Most Expensive Oil Change/Rotate?
- Thread starter The Critic
- Start date
In case there is excessive blinker fluid trapped underneath the mat and the car floor
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- Joined
- May 9, 2023
- Messages
- 270
There are a few things that should be considered with this cost of service.
First off, this is from a Lexus dealer, Services at Lexus is always higher than Toyota, Honda, Ford, and the like.
Secondly, this dealer is in Roseville, California, certainly a higher cost-of-living area than Ohio.
All these luxury dealers come with so many amenities and the dealership overhead so high, this creates the higher service costs
I often wonder how many of these "inspections" actually get done during an oil change at a dealer, especially in the "quick lane".
Remember the days of sticking throttles and a couple of crashes In Toyotas?
Floor mats that shifted and pressed on the throttle pedal were to blame, so floor mats are now mechanically attached to the car with plastic connectors, and they have become an inspection item.
I do not understand why people think they have to take their vehicles to a dealership unless the work is under warranty or the services are performed at a fair cost. There are so many good shops out there that can do the work for less.
You guys have it all backwards, I go to my Mercedes dealer for the free parts, and the $800 coffee!
My guess is that it's under warranty and if the dealership messes up the customer doesn't have to get involved in a "he said-she said" situation and then the price isn't all that cheaper at an Indy.
For example look at my own stupidity. I took my BMW like clockwork to the same dealership for years. Oil change are around $125-$150.
Stupid part: I wanted to try HPL so I had another shop do it. When that OCI was up I went to a different shop close by for their $88/oil service and that shop said my oil pan threads were stripped. IF I had stayed with the BMW dealership for these last two oil changes I could claim that nobody has worked on the car but them and maybe I could've haggled a discount on the repair of the oil pan or perhaps avoided this problem all together.
I don't understand this either. I think many people are falsely led to believe they'll get better service, with better qualified people at a dealership.
They all hire from the same lot of neighborhood kids that the quick lube joints do, to do the oil changes and tire rotations.
Just like anywhere else, the knowledgeable, higher paid mechanics do the more difficult and expensive repair work.
Another thing people feel, is if something goes wrong, the dealership can't try to pin it on someone else. Be it Quick Lube, Big-O, or whomever.
To them they feel the extra money spent is worth it, by keeping the dealership that sold them the car, as the only one in the loop.
That was a fun time. I drove a 2008 Prius at the time.
I remember people saying you couldn't stop the car and I thought, why not throw it in neutral and coast? If it kills an engine, that's better than killing yourself. I used a highway off ramp to test, put it to the floor and after a couple seconds, shifted to neutral and coasted to the next stop.
Place I'm at gets $800 to do an oil change on a Bentley.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
The problem is how do you find a good indie shop? Believe social media posts by people you don't know? Trust the recommendation of people you know with no mechanical knowledge? Non-car people don't know how to find one. The BMW stripped threads thing above is a good example. I look for a one or two man shop with some local history and believable recommendations. I finally found one here last summer. I visited a few of the larger indie shops who advertise when we moved here and when I walk in and see 4-6 bays and a writer at a desk I'm in the wrong place. Same when the workspace looks like a bomb went off.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Wonder why the Bentley owner gets a deal?
The fasteners that hold it in place which basically prevent the drivers side mat from sliding forward underneath the pedals. Kind of ridiculous but I imagine it is on there because it has happened and someone got sued.
This is still nothing compared to other industries. Try to get a good Electrician, Plumber, HVAC tech, etc. out to your house for basic work and see what it cost.
The boogeyman?
twouvakind
Site Donor 2025
VW touts $129 for up to 6qts and a filter. Tire rotation extra.
Oh, that's nothing. Don't we all work on our own bulldozers?
There's almost always a little loose change down there underneath them. Finder's keepers!