Any Car Mechanics out there?

[gottimd]

My wife took her car to Nissan Dealership for the 90K mile maintenance on her 2000 Pathfinder and they just got back to her and said the total costs will be $1K. Is this ridiculous?

I told my wife that she should probably go to Jiffy Lube and get it done for a lot cheaper. Is there any difference between the two services (Jiffy Lube vs. Dealership)? They told her that outside of the maintenance, she needs her Pressure Switch changed and the Power Fluid and Brake fluid changed. Am I getting ripped off or is this normal? Should we take the car somewhere else?

[albionmoonlight]

The dealership almost always charges the most money. It almost never makes sense, IMO, to go to the dealer unless the car is under warranty.

Jiffy Lube does not, to my knowlege, do any repairs, however. It really just changes out fluids and does tire pressure, etc.

Your best bet might be to ask around at your and her works and see if someone can recommend a reliable mechanic. That sounds like it might be what you need. He can make sure that the car has nothing major wrong with it, but will also come in lower than a dealership.

[albionmoonlight]

dola--

I've never used this, but maybe it can help, too.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechx/

[gottimd]

That is what I thought.

I wonder if NTB does this stuff, they gotta be able to beat the dealership prices.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by gottimd

My wife took her car to Nissan Dealership for the 90K mile maintenance on her 2000 Pathfinder and they just got back to her and said the total costs will be $1K. Is this ridiculous?

It would probably help to get a line-item quote so you know where the costs are coming from. Dealerships tend to be more expensive, but it is hard to know how much more without knowing everything that they are looking to do.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by BrianD

It would probably help to get a line-item quote so you know where the costs are coming from. Dealerships tend to be more expensive, but it is hard to know how much more without knowing everything that they are looking to do.

$570 for the 90K mile maintenance
$180 for the Oil Pressure Switch
$150 Break Fluid
$140 Power Fluid

I called the mechanic myself. They already put in the $570 for the maintenance and I said go ahead and do the Oil Pressure Switch, but not the fluids. I know damn well those can be done for $45 at Jiffy Lube.

[FrogMan]

color me stupid, but what was included in the generic maintenance that cost $570? I mean, even at 90k, it looks a bit lofty for the term "maintenance"...

FM

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

color me stupid, but what was included in the generic maintenance that cost $570? I mean, even at 90k, it looks a bit lofty for the term "maintenance"...

FM

Yep. The fluids are definitely expensive, but the maintenance part was more interesting.

[gottimd]

Trust me, I had that argument with my wife already. From what she said its their "Special 90K Total Maintenance Package" where they checked everything. I said that it sounded like what I get done every 3,000 miles at Jiffy Lube.

When she told me the cost from the dealership, I laughed and asked if they are going to blow me as well for that price.

[RendeR]

I can't believe your wife actually bought that....holy shit.


570 bucks for a maintenance checkup??

They had best be molding new seats out of solid fracking diamond for that.

Go to wal-mart, buy enough of the fluids in question, park your suv in your driveway, grab a piece of cardboard and change the shit yourself for 20 bucks.

"maintenance package" good gracious me....

[Bee]

I got an estimate like that a few years ago on my wife's car. Haven't been back to the dealer since. The only thing they included in the "total maintenace package" that Jiffy Lube wouldn't do was replace the timing belt.

[RendeR]

I forgot to ask, but..


Did they kiss you first?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by gottimd

$570 for the 90K mile maintenance
$180 for the Oil Pressure Switch
$150 Break Fluid
$140 Power Fluid

I called the mechanic myself. They already put in the $570 for the maintenance and I said go ahead and do the Oil Pressure Switch, but not the fluids. I know damn well those can be done for $45 at Jiffy Lube.

I dunno if you're using Jiffy Lube as some catch-all, but I'd recommend against going there. I've heard a lot of horror stories from people about them, and I myself had a cam shaft freeze a day after taking a car there--they typically screw the pooch.

For reference, my old 2003 Mazda Protege5 was $350ish for the 35k service at a stealership in Fredneck. My total bill ended up near a grand, too, after they did the spark plugs, brake fluid, and cleaned the engine.

Personally, I've had better luck at local gas stations with service areas. In MD, I had a gas station in Columbia I went to, developed a repertoire with the mechanics. Now down here in VA, I have one in Dulles that's taken very good care of me. If there's one thing to be said for gas stations, the mechanics there seem to be there "longer term" than the guys at Jiffy Lube...the mechanic I had in Columbia had been there for at least the 3 years I took it in, my guy in Dulles has been doing my service for over a year on both cars I've had...

