Ijust remembered why I don't like taking my car to

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Another ideal reason to stay far far away from California. No wonder the have the economy of some countries with the prices they charge. Obvious they live in their own world.


There are plenty of areas in CA that aren't the SF Bay Area or Santa Cruz... Not sure what your comment is supposed to mean.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Originally Posted By: jcwit
Another ideal reason to stay far far away from California. No wonder the have the economy of some countries with the prices they charge. Obvious they live in their own world.


There are plenty of areas in CA that aren't the SF Bay Area or Santa Cruz... Not sure what your comment is supposed to mean.


I agree. SF is one of the most expensive places to live in Ca. Any shop be it a dealer or independent is going to be paying big bucks for the land the shop is on and all the overhead associated with it.
But that doesn't mean ALL of Ca is the same as S.F. For example I lived in San Diego county for about 20 years. I moved 30 miles north to Riverside County and had my living expenses drop by at least 25 percent.

It's like saying everyone that lives in Indiana lives in a 25K house!

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut
My local stealer charges $90 for the cabin air filter change in a CR-V. Which of course I do myself. The OEM Honda filter is $23. Tell me why the dealer should charge $67 for 3 minutes of time??

The dealer is charging these high rates to offer customers leather couches to sit on, "free" coffee and Wi-Fi access. Keep it...I'll work on my own cars.


On my Accord, cabin air filter takes about 2 hrs to replace. It is a stupid design because it requires the removal the glove box (close to 14 screws to hold a tiny plastic container) and really get in there. Why can't they make it where I can just remove 2 screws on the back of the glove back and do a cartridge replace like I would with my air filter? The engineers involved with this design should be kicked hard in the groin for being stupid.



Nissan Xterra's have the cabin filter tucked behind the glovebox and dash assembly(passenger side). They wanted well over $75 and a hour to do the job. I did it in 10 minutes. Filter(2) were about $18/$19 dollars.

They make insane money on the stupid little things, and even more on the big things. The best are the guys at quick lube places that come out with your air filter and it has small amounts of debris and they say it needs to be changed. Or they say your PSF is brown, change it.

I am well aware of those and can do it myself. I asked for an oil change not an upsell change.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
California... Obvious they live in their own world.
This is in many ways true. It's why I point out in my "Loc:" that I'm non-native.

It cracks me up how often you hear around here "as California goes, so goes the nation." People who say that usually have little experience with the way the rest of the nation lives.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock

It cracks me up how often you hear around here "as California goes, so goes the nation." People who say that usually have little experience with the way the rest of the nation lives.


I've never heard that and I've lived in CA all my life. Maybe I'm just too young or not paying attention. I think there are people who "live in their own world" everywhere. Why would that be specific to CA?

But I'm helping to drive this too far off topic... Shop rates in my corner of CA seem to be around $80 for independents and around $90 or $100 for dealerships from what I've seen. Not 100% sure on the dealership number though since I haven't had anything done at a dealership that wasn't warranty work. When I *have* taken cars to the dealership my experience mirrors that of pottymouth above -- the dealership is more expensive and merely adequate compared to other shops in the area (which range from good to bad too).

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock

It cracks me up how often you hear around here "as California goes, so goes the nation." People who say that usually have little experience with the way the rest of the nation lives.


I've never heard that and I've lived in CA all my life. Maybe I'm just too young or not paying attention. I think there are people who "live in their own world" everywhere. Why would that be specific to CA?

But I'm helping to drive this too far off topic... Shop rates in my corner of CA seem to be around $80 for independents and around $90 or $100 for dealerships from what I've seen. Not 100% sure on the dealership number though since I haven't had anything done at a dealership that wasn't warranty work. When I *have* taken cars to the dealership my experience mirrors that of pottymouth above -- the dealership is more expensive and merely adequate compared to other shops in the area (which range from good to bad too).


Never heard that phrase? Man alive that was a common saying dating back at least to the later 50's & early 60's with the surfing songs and music.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: jcwit

Never heard that phrase? Man alive that was a common saying dating back at least to the later 50's & early 60's with the surfing songs and music.


That partially explains it. I'm a child of the '80s

 

[daves87rs]

I must be lucky, I have a good dealership and a good Indy shop to work with. Then again, they know I don't [censored] either....


