$1200 for an 80,000km service!!!

Got my Civic done today for its 80,000km service at a Honda dealership. I was quoted $690 for the logbook 80,000km service but fell off my chair when I went to pick up the car and the bill came to a touch over $1200 due to a "RH rack boot air tube broken off" and "front brake pads low in material", which were both replaced and a wheel alignment and machining of rotors required.

In my opinion, this was much much too expensive.... :shock:

Because my car is well out of warranty (1999 model), I am considering using a trusted local mechanic to possibly look after my servicing needs from now on as I have heard that independent mechanics are generally cheaper. Please tell me if this is not the case!

I drive past Mark McCarthy Automotive on the corner of the Kenmore Village roundabout in Brisbane every day and I notice they service all makes of vehicles, but seem to specialise in European makes, but would assume Japanese cars would be doable. Has anyone tried this bloke before and would you recommend his service?

Alternatively, can you recommend a trusted local mechanic that I would be happy with and won't charge an arm and a leg like Honda is doing?

Thanks.

$1200........ WOW, i think i better off sell mine car when it reches 80,000km
mine full service at 60,000kms was $350

dude, where are you located?!
lol

um... dats weird... because the dealer has the responsibility to inform owner if any extra works have to be carried out... and they have to get permission from owners if such extra works can be carried out...
in ur case, u got quoted for that amount of money,,, ur dealer should ring you before they do the extra works... god... that;'s the first time i hear such thing happen... at least my dealer is honest and calls me when any additional things have to be done...

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Originally Posted by destrukshn

dude, where are you located?!
lol

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Originally Posted by Alpine

I drive past Mark McCarthy Automotive on the corner of the Kenmore Village roundabout in Brisbane every day

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You obviously missed it.

lol, my bad, i just saw the $1200 and i freaked
lol.

damn thats a rip!

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Originally Posted by jamchen

um... dats weird... because the dealer has the responsibility to inform owner if any extra works have to be carried out... and they have to get permission from owners if such extra works can be carried out...
in ur case, u got quoted for that amount of money,,, ur dealer should ring you before they do the extra works... god... that;'s the first time i hear such thing happen... at least my dealer is honest and calls me when any additional things have to be done...

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your exactly right! its illegal for them to do work without informing you first!
have you paid in full? if it was me i would have just paid what they quoted, as they didnt have yuor permission, what if yuo couldnt afford it?

i think u got owned big time... i would only pay wat i got quoted for... they shoudl ve inform u b4 performing extra work.

I agree that you got owned. I wouldn't pay for it since they did not inform you about it. If they insist you pay, tell them to take it off and only leave what you agreed to pay for.

wat the other guys hav said is true, its unethical and illegal to do wat they did without first informing u... not to try and discredit any1 and not that ive heard nething but did u go to westpoint honda at indro?

i wouldnt say he got 'owned' as the work wouldnt have been done unless it was necessary. they're hardly gonna let you pickup your car if it has metal to metal on pads for example coz then it will come back on them for not changing them (as brakes are prolly the most important repair safety-wise).... but yes he should have been called and quoted before the work was carried out

did they say how low your pads were? they would have had to be down to metal if you needed a disc machine.

an 80k service would normally be around 580-680 at a dealer.

as for goin to some small cheap ass place i'd think twice as it doesnt always work out cheaper in the long run. for example i work at a dealer in service and we have 3 cars in our workshop that are there due to major f*ckup from smaller 'honda specialist' workshops (-_-)

everyone is quick to bag out honda servicing but it's at a much higher caliber than the majority of other workshops/dealers.

edit: another note, if your changed your pads when you first heard your wear indicators you prolly wouldnt be up for a disc machine...

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Originally Posted by panda[cRx]

i wouldnt say he got 'owned' as the work wouldnt have been done unless it was necessary. they're hardly gonna let you pickup your car if it has metal to metal on pads for example coz then it will come back on them for not changing them (as brakes are prolly the most important repair safety-wise).... but yes he should have been called and quoted before the work was carried out

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i would have thought that would be true IF they didn't warn you they needed to be replaced ie. they tell him that he does need new brake pads and rotors machined as they are dangerously low and he says no because he can't afford it. i would have thought they would have met their obligation at that point.

i agree with panda

as i understand they cannot let you drive you car out knowing your car is not safe . its like the law or something. but yes they should of informed you but i think they would've made you fix it either way.

thats super ripped off

I recently did a full service on my car (96 EK) at a local mechanic (whom i trust a great deal)...cost me $270 (NOT mates rates)...and the car has done 85,000km

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Originally Posted by kayot1k

i agree with panda

as i understand they cannot let you drive you car out knowing your car is not safe . its like the law or something. but yes they should of informed you but i think they would've made you fix it either way.

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um... but think about it tho... generally members on this forum have at least some knowledge to the honda/non-honda cars they own.,.. its not hard to notice whether the brakes are gone or not... if the pads are low, he should've been adviced from last service.,.,..
plus, are these things mentioned in the fbeggining the dangerous stuff? pads low in material... um.. that doesn't sound to me the pads needed to be changed immediately...
and RH rack boot air tube!!?? um... i dun think that's another has-to-be-changed-on-spot repair...:thumbdwn:

I feel your pain mate.
One of the boys from work had the same thing happen to him where they just decided that he needed a whole bunch of work done, and there was no way he could possibly afford it. He'd scraped to afford a new clutch and they hit him with $400 of extra repairs. Whether he needed them or not, he couldn't afford them. (At this point, luckily he could legally refuse to pay the work he was unaware of, and it would have cost them too much labour to take the parts back again, so he got the repairs for free.)

