JCG

...$400.23!!

I have owned 2 previous Acuras and can never recall paying that amount.

Does this sound right to you guys?

What have you paid for the your 15,000 mile service?

Only good thing to come out of it was the resurfacing of my warped rotors for free.

JCG

MarkPinTx

That.

Is.

So.

Little.

Money.

go_bears

i payed around $130 each for the 10k and 20k service... and i thought that was outrageous. they basically changed the oil and filter and check a bunch of things. what's included in your 15k service? $400 sounds really steep.

MarkPinTx

Replace engine oil.

Rotate tires (follow pattern on page 276 of your owner's manual).

Replace engine oil filter.

Inspect front and rear brakes.

Check parking brake adjustment.

Inspect tie-rod ends, steering gearbox and boots.

Inspect suspension components.

Inspect drive shaft boots.

Inspect brake hoses and lines (including ABS).

Inspect all fluid levels, condition of fluids and check for leaks.

#Inspect exhaust system.

#Inspect fuel lines and connections.

# = See information on maintenance and emissions warranty, last column, page 233 in your owner's manual.


Check engine oil and coolant at each fuel stop.

Check and adjust valve clearance, cold engine, only if noisy.

The latter could get expensive.

iTimmy

lol at my place that would have cost 34.95+tax. Welcome to the town of "You've Been Screwed" population you- sorry I couldn't resist. I would call the service manager and complain that is ridiculously high even if they charged you to resurface the rotors. Also I would ask to see the pricing for various items, broken down- explain to them that it seems you just spent $400+ on an oil change and rotation and want to know EXACTLY what happened with your car.

Dan Martin

MarkPinTX I don't think you have the service list quite right. I think you've got a step B service in there which should have been done at 10,000 miles (at the dealers expense). According to the service manual for the 15,000 mile service you are supposed to do steps A, C and D which are:

A: Replace engine oil (filter is not required but I would suggest it)
C: Replace air cleaner element if dirty
D: Replace dust and pollen filter if dirty

Sorry to say it, but it sounds like you were ripped off bigtime JCG. Always ask for an estimate of how long the service will take and multiply it out by their hourly rate. I can't imagine this service taking more than 30mins. Even if you went by the schedule MarkPinTX has it couldn't take more than an hour.

ron

I have a Tundra and the 30k service was quoted at over $650. Got the real stuff done but still it cost over $450. (Transmission, cooling system, and rear differential fluid changes) The original spark plugs are due at 30K which I replaced with longer lasting ones.

iTimmy

There is a big difference from a 4X4 truck with a minimum of a V6(possibly a V8) and a 30K mile service and a 4 cylinder sedan's 15k mile service(which is basically just an oil change and tire rotation). The price he was charged is not justifiable- IMO.

blueingrid

Had a Civic SI in 99 that cost about this much for the same checkup, so it's not that far off.

As an aside, I didn't pay it and did part of the maintenance myself (what needed doing and that I could do). Car never had a problem while I had it.

bob shiftright

West of the Hudson and south of Albany ... I'd figure on about $30, I'd supply the Mobil-1 oil, the Acura oil filter ($6.29) and the crush washer. So maybe $60 if it's their oil and filter.

I know that New York prices are steep.....

Dan Martin

So say they have $60 in materials (which is probably double what it really is), that still leaves $340 for labor. I don't know what typical shop rates are in the US but say it was $75/hr that means they are charging for 4.5 hours to change the oil and replace two filters. Definitely a ripoff.

sveet

Acura should make sure the dealers to pull that kind of crap.

It is a free market system, but that just plain give Acura a bad name.

biker

There's nothing like the satisfaction you get after doing most of this work yourself. Not only do you save the expense but who do you think cares more to do the job properly: you or some wrench wielding oil monkey who just wants to finish his job on a Friday afternoon?

bob shiftright

Yes, the procedure should involve about a couple hours (max) on a Saturday afternoon. 5 quarts of 5W30 Mobil-1 synthetic @$28/case of 6, Honda oil filter $5-$7 depending, crush washer $0.20, a wrench, a couple of jackstands and a jack.

