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RayT
Gen I
 
4/04/2001
18:26:44
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 Subject: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
Hello everyone,
Just wondering what everyone thinks is a fair price for a 30K service at a Dodge Dealer? I know I could just "do it myself" and save a lot of money, but I don't have the time, nor the automotive skillz to service a transmission, or fuel injector. My local dealer quoted $425 for the following:
LOF (lube, oil, filter)
Transmission service
Inspect F/R Brakes
Rotate/Balance Tires
Change Spark plugs
Change Air Filter
Service/flush fuel injectors
Is this a fair price?
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tad w
Unregistered
4/12/2001
12:20:59
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
dealers always have jacked up pricing and this is not a fair price for work they probably won't do. i am a novice mechanic and this is basic stuff even for me and my crecsent wrench. for this price, you could enroll in a local community college auto shop class and learn how to do this all yourself and probably have $300 left over. walmart is good for oil changes and you can pick synthetic oil like mobil 1. I am looking at my walmart receipt dated 3-9-01 and for an oil change with penzoil 5-30, rotation, and balance $49.54. Probably less than an extra $30 for syn oil which i will do next time. i am not sure if walmart does tranny fluid change but quick lube places can do it for around $40. come on now, you can at least do the air filter if i can. brake shops usually do free brake inspections. i am not sure about the fuel injectors but i think as long as you use good fuel, this does not need to be done. i have a 200O dak and the balljoints are sealed and no lube required from what i have learned from this excellent webpage. i am not sure if other places need to be lubed. as for the plugs, the local shop around the corner could probably do it for under $150 and maybe lower than that. save some money and use it to get at least a k&n drop in air filter and a better flowing muffler.
2000 quad cab 4x4 4.7L auto tran 3.55 diff
nevada
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mar
GenI
4/12/2001
14:55:55
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
I stopped going for the servicing after i quit working at the dealer. All i do is change the oil Filter and lube the chasie. 5.9 4x4 200000 miles later its still running like i bought it yesterday. I used to work at a dealer and they just say they do half the stuff but they dont. but they remeber to charge you. For some reason they just seem to forget that the customer is letting you fiddle with his 30000 + investment. Now about your list. That is the biggest BS i have ever seen. The only thing they are doing is oil change and injector cleaning which probably are just fine. You only need a injector cleaning if your truck runs bad. Transmition service unless you have a problem probably consits of them doing a burnout behind the dealer which at my dealer if there was a video camara would look like there is 24 hours of fog on tv. Then on top of that they put in the plugs champion which are not that expencive and nothing to bragg about either. If i were you i would learn how to do an oil change which is as simple as digging a hole in the ground and do that until there is a problem. Thats when you go to the dealer and let them fix it. But if you go for crap like tranny service you have a better chance of leaving the dealer with a problem.
MaRty
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The Goto Guy
Unregistered
4/30/2001
13:49:16
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
Did all this myself when I got my rig.
Plugs 99 cents each. You'll need a long handle socket wrench and anit seize (a $20 long term investment)
total $8-$28.
Grease all joints. Gun $6 Grease $4 (again long term as I've had both for years).
total $10.
Rotate tires. Free. All the tools needed are in your truck. If balance is needed it's around $8 per tire at the tire shop.
total Free-$40.
Air filter. No tools needed K&N that won't need any service $40.
total $40.
LOF A wrench and a pan $10 and filter $4 and oil $1 to $4 a quart.
total $20-$40
Injector Cleaning. 99cents dump in tank.
total $1.
Tranny service. Automatic $15 for gasket and filter. Use the same pan and wrench from oil change. Fluid $1.50 need around 4. Manual about $10 for oil.
total $10-$21.
Brakes, shops will check for free but if it stops straight and doesn't make noise their fine.
That's $180 if you have zero tools and want to go with full synthentic oil and a K&N filter. Now you don't have to do any thing but change the oil and lube the joints every 5K for another 50k miles. This will require about 3 hours doing things slow and right. And nothing but the airbox needs removed to perform any of this. You don't even have to jack up the truck.
I know you say you don't have the time, which is fine by me. But, money is appearently an issue or you wouldn't have asked. Do you have the time to make $75-$100 an hour on you day off?
Maybe you could just give a friend $200 or so for parts and labor and get cheaper oil and they don't need tools. You know you're getting the shaft at the dealer for this stuff.
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The Goto Guy
Unregistered
4/30/2001
16:07:24
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
Better yet if you're in the Seattle area give me $350 and I'll do everything on your list and wash and wax it too. :)
Other half got laid off Friday. :(
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Kevin
Unregistered
4/30/2001
23:07:10
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
what about draining the rear/front end and transfer case, and changing oil. I just got that done for $45 each end. They wanted $140 for the tranny flush, I told them that I don't need it at 46,000 miles, it shifts fine.
Kevin
1998 4x4, 5.2, K&N, Magnaflow
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The Goto Guy
Unregistered
5/01/2001
13:40:22
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
At 46k you really didn't even need those changed. General service life on axle and transfer case oils is 100k. But I haven't read the Daks book yet, it may be different. Unless of course you off road and may have gotten water in there, then you change it when you get home. But for $45 no harm, no foul.
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sandman
Unregistered
5/03/2001
19:35:09
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
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Message:
I agree with everyone about the dealer over chargeing for all of the above services. When I was in trade school we were taught that gear lube should be serviced every 12000 miles if used in extreme situations and 24000 under normal use. Transmission fluids and filters should be serviced every 14000-36000 miles depending on usage. TMG belts ever 50000 and chains every 100000. Fluids are not that expensive when you consider the cost of premature failure of parts and cost of replacement.
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Doug
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
1/14/2004
09:23:57
| RE: Fair Price for a 30K service
IP: Logged
Message:
If price was all that mattered, then you would
have built the car yourself. I mean come on
guys everyone knows that regular
maintenance is the key to vehicle longevity. As
I have always said, you can't build a 30K car
out of 5 cent parts, and expect it to last forever.
Sure you can save money at Walmart on
some services, but do you know what kind of
techs Walmart has? They employ the
cheapest labor available. That means you
have some highschool trainee working on
your 50K investment, if that is ok with you then
again you get what you pay for. As for the rest
of you, I hope all of your jobs are replaced with
cheap labor because obviously nobody is
willing to pay a fair price for services rendered.
How can a mechanic make a living off of $20
oil changes? You pay your furnance
repairman $60 an hour, but you won't pay your
automotive tech even $40? WIth the
sophisicated vehicles on the road today, you
have to be a computer whiz, a mechanical
whiz, and a upholstery whiz just to start out.
Lastly, a quality job at a fair price is just as
important at the person who works on your
vehicle. An automechanic is no less skilled
than a doctor nowdays, with ASE cerification,
and the factory training of a dealer.
Shop around get a good price, and quit
whining. Didn't your momma ever tell you that
was impolite?
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