honda dealer vs private mechanice [Archive]

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Blue69

13-09-2011, 03:00 PM

just curious what people tend to go for when servicing your car

honda vs private

civicboy84

13-09-2011, 03:09 PM

depends how much money you got mate....plenty of dough go honda if not go private..or learn how to do it yourself....bloody basic

Fredoops

13-09-2011, 04:50 PM

Honda dealer when it's a warranty thing.

Else, a mechanic that knows indepth about Hondas, theres one in every city at least.

But I always bring my own fluids tho. Because for the price the shops charge you, you can get something better.

Tai

13-09-2011, 05:03 PM

Private and still under warranty.

No need to take back to Honda dealer to service as long as the mechanic doing the service has a registered business as a car mechanic.

charliebrown

13-09-2011, 07:53 PM

Do it yourself... save the green. You'll always do it more carefully and make sure you did everything properly, no corners skipped, best fluids/parts used.

RSKEbaby

14-09-2011, 09:11 PM

Honda dealers will charge you x10 of what a normal mech would..

Theres plently of Honda Specialized mechanics in sydney..(if your here.. lol)

r3ckless

19-09-2011, 07:59 AM

Why go to a Honda dealership when Top One is just off the M5?

WATAJK

19-09-2011, 05:58 PM

dont trust any mechanics in northern burbs on melb sadly. Take mine to Airport West Essendon Honda.. Had 1 problem and they resolved it free of charge!
Fantastic service but you pay a price but im happy to pay it!

Paul.Z

19-09-2011, 05:59 PM

im a mechanic and i work for a private workshop...the only difference between the two is that dealership chargers 3+hours for a job that take 1 hour....and if you want..bring your own genuine fluids such as brake fluid....you dont need to buy honda engine oil because all the big brands (shell, castrol, mobil, valvoline and penrite) do just the same...or even better.

Tai

19-09-2011, 06:13 PM

Why go to a Honda dealership when Top One is just off the M5?

Not everyone here lives in Syd

EG52NV

19-09-2011, 07:51 PM

Toda racing thornleigh
Good Peformance centre yenora
Hanny's Peformance Smithfield
bel garage sefton

Just to name a few...

Blue69

19-09-2011, 09:40 PM

reason why im asking is i need the timing belt change and both a normal mechanic and honda charge me the same price
i thought that was stupid that a small mechanic would charge me the same price

mocchi

19-09-2011, 09:43 PM

impossi13le

19-09-2011, 10:29 PM

reason why im asking is i need the timing belt change and both a normal mechanic and honda charge me the same price
i thought that was stupid that a small mechanic would charge me the same price

just for labour or for parts as well?
if for parts too, with a honda dealership you get the added bonus of knowing that all parts used will be genuine/oem, and if anything decides to fail, they will take responsibility and replace what failed. Not always the case with a smaller mechanic. At the same time im not trying to say one's better than the other, end of the say its all about the cost and the quality of parts used. Theres practically no difference in how the job gets done, if you take it to honda, they'll do it right. if you take it to a honda specialist, they'll do the job right. if you take it to a general all brand workshop, they'll do it right, just may take a longer time though.

Blue69

19-09-2011, 11:03 PM

they quoted me 550 to change the timing belt
is that rather dear?

and how much did this small mechanic quoted you?

mocchi

19-09-2011, 11:09 PM

well timing belt itself if you were to buy from repco etc (dayco or gates brand) its already $100.
i think somewhere around $3-400 is reasonable.

mugen_ctr

20-09-2011, 12:28 AM

they quoted me 550 to change the timing belt
is that rather dear?

i too got quoted similar pricing, from Essendon Honda, Vic, at first i thought it was expensive, but the cheapest quote ive gotten from other private places is around 400 - 500, but than again, private places always use aftermarket gear which is hella cheaper than oem belts from honda, but most likey they source there parts from repco or else where.... So really, 550 does seem to add up if u included buying the oem belt, if not, 400ish is more reasonable

na-118

20-09-2011, 08:51 AM

550-600 is the price for timing belt r&r

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

justinagar

20-09-2011, 03:13 PM

Having a mechanic is a lot cheaper than going to the dealer. And aftermarket parts are hell better...

r3ckless

20-09-2011, 03:19 PM

Talking about relationships form the dealer..

ok, so the wonderful boys at BYP supplied me with kpro, no dramas there. Went and contacted a few honda dealerships, everyone was too busy yesterday - it was 3:30 so understandable. Contacted Tynan Motor Group. Had a "Phillip" on the line. I said, i have a Type S and I have installed a Type R ecu in my car and just simply need the new ecu rekeyed to my immobliser. the "phillip" on the line said u got kpro? im like yes, and he said he cna link them up and a quote price is $96. booked ina time first thing in the morning @ 7:30am. I got there at 7, as I'll rather wait for people instead of people waiting for me. I drive into the service center and this guy greets me, turns out to be the infamous Philip Donato. He was like, remember me? im like, yes i remember u (as he came to my house to borrow my type s catback for timmy's build)

He was like, we'll get this sorted for u in no time. fair enough, i thought i would be ok as this guy is renowned for kpro isntallations/engine building with k series.

