Dealership pricing on air filter

Timfoilhat

Timfoilhat

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My wife brought he car in to the dealership to get a new strut. That was a warranty job. While there, they did a courtesy inspection on wear items.
They wanted $186 to change an air filter.
Did it myself in 5 minutes this morning. OEM filter was $46 on some internet import parts site. Was literally a zero skill job.
Just wanted to vent.
 
I’m borrowing a friends truck while mine is in the shop, he was due for an oil change so I decided to take it to the dealer to get done as a thank you. They said one tag light was out and asked if I wanted them to replace it. Knowing a 194 tag light is like $2, I politely declined without asking what they’d charge. I can only imagine it was $12 for the part and $40 for labor.

And dealers wonder why they get a bad rep. I realize they have to make money, but dealer service is only a few steps behind the ridiculousness of medicine.
 
beamernc said:
Surprised they didn't want another $100 to change the cabin filter.
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The dealership asked me about changing it in my F150 for something like $100. I laughed and said you know I change that myself for about 10 bucks and less than 5mins of my time.
 
Me. said:
When I take my car in for servicing anywhere (rare) I lock the glovebox, put tape over the lock.

I make sure that my written instructions say that I don't want any "courtesy" inspections.


I started this policy after I had one once where they found that chipmunks had stored a bunch of junk in my airbox (annual state inspection). I was actually glad they found that. But they decided to remove the filter, to show me the junk. In doing so they dropped junk inside and wanted over $200 for the cleanup and filter replacement.


I asked the service manager to show me on the state regulations where inspecting the air filter is listed. It, of course, isn't.


I let him know they would be doing the vacuuming for free, while I watched. I did take them up on the overpriced new filter as part of the bargain, but no labor charges.





This is true. Some of the up-sells we see (as handy DIY folks) seem like robbery, but most people just want a properly running car with no effort on their part. I can't blame the dealers for leveraging that.

Heck... I do tons of work every day for companies who could do it themselves if they chose to.
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I briefly did mechanic work. Never once pulled an air filter out and held it hostage. That's a sign of more shady stuff to come. The amount of people that couldn't belive we charged them for something they could do was too damn high also. IF YOU WERE GONNA CHANGE THE FILTER WHY DID YOU TELL ME TO.
 
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Me. said:
This is true. Some of the up-sells we see (as handy DIY folks) seem like robbery, but most people just want a properly running car with no effort on their part. I can't blame the dealers for leveraging that.
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I wonder if they would make more money in the long run if they were just reasonable about things? The people who can't do anything would still pay, those who can do things might choose not to and just have the shop do it because it's reasonable.

But I guess if there are 95 people who can't do anything and can be screwed it's better than trying to get those last 5 to give up some simple DIY.
 
Some of those dealerships are HUGE. They barely have any cars to sell right now. I can't imagine gouging people on service enough to pay for those places.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
I’m borrowing a friends truck while mine is in the shop, he was due for an oil change so I decided to take it to the dealer to get done as a thank you. They said one tag light was out and asked if I wanted them to replace it. Knowing a 194 tag light is like $2, I politely declined without asking what they’d charge. I can only imagine it was $12 for the part and $40 for labor.

And dealers wonder why they get a bad rep. I realize they have to make money, but dealer service is only a few steps behind the ridiculousness of medicine.
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The sunroof in my 18 F-350 quit working. I took it to the dealer and was told the track was broken, a common problem with them. The truck was just out of warranty! If it’s a common problem, fix them for free! Track is plastic, what do they expect? They expect you to bring it in and spend $2500-$3000 for them to “fix” it! I declined, went home and watched a YouTube video on it that also gave a link to parts and a parts list. $124 and a half hour investment, my sunroof was working perfectly again. Talk about a rip offf!
 
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C-doodle said:
Some of those dealerships are HUGE. They barely have any cars to sell right now. I can't imagine gouging people on service enough to pay for those places.
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They should be more profitable. According to their advertising they lose money on every car they sell.
 
Before long if a dealership does not do things like that (along with other simple crap) it will void your warranty … think what they’ve started doing with “subscription” options!
 
They incentivize those techs to have bad behavior. The more of those they sell the fatter their check will be. That unfortunately drives the wrong outcome.
 
i had an oil change shop con man show me a filthy air filter that didn’t even fit my car trying to scam me I had installed a new one that am. Another one wanted $50 to change a $0.50 license plate bulb that was still working. If you can find an honest shop stick with them.
 
