GOBLUES

Ok, so I took my Protege5 in to the dealership with about 24,500 km this morning... I assumed (and correct me if I'm wrong for assuming) they would perform the 24k kms service on the car. Well, after an hour, my car's ready to go... total bill is $29 CAD... So I calmly mention "Hmmm, I expected it to be a little higher with the 24k inspection"... service reply is "Oh, I overlooked the mileage on your car... I should have suggested the service"

Since I don't know jack about so much as doing my own oil change... I say for them to go ahead and do the service. Service tells me it will take about 20 mins... so I head up into the lounge. Half hour goes by so I go down to check... service says they're still working but shouldn't be much longer. So 45 mins after I give them the go-ahead to do the service, my car is once again ready to go...

NOW HERE'S THE S**TTY PART... They tell me the air filter needed replacing (That's no problem... I figured it did and part was $19)... Service gives me a new total of $170 CAD... I just about s**t

I inquire on how the price jumped so much... service tells me I'm charged an additional 1.3 hours labor for something that only took 45 mins. Does this sound right to anyone else???

So taking the $29 oil change... adding $22 for air filter and tax.... I'm left with $119 for the service tech to inspect/lubricate the brakes, inspect cooling system, torque chassis nuts, and a couple other 30 second inspections

JorynnRace

OMG, that is ludicrous. My Mazda dealership in Calgary strikes me as being that kind of place too. Run by shmucks that are out to rape u on service charges. (they might not be.. but its all about perception)

The moron should have told u about it in the first place, had the work done, and it wouldn't have taken so long.... what a dillhole.

My car is only at 14K.. but when it gets to be around 24K I will be VERY watchful for stuff like that.

doctor_r

Same ****... check it here

GOBLUES

Damnnnn, I guess I pretty much got raped on this one then... I guess that's a huge problem with not knowing anything about the mechanics of a car. I WISH I could do all the maintenance on my car...

My dealership likes to phone me about 2 days after I've been in for service... we'll see if they do this time... and if so, they'll get an earfull!!

I guess my main complaint is that Mazda has a set rate of 1.3 hours for the job... so the question is... is that overcharging? Or does the fact that the mechanic was done in 45 mins suggest that he did a quick (and most likely s**tty) job of it??

JorynnRace

My guess is that the job was done properly, they just have learned over time how to do it faster, and they haven't adjusted the time constraint in order to give leeway.

If u tell someone you'll have your report in by friday, you really mean you'll be done on Wednesday but you want time to either goof off, or make sure its done right.

My guess is the former in this case.

GOBLUES

I definitely agree with you, but when I'm waiting around for the car, and I've waited 45 mins... how can they justify charging me for 78 mins?

jjac28

i paid $72 for my $8k service.
now for my 16k oil change i'll probably go
somewhere else....i'll go to mazda only if they do the basic oil change for $29 and nothing else

JorynnRace

They CAN'T justify charging 78 mins of work when only 45 mins of work was done.. they can "rationalize" by saying that since the car was in their possession that blahdy blah policy is blahdy blah.

You should certainly tear a strip off of them when/if they call. Or just call in yourself. If they have any sense they will either give you some sort of refund, or free stuff, or something. If they are stupid, they'll do nothing.

90210brandon

That's about right. Mazda mechanics charge-out rate is about $70/h. You need to learn to do that **** yourself. For them to tell you that your air filter needs replacing, so be it but, it takes 5 seconds to do. I would go back and ask why, exactly, it cost so much. That's crap. Otherwise, tell them that you feel like you are getting bum-holed and will take the car to another dealer for it's next service.

Maxx Mazda

Um... It's called flat rate. This is nothing new here guys. A mechanic is given a certain amount of time by Mazda to complete a certain job. In the case of this 24,000Km tune-up, Mazda allots the Mechanic 1.3 hours to complete the task. If he does it in 1.3 hours, half an hour, or even 4 hours, he still only gets paid for 1.3 hours.

