Why is dealer service so expensive?

[PinkieT]

Had my daily driver in the dealership for a minor recall. They did their regular all-over courtesy check while they had it. They recommended new plugs as they hadn't been replaced at 105k miles like the mfg. says to, and said the serpentine belt was glazed and should be replaced. Estimate to change four plugs and replace the belt - $540! Stopped by my local garage. Jim and Bob are ASE certified mechanics and use only the NAPA jobber for parts. Using exactly the same (expensive) plugs and a good quality belt their estimate was $297. I can see that a dealer might be more expensive than a neighborhood garage, but almost TWICE as expensive?????

 

[ttocs]

that is how they make their money

 

[Poisoned Pony]

Parts cost and difference in labor rates. Most dealers run a more expensive labor rate vs independents. When I was a Ford tech, the typical rate most service departments charged was $100-120 an hour depending on the area they were in. The speed shop I work at now charges $70 an hour, $75 an hour if you bring in your own parts. Dealers will also use only their parts department parts where an independent will go with NAPA or O'Reilly's or Advanced.

Judging from the spark plug price, is your daily a 3v Ford?

 

[PinkieT]

Yeah, the shop said they were guessing the dealer was charging $120 -$140 an hour. Daily is a Hyundai Sonata, 122k miles. I'm lucky - Jim and Bob and Brad at the local two bay garage are great. I can bring in my own parts if I like - sometimes I can find them faster than their jobber. I couldn't get the driveshaft flange bolts off my rear axle, tossed in the back of the truck and took it up to the shop. He busted out his biggest baddest impact and zipped them off, no charge. When I'm done with my front and rear suspension work, I'm taking it to them for alignment and he said he would check all my bolt torques no charge.

 

[RichV]

Still a bit ridiculous IMO, I did a belt and 8 plugs on my old 05 GT for around $60 RockAuto tab plus an hour or so of a Saturday.

I did just have engine oil/trans/t-case/diffs all done at the dealership on my Ram plus a EGR maintenance cleaning, out the door for about $1400.

 

[ttocs]

think about the size of the shops and what they do. A dealer has higher overhead, has to pay benifits, yearly raises and generally pay their people better. Sure it would be nice if the sales side helped to lower the cost on the service but that is an entirely different set of bills to pay as well as the shop.

 

[DeepList]

Dealerships are a rip all around. What really sucks is when you need work done (like reprogramming PATS codes) and the only way to do it is by using their propriety software and computer systems. Then you have no choice but to pay their ridiculously high fees.

My E350 box truck was missing, but the idiot lamp hadn't came on because it only illuminates when the miss is severe enough to trigger a code... something like 2 or 3 percent of the time. I didn't want to play the guessing game (and the econoline's engine bay is a pain in the ass to work on) so I went in to the dealership to have them do a diagnostic, which more-less means they read the misfire counts using a more sophisticated scanner than what I had. $125 later they told what cylinders were weak. The price they quoted me to change the two suspect coils... just shy of $1000. I told them to forget it, and I left. As soon as I got home, I ordered a OBDII scanner capable of reading Mode6 information... never again.

 

[g36 monkey]

Dealerships are a rip all around. What really sucks is when you need work done (like reprogramming PATS codes) and the only way to do it is by using their propriety software and computer systems. Then you have no choice but to pay their ridiculously high fees.

My E350 box truck was missing, but the idiot lamp hadn't came on because it only illuminates when the miss is severe enough to trigger a code... something like 2 or 3 percent of the time. I didn't want to play the guessing game (and the econoline's engine bay is a pain in the ass to work on) so I went in to the dealership to have them do a diagnostic, which more-less means they read the misfire counts using a more sophisticated scanner than what I had. $125 later they told what cylinders were weak. The price they quoted me to change the two suspect coils... just shy of $1000. I told them to forget it, and I left. As soon as I got home, I ordered a OBDII scanner capable of reading Mode6 information... never again.

How much is something like that?

 

[DeepList]

How much is something like that?

Not very much at all. Here's what I got:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NLQAHS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can then download an app for your andorid device. I used the paid version of Torque pro.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque&hl=en

 

[g36 monkey]

Not very much at all. Here's what I got:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NLQAHS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can then download an app for your andorid device. I used the paid version of Torque pro.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque&hl=en

I bought a similar one, I wonder if it has the same capability. I've been using the paid version of torque for a long time now. I've mostly just pulled CEL codes though.

 

[DeepList]

I was able to pull the Mode6 data with it and found that two cylinders were missing something like 2 or 3 percent of the time, and of course they were simultaneous in the firing order, which amplified the issue, but still wasn't enough to throw a code. Then there was a third cylinder that was missing less than 1% of the time. But I replaced all three coils with used (but good) coils I had at the shop, and the miss went away. Rather than playing the guessing game, wasting time, or taking it to the dealer for them to charge me over $100 to tell me the same information, that dongle and app paid for itself the very first use.

 

[g36 monkey]

I need to try it out on the red car. I have an intermittent miss that seems to go away above 3k, only thing is it's one big super coil on that car.

Not sure if my reader has Mode6 capability or not.