/tk

[GoldenEagle]

That sounds like a major rip off. The $570 probably includes many things that you do not need done at this time. Car maintenance people love to rip folks off, especially unsuspecting women.

[gottimd]

I knew she was going to get ripped off and I told her to check with me and let me know the cost before agreeing to anything.

TK, I have taken my car to Jiffy Lube since I have been able to drive and had a car and never had a problem. My wife feels the same way as you do though, she thinks that Jiffy Lube (she has never gone though) won't do as good of a job as the dealership.

She doesn't take very good care of her car. Every 3K miles, nothing is done. I suspect this is the price I have to pay for negligence maybe? In my case, I take mine every 3K miles to Jiffy Lube or one of those oil change places and get everything done in 10 minutes for $50. The only problem I have ever had are my brakes, and I got them replaced by NTB. I never go to the dealership.

It's widely known not to go to the dealerships, correct? My wife feels that if she goes anywhere else that they won't do as good of a job.

[Dutch]

Dealerships are expensive, but they offer you some sort of experience, plus new parts.

So....if you have a newer car, you go to the dealer. Hopefully you are covered by warranty. That's why most of the dealer stuff is expensive. (It's like going to the hospital, it doesn't seem so expensive when your insurance covers the trip.)

But anyway, a 2000 model? It's starting to get to the age that you might as well take it to the local dealer and let them have at it. Saves you some money...probably.

[Warhammer]

The 90,000 mile checkup has a ton of stuff that they do. I used to know this off the top of my head since I had my car in all the time, but there were some unnecessary things on that list.

[cartman]

For some cars, the 90K point is where the timing belt is recommended for replacement. If so, then $570 for that isn't too far out of line. You don't want to know how much it costs if you break a timing belt.

[JeeberD]

The Mazda folks wanted $1250 for the 90,000 mile checkup on my wife's 626, plus another $100 to diagnose why the check engine light kept coming on, and another $150 to diagnose the noise coming when the AC was on. We just laughed at them and then went elsewhere and bought my wife a nice, almost new Honda CRV...

[cartman]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

The Mazda folks wanted $1250 for the 90,000 mile checkup on my wife's 626, plus another $100 to diagnose why the check engine light kept coming on, and another $150 to diagnose the noise coming when the AC was on. We just laughed at them and then went elsewhere and bought my wife a nice, almost new Honda CRV...

For $1500?

[JeeberD]

No. But I wasn't about to put half the value of the car back into it when we were only planning on keeping it for another couple years or so.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by gottimd

I knew she was going to get ripped off and I told her to check with me and let me know the cost before agreeing to anything.

TK, I have taken my car to Jiffy Lube since I have been able to drive and had a car and never had a problem. My wife feels the same way as you do though, she thinks that Jiffy Lube (she has never gone though) won't do as good of a job as the dealership.

She doesn't take very good care of her car. Every 3K miles, nothing is done. I suspect this is the price I have to pay for negligence maybe? In my case, I take mine every 3K miles to Jiffy Lube or one of those oil change places and get everything done in 10 minutes for $50. The only problem I have ever had are my brakes, and I got them replaced by NTB. I never go to the dealership.

It's widely known not to go to the dealerships, correct? My wife feels that if she goes anywhere else that they won't do as good of a job.

Well, dealerships will rip you off in general and will make it hard to sit for a day or two...

That said, they're guaranteed to use parts specific for your vehicle, and if there's ever an issue that should arise, knowing that dealerships did all the work makes it easier to claim a warranty on said work (especially if the car has lower mileage). There is sometimes something to be said for dealerships or at least "the right parts." For example, many Mazda's have an issue that the brake pads that are "dealer parts" are made of a slightly different composite of ceramic/rubber/whatever than most places use (such as NTB or local garages, etc). With most other brake pads other than those, the brakes don't perform as well and wear significantly faster. Of course, you can get the pads online or from auto shops and then put them on yourself or have your mechanic put them on, and you'll pay quite a bit less than you will at the dealership, but it's a case where the dealership's "standard part to use" is actually better than what typical Joe-Blow shop's standard parts to use is...

Now that I've said all that, I wasn't trying to imply I go to the dealership for everything, just that I will never go to Jiffy Lube again. Right now I'm using the dealership because of warranty issues (like my sunroof letting water in when I go through a car wash), but for my regular maintenance (oil change, brakes, alignments, etc), I take it to the Shell in Dulles where the mechanic has taken very good care of me. And charges about half of what the stealership does...

