Is Nissan ripping me off?

[rayjgold]

Hey guys,

I went to the nissan dealership to get an oil change and, like always, they came back to me with other work that should be done. I have a 2011 rogue with about 25k miles.

So they told me I needed a new tire which would also require a wheel alignment. and they said i had an engine belt that was starting to crack and should be replaced.

so i did what they suggested and it cam up to about $750 with tax.

Does this seem too high to anyone else besides me? Should I be looking for another place to service my car? Or at least a closer Nissan dealership to rip me off? (I've been going to the same one i bought the car from, which is not that close to my house.)

Im confused as to why a tire, belt and labor would cost over 700!

[Jostudly]

I would suggest finding a new dealer. It should not have cost you that much. I would say no more then $200-250 at most.

[Rogue One]

Hey guys,

I went to the nissan dealership to get an oil change and, like always, they came back to me with other work that should be done. I have a 2011 rogue with about 25k miles.

So they told me I needed a new tire which would also require a wheel alignment. and they said i had an engine belt that was starting to crack and should be replaced.

so i did what they suggested and it cam up to about $750 with tax.

Does this seem too high to anyone else besides me? Should I be looking for another place to service my car? Or at least a closer Nissan dealership to rip me off? (I've been going to the same one i bought the car from, which is not that close to my house.)

Im confused as to why a tire, belt and labor would cost over 700!

Well it was a tire, belt, labor AND wheel alignment.
You don't need a wheel aligntment if your replacing a tire. What was wrong with the tire?
I suspect the belt wasn't in need of replacing either.
Never let ANY repair shop pressure you into repairs. My reply to added (unnecessary) repairs is, Sorry, I don't have the money to pay for that. Often they'll give you a list of needed repairs which you can take to another shop for a second opinion.

[ImStricken06]

its tough to say why & what needed replacing/repairing/adjusting.

if you hit a pothole that damaged your tire(caused a lump) than a wheel alignment is a smart move.

and a belt going bad in 25?? anything is possible but its highly unlikely. all belts start having small signs of cracking after a few months of service.

PLUS: isn't your car under bumper to bumper warranty still?

[rayjgold]

Jostudly, I have the 18inch rims and the tire alone cost more than 200...which seems about right....i think.

Rogue One, the tire had a nail that was plugged, and it kept leaking air after, which was causing the TPMS light to continue to come on....this went on for about a year. They stated that the wheel alignment was neccesary to prevent leaning.

ImStricken,

They didnt say it went bad, only that there were cracks and that it should be replaced soon. it will be 2 years in October that I've had the car. I believe it is still under waruntee. but I dont think that covers tires and alignments, which was the bulk of the cost.


I guess I just wanted to know if the total cost of what was done seemed about right.

I've also not so sure they really even do what they say.....you are not able to see them working on your car.

For instance, I went for the 15k works which was over $500, and it took them less than an hour! even thought i needed an oil change as well! and i looked at the paperwork and they were supposed to change all my wiper blades and they were not changed. but I am not able to tell whether or not they did all the under the hood stuff.

This is frustrating!

[ImStricken06]

They stated that the wheel alignment was neccesary to prevent leaning.

bunch of bull. it wont "lean" lol

They didnt say it went bad, only that there were cracks and that it should be replaced soon. it will be 2 years in October that I've had the car. I believe it is still under waruntee.

belts are often good for 100,000miles. you should be really pissed

[kerrton]

Jostudly, I have the 18inch rims and the tire alone cost more than 200...which seems about right....i think.

Rogue One, the tire had a nail that was plugged, and it kept leaking air after, which was causing the TPMS light to continue to come on....this went on for about a year. They stated that the wheel alignment was neccesary to prevent leaning.

ImStricken,

They didnt say it went bad, only that there were cracks and that it should be replaced soon. it will be 2 years in October that I've had the car. I believe it is still under waruntee. but I dont think that covers tires and alignments, which was the bulk of the cost.


I guess I just wanted to know if the total cost of what was done seemed about right.

I've also not so sure they really even do what they say.....you are not able to see them working on your car.

For instance, I went for the 15k works which was over $500, and it took them less than an hour! even thought i needed an oil change as well! and i looked at the paperwork and they were supposed to change all my wiper blades and they were not changed. but I am not able to tell whether or not they did all the under the hood stuff.