Timfoilhat said:
My wife brought he car in to the dealership to get a new strut. That was a warranty job. While there, they did a courtesy inspection on wear items.
They wanted $186 to change an air filter.
Did it myself in 5 minutes this morning. OEM filter was $46 on some internet import parts site. Was literally a zero skill job.
Just wanted to vent.
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Had similar experience in the last year for same thing. I told the service writer, thanks for letting me know it was time for ME to change it. Ridiculous and they wonder why people hate them.
 
JimB said:
They should be more profitable. According to their advertising they lose money on every car they sell.
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This is the difference between being truthful versus honest. In 2014 the Mrs picked out a new truck. It was the one she wanted. I think it was sitting at sticker for 44,995 brand new. I told them I would give them 36,500 for it and that was out the door. The sales person laughed and said there would be no way he could get even close to that. He wanted me to stick around and wait on a better deal numbers to come from their finance guy. I told them I was heading home and they could call me with the information. Over the next two weeks they called me every day with a different price... around $200 off each time. I refused. At the end of the two weeks the sales guy called me and said if you still want it we will do it for 36.5k out the door. I asked him what changed? He said it was two weeks away from year end and Ram incentivizes them on selling in bulk XX amount. They were one vehicle short to receive the 100k manufacture kick back. I drove in and picked it up. I do believe they lost money on the deal but they made back in the ram kick back. I think the same is they lose money on the vehicle but they make 500% margin on the additional items like nitrogen, tint, door seals, lifts , financing, etc
 
amnesia said:
This is the difference between being truthful versus honest. In 2014 the Mrs picked out a new truck. It was the one she wanted. I think it was sitting at sticker for 44,995 brand new. I told them I would give them 36,500 for it and that was out the door. The sales person laughed and said there would be no way he could get even close to that. He wanted me to stick around and wait on a better deal numbers to come from their finance guy. I told them I was heading home and they could call me with the information. Over the next two weeks they called me every day with a different price... around $200 off each time. I refused. At the end of the two weeks the sales guy called me and said if you still want it we will do it for 36.5k out the door. I asked him what changed? He said it was two weeks away from year end and Ram incentivizes them on selling in bulk XX amount. They were one vehicle short to receive the 100k manufacture kick back. I drove in and picked it up. I do believe they lost money on the deal but they made back in the ram kick back. I think the same is they lose money on the vehicle but they make 500% margin on the additional items like nitrogen, tint, door seals, lifts , financing, etc
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Yep. Two similar stories.

Was looking at a used BMW 3 series convertable like 20 years ago. I worked out a deal with the sales guy on paper. I wrote on the paper "not a penny more." Goes to finance guy. He comes up with a payment that's $2 a month higher. I asserted my not a penny more clause and stood up to leave. Finance guy says "really, you're leaving over $2?" I counter, it's $2 a month at 5% interest for the term. It's not just $2. And if it means so little to you, you eat it. With that I left. They called me a week later and offered me like $5k off the price (it was only a $20k car) and a lower interest rate. It was honestly a good deal assuming the car wasn't hiding a problem, but I had already bought elsewhere.

Just this last time at the dealer for the warranty job I was browsing a little waiting for service. They had a dealer add on for nitrogen to every sticker. $200 per car. FOR AIR.
 
amnesia said:
They incentivize those techs to have bad behavior. The more of those they sell the fatter their check will be. That unfortunately drives the wrong outcome.
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Same with comfort systems. The big Charlotte and Raleigh companies pay techs to find problems and to sell add ons. If you don’t they will find someone who will. The two bigCharlotte companies that have techs making 90k annually. A couple around here have taken the same approach. One told me his sales increased 60% in one year.
 
GoWolfpack said:
From the other side:

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I love watching those videos. It’s unfathomable that people would go 30-40k before doing an oil change, especially their first!

@amnesia excellent story about their motivation to hit a volume rebate. Those rebates are tiered and can be BIG dollars. They also get pressured by their regional manufacturer rep to hit X tier. Finding the dealers who are a few cars away from hitting the next tier are how you get the beat deals at month end.
Different industry, but I used to design and administer these types of programs, it’s interesting to see how different companies treat that money. Some use it to discount the product and be more competitive, some use it for the owner’s new toy/vacation home/etc.
 
Timfoilhat said:
Just this last time at the dealer for the warranty job I was browsing a little waiting for service. They had a dealer add on for nitrogen to every sticker. $200 per car. FOR AIR.
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When I bought my truck they added door edge guards (scotch tape), locking lug nuts and nitrogen in the tires as the "Protection Package" for an additional $1000. I ended up swallowing it because they honored the GM family first discount but I did let them know how scummy I thought that was. Nothing but a bunch of excuses about how they do that to all their new cars and the salesman didn't know they were doing it.




