Thoughts from My Car Dealership

Last Wednesday I took my car in for its 60,000-mile tune-up. I had several finance-related thoughts about the experience during the time I waited for the car and wanted to share them all with you. Here goes:

• I don't usually have my car worked on at the dealership since they are way over-priced. But for major work/tune-ups, I'd rather pay a bit more and have guys work on the car who really know the ins and outs of it (after all, they work on these cars all day, every day.) I also have a few other reasons I go to the dealership that I noted last year, most of which are still valid.

• Since my last visit, the dealership has upgraded. Instead of a lounge where you can hook up your own computer and get dial-up access, they now have the dealership's computer with high-speed internet access. Cool! I could do several blogging-related tasks while I waited. Yeah, they still had the option for me to dial-up my own computer, but why bother?

• During the tune-up, the manager came and told me my brakes were almost worn completely (95% or so) and asked if I wanted new ones (for both front and back) or wanted to get them elsewhere. If I got them here, it would be $425. Within 20-seconds, here's what went through my mind:

1. I do trust these guys -- I don't think they would tell me something like this if it weren't true.
2. I KNOW I can find a better deal on brakes somewhere else. I could probably save $100 or so versus their price.
3. How long will it take me to find a place to do my brakes? And to price shop? And to take my car in again? Maybe two hours at best. Probably more like four hours.
4. My car is here NOW. It can be done NOW for only maybe an extra hour's worth of waiting time. Even if I value my time at only $50 per hour (which I value it at more than that), I'll probably "save" $100 to $150 by having the work done here and right now.
5. If I get the brakes done now, I have a coupon that will give me $25 extra off the price.
6. I told him to do the work now.

• When I paid, my bill was $800. But I knocked it down a bit as follows:

• I had a coupon that gave me savings off different levels of spending at the dealership (I'm on their mailing list and they sent it to me.) The tune-up alone was going to get me $25 in savings, but adding the brake work bumped me up to the next savings level, so I got to save $50 off the work.

• I redeemed my last $100 rewards certificate from my Subaru Platinum MasterCard from Chase (for details on how/why I had this card, see What My Second Credit Card Does for Me.) I'm getting rid of this card in favor of the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card since next year I'm looking to dramatically increase my cash back rewards. But I did use my one, last rewards certificate to knock $100 off the bill. And I timed it so it will leave me with no rewards accumulated on it.

• My final bill was $650 and I paid with my Blue Cash from American Express card, earning me cash back of $9.75. Not bad.

That's it. Who ever thought I'd pick up such a long blog post at my dealership? ;-)

Comments

[swiffer]

I get most of my work done at the dealership. If you have several dealerships for your car type in the area, call around to each service department and ask them how much they charge for specific services at the time you need it done. I guarantee you that at least one of them will have it on special. Plus, some will take competing dealerships' service coupons. I also have the Citibank Drivers Edge MasterCard to help me with rebates on service. You have purchase rebates and drive rebates (get paid for driving).

[Dan D]

I would've stopped at point number one. Doesn't matter what you bring your car in for at the dealership, you're walking out with a bill for almost a grand. I've never walked away with a bill under $750. I outright don't trust dealership mechanics and refuse to let them service my vehicle.

[beastlike]

Hmm, I am going to run into the same issue as I am coming up on 60k miles. However, I just changed the brakes myself (1st time) and it took about 2 hours at most and it cost less than $120 with dealorship parts.

I am shocked how easy it is to change brakes and how much places charge for them!

[Scott]

I respect your desire to have the dealership change your brakes but I have a hard time paying that kind of money for that. I am certainly not a mechanic - rather, I am a keyboard pounding technology worker - but I can change the brakes on most cars in about an hour. The cost for parts is about $25 and axle so about $50 for all 4 wheels. That is a significant savings.

I realize this isn't for everyone and there are also arguments about the value of your time. But even if I spend 2 hours doing this I can still spend some or all of that time with my family by teaching my kids how to do the task as well and get the bonus of teaching them to be more self reliant.

Good post, thanks for sharing.

[Matt]

If I were you, I'd have gone back to point #2 and used it to negotiate: "I could easily get this for $100 less by taking it somewhere else, but I'm already here now, so if you knock $90 off, I'm willing to let you guys do it." In fact, I think they started at the breathtaking figure of $425 so that they would have room to negotiate down.

Then again, as Dan D said, I don't think I'd have gotten past point #1, since I strongly distrust dealership service departments. Besides, brakes are perfectly capable of announcing they're worn down by themselves. Almost all brake pads have "squeakers", which are little bits of embedded metal. They warn you with a squeaking sound long before your rotors get damaged.

[Kevin]

Wow, I've always wanted to learn how to change my own oil (especially after a couple bad Jiffy Lube experiences), now I may add brakes to that list. I think AutoZone will even give you instructions on how to do it if you buy the parts there.

I tend to take my car to the dealer for anything other than oil changes or new tires. I know I'm going to be charged more, but I'm willing to do that since I don't really "have a mechanic" that I trust. And they sometimes have a courtesy car so I don't have to sit around and wait.

[Chris]

Yep, learning basic auto maintenance saves a ton. You can often also save a lot by 1) buying aftermarket parts at Autozone and a lot more by 2) buying junked parts off ebay (albeit with some risk that the part doesn't work I'm sure - but I've never run into that).

When my alternator went out a couple years ago I replaced it with a junkyard alternator from ebay and the whole job cost me about $30 and a couple hours of my time.

With dealer labor rates running upwards of $100/hr and part markups in the 200% range, I estimate that over my lifetime I have saved nearly sixty gajillion dollars.

[Sorry]

I can't tell you how much I regret having my brakes done by someone other than the dealership. They didn't squeal before they were done but they've squealed like stuck pigs ever since and they've been redone two more times. The repair place is highly-rated and I've had friends recommend them. I've gotten tires there for the past 12 years and never had a problem until now. They claim to be using factory-rated parts but when I asked about this at the dealership, they said that unless they were using Audi parts, this would happen and they see it all the time. Unfortunately, I can't afford to spend another $800 to have them redone at the dealership. The repair place claims it's because I've been braking too hard during the break-in period. My friends all laugh at this because I drive like a little old lady.

[Matt]

Sorry:

In all likelihood, this is just a nuisance issue, not a safety issue. Non-OEM brake pads tend to be made of harder material so that they'll last longer. The downside is that they squeak more and are a little harder on the rotors.

The best thing to do is just live with it, and get the shop you used to take a quick peek at the brakes every 6 months or so since you'll otherwise have a hard time telling when the brakes are wearing out for real. If you drive like a little old lady, expect it could be a good couple years before you need to spend any more money on them.

When it is finally time to replace them, ask the independent shop to quote you a price for installing genuine Audi parts. I'm guessing it will still be significantly less than the dealership wants. Then, you can either take their offer or use it to negotiate a lower price with the dealership's service dept.

[OUch!]

Holy, cramola! Did they replace/turn the rotors too!?!

If you just need the pads replaced then you can do that yourself or have a neighbor/friend help plus you can install decent brakepads like Wagners instead of OEM crap that actually causes the rotors to need service. Actually, even if you take it to the shop you should have them install Wagners even if it means you to BYOB them.

[Tarah]

I'm a mechanic's wife, and if you can find a mechanic you can trust, don't go to the dealership. My husband has been a mechanic at both independant shops and dealerships. He said there's no difference in the quality of work or the parts, but the dealership charges more for labor and parts.