Honda dealer service schedule--ripoff? Or essential?

[ebow]

Of course I want my 2004 Civic to last a long time and perform as best it can, but the recommended service schedule posted by dealers in my area seems like a ripoff. Rather, the prices seem way out of line with the work performed. You can see an example of the recommended service levels in this set of charts--most of it involves checking and inspecting, some of which is for things I can easily do myself (seatbelts, lights, wipers). What gets me is the pricing: approx $30 for A (okay), $100 for B (hmm), $230 for C (guh?), and $350 for D (tee hee, well ... they are replacing some things).

So... am I way out of line thinking that the higher levels of service cost too much? I'm happy to get a regular oil change every 4-5 thousand miles, and when I do I ask them to give the car a look over. In my (rather amateur) mind, I could see inserting an extra "A" between each of the other letters, and perhaps that would be just fine. Or am I going to screw my car with this kind of attitude? Lastly, should I just go to an independent shop that I trust and ask them to do the checks, if I can get a better rate there?

 

[strider42]

Of course I want my 2004 Civic to last a long time and perform as best it can, but the recommended service schedule posted by dealers in my area seems like a ripoff. Rather, the prices seem way out of line with the work performed. You can see an example of the recommended service levels in this set of charts--most of it involves checking and inspecting, some of which is for things I can easily do myself (seatbelts, lights, wipers). What gets me is the pricing: approx $30 for A (okay), $100 for B (hmm), $230 for C (guh?), and $350 for D (tee hee, well ... they are replacing some things).

So... am I way out of line thinking that the higher levels of service cost too much? I'm happy to get a regular oil change every 4-5 thousand miles, and when I do I ask them to give the car a look over. In my (rather amateur) mind, I could see inserting an extra "A" between each of the other letters, and perhaps that would be just fine. Or am I going to screw my car with this kind of attitude? Lastly, should I just go to an independent shop that I trust and ask them to do the checks, if I can get a better rate there?

Is the recommended service from the factory, or from the dealer. Dealers often have their own recommended service, which costs much more than the one from the factory. Pays to read your owners manual.

You can take your car wherever you want, but if the shop does shoddy work or screws something up, it could affect your warranty. If you don't have something documented and something goes wrong with that part, the warranty may not cover it. This is probably a bigger deal with the major services, the "D" services.

The inspection stuff may not be relaly that necessary most of the time, but don't let the bigger stuff slide by.

 

[iGary]

I've done every single service on my 2001 Honda (every 10,000 miles) and I have not had one lick of trouble with it. Of course I am insanely anal about most everything I own (I clean the inside and outside of my PM every week.

Replacing specific fluids, rotating the tires and balancing them, alignments, adjustments and filters all help the car last longer with less problems, IMHO.

My oil still comes out relatively clean at every change - I get it done every 3,000 miles religiously - and at 19.00 a pop at the dealer, why not?

I reccomend it, personally. Which reminds me, I'm due for my 100,000-mile service.

The 110,000 is going to sting (timing belt, plugs, plug wires, water pump....)

Good Luck

 

[ebow]

Is the recommended service from the factory, or from the dealer. Dealers often have their own recommended service, which costs much more than the one from the factory. Pays to read your owners manual.

You can take your car wherever you want, but if the shop does shoddy work or screws something up, it could affect your warranty. If you don't have something documented and something goes wrong with that part, the warranty may not cover it. This is probably a bigger deal with the major services, the "D" services.

The inspection stuff may not be relaly that necessary most of the time, but don't let the bigger stuff slide by.

Good point on the manual. I've looked through it and must have done a poor job, because I thought it said pretty much the same thing but with no prices listed. However, it seems to list mostly the same checks, but at 10,000 mile intervals rather than 3,750 or 5,000 miles. That's much easier to stomach. Hooray for literacy!

 

[aquajet]

If you don't mind getting a bit dirty every now and again, then I recommend purchasing a service manual and performing the "inspections" yourself. I do the same with my Beetle. I also perform the routine stuff myself (oil, spark plugs, filters, etc.) and save the more substantial stuff for a trusted mechanic.

On the issue of oil changes: I was under the impression Honda recommends longer change intervals than what was listed on your linked chart. I change the oil in my Beetle every 20,000 miles, using 0W-40 synthetic, and change the filter every 10,000 miles. It's got 146,000 miles on it now, and cylinder compression is still well within factory specification.

 

[FireArse]

I've done every single service on my 2001 Honda (every 10,000 miles) and I have not had one lick of trouble with it. Of course I am insanely anal about most everything I own (I clean the inside and outside of my PM every week.

