I am the recent owner of a nice little 1996 Tercel manual trans. with72K miles. The car is in great shape. It had its 60K mile servicebefore I bought it, but the one thing that dealer did not do was changethe transaxle oil. So I brought it to my local Toyota dealer today tohave the transaxle oil changed. The dealer charge was $79.95. Thedealer said that the job is more labor-intensive than an engine-oilchange. My bullshit meter went off, but I paid for the job anyway.I'm thinking about contacting the service manager to "discuss" thecharges.My understanding is that changing the transaxle oil is not much harderthan a simple engine oil change. Any thoughts? Thanks.

What is the hourly labor rate where you are? Without access to a flat rate manual, my wild guess is that the standard flat rate labor time is between 1 and 1.5 hours. Take the flat rate labor times and multiply by the dealer's labor rate to come up with a range of reasonable labor charges.Your receipt should show the flat rate labor time they charged you.

Dealer Service Dept. Overcharge?

Aug 01, 2005 23 Replies

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Ray O 20 years ago

Flat rate time for an oil change is probably .5 or .6 hours, plus, there is more competition for engine oil changes than transmission oil changes so that hour difference in flat rate time accounts for the difference in labor charges.

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I'm Right 20 years ago

mechanics dont change oil, gophers do, they are paid $7/hr maybe

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Charles Pisano 20 years ago

He's right.

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Hachiroku 20 years ago

Gee...I just drain it out of one hole and fill it through the other... Not even a filter involved!

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