and toyota when they would never go to the dealer for repairs and when something major happened the dealer gave them so much crap about fixing it either know it was under warranty.

[geoff5093]

Originally Posted by Mike Murrell

Do yourself a favor and learn to do your own basic maintenance.

And to add to that, anything they do inspect they will probably tell you needs replacing/service, just to bump up the price even more.

I do as much maintenance as I can myself, which is why I think it's pointless to pay the dealer to install an air filter, top off fluids, inspect brakes, etc.

Originally Posted by Erock08SE

My dad is a mechanic and told me when i first bought my car that i should at least get some oil changes done at the dealership just so that if anything ever ( knock on wood) goes wrong they at least have you on record as coming in so that they wouldnt give you a hard time. My friends have experienced awful service with nissan and toyota when they would never go to the dealer for repairs and when something major happened the dealer gave them so much crap about fixing it either know it was under warranty.

Thats the thing I am worried about the most, I have already gotten my 5K and 10K mile service done at the dealer, but with the more major ones coming it just seems that if I dont want them to perform a few parts of the service, I might as well bring it someplace else.

I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and ask for a price for the 15K mile service, as that will really make or break my decision.