47 minutes later, he comes to me and says there is a problem, his HDS (Honda Diagnostic Tool) cannot read my immobliser... i;'m thinking in my head, no shit.... hence why i bought my laptop with K Manager installed, along with instructions from Hondata, as well as my oem priamry o2 sensor and type s ECu for god knows what.

result was he expected me to pay the full amount of $96 even though they didnt do shit. his word was "absoutely".

so I had shit to do midmorning so i paid it and made sure I didnt lose the receipts.

What should I do guys?

How should I attempt to get my money back.

Right now, I want the full amount back, but their gonna spring that diagnosing labour time bullshit on me... and in that regard, fair enough, but to quote me $96 for the actual rekey, and I got charged full amount... I should have been charged way less than that for a diagnostic.. but in regards to that diagnostic.. I went to the service center where DR HONDA works, he is apparently the k series king..... When he was standing there when i drove in, wouldnt he autotmatically realise that my immobliser would already have had to be disabled for me to drive. From that, wouldnt a person be proactive and determine that k manager would be needed to reenable it to key up to the new immoabiliser. From this standpoint, this is the whoole reason why i am shitty at Phil. The only reason why I think Phil did this to me is I didnt buy the kpro from him.

The reason why is that he never even gave me a price, when in his very last email he said he will get abck to me ASAP for pricing, and the latest would be tomorrow morning - still no reply.

I am that pissed off at the moment I just dont want my car anymore. Who would waste another person's time and effort like that, let alone their money.

munkaii

20-09-2011, 03:53 PM

Would have just gotten back in my car and drove off man. Wtf?

mocchi

20-09-2011, 04:19 PM

thats bullchit. wouldnt have thought drhonda would do that.

r3ckless

20-09-2011, 04:24 PM

Would have just gotten back in my car and drove off man. Wtf?

The dealership have my contail details and address. Easily put to the police.. so yeah, couldnt do that kevin.

thats bullchit. wouldnt have thought drhonda would do that.

well yeah.. I mean... to say it again, he seen me drive into the service centre.... so wouldnt the k series engine builder would ask me if i bought the k manager to reenable the kpro? NO. he let me sit down for 47 minutes and then charged me.

jdm18c

20-09-2011, 05:38 PM

he should of done something for ya.. after all he is the service manager of that joint

bennjamin

20-09-2011, 07:34 PM

thats bullchit. wouldnt have thought drhonda would do that.

Why ?

he (in this situation) was working for a larger company that requires his time to be paid out in labour. I mean - he did something for 47minutes , which the company is paying him so he has to charge for it-

dc2r-0636

20-09-2011, 08:36 PM

like throwing $96 out the window. call up and speak to the manager and explain the situation

munkaii

20-09-2011, 09:53 PM

mocchi

20-09-2011, 09:59 PM

Why ?

he (in this situation) was working for a larger company that requires his time to be paid out in labour. I mean - he did something for 47minutes , which the company is paying him so he has to charge for it-

that may be right, but my conscience doesnt agree.
he paid $96 for naught.

you would be rather disappointed if you were on his shoes.

TODA AU

21-09-2011, 03:07 PM

Talking about........................ money.
Have you got a 05~06 to 02~04 crossover loom?

r3ckless

21-09-2011, 06:41 PM

If your talking about the 05-06 harness so a dc5r ecu can pnp into a dc5s then yes.

r3ckless

21-09-2011, 06:44 PM

Why ?

he (in this situation) was working for a larger company that requires his time to be paid out in labour. I mean - he did something for 47minutes , which the company is paying him so he has to charge for it- Phil would have known as soon as he seen me drive in the immobiliser would have been disabled. Only kmanager can reenable it so the HdS can communicated with my dc5r ecu. Why would he make me wait to tell me when he could have told me right away.

l__i__l

22-09-2011, 09:22 AM

Benson

22-09-2011, 09:27 AM

So hard to read sarcasm on this forum lol

r3ckless

25-09-2011, 11:04 AM

why would he know

do u think he sells them or something

and its a hard job to work out if its disabled....its not like there are bright green flashing lights or something...

lucky u went to the honda guru.....who only took 47 minutes to work it out....