BUT the OP said he's in New York, and doing an oil change in Central Park will almost certainly get you arrested. ALSO, labor costs are about twice those outside of the city. ALSO there are the engine and cabin air filters, and the cabin air filter is fairly pricey and slightly involved to get to, you'd need another wrench and a screwdriver. (Of course it's dirty, they're always dirty after 2 minutes behind a diesel bus!)

It's also my belief that Honda-Acura dealers tend to over-maintain the vehicles they see because they 're contractually obligated to staff a certain size service deartment, and don't have much else to do, like perform a lot of repairs. They're probably following the "severe conditions" requirements ("freezing temperatures... extremely hot.... taxi or commercial vehicle.... trailer towing, roof rack... muddy, dusty..."). As horrendous as NYC traffic may be, I'm not sure even THAT really qualifies. Is it dishonest for a dealer to over-maintain a car?

My solution is to do as much as I can myself, (like the air filters) and take the car to an ASE certified shop for the rest (I'm getting too old to roll around under a car, and a lift greatly simplifies the tire rotation.) I'd leave the visits to my tastefully decorated, cappucino-maker equipped Acura dealer service department for warranty repairs.

biker

Bass Mechanic

when i got my car i also bought all the maintenence at a huge discount for the term of the lease for the major maintenance schedule. i do my own oil changes and always have.

as for valve adjustment i have had for several years now the adjustment tools needed to do the job. i feel for all you guys that take your cars in. i have spent maybe 100 bucks on tools and have the guts to take the valve cover off and proform the valve adjustment myself.

this is another reason i lease my cars, i can proform any maintenence myself unless it's a major problem which is covered by warranty. i paid for the maintenence in advance only because i knew it was such a good discount off the regular proces i figured the convience of just dropping the car off and picking it up later would be worth it to me.

roadtacks

My advice is _never_ go back to the dealer for service unless you have a warranty repair. If you don't want to do the work yourself, then take the car to a tire store or fast-lube and pay a max of $40, not $400. Most of these places will do all those inspections for you too. After all, at the core, this car is an Accord, which they see everyday. If the tire store sells Michelins, they will rotate for free in the hope that you will buy your replacements there.
Our Civic has _never_ been back to the dealer. It now has 137,000 miles and shows very few signs of wear except for the body dings. I have always heard - change the oil - change the oil. But knowing that I would log a lot of miles on a 100+ mile daily commute, I decided to try the manufacturer's recommendation of of every 7,500 miles, not 3,000 or 3,500 as the oil companies recommend. That cut my oil-change cost in half over the life of the car, and at 137,000 miles, I cannot see any difference in the reliability of the car. Even if it blows tomorrow, I have gotten my money's worth and more.
Dealers nowadays make very little when they sell you a car in $20-30 k range. They get it back tho in service.
Don't take the car to the dealer for service. After all, when you bought the car, were you not told that it would go 100,000 m without a tune up?

biker

Mokos23

And i thought Acura maintenance was as cheap as the Honda Accord was? Isn't that the reason all of us bought Acura because we thought it was reliable cars since it is a Honda, but yet inexpensive to maintain unlike BMW, Mercedes, and Audi?

briny319

JCG- I got the same service done at 15k. But it was actually the service that the manual recommends at 20 or 30k. The dealership just wanted to do it sooner so they could make more $$. I paid $360 4 months ago when I had my 15k service. They wanted $400 and I complained about it costing so much so they gave me 10% off.

briny319

Acuras aren't as cheap to maintain as hondas. But acura are cheaper than bmw, mercedes, and audi to maintain.

To begin with honda's aren't that cheap to maintain. I spent about $600 in service for my civic during a 1yr 25k mile period.

Acura dealers change slighty more than honda dealers do. I believe its over $5 more per hr at an acura dealer. Plus they also like to charge a lil more for the same honda parts.

biker

Until next year you can't compare maintenance of an Acura with an MB or BMW since they include free maintenance for the first 3-4 years. Actually during the first 3-4 years BMW and MB would be cheaper to maintain than a Honda or Acura. It's after the warranty and free maintenance runs out that the costs on the BMW and MB skyrocket.