The fact that he did it in 45 minutes is no surprise. More than half the time mechanics rush jobs so that they can get more done and earn more money. They're not paid hourly. The more work they do, the more they get paid. $20 says he didn't even "inspect and lubricate" anything.

Look at it this way: If a mechanic is given 8 2.0 hour jobs to do in 1 day, and takes 1 hour on each of them, he works for a total of 8 hours, but because he rushed through and was able to fit more jobs in, he gets paid for 16 hours. Neat, huh? Next time you take your car in for service, go back into the shop and have a look. He he changed your air filter, rotated your tires, changed the oil and sent it out the door so he could get another job in as quickly as possible.

Jasper

Ok, so my car has hit 24 000Kms and im readin all this stuff about the dealer maintenance and how much it costs. And many people saying DONT bring it in cause its a rip off. My question is, IF I choose not to bring it in for their 'scam' charges, how does this effect the warrenty, if at all???

GOBLUES

I believe that as long as you have proof that it was done (ie: receipts from someone else doing it, or receipts from the needed products purchased to do it yourself), you shouldn't have a problem for warranty purposes. This is what I've been told... my problem was that I don't know how, or have the nescessary equip./tools to do the job.

AlexB2

OK, here's what Mazda dealer told me. Anything that says "inspect" is not verifiable, therefore does not affect your warranty. Anything that says "change" does.

Guys, the deal is simple. I figured this looking at my wife's 99 corolla dealer schedule.

That car has to be serviced every 6k. Over 2yrs ( I am including the major changes - hence not 1 year ) and 48K, the cost is nearly the same as the total of our services ( every 8K ). Get it?

Since the service intervals increased, but they can't lose income, they more on each service.

Take it from someone that is still a newbie, including anything to do with car service. But boy, their prices make you learn fast!

frankm

To put things into an historical perspective, cuz I'm an old fart who has owned Japanese cars for 30 years (mostly Hondas), I must say that Mazda service schedules nowadays are easier on the owner's bank account than what I remember from past experience from Honda dealers. I'm old enough to remember when a 24k Honda service included a complete tune-up, brake service and valve adjustment, and a resulting invoice of several hundred dollars.
By all means do your own oil and filter changes if you want to save a few bucks and learn more about your car, but get to the dealer for the major service intervals while you're still under warranty. It's worth it as insurance against any mechanical failures.

humvee

Here's my $.02 on this subject.

As a newbie Honda owner about 10 year ago I went to the dealer for my oil changes, etc. One time i asked them about the schd. maint. and they basicly said "oh, you don't need to do that, if it's not making strange noises and if everything is good...don't worry about it". I have to say I was happy with this dealer from day 1 (Steinbach). They treated me very well. They'd do their inspection with the oil change and would check different stuff and recommend anything that needed to be done. (I think boots were the only thing they ever mentioned, and that was done on warranty) Maybe brakes too...but they really did need to get done. I know at 110,000 they freaked out when I said I hadn't done the timing belt yet, so I know they weren't taking me for a ride when they said I should do it NOW!. Also went there to get tires rotated during an oil change - same response "oh, are the front worn?" hehehe. I told them if they look worn, switch them, if they don't...just keep it". They kept it. Anyways - Great dealer...they won't do anything that doesn't need to be done. btw - Don't even think that a "regular" dealer will say stuff like that. Every dealer is winnipeg is **** compared to Steinbach.

ok...Mazda. I haven't asked them to do any of the tuneups...of course...my P5 has been in the shop so much that I haven't had time to wear it in (I'm on my 3rd tranny and only 35k) automatic in case you care.

bottom line...sched. maint is just a way for them to make easy money. get your oil changed, check your fluid levels often, but unless it makes noise or acts different...I wouldn't bother with reg. maint. (Air filter you can do yourself, or get a K+N and don't worry about it for many many moons).