Doing it yourself doesn't hurt either...

 

[LS2JSTS]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
I must be lucky, I have a good dealership.....


I feel the same way. I have had great service from my Ford dealer for close to thirty years. No problem or hard time on warranty work at all, ever. Knocking on wood as I type.

My Pontiac dealer, well they used to be good...probably still would be, if they still existed!

 

[bdcardinal]

Our line techs generally don't do oil changes or other basic maintainence because it only pays them $17 an hour flat rate so its not worth their time. They get to flag .4 on a lof with inspection, and if theres a rotate too they get .7 total.

Dealer techs tend to find stuff independent shop techs dont because dealer techs work on the same model car day in and day out, so they know the common failure items.

We are $110 an hour for normal work, oil changes and other basic maintainence is on a menu based pricing structure.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: XS650
Critic, what is the minimum labor time charged for a job at a dealership. The OP said the cabin filter change is 3 minutes, obviously it takes longer than that just to get the part from the parts department and carry it to the car. But what is the shortest book time charged that you are aware of?

Not sure. A lot of dealers do no charge multi-point inspections. Oil Changes are .3 or .4 at many dealers.

Originally Posted By: Anies
I am well aware of those and can do it myself. I asked for an oil change not an upsell change.


Except most owners, unfortunately, do not read the owner's manual to their car and are reliant on the tech/quick lube advising them what services their car needs. Without the recommendations (or upselling, whatever you want to call it) there would be some real issues.

Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
I moved 30 miles north to Riverside County and had my living expenses drop by at least 25 percent.

It's like saying everyone that lives in Indiana lives in a 25K house!


This off-topic, but I was just at UC Riverside for a conference several weeks ago and your community really has a fantastic leadership team in place. With the med school coming to Riverside, your community is going to see significant growth in the near future.

 

[Spyder7]

I have to get my brakes looked at tomorrow and I'm already cringing at the thought of it, but the timing is no good for me to look at them myself. I'm not going to pay the dealer's $100/hour labor rate when the going rate elsewhere is $65/hour, though. The extra $35/hour buys me a one way courtesy shuttle home and that's about it. They can stuff it.

-Spyder

 

[Spector]

I am not saying who is right or wrong but my own experience is that stealerships say work needs to be done (rusted coil pack) when in fact it just needs to be cleaned off. Also, it is the way they present it, my independent says this may be an issue, let's keep an eye on it and see a stealership comes out and says you need to have this done or all **** will break loose

 

[ThirdeYe]

They charge $445 to adjust the valves? wow! I know it's a V6, but that's pretty high. Last time I had mine done at the dealer I think it was just a hair over $100, including the replacement valve cover gasket. I'd do it myself, but the apes that did it last put the adjusting nuts on way too tight, so I can't turn the screws until they're loose.

 

[GMBoy]

Just had a stealership tell my friend she needed a new master cylinder and booster (m/c leaked into it) for a cost of $1300. Well, good thing is that they were correct and only estimated work that was needed and that was appreciated. She paid the $90 diagnostic fee and brought the vehicle ('07 Equinox w/95k) to me. I got a new m/c for $135 and a used booster from a 35k mile wrecked Equinox for $40, some brake fluid for the flush and she was out the door for $200 in parts and I charged her $150 for the 2 hours labor. $1300 is crazy - but the booster was $600 of it I give them that.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut

The dealer is charging these high rates to offer customers leather couches to sit on, "free" coffee and Wi-Fi access. Keep it...I'll work on my own cars.


My mechanic doesn't offer Wi-Fi, but he will let you plug your laptop into the hub behind the counter!

As far as the competency of the mechanics at the dealership, the Saab dealer has a very competent mechanic whom I've had many interesting conversations with. Of course--they only have a few models to learn. Then again, the Saab mechanic knows about more than just Saabs, he has a great deal of experience on other makes and it's obvious when talking with him.

 

[RacerE7773]

Not just the dealer prices, but the prices charged even at parts stores are why I will not own a foreign make again. Built here in USA or not, the profits still go elsewhere and they seem to think everyone has no problem paying $98 for one unloaded LR caliper.