/tk

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by cartman

For some cars, the 90K point is where the timing belt is recommended for replacement. If so, then $570 for that isn't too far out of line. You don't want to know how much it costs if you break a timing belt.

Yeah - I'm curious whether that $570 for 90K mile maintenance included any actual part replacement, or whether that was simply labor costs for examining everything. If there was something replaced, then the cost doesn't look out of line. If it's just labor for examining everything, that looks seriously bloated.

[JeeberD]

Speaking of Jiffy Lube...

[dawgfan]

pwned


Personally, I wouldn't ever trust anything more than an oil-change at a national chain like Jiffy Lube - when I look at the employees there, I never get a feeling of confidence that they are serious mechanics that care about their work.

Ideally, you find a local mechanic that has prior experience working on your type of car and is someone that has positive references from people you trust. I'm luck in that 2 of my cousins run a family-owned auto parts store and can supply me with parts and recommend trusty mechanics (when the needed work is bigger pain in the ass than we want to do ourselves).

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Yeah - I'm curious whether that $570 for 90K mile maintenance included any actual part replacement, or whether that was simply labor costs for examining everything. If there was something replaced, then the cost doesn't look out of line. If it's just labor for examining everything, that looks seriously bloated.

I am looking at the invoice as we speak and I do see stuff about the timing belt in there among other random crap that I can make out. I wish I could take the invoice to NTB and say "Here, how much would you have charged for this?"

[Grammaticus]

That price sounds about right for a dealership service.

I'm taking my Subaru in next week for a 90K service and a timing belt change. The service is $500 and the timing belt change is $800. I've taken this car in for every service interval and it is the first car that I have never had anything fail on in the first 100K miles. I'm at 102K right now.

I figure after I pay for the service next week, it is equivalent to 4 car payments. If I drive the car for another 5 months, I'm ahead. I will likely drive it for a few more years. Who knows, I may just keep it for a comuter car and pile the miles on and see how far it will go.

Getting your car properly services for preventative maintenance is not cheap. Breaking down on the side of the road is not cheap either. If you are over 100K, prepare to either get the car serviced when you decide too or when the car decides too. Either way, you are going to get it serviced.

[Mac Howard]

You need to know if the $560 includes the timing belt change. That is expensive - just paid $A700 for that and a new water pump. It's a big job. If not, you're being ripped off. The guy did say that the belt should be changed every 150 kms or so.

Edit: Make that 150,000 kms - I don't wouldn't want to carry a mechanic around in the boot/trunk

[CraigSca]

I've heard - and this may be only on certain cars - that to get to the timing belt, you need to remove the water pump, so they might as well be done at the same time. Of course, that was on my 1989 Integra years and years ago.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I've heard - and this may be only on certain cars - that to get to the timing belt, you need to remove the water pump, so they might as well be done at the same time. Of course, that was on my 1989 Integra years and years ago.

When you do the timing belt, it makes sense to do the water pump because to change the water pump you need to do the exact same thing to get to it.

[AZSpeechCoach]

$600 for the 30K/60K/90K service is pretty standard for Nissan. They say it includes flushing out all the major fluids and replacing them, checking everything that requires checking, and a list of other things.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by gottimd

I knew she was going to get ripped off and I told her to check with me and let me know the cost before agreeing to anything.

TK, I have taken my car to Jiffy Lube since I have been able to drive and had a car and never had a problem. My wife feels the same way as you do though, she thinks that Jiffy Lube (she has never gone though) won't do as good of a job as the dealership.

She doesn't take very good care of her car. Every 3K miles, nothing is done. I suspect this is the price I have to pay for negligence maybe? In my case, I take mine every 3K miles to Jiffy Lube or one of those oil change places and get everything done in 10 minutes for $50. The only problem I have ever had are my brakes, and I got them replaced by NTB. I never go to the dealership.

It's widely known not to go to the dealerships, correct? My wife feels that if she goes anywhere else that they won't do as good of a job.

Definitely don't go to the dealership. They don't even have mechanics anymore. The guy working on your wife's car is a "tech" that passed some course on plugging a cable into your car's computer. I took an old Land Cruiser in for servicing to a Toyota dealer and they couldn't do it (seriously).

My advice would be to ask around and find a local mechanic who specializes in Japanese cars. There should be at least a couple with good reputations in a populated area. The labor rate may be a bit higher, but you'll know what you're getting, instead of some mysterious catchall maintenance charge.