Funny how car maintenance works

[fishoholic]

So my jeep hit 50,000km and regular maintenance needs to be done. So my 1st quote over the phone was $500-$600 then when I took it in I got quoted $800. Well they just called me and said it would be $1200.00 How I went from double the price I was first quoted for the same work I'll never know I know the work had to be done but still..... Thankfully I have visa. I should mention that it's not a joe blow maintenance shop taking me for a ride, it's the Londonderry doge/jeep dealership.

[banditpowdercoat]

Gotta watch out for Dealerships too. I do all my maintenance myself. Only take to Dealer for warranty work. Last time I took it to Dodge for warranty. Transmission cooler line was leaking. They changed my engine oil WITHOUT asking me, then tried to bill me. Putting regular oil in, not fully synthetic Royal Purple that I run in all my vehicles. Boy was I mad. Made them change it again, with the oil I use, and I never paid for either change. Allways have to make sure they ask you beforehand on work to be done. and NEVER leave a vehicle with saying, "Whatever needs to be done, just go ahead and do it" It's a open invitation to your wallet.

[Rbacchiega]

+1 to dan's post about dealerships. That's why I love my brother...well not the ONLY reason why, but it sure helps. He's a mechanic so all I do is pay for the parts and buy him a case of beer. Makes a 500 dollar job into a 150 dollar job LOL

[reefermadness]

Chrysler needs some extra dough right now, don't they??

In all seriousness they must have done more then the regular maintenance if the price went up??

[chevyjaxon]

dealerships suck i took my car to ford for a tune up (no time to diy) told them to change the oil now my car is 250 000 plus kilometers old so what do they do? put in 5w30 instead of 10w30 well when i got my car back it was burning oil like crazy all they told me was that was the ford approved viscosity for that V8 geez the car never burned oil before that so later that day i spent the money bought new oil (10w30) and did another oil change myself end result 100 dollars to ford for nothing and another 40 bucks to fix their mistake

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Gotta watch out for Dealerships too. I do all my maintenance myself. Only take to Dealer for warranty work. Last time I took it to Dodge for warranty. Transmission cooler line was leaking. They changed my engine oil WITHOUT asking me, then tried to bill me. Putting regular oil in, not fully synthetic Royal Purple that I run in all my vehicles. Boy was I mad. Made them change it again, with the oil I use, and I never paid for either change. Allways have to make sure they ask you beforehand on work to be done. and NEVER leave a vehicle with saying, "Whatever needs to be done, just go ahead and do it" It's a open invitation to your wallet.

They did phone to tell me how much it was actually going to cost to do what needed to be done before they did it.

These are the 4 things that need to be done: Transmission flush, spark plugs, pcv valve, and transfer case.

For this work I was 1st quoted that it'll cost about $600 (on the phone she did say something about the transfer case and something about if the pcv valve needs replacing it'll be more) then when I dropped it off for the work to be done they told me that to get those 4 things done it will be more like $800. Then they called me around 1pm and told me that yes the pcv valve needs replacing and so does the transfer case and since it's a 4x4 and because I use synthetic oil etc. it will cost $1200, and was it ok for them to go ahead and finish the work. All I know is that I needed to get those 4 things done and that those four things cost me a lot more then what I was expecting them too. I told them to go ahead because the work has to be done. Hopefully that quote was with taxes and that's the difference between the $800 to the $1200 but I don't know. Heck I don't even know what a pcv valve or a transfer case is! All I know is that they are being replaced.

I don't mind paying to get the work I need done, I just wish I knew if that is a fair price for that work or not. Any mechanic's out there that know?

BTW I'll let everyone know what the grand total is today after I pay for the work and pick my jeep up.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

For this work I was 1st quoted that it'll cost about $600 then when I dropped it off for the work to be done they told me that to get those 4 things done it will be more like $800. Then they called me around 1pm and told me that since it's a 4x4 and because I use synthetic oil etc. it will cost $1200. Hopefully that quote was with taxes and that's the difference between the $800 to the $1200 but I don't know.

I would call them and tell them to leave the car alone and go get it, that is a blatent rip off if they didn't find more work. a 4X4 means you have transfer case and front dif as well as the back, that should be about 60 to 100 bucks in synthetic oil, and the difference in the oil change is about 60 bucks. transmition flush and fill could be about 250.00 and spark plugs should be 150ish to 200.00. I would tell them if they can't stay to the original quote of 600.00 to forget it and take it to Canadian tire for the spark plug change (or do it your self) and then go to a quick lub for the rest.

Steve

[fdiddy]

I thought everything was based on a governed amount of hours for each fix. The price should not have jumped like that. It should be easy to quote. Look at the sheet... follow the line to transfer case... 8.5 hours (I have no idea, this is an example)... 65 dollars an hour (Once again... no idea.)... there - quote. Sounds like when they quoted you over the phone they didn't have enough info to quote you correctly.

[Myka]

At only 50,000 kms I can't even imagine what maintenance would cost $1200?!! I hope they gave you a list of what they did...what did they do?

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I would call them and tell them to leave the car alone and go get it, that is a blatent rip off if they didn't find more work. a 4X4 means you have transfer case and front dif as well as the back, that should be about 60 to 100 bucks in synthetic oil, and the difference in the oil change is about 60 bucks. transmition flush and fill could be about 250.00 and spark plugs should be 150ish to 200.00. I would tell them if they can't stay to the original quote of 600.00 to forget it and take it to Canadian tire for the spark plug change (or do it your self) and then go to a quick lub for the rest.

Steve

Too late now The work should be almost finished by now. I thought it would be better to get it done at the dealership because then the work would be done right, but now I'm thinking I should of phoned around for some quotes.