This is frustrating!

I know everything is clear in hindsight, but these are the things to look at in detail before you give them the go-ahead to proceed with the work. If they're a dirty shop looking to rip you off, you'll find out pretty quick and can take your business elsewhere before giving them a penny. Your dealership sounds like they didn't do the best job communicating with you, but you need to be a smart consumer and ask them to fully explain the work that they were proposing, rather than waiting until after you get the bill and assuming they purposely tried to rip you off. My guess is that a couple of these items, the belt and the wheel alingment were "recommended" items, they maybe didn't phrase it that way but you also didn't ask if these were absolutely necessary or just recommended. Either way, with lack of any other evidence, I'm going to assume your belt had some cracks, and that if you hit a something hard enough to damage a tire that your car needed an alignment to keep you safe and preseve the life of your tires - these are good recommendations that you need from your service tech. However maintenance is not black and white, there are shades of gray, and if you would have asked for the full quote and description of each item up front, and indicated that you wanted to skip the rotation and new belt, or defer it until later, I would guess they would've had no problem with that and would've performed exactly what you asked for. But you agreed to the whole package so they gave you what you asked for.

And the 15k service for $500, that is insane, all you needed was a $40 oil change. Know your vehicle, use your manual, the maintenance schedule is all laid out there for you, and if your shop tries to ding you $500 to visually inspect a bunch of items and change your wiper blades SAY NO, ask for the basic oil change package, or go elsewhere. I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for you if you agreed to pay them to change your wiper blades and oil for $500!!!

Regarding the $700 price tag, I agree that seems way too high, but again, why didn't you ask for the price estimate ahead of time? Add the numbers up quick in your head and you know instantly that 700 is too much: $200 tire, alignment around $100, new belt installed $100, total should be around $400 by my rough calcs.

I don't want to seem unsympathetic, and I'm not picking on you, I'm just saying you have to protect yourself because you won't always have a shop that will look out for you. I know my post doesn't make you feel any better, it likely makes you feel worse or probably a little angry at me, but I'm ok with that. What I wanted to do was speak the truth to help you avoid this next time, and if I have to take some heat back from you because of it I can handle that. In this case, it sounds like your dealer is way overpriced, nothing to get angry about, they can charge anything they like and they'll tell you the price before they do the work, which is fair. Your job as a smart consumer is to take your business elsewhere and good value for your cash.

[rayjgold]

Kerrton, since I've joined two years ago, you've been writting stupid "read your manual first before posting questions" type post. So I know to expect nothing positive when I see a response for you. So don't worry about me getting angry cause I'd only be surprised if I read anything helpful from you in respond to a question I post. The only question I have is......why waste your time? What do you get out of trying to mak someone else feel bad? Does that make you feel better about yourself?


Anyway, I was fully aware of the price before work was done. But I did not know if it was too high or not. They are the experts! I have children! If they say something is going bad and should be replaced why take the chance? I felt funning about it hence the reason I posted.

Why would you thinking want you to feel sorry for me?

I haven't takened my car to any other place since I bought the car. I gathered from the helpful posts, meaning every other post besides kerrtons, that now I
should.

I'm not even going to address the 500 to change wiper blades cause I've wasted enough time on this already.

Thank you all for the help.

[ncsu]

It does sound high to me. I would suggest looking at the service recommendations and build your own needs. Stealerships will always try to up sell you. I had an Acura and the Stealership always tried to up sell everything -
I was told you need your transmission fluid changed - I asked why it needed to be changed at 25,000miles and was told that it was starting to change color and their research has shown that when the fluid begins to change color it is time to change it. I replied with - I am glad that you have a larger R&D budget than Honda/Acura who says the change interval is 100,000 miles. They back peddled really quickly.

The other incident I remember was they told me I needed to change my air filter - I asked them what color it was. They replied that the tech said it was completely dirty and was a deep brown color with some of the white filter showing but very little. I informed him that my filter should be a nice red color since it was a K&N. I then told them that I was not convinced that they had even changed the oil and made them prove to me that the oil was fresh by checking the level in front of me.
These and several other issues are a big part of why I sold my TSX - it was a great car that was a PITA to get serviced due to the greedy a-holes at the Stealership.

