Stealerships and cabin filters

[marine65]

2006 Sentra-cabin filter cost $17.00-time to change it-20 minutes
Stealership wanted $80.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2010 Elantra-cabin filter cost $20.00-time to change it 10 minutes
Stealership wanted $90.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it cost me 30 minutes and $37.00 versus $170 at the stealer.
I took my Sentra in for the airbag recall and when I went to pick it up the stealer told me that my belts were cracked and dry rotted and they could replace them for $170.
The belts have no dry rot or cracks.
What a bunch of bozos they are.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I changed engine and cabin filters in my daughter 2014 Accord few weeks ago. She had her car in for oil change(she has 2 years free oil change), according to MM her car needs to change both filters on the third oil change at approximate 24k miles.

Dealer wanted $190 parts and labor for both, she declined and I changed both filters in less than 10 minutes for $20 parts. Engine air filter took about 5-6 minutes include vacuum the air box, cabin filter is no more than 4-5 minutes include empty glove box and put back everything.

 

[Eddie]

I was a young man and worked part time at a Dodge dealer. If a customer purchased a new air filter from us, I would replace it free of charge-hopping to get a 50 cent or dollar tip. What dealers are doing today is give you a free cup of coffee while they clean out your billfold. PS-not all dealers are stealerships amd my Mazda dealer is great. Ed

 

[Xeno]

2006 Sentra is super easy. It can be done in like 5mins.

 

[VicVinegar]

I've seen the same at the Toyota and Subaru dealer. It didn't take me more than 15 minutes for the first time I did it on either car.

Now the engine air filter on the Subaru was a bit of the PITA, but the cabin air filter was nothing.

 

[Eddie]

NO, you can't change a cabin filter in 5 or 10 minutes. You first go to parts and request the filter for the vehicle and wait till it is handed to you. Then you go to the vehicle and remove what needs to be removed to get to the filter. Then you remove the old filter and replace with the new one. Then you move whatever back in place and close the hood or glove compartment. The you go and sign off the service request and give it to the service writer. In some cases one even may need to ask the vehicle owner for the keys to get and open the vehicle and listen to the owner whine about the cost of everything etc. So they charge you 1/2 or 1 hour when you could have done it your lazy self. Ed

 

[Bear]

Took my wife's Honda CRV in for a recall recently. After checking the vehicle in I went to the parts counter and purchased wipers and the cabin air filter, figuring to replace them when I got home. When I went to place them into the vehicle the mechanic offered to install them - no charge. Now that's service.
For any fellow members in my area the dealer's initials are D I, off of 441. Always got good service there even though the CRV came from another dealer.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
PS-not all dealers are stealerships amd my Mazda dealer is great. Ed


Good point. Our local Audi dealer is like this surprisingly. My mom took my dads old A4 in for wiper blades. The PO must have taken it to a tire lube place who must have [censored] it. It was miss some brackets too.

Anyways, she had to wait like a half our and they offered her coffee, water, bagged snakes etc. Sold her the wipers for $20 and the brackets were free as well as free installation and put the packing material in the trunk.

I couldn't believe my ears.

 

[Spector]

The easiest air filter I have takes about 10- 15 min for a good job, that is to remove it, vacuum the box and re install a new one. As to cabin, sorry but this always takes me a good 30 min, why, trouble getting the glove compartment door off and then trouble getting the filter housing off and then putting the new one in and reloading the glove compartment so everything fits again. Still a DIY job but for me, not a 5-10 min one. Cabin filers for me are much more difficult than engine air filters.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Spector
The easiest air filter I have takes about 10- 15 min for a good job, that is to remove it, vacuum the box and re install a new one. As to cabin, sorry but this always takes me a good 30 min, why, trouble getting the glove compartment door off and then trouble getting the filter housing off and then putting the new one in and reloading the glove compartment so everything fits again. Still a DIY job but for me, not a 5-10 min one. Cabin filers for me are much more difficult than engine air filters.

Changing cabin filter is much more time consuming than engine filter for most vehicles.

Newer Honda Accord is different, cabin filter is located behind the glove box and it(glove box) is very easy to get it out of the way to access cabin filter behind the door. The whole time should be less than 5 minutes without any tool.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: Bear
Took my wife's Honda CRV in for a recall recently. After checking the vehicle in I went to the parts counter and purchased wipers and the cabin air filter, figuring to replace them when I got home. When I went to place them into the vehicle the mechanic offered to install them - no charge. Now that's service.
For any fellow members in my area the dealer's initials are D I, off of 441. Always got good service there even though the CRV came from another dealer.