Are you in the States by any chance?

F

 

[iGary]

Are you in the States by any chance?

F

Yep.

 

[nbs2]

If you don't mind getting a bit dirty every now and again, then I recommend purchasing a service manual and performing the "inspections" yourself. I do the same with my Beetle. I also perform the routine stuff myself (oil, spark plugs, filters, etc.) and save the more substantial stuff for a trusted mechanic.

The risk there is the warranty. I know that some makers will require the service to be done by an ASE cert. But, generally, I agree with you - there is a lot of stuff you can do on your own. I take my car to one station and when they do the bigger work (and the oil change - I don't have ramps for my Civic) they inspect my work (no charge), ensuring that everythign that I replace is "done" by an ASE cert.

 

[jaydub]

I've had three Hondas, and I performed much of the service on my own. I never had a warranty concern, nor did they ever hassle me about not having every single service interval performed at their dealership.

Usually they try to make the list of services performed look comprehensive by including such things as checking tire pressure and fluids, but that should be done more often than each oil change or 5000 mile interval anyway.

I've never bothered to look, but out of the three brands of cars I've owned, Honda was the only brand which ever tried to get me to buy all these services. I only had problems with one of my Honda cars (which was a used one -- first car purchase) and the rest were flawless without following that schedule.

 

[Timepass]

I always been a fan of doing your own maintaince on your car. It help you keep track of thinks in the car and have a better idea what went wrong when something goes wrong.

I change my oil about every 3-5k miles in my sentra (all depends on how muchI drive during the semsters at school. My oil gets change in Dec May and Aug.) My car is still going strong at 20k.

Now my dads honda is still doing pretty well for the most part. He does his oil changes in his 99 accord about every 5ish. Currently his car has over 120k on it and for the most part it is still doing very well. The parts we have replaces so far is the clutch (or it needed to be at spring break) and the hydrolics on the clutch have where replaced over last fall and that really the only major repairs we have done. Everything else has been minor (broken mirror, and AC knob oh and the H off the back of the car).

 

[ebow]

You know, I may just get the service manual and start learning about the various inspections myself. Spark plugs, belts, filters, the like... I found it pretty amusing that "check tire pressure" was in the lists as if it was something special, though to be fair, I didn't start checking that semi-regularly until a year or two ago.

What gets me is that my Maintenance Required light has been on for a few days. True that I need a regular oil change, but when it gets reset, I think it goes off next at their overly-precautious (i.e. high profit) low mileage interval. Maybe I should just reset it myself.

 

[calyxman]

I bought my sister's 2001 Honda Prelude at the beginning of the year and took the car in for an oil change last month (29.99 plus tax). The car has about 53,000 miles on it. The service rep gave me a quote for the 60,000 mile service and it came to a whopping $600! The only main thing that stood out on that interval is the AT transmission fluid flush, spark plugs, and air filter.

Personally, I think it's a ripoff. But then again, it's the dealership, where you can rest assure that you will pay the highest price in town.

 

[rdowns]

I work for an extended warranty company that supplies dealers with coverage for resale. Take it from me, those service schedules are nothing more than a ploy to separate you from your money. As previously stated, most of the items they do are only checks or visual inspections. Here's my advice.

Have your service writer take out the list for the service interval. Cross off all the BS checks and get the real maintenance things like oil changes and tire rotations done. Flush your radiator every 2 years. Transmission fluid at 50-60K. Do a full service schedule every 18 months.

 

[iGary]

I work for an extended warranty company that supplies dealers with coverage for resale. Take it from me, those service schedules are nothing more than a ploy to separate you from your money. As previously stated, most of the items they do are only checks or visual inspections. Here's my advice.

Have your service writer take out the list for the service interval. Cross off all the BS checks and get the real maintenance things like oil changes and tire rotations done. Flush your radiator every 2 years. Transmission fluid at 50-60K. Do a full service schedule every 18 months.

I used to do all my own stuff, but with my current car, I'll play the gay card, thanks.

 

[DrStrangelove]

I've owned one Honda. I never had a problem following their maintenance schedule. Seems to me that following, as someone else mentioned, the FACTORY suggested schedule is one of the best insurances you can offer the life of your car.

Having said that, I'm REALLY impressed with BMW. We bought our first one and all maintenace/service is INCLUDED. When it's time I just drop it at the dealer. They cover soup to nuts-- the only thing that isn't covered are the tires.