Why Is The Dealership So Cheap?

what car, that sounds about right for the 4 bangers

1999 Hyundai Accent GSI with 65,000k

Chris

They're not "supposed" to be anything, other than competent. I've found my local dealer's service prices to be very competitive with local independent garages. It's all a matter of dealership philosophy and what your local market will bear.

re: Hyundai servicing prices

Very interesting.

I think $600 USD is s.o.p. in the Atlanta area.

And that Canuck $ looney-tuney is valued less than the U.S. $ buck too.

I wonder if it would pay me to come up there from Georgia to buy a new truck or car instead of playing/suckering into bait 'n switch games/tactics at local dealerships?

DoCanadian new vehicle prices seem to run less (how much less?)?

If they are less tres cher up (expensive) there, then why (makes no damned "cents" )?

Despite Canadian currency being worth less ($1CAD=0.85c US right now), vehicle prices are inflated a bit up there. It's actually cheaper to get an equivalent new car in the US! Canadians pay a lot more taxes so I think that makes up the bulk of the price differences.

Robert Cohen said: "Very interesting. I think $600 USD is s.o.p. in the Atlanta area."......

Actually, I'm not surprised. A lot of dealers like to put on "standard" prices, I suspect at least in part so they can post them on a sign. Most of the time, they are inflated.

Most of the area dealers in the big city near me do this, including a Kia dealer whose standard price for the services listed by this Canadian individual was $1200 for my Sedona. Another out-of-the-area dealer quoted me $850, then told me why.

I fully believe that the work mentioned for a 4-cylinder engine is not worth one dime more than he paid. Spark plugs are EXTREMELY easy to get to in most of them, the air filter is always easy, and the timing belt is usually very easy to access.

A V6 is a completely different baby, with three spark plugs in the back of the engine, a timing belt that gumby usually couldn't access in a tight engine compartment and more.

That alone may be reason to consider a 4 over a 6.

Tom Wenndt

So I get to the Hyundai dealership expecting to pay $240 for the timing belt replacement and then they pull back the other curtain.

"Hey while we're in there we might as well replace the p/s and alt belts for $40."

Sure that sounds reasonable.

"And since we'll have the water pump in our hands when we do the timing belt we should change that as well for only $190"!

$190?

I was aware that replacing the water pump was not an uncommon thing when doing the belt, but $190? I talked her down to $150 but still, an hour of labour to change it? Does that seem right?

It's a bit of a shock to be told one price on the phone $240, then find out it's more like $430. Bit of bait and switch? I politely told her that they should really tell people on the phone all of this until waiting til you're standing there.

Anyways, she called me and said that the water bottle looked fine so I declined to have it replaced as it's not my car anyway and I wasn't authorized to spend that much.

Did I make a bad decision? Should I have gotten it replaced?

Chris

Brian

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure they'll do a great job. I've just heard that generally dealerships are more expensive for repairs than say an independent garage.

Chris

Water bottle?

Good luck importing it. You can't simply drive it across the border and register it in the US.

Yes, that's often the case, but it's not a given.

Having worked at a new car dealership, the Service Dept. is an excellent profit center. It's not unusual to have the Service Writer, Service Advisor, or Service Manager pitch you a number of things that need to be done, whether or not this is the case. In some situations, it's not totally unlike sitting in front of the F & I Manager when you're closing the deal on your new car purchase, and he or she is pitching you dealer packs or an extended warranty.

Yes, there are honest dealers with honest Service Departments, along with honest independents, but it's certainly "Caveat Emptor" most of the time. I really feel sorry for those who either haven't worked on their cars before or don't have any mechanical aptitude, as quite often, they are taken advantage of. A perfect example is with my Dodge Grand Caravan. The starter died: the quote for replacement including installation was over $325 at the local Dodge dealer. I bought the same Nippondenso gear-reduction OEM starter at an Advance Auto Parts store, and with a 1/2 hour of labor for installation, the job was done. Total cost: $74. I don't mind anyone earning an honest wage, but sometimes auto repair charges are totally out of bounds.

In my experience, the best dealer from a service perspective, both cost and quality of work, did not use the Flat Rate Manual. Rather, they simply charged for the actual time for a specific job - not preset rates. Because of this, one mechanic could only bill out 8 hours of work per day, rather than what typically occurs in the industry. And, surprisingly, this was with a European car dealship with very reasonable hourly rates.

Not unless it was leaking

re: doing one's own car work

been there, done that: my 1976 red ford grenada oil plug wasn't tightened enough by yours truly.....wait....the same @#$%^&*() has also happened to my 1973 yellow ford pinto wagon and to my 1999 goldish-greenish Hyundai Sonata AND it was the so-called "professionals" negligences/stupidities in both of those incidents

so vat does i do?

on new cars, i always get the extended service contracts, and i do not do my own routine servicing (oil change etal) if i can avoid it

because i figuratively don't know a brake shoe from a buster brown shoe, and thus i let the also fallible professionals do their things

i now recall the satisfaction i got from changing the voltage thing/alternator on the grenada (or was it that lemony pinto?), so i well realize it can be fun too

Sorry, water pump.

Chris

You made the right decision if:

*The pump isn't leaking; *If you know you will be doing this job again down the road (if you'll be keeping this car that long), when you can have it replaced 'next time.'

The worst case scenario would be to have it go bad before your next service like this.

I severely question an additional hour of labor, since they virtually have the silly thing in their hands when replacing the timing belt. Unless that is the time needed to "bring down" and replace the coolant properly, but an hour?

If the price of the just the water pump (the part) was high, I wouldn't be shocked - that is an import for you.

As for the two exterior belts, makes sense to replace them, since they have to take those off anyway to do the rest of this work. But it should be ONLY for the price of the belts. And I'm sorry, belts have only been made for about seven decades or so now - they should not be overly expensive.

Hope this helps (you and others).

Tom Wenndt