Maintenance Costs

[Larz]

Frequently we read posts asking about costs for basic maintenance Vs doing it yourself. I was at my dealer today having the oil / filter changed and snapped these shots from the TV in the customer lounge whilst having free Iced tea and a fruit roll-up (LOL). The main TV was tuned to Fox News, so rather than becoming misinformed, I watched the advert TV instead.
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As seen above, a complete brake job costs $550 for all 4 wheels ($1,190 if you need new rotors). The cost for 4 wheel brake pads and new rotors with the Brakemotive kit lots of us buy .....
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-REAR-DRIL ... 55&vxp=mtr
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In fact, I looked up the page on Ebay to get the current price and found it's now 30% off !! $180.50 !!!! I don't need them yet, but I bought them anyway just to get the savings.
As for the in-cabin filter, you will pay the dealer $100 to replace it. But, if you have 15 min to spare, you can find activated charcoal filters on Ebay for $15 and do it yourself.
Wheel alignments: If you go to a place like Tires Plus and get their long term alignment, you get free alignments for lifetime. I pay them only to rotate every 6 months - my alignments are free.

[Markc]

But did you get a fruit roll-up?

[Blackzilla]

$100 for the cabin filter replacement?! HAHAHAHA. just did it myself in 5 minutes I don't think that's $85 worth of labor.

[Ilya]

Yeah some of those are high.

Thanks to this site and many of us (myself and Larz included), our guides should help most people do the basic stuff at home.

[Blackzilla]

I'm about to change my pads/rotors myself thanks to your How To Ilya! This site is so helpful I'm feeling the love!

[EniGmA1987]

$100 for the cabin filter replacement?! HAHAHAHA. just did it myself in 5 minutes I don't think that's $85 worth of labor.

Underseats and behind dash compartment?

[Blackzilla]

$100 for the cabin filter replacement?! HAHAHAHA. just did it myself in 5 minutes I don't think that's $85 worth of labor.

Underseats and behind dash compartment?

Nah just behind the dash. I could see the underseats costing more just because their price is a little higher. But even those I don't see how it would take more than 10 or 15 minutes to do.

[Larz]

Sometimes we are too harsh on car dealerships. Sometimes we can do our own maintenance at a fraction of the dealer cost because we do the work free of labor costs, liability, and we get no warranty. Dealers are not thieves by any means. Mind you, their prices are usually higher than your local mechanic but keep this in mind. Dealerships are huge places on huge properties with huge insurance costs, high property taxes, huge payroll budgets, advertising costs, and power bills. They cost infinitely more money to run than your local mechanic and their expenses are reflected in the cost to the consumer. My dealership (Lauderdale Infiniti) sits on a property that was once a private airport and the property taxes to match. They buy their loaner vehicles from Infiniti so they can give them to us while repairs are made on our cars. They have to purchase them, insure them, register them, and pay for parts and maintenance on them while charging us nothing to use them. My dealership offers price match on most everything including tires, and they run service specials that significantly reduce my costs. My service rep actually reduces labor costs when I am having multiple work done. For instance, when I had them install my brakemotive kit, he removed the labor cost to flush / replace the brake fluid because the brakes were already taken apart to install the kit. I pay about $40 for each oil change (I bring my own Mobil 1) but I get a new OEM filter, new OEM oil plug, and I make them remove all those damn bolts to take off the splash cover (LOL). I also get an inspection of all sorts of things I cannot do myself. I get documentation of the date /mileage of each change with documentation that other areas of the car meet OEM specifications and confirmation that no error codes are showing at the time. That is important info to have if the warranty peeps try to get out of paying for covered items. As for the higher cost of Infiniti parts .. you got me there, LOL. No need for them to be twice the cost of other brands. They come with lifetime warranties but you already paid for two parts when buying only one. In their defense, the dealer probably pays twice as mush to get that part from Japan.
With that said, when I hear these places referred to as "stealerships", I cannot agree. Indeed, we pay more at dealer shops, but at least we have something to show for the extra costs.
Now .... paying 4x the rate for first class air travel when all you get is a couple inches of seating and foot room on the same dirty old plane and a 10 minute head start on boarding - that is stealing!