Jerzsubbie said:
Finding the dealers who are a few cars away from hitting the next tier are how you get the beat deals at month end.
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Those days might be over for a while. Factory ordering is taking over in a lot of cases and you take delivery whenever it comes.

I've given up on trying to squeeze every cent from a car deal. Decide on an OTD price I think is fair, and either they like it or I walk. I've got better things to do with my time.
 
GoWolfpack said:
Those days might be over for a while. Factory ordering is taking over in a lot of cases and you take delivery whenever it comes.

I've given up on trying to squeeze every cent from a car deal. Decide on an OTD price I think is fair, and either they like it or I walk. I've got better things to do with my time.
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Yes, factory ordering is beginning to be more prevelant, and I think it’s the beginning of traditional dealers being squeezed out of the sales equation. However, manufacturers still need someone to drive their sales, so even if they went to a complete factory order model via dealerships, the dealers will still get a cut and be incentivized to hit a sales target. Think of it like drop shipping, but for cars. Tesla is at the other end of the spectrum, where their marketing does the selling for them and they only have “dealerships” to satisfy state laws.

I believe, in my lifetime, we’ll see a “dealership” model that is 80-100% service and only has a dozen cars for test drives. No clue on timing but it’ll take a while since gov is a piece of the puzzle.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
Yes, factory ordering is beginning to be more prevelant, and I think it’s the beginning of traditional dealers being squeezed out of the sales equation. However, manufacturers still need someone to drive their sales, so even if they went to a complete factory order model via dealerships, the dealers will still get a cut and be incentivized to hit a sales target. Think of it like drop shipping, but for cars. Tesla is at the other end of the spectrum, where their marketing does the selling for them and they only have “dealerships” to satisfy state laws.

I believe, in my lifetime, we’ll see a “dealership” model that is 80-100% service and only has a dozen cars for test drives. No clue on timing but it’ll take a while since gov is a piece of the puzzle.
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And the UAW
 
My son took the car for an oil change in Statesville where we bought a Prius. I had an appointment and he was gone 3 hours. He was young and they called my wife about needing other services. She couldn’t answer and when I called to find out why he wasn’t back he said they had not even talked to him from the time he arrived. I got the service writer on the phone. He said I needed $2890 of stuff. After detailing the items I told him I would have to discuss that with the wife (which was only to get the car back). They called later to survey how the service was. I told them I was never coming back to that dealership again and we had bought 4 cars with the previous ownership. I got a call from the general manager whom I knew. I told him the same and haven’t been back since. We did get two items done- cabin filter and rear wiper blade which I did. Car has had zero issues since that 2018 declaration of needs.

For me the worse are camper dealerships. My nephew made $125k as a service writer. He makes almost $180k as regional manager over multiple service departments now. All he does is fly to dealers and tell them to get revenue up. Why would anyone need a $180k manager when they have a site general manager? He said the hourly rate was $159 per tech in 2019. Tech average wage was $32 hr. Hell of a profit center.
 
We bought our son a 1994 Toyota 4x4 pickup when he was 16. We took it to the local Toyota stealership for an oil change and they came out with a list of over $4000 worth of stuff that "needed replacement", that's what we paid for it. I asked they if they wanted me just to bring them the title and give it to them. Never went back.
 
Back when I was working and had a company vehicle, I took it for an oil change. Our corporate had an account with a local Goodyear store. I went to pick up the vehicle and the guy gave me a list of stuff that "I needed". It was over $2800. This was the result of their free safety and maintenance inspection. I told him that I'd pass the info on to corporate and let him know.

The next oil change, they told me that I would probably need a set of tires at the next oil change. That was all that they said I needed. I told the guy that last time he had a list of stuff that needed to be done. What happened? Did it repair itself? Did they not find the same things during this inspection? I told him that I had to bring the company vehicle in but, I'd never bring my personal vehicle in nor recommend them to anyone that I knew.
 
Geezer said:
Back when I was working and had a company vehicle, I took it for an oil change. Our corporate had an account with a local Goodyear store. I went to pick up the vehicle and the guy gave me a list of stuff that "I needed". It was over $2800. This was the result of their free safety and maintenance inspection. I told him that I'd pass the info on to corporate and let him know.