I'm gonna say it again;

I have a Type S, I put in a Type R ECU to work compatible. When I spoke to "dr honda" on the phone, he even asked me if I installed kpro to my car? I said yes and he said he can rekey it no problems. Now for my car to run, or any car with a new ecu, the immobliser has to be disabled on k manager. Now when i drove into the service parts, "dr honda" seen me drive in and jumped in my car and took it into the workshop. Now this "dr honda" would have known that the immobiliser would have to be disabled otherwise how else can I drive?

So either way he is a cunning person that likes to waste people's time and money, or he is just plain stupid.

I believe he did this to me, as I enquired about getting kpro and tune from him for 3 cars. His last email to me was he will get back to me in pricing ASAP, and that should be early next morning.

He never got back to me so I went with another supplier. Im guessing he is most likely cut over that. but then again, he should have lived up to his email and actaully gotton back to me. This was 2 months ago, still to this day, no reply. Great Job mate!

mocchi

25-09-2011, 11:15 AM

I'm gonna say it again;

I have a Type S, I put in a Type R ECU to work compatible. When I spoke to "dr honda" on the phone, he even ask ... snip ...
was 2 months ago, still to this day, no reply. Great Job mate!

|_i_| was being sarcastic lol. you didnt catch that.
and i wasted 2 mins pointing it out like benson did haha

r3ckless

25-09-2011, 01:15 PM

oh im sorry mate. i'll try and take up a diploma in readingsarcasm on the interwebs just for u

danben7

04-10-2011, 12:53 PM

No need at all to visit a Honda dealer. Any competant mechanic should be able to solve any problems. Look up who specialises in Hondas, or what people in your area recommend.

WATAJK

05-10-2011, 09:04 PM

i too got quoted similar pricing, from Essendon Honda, Vic, at first i thought it was expensive, but the cheapest quote ive gotten from other private places is around 400 - 500, but than again, private places always use aftermarket gear which is hella cheaper than oem belts from honda, but most likey they source there parts from repco or else where.... So really, 550 does seem to add up if u included buying the oem belt, if not, 400ish is more reasonable

good blokes at Essendon Honda, they've looked after my car pretty well i must say, sure the dealer is always abit more expensive but they've been cheapest to all the other dealers surprisingly, had 1 fault, they fixed the next day no questions asked.
If you got the extra money and want that baked guarantee take it to them bro

junoki

06-10-2011, 08:39 AM

Do it yourself... save the green. You'll always do it more carefully and make sure you did everything properly, no corners skipped, best fluids/parts used.

+1 to this

if a jobs too big find help, if its minor like a basic service do it yourself, if u got manufacturer warranty - abuse it for all its worth wen u need it

FongPei

17-10-2011, 08:47 PM

I find that my private mechanic has spent more time and effort on my car.. he also goes out of the way to maintain small things as well! Private all the way - if you can't do it yourself =P

HONTUNE

18-10-2011, 08:04 PM

Fredoops

18-10-2011, 09:35 PM

bennjamin

19-10-2011, 07:00 AM

I'm a mechanic at a dealership in adelaide and I do private work after-hours still use genuine Honda parts and charge about half the price so I think the stealerships are definately making good money.

the dealership gotta pay rent , pay advertising , pay fees pay insurance pay super etc....and pay YOUR wages too.....then try and make a cut ontop. With you your only overhead is you. This is why they charge double of what your backyard work costs lol.

HONTUNE

19-10-2011, 08:44 AM

So the labor rate is 112 per hour the mechanic get 20-25 an hour and the rest is all insurance and rent? There cut would still be pretty good. I know what you mean tho.
Just saying that's why dealer ships cost so much more that private mechanics.

WATAJK

23-10-2011, 11:47 AM

the dealership gotta pay rent , pay advertising , pay fees pay insurance pay super etc....and pay YOUR wages too.....then try and make a cut ontop. With you your only overhead is you. This is why they charge double of what your backyard work costs lol.

One other point is that the smaller mechanics... No offense but in my experience when i've had my car serviced and found a problem after there always seems to be an issue of the blame game....
Oh i never touched that blah blah blah

Well with my experience at Honda, they repaired a oil leak on my car which was coming from an aftermarket gauge, sensor was replaced... On the way home, noticed the sensor was the wrong one and was playing up... Immediately called them up, they came and PICKED UP my car as i couldn't get it back there, repaired the error they made free of charge and got me a lift to the dealership to pick my car up.... To me thats quality service...

Thats my experience though.

So the labor rate is 112 per hour the mechanic get 20-25 an hour and the rest is all insurance and rent? There cut would still be pretty good. I know what you mean tho.
Just saying that's why dealer ships cost so much more that private mechanics.

They make most there money on cars dude, servicing is just icing on the cake to them =)