Panda, I agree with you that it's better that they recognised these problems instead of only doing what they had to, but still it's not their right to go and change somethin without permission. For instance what if they decided you needed new pads, but you were just about to put on a set of upgraded calipers etc anyway?


Know your rights. The department of fair trading is your friend. So are the RTA. Have either a representative contactable or the laws in your glovebox and you'll save yourself a whole lot of hassle with everything from shoddy repairs to undeserved defects.

look they should have notified him, however we are only hearing ONE side of the story so i dont think its fair to speculate.

from the sounds of it the work needed to be done and it was done.

ripped off man, thats hectic. they should have quoted u first. I mean if the car wasnt safe, you could have got it towed to somewhere else to get repaired.

What is a "RH rack boot air tube" anyway? That doesnt seem essential...

I would go to another dealer, these guys seem dodge.

It sounds to me like that's one of the gas struts to hold the hatch up.
Essential stuff, I'm sure.

Definately take note of mechanics doing things like this. Find someone you can trust, you and your car will be better for it.

mate still pretty steep, can't wait to see what they charge you for the 100,000km services, its should be a bigger service + timing belt!

the 80,000km service is bigger then a 100,000km. A 100,000km service is a normal service+ timing belt. I fully agree 100% with pandacrx, honda dealerships always get bagged for the pricing but you get what you pay for. Its not uncommon that honda always have to pick up mess that is caused by honda specialist who are not certified dealers and are not fully equiped and not have access to honda information.

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Originally Posted by Limbo

mate still pretty steep, can't wait to see what they charge you for the 100,000km services, its should be a bigger service + timing belt!

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but then again, the question is that it seems like the dealer didn't contact him to inform such things are found in bad condition and needed to be changed... just like someone else said, what if he couldn't afford it?

Yeah they really shouldnt of carried out the work without consent. But that price for all the work carried out is not expensive to get it done right. We would of just reported it if the customer could not be contacted and laugh when the problem causes major repair down the track.

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Originally Posted by Limbo

mate still pretty steep, can't wait to see what they charge you for the 100,000km services, its should be a bigger service + timing belt!

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haha yeh they will probably charge him $350 for "Halogen Fluid" :p

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Originally Posted by EuroDude

What is a "RH rack boot air tube" anyway? That doesnt seem essential...

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its on your steering rack. RH - Right Hand. The air tube would have to be clogged or disconnected.. rack boots are a $20 job to change from memory. Get a universal rack boot from repco and drag ur arse under the car.. Been there done that a few times..

They said it was disconnected. And it cost alot more than just $20 at Honda!

What does this air tuby thing do anyway?? What happens if its disconnected??

wholey shit .. honestly im shocked. O_o
i do agree with panda crx but still , you could find a trustworthy mechanic you can trust to do the job for about 300-400 bux gheez, its not hard to notice when the brakes are low and even if it was it couldnt have been that bad that alpine would not notice it, what they did is just dumb, what would they have done if he could not afford to pay for it? sue him? pfft.
majority of people who service at honda is just for the log book,
i for one would never go to honda ever!

when they serviced my mates dc5r they charged him for all sorts of stupid shit he didnt need,
and at ridiculous prices eg the sump washer they charged him $1
like wtf? there 5 cents

Not all small places are like that.

What kinda work is done at the 80k service?? Chances are its totally posible to DIY. At least you can't blame any workshop for ****in up or over chargin....

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Originally Posted by RMN15N

majority of people who service at honda is just for the log book,

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actually they go knowing that the workshop has the skills and technical knowledge to properly look after their vehicle.

you can't honestly say that your generic 'cheap' workshops like ultratune are as skilled or as knowledgable on honda's, especially newer ones. :thumbdwn:

honda charge an arm and a leg for their service, rip offs. they really cant do anything that another reliable mechanic wouldnt be able to do...
when i had my civic i called trivett honda to get a quote for a 100km service. (timing belt, cam/crankshaft seals, oil change, oil filter, fuel filter, spark plugs etc) they quoted me $1300. i got the same service done at my local mechanic for $700 plus they changed my water pump as well, whereas honda wouldve "inspected it" and if it was leaking then charge another $300 for a water pump.
rip offs i tell ya... and dont get emotional panda, its the pricing department, not the good lads that service the cars.


p.s if something is wrong with the car and needs extra work they have to call you and ask you if you want it changed, if i were you i wouldnt pay for the extra work, its too late now but you shouldve told them on the spot "no i didnt want that changed, you shouldve called me, im not paying for it" and if they say you have to just tell them to change it back...

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Originally Posted by mj3610

... and dont get emotional panda, its the pricing department, not the good lads that service the cars.

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i'm not emotional dude, and i am one of those dudes that does the pricing :wave:
i think if anything it's the PARTS dept that is a ripoff. when i do the invoicing i can see the profit margin on items, i know the whole idea is to make money but sometimes it's just like :rolleyes:

i feel the labour rates are very fair a good 95-97% of the time for what you are getting

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Originally Posted by panda[cRx]

i'm not emotional dude, and i am one of those dudes that does the pricing :wave:
i think if anything it's the PARTS dept that is a ripoff. when i do the invoicing i can see the profit margin on items, i know the whole idea is to make money but sometimes it's just like :rolleyes:

i feel the labour rates are very fair a good 95-97% of the time for what you are getting

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yeah i know what u mean
if honda charges $460 for a little electrical valve on a d15z2 (carby engine) then makes u wonder how greedy they really are...