Funny how car maintenance works

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Gotta watch out for Dealerships too. I do all my maintenance myself. Only take to Dealer for warranty work. Last time I took it to Dodge for warranty. Transmission cooler line was leaking. They changed my engine oil WITHOUT asking me, then tried to bill me. Putting regular oil in, not fully synthetic Royal Purple that I run in all my vehicles. Boy was I mad. Made them change it again, with the oil I use, and I never paid for either change. Allways have to make sure they ask you beforehand on work to be done. and NEVER leave a vehicle with saying, "Whatever needs to be done, just go ahead and do it" It's a open invitation to your wallet.

They did phone to tell me how much it was actually going to cost to do what needed to be done before they did it.

These are the 4 things that need to be done: Transmission flush, spark plugs, pcv valve, and transfer case.

For this work I was 1st quoted that it'll cost about $600 (on the phone she did say something about the transfer case and something about if the pcv valve needs replacing it'll be more) then when I dropped it off for the work to be done they told me that to get those 4 things done it will be more like $800. Then they called me around 1pm and told me that yes the pcv valve needs replacing and so does the transfer case and since it's a 4x4 and because I use synthetic oil etc. it will cost $1200, and was it ok for them to go ahead and finish the work. All I know is that I needed to get those 4 things done and that those four things cost me a lot more then what I was expecting them too. I told them to go ahead because the work has to be done. Hopefully that quote was with taxes and that's the difference between the $800 to the $1200 but I don't know. Heck I don't even know what a pcv valve or a transfer case is! All I know is that they are being replaced.

I don't mind paying to get the work I need done, I just wish I knew if that is a fair price for that work or not. Any mechanic's out there that know?

BTW I'll let everyone know what the grand total is today after I pay for the work and pick my jeep up.