Yes, I've had perfect luck with both Honda dealers here installing stuff like that. Where two Toyota dealers were just the opposite way.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Originally Posted By: Bear
Took my wife's Honda CRV in for a recall recently. After checking the vehicle in I went to the parts counter and purchased wipers and the cabin air filter, figuring to replace them when I got home. When I went to place them into the vehicle the mechanic offered to install them - no charge. Now that's service.
For any fellow members in my area the dealer's initials are D I, off of 441. Always got good service there even though the CRV came from another dealer.


Yes, I've had perfect luck with both Honda dealers here installing stuff like that. Where two Toyota dealers were just the opposite way.

Is there a problem with getting paid for work?

There's a difference between good customer service and getting paid - it is possible to have both.

My local Honda dealer charges 0.2hr for a cabin filter on the newest ones - which is pretty fair for all parties, IMO.

 

[Spector]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: satinsilver

Is there a problem with getting paid for work?

There's a difference between good customer service and getting paid - it is possible to have both.

My local Honda dealer charges 0.2hr for a cabin filter on the newest ones - which is pretty fair for all parties, IMO.


depends what the mark up is on the filter itself. .2 hours is really reasonable but not if the filter price is $60

 

[Bear]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Originally Posted By: Bear
Took my wife's Honda CRV in for a recall recently. After checking the vehicle in I went to the parts counter and purchased wipers and the cabin air filter, figuring to replace them when I got home. When I went to place them into the vehicle the mechanic offered to install them - no charge. Now that's service.
For any fellow members in my area the dealer's initials are D I, off of 441. Always got good service there even though the CRV came from another dealer.


Yes, I've had perfect luck with both Honda dealers here installing stuff like that. Where two Toyota dealers were just the opposite way.

Is there a problem with getting paid for work?

There's a difference between good customer service and getting paid - it is possible to have both.

My local Honda dealer charges 0.2hr for a cabin filter on the newest ones - which is pretty fair for all parties, IMO.


I was going to do the installation myself as I stated. If it had been part of the work order I would have expected to pay for it, no problem.
I just thought it was a nice gesture on the mechanic's part to do this. That gesture was a factor in taking the vehicle back to that dealership for some repair work.

 

[Vikas]

Can you take the owners manual out from the glove box and put it back? Then you can replace the filter on those model! It takes about the same time. I bet it takes longer to put air in the spare tire than to swap the cabin filter. I wonder how much dealer charges to add regular air to spare tire. I know it is only $29.99 for nitrogen

 

[hattaresguy]

Dealers need to make a profit, their time isn't free.

 

[mjoekingz28]

True,

We must also keep in mind there are a whole lot of things going on in a car that a mexhanic may take time to tend to without stating it on the ticket. Like, cleaning a part, adding antisieze, oiling a squeaky hinge or latch.

On the other hand...


What happened to oil & LUBE? It seems the greasing of body hinges and zerks are not included anymore. Are they even checked anymore?

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28


What happened to oil & LUBE? It seems the greasing of body hinges and zerks are not included anymore. Are they even checked anymore?


What was the last volume production automobile with chassis lube points? My understanding was that after 1972, when the original Beetle ceased production, only specialty vehicles (built in low volumes and unchanged for decades) used chassis lube points.

I faintly recall a few lawsuits in the early 1980s over places still advertising "oil and lube $xx" when they no longer did a chassis lube.

And remember, a good lube job included adjusting the wheel bearing. Snug up the packing nut while spinning the wheel, and then back off to the nearest point to put in the cotter pin.

 

[bakechad]

Several years ago I had my 2006 Honda CRV at the dealer for a recall. I only go there for recalls based on a long painful history with them.

The service manager says "you're overdue for a cabin filter". So I bite and say how much. He says with installation it's $119. I go on to say that seems like a lot for a filter. He rambles on for nearly 2 minutes about how complicated it is to change.

So I tell him I'll think about it and say although I have another issue I'd like to show you. So I go around to the passenger side, open the glove box, pop the glove box clips, and pull out the cabin filter. So I say to him, this is the filter that is so difficult to change. He had that deer in the headlights look.

The dealers think because we live in an area where people typically don't even know how to open the hood on their car, they can get away with anything. And basically they can.

 

[Eddie]

And 99% of the time the service person is correct.