I guess the moral of these stories, is that the Stealership is out to rip you off if you are an uneducated consumer. Just as the sales team is trained on how to spot a sucker, the service team is as well. Never take their word at face value. They are not your friend - they are trying to get your money, and basically steal from you - hence why I call them Stealerships.

[rayjgold]

It does sound high to me. I would suggest looking at the service recommendations and build your own needs. Stealerships will always try to up sell you. I had an Acura and the Stealership always tried to up sell everything -
I was told you need your transmission fluid changed - I asked why it needed to be changed at 25,000miles and was told that it was starting to change color and their research has shown that when the fluid begins to change color it is time to change it. I replied with - I am glad that you have a larger R&D budget than Honda/Acura who says the change interval is 100,000 miles. They back peddled really quickly.

The other incident I remember was they told me I needed to change my air filter - I asked them what color it was. They replied that the tech said it was completely dirty and was a deep brown color with some of the white filter showing but very little. I informed him that my filter should be a nice red color since it was a K&N. I then told them that I was not convinced that they had even changed the oil and made them prove to me that the oil was fresh by checking the level in front of me.
These and several other issues are a big part of why I sold my TSX - it was a great car that was a PITA to get serviced due to the greedy a-holes at the Stealership.

I guess the moral of these stories, is that the Stealership is out to rip you off if you are an uneducated consumer. Just as the sales team is trained on how to spot a sucker, the service team is as well. Never take their word at face value. They are not your friend - they are trying to get your money, and basically steal from you - hence why I call them Stealerships.

Thanks for the HELPFUL response. I was just planing on changing the nissan dealership I went to. Would you recommend that I not go to a dealership at all? Just follow the maintenance schedule at some other shop.
Does anyone know the oil that Nissan uses? Do they have their own brand like toyota or can I buy what they use at a local store?

[ncsu]

Nissan does not use a specific brand as far as I know. The weight is listed on the oil cap.

You can change to another dealer - or indi shop. Just make sure you educate yourself on what you do and do not need to have done.

[ImStricken06]

I was just planing on changing the nissan dealership I went to. Would you recommend that I not go to a dealership at all? Just follow the maintenance schedule at some other shop.
Does anyone know the oil that Nissan uses? Do they have their own brand like toyota or can I buy what they use at a local store?

i always call dealerships = STEALERships. if you think you got hosed bad, wait till you go there and ask to check your brakes. i have seen guys on here with 50% good brakes, told that they are worn out and need replacement. its not your fault, and no one here is blaming you at all. we feel your pain. even guys like myself who does 90% of my own work, sometimes are stuck having a dealer perform some kind of work (like programming using the CONSULT computer program). if i were you, id use this as a sure sign that the dealer you are using are just off the chart scumbags. they truly have zero remorse.

advice: find a good local shop. the way to do that, is walk in, talk with a couple of people there. see their attitudes, and judge for yourself. unfortunately almost all shops & mechanics have guys that use a commission system. the more the mechanic finds wrong to fix, the bigger the bill = the more commission he makes. its a nasty system, but it works for them as most people who come in for general maintenance (to them its obvious) that you dont know cars, or if you are being lied too.

OIL: nissan uses their own in house brand, but you can use ANY brand. the oil type is 5w-30. it doesnt have to be synthetic, or anything over-priced. just whatever is on sale. 5000miles is a good time to change. (thats my system). the same goes for oil filters. any normal name works fine.

Kerrton, since I've joined two years ago, you've been writing stupid "read your manual first before posting questions" type post. So I know to expect nothing positive when I see a response for you. So don't worry about me getting angry cause I'd only be surprised if I read anything helpful from you in respond to a question I post. The only question I have is......why waste your time? What do you get out of trying to mak someone else feel bad? Does that make you feel better about yourself?

let me just begin that Kerrton, is a great guy. he really cares about this forum, and its members. he doesnt want to see anyone ripped off- and i get that general feeling about all rogue members on here. sometimes kerrton might come of "manly" - but we all sometimes do. im guilty of it at times too. sometimes we get upset at dealers ripping off our fellow rogue drivers & forum-friends, and end up coming off harsh. im 99.99% sure that kerrton has nothing against you. he simply wanted to get a point across to you that dealers are not your friends, they have zero interest in "keeping you around" especially now a days with so much electronics becoming 'proprietary' (meaning dealers only can fix/edit it). sometimes being honest might seem as coming of harsh. again, its nothing against you- its more like that 'harsh but true' fatherly advice. There are a couple 'fatherly' members on here, kerrton, rogue1, azhitman, etc- that at least guys like me (im only 28) interpret differently. i simply look at their advice as 'fatherly' advice. sometimes its good to have someone tell you "wake up, take charge, and kick those jerkoffs square in the _____. your in charge of your destiny." its harsh, its true, and often the last thing we wanna hear when we're down & out. lol - but we gotta hear it.