[Blackzilla]

Well now I feel bad. That really puts it into perspective but the only thing that gets me is the inspection. I have a hard time believing that a mechanic would check your car out top to bottom every single time. Maybe you catch him at a right time but maybe you don't. It's like taking your car in because you hear a sound but they can't "duplicate" it. I think I'll call my dealer to get a quote on the brake job and flush but I have a feeling I'll be doing it myself.

[Larz]

Trust me, mate. You can do the job for a fraction of the dealer cost. Some repairs, if you are knowledgeable, are always better to do yourself. Make a note of the time it takes to do the job and multiply that by the hourly rate for dealer labor. That is the minimum savings you get and it is significant. When a repair or maintenance item requires tools or machines you don't have, or is for something that is likely to go wrong in your driveway, always use the dealer, Otherwise, if you can do it safely, and you know what your are doing, do it yourself. You really should consider going with the Brakemotive kit for $180. You get new pads AND rotors on all four wheels. That is like a new brake system all around for less that one axle at the dealer or a mechanic. I'm on my second set and they work brilliant. The link is in my original post.

[Blackzilla]

Thats the set I got! I will be following the How To to put them in tomorrow and I hope to have the same great results as you guys.

[pedsemdoc]

With that said, when I hear these places referred to as "stealerships", I cannot agree. Indeed, we pay more at dealer shops, but at least we have something to show for the extra costs.
Now .... paying 4x the rate for first class air travel when all you get is a couple inches of seating and foot room on the same dirty old plane and a 10 minute head start on boarding - that is stealing!

Certainly there are overhead costs to running a dealership, and there are certain items that should be left to the professionals if you are not mechanically inclined, but $99 to change the in cabin air filter?!!!!
You can get a really nice charcoal aftermarket filter for like, $20 (conservative overestimate) and the replacement takes about 10 minutes. (see DIY section on how fast it can be done - although you will prolly break the tabs on the white cover to the housing of the filter trying to get it off and/or back in)
soooo...$79 in labor for 10 minutes is $474/hr - hmmm, have to disagree with you Larz for this particular "maintenance item" - highway robbery!!! i oughta just open up a shop that just changes air cabin filters!!!

Craig

[Larz]

I could not agree more, Craig. The trouble with dealerships is that they have an hourly labor rate of about $100. At my dealership, the minimum time they charge is 30 minutes. Even if it takes them 5 minutes to do something, they still charge for 30 minutes ($50). The cheapest Infiniti OEM cabin filter on Ebay is about $45 from one of the online Dealership stores, and I am sure that the $20 filter is every bit as good. So, the over-priced OEM filter, plus a minimum labor charge of 30 minutes costs you $99.
Oil changes are another great example:
I bring my own Mobil-1 oil when I have them do my oil / filter change. They charge $8'.75 for the OEM filter, $1.90 for the new OEM drain plug washer, and a "special" rate to perform the service. I pay them $48 dollars with taxes. You can buy an OEM filter from the Ebay dealerships for about $6, and a pack of 10 OEM washers for $11.00 (about $1 each). My dealership keeps Mobil-1 in stock, but they charge $10 per quart when they use it. Nobody can convince me that $10 per quart reflects a "small' profit margin based on their purchase price per quart. My service guy has to charge me over $100 for an oil / filter change if they provide the Mobil-1 from their stock.
I defend the dealers to a degree, based on what I know about owning a business and paying for office space and equipment, employee salaries and benefits, and insurance coverage for liability for my company. I have to admit, though, dealerships go a little with far for mark-ups on parts and the labor rates are not flexible. Labor should be billed at $2.00 per minute based on $120/hr, not 30 minute increments. My post was not intended to justify their prices, just to remind us of the unseen costs for a huge enterprise like a dealership compared to a mechanic who rents a garage and does all the work him/herself using their own tools. I still don't consider dealerships as thieves. To me, it's like the difference we pay for a steak at a local Denny's compared to Ruth's Chris Steak House. You still get the same steak, but the quality, service, and prices vary depending on where you eat. Ruth is not a thief, just an expensive alternative. We choose to eat there, she doesn't make us do it. We choose to have a dealer use OEM parts and service our cars and we know before we drive in, the charge will be higher than most other places. The prices are 'on the menu' at both places and we know what we will pay if we don't get up and walk out. That's not thievery.
I always recommend doing your own work IF you know what you are doing and can do it safely.

[Alakowe]

Thanks for the posts guys. Really helpful.
Got any word on replacing my air conditioning condenser? I got a quote of about $2000 from my dealership?