Critical maintenance vs. optional maintenance & a little story.......

[redgtxdi]

My grandmother (85) is widowed, lives on her own....is still very independent, drives, etc.

Well, at her house today & she told me she spent $3,700 at the Toyota dealer on her car. I was like.....WTF!?!?

Here's what I remember of the work order..............

2 rear struts ($1K)
Front cam, crank seals
water pump
Multi-hour diagnostics charges + fix on a check engine light (MAF sensor & something else)
Trans flush
brake fluid flush
steering fluid flush
spark plugs
plug wire set

Came to $1,500 parts and $2,200 labor!!!!!!!!!

Problems I have.........

#1.) They just did the timing belt at 60K miles........why would they NOT do the seals and water pump (basically, all the stuff you do when the cover's off) when they did the timing belt????

#2.) This whole friggin' car ('99 Camry LE i-4) only has 70K miles on it. Why the Fsck are they doing struts???

Anyway.......it got me to wondering what we can do without.

IMHO.............Struts (can go 'til the wheels fall off)..............brake fluid flushes & PS flushes are B.S., imho.

Anybody feel the same/different???

[geoff5093]

That was a rip off, I dont know why they didnt replace the water pump and seals at the timing belt change, completely idiotic. They didnt need to replace the water pump anyways until at least 100K miles.

Thats why i'm glad I know when I go in for service, I wont end up walking out with a huge repair bill unless it's needed.

[redgtxdi]

Ya, it kinda' kills me that she didn't ask me first, but that's how she is. She's 85, independent & likes being that way.

Top that with the fact that I'm sure they love to take her to the cleaners 'cuz she doen't know exactly what they're suggesting, etc. and it's just a recipe to.........well..........get taken to the cleaners.

I'm tempted to go down there, but the friggin' dealer's quite a ways away & she showed me this stuff unexpectedly just before I was about to leave.

[marc780]

Why i work on my own car no matter how hard and dirty it gets...huge rip off!!! $1ooo bucks for 2 struts, and the backs no less - Stop thief! You can buy a good quality compressor tool for the springs for $50 - 100 and the struts for not much more and do it yourself in a few hours....

[redgtxdi]

Ya, that's a rip for struts.

I had the local Big O Tires (maybe a bad franchise, but the local one is good people) quote me on my '98 Camry and the guy said $700 for all 4 and that was with KYB (the ones who make 'em for Toyota) struts and all labor.

The local Toyota dealer quoted me like $2,500 for all 4. I looked at the guy like he had sh!t coming out of his mouth. WTF!?!?!?!!!

I'd have literally driven my grandmother's car all the way to MY local Big O to have 'em done before letting Toyota do 'em!!!

I'd even try 'em myself, but it's just the whole disassembly/reassembly mess that gets me flustered.

[marc780]

The local Toyota dealer quoted me like $2,500 for all 4. I looked at the guy like he had sh!t coming out of his mouth. WTF!?!?!?!!!

Perhaps if more of us had that image in our minds when we talked to salespeople there would be fewer rip offs - cause thats a great metaphor sometimes

[Kep]

I doubt if you get them to admit that any of that was unnecessary but if you go in and find out who the manager is you might be able to arrange for them to call you whenever you mother brings in the car. At least that way you could have some input before they start working on the car. Put the guy's name in the car where your mom can find it and suggest that she always talk to him when taking the car in.

Kep

[Quicksilver300]

I've had many friends get ripped at a mechanic, especially dealers. One thing I do, is from the start tell what I think is the problem, so I dont look like a sap right from the start. I also tell them, they cannot do any work till they ask me. Third, I stay the whole time, unless it's a 2 day job (obviously) and stay outside the garage doors so I can hawk eye them the whole time. They usually invite me in. Another tip is clean your car before you bring it in, again doesn't make you as much of a target. Someone who doesnt care for their car in general doesn't know much about cars. The elderly should always bring a someone at least in their 20's or older with them, they're easy targets.


The Acura dealership tried this with my father, he's 65. Has an 07' TL. Point of the story they kept lying to him, messed up his rugs and didn't apologize. Lucky thing for my father, he's a master mechanic and an engineer, so there's no fooling him. Learned a lot from the guy.