regarding following the "maintenance schedule". even that at times is redundant. check wipers, etc = you dont need a mechanic to check that for you. if they work, leave 'em. with light bulbs, simply put your hazard flashers on and all the other lights and have some one hit the brakes while you walk around checking all the lights. other things are pretty straight forward. the less those grease-monkeys spend in your car - the better.(plus less non-broken parts they can find slightly wrong to over-charge you on). IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST ON HERE. YOU WILL GET TONS OF GREAT ADVICE. we are all friendly here, and dont get offended if at times the advice comes in the form up "get up & fight". we're all in the same boat.

[Black B15]

I had the dealership try to get me to take the extended warranty and their big reasoning behind it was "well these motor mounts wear out at around 30K miles....you don't want to deal with that do you?".

I literally said something like "are you kidding me? I have changed motor mounts before and it certainly wasn't something I would spend 2K on". I laughed at the guy and told him if the mounts fail I will change it out myself.

To the OP...I personally would never ever listen to the dealership. I know you are upset about possibly getting ripped off but for future reference a second opinion is never a bad thing. You got a new tire and alignment, that is easily a few hundred bucks alone with labor. Once you figure in the Nissan tech's hourly rate it starts to add up pretty quickly with that serpentine belt.

I would say this....just mark it up to experience. There is not much you can do about it now except to remember these clowns in the future and avoid them at all costs. Tell your friends to avoid them. Hell tell your enemies to avoid them. If you really feel you were ripped off you certainly have the freedom to provide as much negative advertising as you see fit. I would tell everyone in the world what happened and advise them to stay away from these guys. As ImStricken said, these dealership are often called stealerships....and it's for a reason.

When at a Nissan service department cover your wallet and don't bend over.

[bundy26]

this is exactly why I do allmy services on my car

[Rogue One]

EDIT...
When at a Nissan service department cover your wallet and don't bend over.

OMG! Best line EVER!!!

Sadly, this actually holds true for ANY brand. "Stealership" has got to be the most accurate term ever coined. ImStricken's advice for finding an indepndent shop is spot on, even if you have to drive further for service.

[ImStricken06]

this is exactly why I do allmy services on my car

+1 - same here

• PS: your in dover? im in monmouth county. i used street ride my 07 gsxr600 in toms river all the time!

[kerrton]

Raygold, I'm sorry you didnt like my advice, but I'm only human and certainty dont know it all. Luckily you've gotten a lot of quality adivice here so you can feel free to filter and ignore posts you don't agree with. What I do take exception to is the personal attack, just becaue you don't agree with me doesn't mean you can lash out and put down every posts I've made as garbage. I'm no expert, but I certainly do my best to help out if I can, and over my 4 years here I think I'm close to 2000 posts, and I can gaurantee each one was a genuine attempt to help, not a reference to the owners manual and I absolutely do not put people down, including yourself. I was respectful in my post to you, and you need to do the same even if you don't agree with my perspective.

Thanks to everyone for the continuued quality advice and genuine attempts to hel, not to mention keeping things civilized and respectful. And thanks ImStricken for having my back, much appreciated.

[rayjgold]

Raygold, I'm sorry you didnt like my advice, but I'm only human and certainty dont know it all. Luckily you've gotten a lot of quality adivice here so you can feel free to filter and ignore posts you don't agree with. What I do take exception to is the personal attack, just becaue you don't agree with me doesn't mean you can lash out and put down every posts I've made as garbage. I'm no expert, but I certainly do my best to help out if I can, and over my 4 years here I think I'm close to 2000 posts, and I can gaurantee each one was a genuine attempt to help, not a reference to the owners manual and I absolutely do not put people down, including yourself. I was respectful in my post to you, and you need to do the same even if you don't agree with my perspective.