It looks like that starting with MY2005, MB will drop it's free maintenance, which was a joke to begin with since it only included oil/filter change every 15,000 miles (everything else you had to pay for). After MY05 the service schedule interval will go back to 7,500 miles.

bob shiftright

I'd guess about $1000 in parts and fluids to maintain the TSX by-the-book to 100,000 miles under "Normal Conditions". By my math, that's dirt cheap. Figure $2000 max if you're as anal about oil changes as I am. Still cheap.

My ASE indy shop charges me $20 for the oil change and rotation, I supply the materials. Add $200 to "by the book". $400 the anal-compulsive way I'll do it. I'd be willing to pay $20 to rent a bay with a lift so it's still a good deal for me.

I can understand why people bring a BMW or a Volvo back to the dealer/stealer for service (they gotcha since you need a special tool to even reset the service reminder lights) but this is just a skinny Honda Accord with nice paint. If any ASE-certified technician can't figure out how to do an oil change and rotate the tires on a Honda Accord, he should find another career.

Since I'm waiting for and watching my oil changes, I'm certain my expensive Mobil-1 is going into my car and not the tech's!

gt0279a

On a 2000 Integra GS
I took it in for the 'scheduled mainentence' at 7,500K, 15,000K, 22,500K and 30,000K.

Each time they basically checked a bunch of stuff, changed the oil and rotated the tires.

The most I paid was $85.

On a 2003 TLS I've taken it in at 7,500 and 15,000, and I only paid $50 each time because I got free oil changes in my car deal.

I know these are different cars, but those $400 charges are ridiculous.

I would Call Acura and ask to speak to the Acura District Manager

biker

That's the thing tho.... the 'regular' maintenance on a BMW is almost the same as a TSX (except that it takes 6-8 qt of oil instead of 4), it's all of the other stuff that goes wrong that increases the maintenance bill.

Once you get past 50K miles there's other things beyond just oil change that you need to worry about. Most cars will need a set of brakes before 100K miles - even that is not that much more on a BMW than a TSX, The costs mount on the BMW when you have to take it to the dealer after waranty/free maintenance for every little thing for fear of someone else doing it wrong or because BMW is the only one that has the "reset" tool or because most BMW owners have been on the BMW treadmill for so long they don't know how to get off.

Dr. Daryl

We've had our 1998 S-70GLT since it had 13,000 miles on it.

Every 10K mile 'check-up' has run in the $700-$1500 range.

Um....how soon can I get an Acura????

Dr. Daryl

biker

I guess Volvo is a bit more inovative than Acura when it comes to extracting money for their "check-ups".

roadtacks

Stupid is as stupid does, biker. Simpleton. FO.

DEVO

i need to see a break down or else i think you are bsing everybody.

hondaloyalist

What Does TSX suggest for first maintenace? 10k or 15k? I need to relook at manual

KingV

10k for normal conditions. I just follow the service manual, my dealer recommended service every 3000 miles. I was like... riiiiiight, I think I'll believe honda on this one.

bob shiftright

'96 and '97 850s and '98 SVC 70s require that stupid reset tool for the service reminder light. Also, I tried servicing at my local ASE-certified shop for brakes and rotors (simple enough, I supplied the pads, rotors and the special Volvo brake grease) and they did a fine job except they then couldn't flush the brakes because Volvo requires a special pump to do this and if you don't use it you'll wreck the car's ABS pump. So it's "back to the Volvo dealer, again".....

I've since found an independent Volvo shop that's reasonably tame. I'm now at 140,000 miles on my V70T5 and just had the second timing belt service done Friday including the serpentine belt, hydraulic belt tensioner and the idler pulley, oil change and safety checks....$555 including tax.

Volvo dealers really should give the cars away for free because they're all printing money on the service.....

My wife claims that my TSX rides-feels-sounds-smells-etc just like my Volvo and my old Saabs. First I drove the current Accord and TSX, then I bought some Honda stock, and only then did I buy the TSX!

dabuda

i paid about $400 for my 45k service on my lude...worth it in the long run i guess

mcourt83

Am I the only person who thinks these scheduled maintenance packages are totally unnecessary? Change your oil every 5-10K. Rotate your tires every 10K. This car shouldn't need anything else -- except maybe air filters and brakes -- for the first 100K miles.

I've driven four new cars past the 100k-mile mark and have never paid for one of these inflated packages. I can't imagine doing it every 15K miles!

Mike