The next oil change, they told me that I would probably need a set of tires at the next oil change. That was all that they said I needed. I told the guy that last time he had a list of stuff that needed to be done. What happened? Did it repair itself? Did they not find the same things during this inspection? I told him that I had to bring the company vehicle in but, I'd never bring my personal vehicle in nor recommend them to anyone that I knew.
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That’s how the company scams work. Get a contract for inspections and PM then send the corporate payable department big bills. Employees usually could care less and nobody is really watching.
 
BlackGun said:
That’s how the company scams work. Get a contract for inspections and PM then send the corporate payable department big bills. Employees usually could care less and nobody is really watching.
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Someone here told a story of their fleet vehicle experience maybe 9-12mo ago or so… since the shop didn’t need approval for repairs under $xxx, they went ahead and did some unnecessary repairs without even telling him. He was not happy about it and I believe made them aware.
 
Hear those horror stories all the time.I don't upsell at all and my customers appreciate me for it.
Most of them trust me to do it if it is truly needed without asking permission (but I do anyway).
 
I just did the 50 hr service on my Kubota tractor.

$160 vs their $485.

1 filter is $54. Insane. But it's at 50 hours then not again till 400.
 
Wife's car has been in for warranty twice.
First time a couple grand worth of maintenance estimates including some "if you don't warranty will be void." Included air filter that was less than 2 weeks old.
Last time included a hundred plus to change cabin filter, umm to inspect it, free, it's already out, so where's the labor come from and how's it an hour to no tools unhinge the glove box?
Funny they call her with this stuff, and they'll explain it when she comes in, but say nothing when I pick up. Lost a potential repeat car buyer with these shenanigans.
 
My free airbag inflator recall cost me $350 after the Chevy dealer on Glenwood Ave in Raleigh screwed it up.
GM stood behind the dealer with a comment that they are not responsible for things that might happen during a recall.
I will never go to the Glenwood Ave dealer again for anything and never purchase another GM product.


just realized that there very few dealers can be trusted….
 
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Man this thread reminded me of a similar experience at a Jiffy Lube a decade ago. I drove down to Miami to visit family for a few weeks and was due for an oil change before I came back up. Stopped in there, thinking it would be Jiffy.

Just a few minutes after handing my key over the tech comes into the waiting room with a rectangle shape paper filter covered in dry leaves. He says this is my air filter and they can change it for some god awful amount. Knowing damn well I had a pentagon-ish shaped K&N Filter in there I started seeing red at this attempted scam.

I politely asked if they had started draining any oil, and if not will they take my car off the lift as I will be taking my business elsewhere. He said something about "Don't you think this dirty filter needs changing?" Then I lost my shit telling him I know damn well what my filter looks like and going off about this scam. They pulled my car out quick, and I'm sure quite a few of the other customers in that waiting room had a bunch of questions for that tech when I left.
 
It was many years ago and I don't recall the details exactly, but a friend's wife took a car in for a recall or some other work. When she got the car back, it would make a strange noise when turning. She took it right back to the dealer and told them it wasn't doing that when she brought it in. They "investigated" and said it was in need of some $2000+ repair. She said, no, I'll have my husband take a look, which he did. Turns out they loosened some nuts on the tie rods to cause it to make noise so they could claim it needed a very expensive repair.

Same dealer (supposedly) replaced a cracked heater core in the husband's truck and charged him for a new one. It started leaking again within a week. What they did was try to solder the leak in heater core and charged him for a brand new replacement; they just got caught at it.

I believe I mentioned this one before: my wife had a Toyota that was under warranty. The brake fluid was always a little low in the reservoir, and when the brake light came on I let the dealer check it out. They claimed we wore the pads down to the studs, damaging the rotors and that this also wore the back breaks out and we needed a complete brake replacement and it wasn't covered under warranty. I walked out and a friend and I changed the front pads in my driveway. Turns out, that the front pads were barely worn and the wear was even. Additionally, we could tell they never looked at the back brakes because of the rust on the drum. I sent a letter into Toyota corporate and got a letter back that was part boiler plate about their Factory Certified Techs being the best for repair and another part thanking me for bringing this to their attention and that they would look into it.
 
Once upon a time Walmart had an oil change special, 5 quarts Mobil synthetic and a filter for $24.95. You couldn't buy the oil and filter that cheap so for about a year I let them service my truck. Turns out they were using an air wrench on the drain plug. Ask me how I know.

.
 
I put my initials and change date on air filters in sharpie and tell any service-types "dont bother, I just changed it".

Ive run across a number of YouTube vids on "how to change your cabin or engine air filter " where they open it up and pull out a close but wrong one a dealership had squished a bit and crammed in.
 
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