Thanks to everyone for the continuued quality advice and genuine attempts to hel, not to mention keeping things civilized and respectful. And thanks ImStricken for having my back, much appreciated.

lol, doing your best to help out? Ok, Maybe i mis-read your post, like you've obviously misread mine. Lets see...

I know everything is clear in hindsight, but these are the things to look at in detail before you give them the go-ahead to proceed with the work....

Oh that helps....where did i write that i didnt know about the work or cost befire they were performed?

Your dealership sounds like they didn't do the best job communicating with you, but you need to be a smart consumer and ask them to fully explain the work that they were proposing, rather than waiting until after you get the bill and assuming they purposely tried to rip you off.

Yeah that's great. you are helping me realize that i was being a stupid consumer? And why am i stupid?....because you knew the correct price of things or what really needs to be done and i didnt? I guess we all stupid then, cause everyone knows something that someone else doesnt know. And where did you read that I didnt get an explaination of the work or the cost? How can you help if you dont even read the post you are responding to?

My guess is that a couple of these items, the belt and the wheel alingment were "recommended" items, they maybe didn't phrase it that way but you also didn't ask if these were absolutely necessary or just recommended.

Get my point guys? I cant believe that ImStricken is even condoning this type of "help" He seems like a nice guy. But then again, you are both moderators so it is only right that you stick up for each other.

you agreed to the whole package so they gave you what you asked for.

Thanks, great help.

Know your vehicle, use your manual, the maintenance schedule is all laid out there for you

What are these forums for if you are just going insult and then tell people to read the book? Some people dont have time to read a manual. It is faster and sometimes easier to search online or post in a forum. I saved a lot of time coming here and getting helpful answers, but you have to come and insult me and tell me to read a book.

I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for you if you agreed to pay them to change your wiper blades and oil for $500!!!

Did you think i wrote because i wanted rogue owners to feel sorry for me? Did you really think that? Im the one that spent the money not you? yet you seem angry while im not? And again, i dont know where you read that i paid 500 for blades and oil. But I guess that does go along with being a stupid consumer.

why didn't you ask for the price estimate ahead of time? Add the numbers up quick in your head and you know instantly that 700 is too much:

This must be a mechanics forum....My fault... i wrote in the wrong place. Would i have posted this question if I was knowledgable enough to know the correct price of everything? And even so, they can charge whatever they want. now that i know it was too much, I can find another place.
Your post was only insulting and not at all Helpful.

But forget it, Im done with this site. I'll look for my answers else where from now on. If I ever become a mechanic and read up on some car manuels I'll come back....that way I'll only have questions about cool mods or how to change engine components. Then maybe i wont be considered a stupid consumer.

Thanks for the "help"

[ImStricken06]

Ray, there is no reason to continue this bickering. i clearly explained that we have a collection of users here, and everyone has their own approach. not everyone is going to cuddle you. some like Kerr give the fatherly type of advice. the type of advice where he wants to not only answer your question, but inform/educate you that you have the resources(manual) to often find the answers to your questions, for yourself. that lesson in itself is often MORE valuable than the answer to your questions. and sometimes we hear things from people things like "wake up, wisen up, and stop believing everything you hear" - that advice might not fix the situation or reverse time, but its still a great reminder that you cant walk around letting people take advantage of you.

if you feel that Kerr didnt offer you the advice you were looking for, than im sure other users here did. no need to get so sensitive about it.
topic closed.

come to think of it, this isnt the first time you bite more than you can chew:
post6273635.html#p6273635

[kerrton]

Thread closed, I agree, thank you ImStricken.

Feel free to disagree with anything I post and offer counter points, but the code of conduct on this site does not allow for insults and personal attacks and bickering. Keep in mind when you ask for input, you're going to get it, and you may not agree with what everyone has to say but that doesn't give you the right to blow up and throw insults. If anyone feels that I personally have not been respectful feel free to let me know and we'll talk about it but you'll get nowhere by being rude and insulting.

On a positive note, I'm happy that we have a really good group of members on this forum, over the 4+ years I've been here I can only remember a couple of times when we've had any issues. We've got a great group here and it's always a pleasure to read the productive conversations and all the interesting personalities - thanks to all of you for making this such a fun and informative forum.

As for this thread, I think we'll keep Raygold's posts here as an example of how NOT to have a respectful and productive conversation.