$86.44 for oil change? I feel screwed

[elmo]

screwed no kisses !!!!!

[eTiMaGo]

you need to ask for an oil change without the optional ass reaming...

[jamal1984]

Originally Posted by behour

I have no experience with vehicles. My yaris is the first new car I bought. I sadly feel often screwed. I went to get an oil change today and was charged 86.44 for it.

Here is my questions

It was full syntetic oil. Is this the best to get or should I avoid?
I was over charged...correct? It seems ridiculously high.
My bill looks something like this

Labor 33.84
Parts 48.20
Shop Material 1.35
Sales tax 3.05
Total 86.44


This is my 2nd oil change at 10,000 miles. My first oil change I asked for syntetic from another Toyota dealer and was only charged $41.45. I was not sure if I was given full synthetic oil even when told otherwise. I was charged with "lube synthetic oil for $10.00". The bill was not clear. I have had problems with the sales department so I tried another dealer. Looks like I should of just stayed with them for a $40 dollar change in price and a 20minutes extra drive.

Any opinions and help would be great for someone as clueless as me with cars. I just want to take the best care for it you know?

After you left they all went out and buy each a pack of cigarette with your moneys and hi-fi.
It's a Yaris, nothing hard to do an oil change, unless you are a girl and don't feel like getting dirty.
Oil change is freaky easy on almost every car, bend over unscrew a few screws, remove the filter, put it back and fill it up, nothing hard guys.
GOOGLE it first before you go out and spend your moneys like that.
We all here to help.

[schleppy]

Originally Posted by mrb3990

I wonder whether behour needs synthetic oil. If Mo stands for Missouri (where it doesn't get very cold), and the OP is changing his/her oil every 5 thousand miles, why pay extra for synthetic oil over dino oil? The Yaris engine doesn't need it, does it?

I'm sure the engine doesn't "need" synthetic, but it can't hurt...

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by blacksandiegovitz

Ok , well then have a good time trying to get your toyota dealer to back-up the warrenty when you have no ef'n service records on file

I have never had a problem getting Toyota to back up warranty work.

Never. So "luck" is never needed.

Legislation protects consumers from car makers forcing them to maintain their vehicles ONLY at their dealerships.

You really are behind the times and need to educate yourself on how it really works. There is NO reason to get maintenence at a dealership nor even an independent garage...you can do it yourself, and that is good enough.

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I guess you cant really understand what overhead is if you never owned a business or taken a business class in school. The dealership has the biggest overhead of any shop. Which is why they have the highest labor rate to cover it. Compared to a smaller independent.

You are not just paying for the lube tech. You are paying for the secretary that answers the phone. You are paying for the so called free coffe in the fancy waiting room. The food for the fish in the fish tank. The people that come and mop the floor every night. The security guard that walks the lot at night. The massive rent i could go on and on. They are not making some massive profit. put it this way if the dealership did ONLY oil changes. Nothing else. Do you really realistically think they would be making loads of money.

Yes i agree lots of things the dealership charges people can be very high. But you have to understand their overhead is so so high. If you dont want to pay a lot i have suggested time and time again find a good local mechanic that you can trust just like your doctor or dentist. My shop is in a complex with about 4 other shops. Two of the shops out of the 4 are 1 man operation 1 bay facility. Very little overhead. The owner is also the mechanic. Of course if the dealership may charge 400 dollars for a particular service he can do the same service for 200. because he has almost no overhead. He may be even willing to do it for 150. You can even find someone on craigslist to do the same service for 75. But guess what the guy on craigslist has zero overhead so he dosnt care.

But yet theres people that go to my shop cause they prefer the professionalism, appreciate the service and the fact that we use only OEM factory parts and have a 1 year warranty just like work done at the dealership but yet we are cheaper than them.

If they were only concerned with price they would probably find a mechanic on craigslist and go the cash no receipt gig and pray to god nothing happens to their car when they are done. But to me that is just insane. Thats like looking in the pennysaver ad for a coupon for laser eye surgery.

I have owned a business since 1983; a California corporation. I have a Stanford MBA, 1998 grad.

It is sad that it is you that is ignorant of how a business works, and you proved it by speaking to a dealership's overhead.

The dealership's overhead is a weak justification for it's screaming way too high prices. What a dealership needs to do is price to compete, and since they often don't they collectively have a very bad reputation in the country. People are just so untrusting of them and what they really are is STEALERSHIPS.

You really need to take a basic finance class and then you might understand.

Using your backward logic, an angry over charged consumer should feel better and be happy once the service writer explains the massive overhead of the dealership....."Oh, I see, in that case, I feel so much better for having been bent over and shafted without lubrication, and no reach-around"....

Get real, dude!

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by schleppy

I'm sure the engine doesn't "need" synthetic, but it can't hurt...

All modern engines do better with synthetic oil. The difference might not be great, but it is there.

[b_hickman11]

Originally Posted by blacksandiegovitz

^^+2
I really also think that most people are missing the part about if your yaris is still under warrenty you MUST have your car serviced by a reputable dealer/service center so you have a record of all the maintance done . I've installed every single part on my car , myself and have built a couple 4g63 and 7mgte longblocks up in the past so I know my way around a wrench . Now do you guys really think I enjoy having to pay for an oil change and having to wait while someone fondles my baby , Hell-no but its under warrenty so I gotta do what i gotta do . I'm sure the OP's car is still under warrenty too

No you don't. I had a 2005 Tacoma that I changed the oil on every 5000 miles. At 33,000 miles, the fuel pump went out. The dealer replaced it under warranty with no questions asked. Your local dealer must be misleading you or maybe you hit yourself in the head with that wrench that you know your way around.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

Really sorry for my rant and rave. Its just in my shop i have people that walk out that say my oil change is a rip off at our normal price for 24 dollars at almost a daily basis. And it just offends me. I just want people to know the real truth. Someone had to say it.

FYI I do still use the better oil for the customers that request it i charge 3.50 more for the oil change or fully synthetic oil for 59.95 for up the 5 quarts. Or customers that wish to bring their own oil but walk in with a coupon for 17.95 but the price does not change. Blows me away when they complain why they still have to pay 17.95 even though they brought their own oil.

$25 or less is very reasonable. Even $30 is. $85 is rape and I should know... My wife took our Mazda in to the dealer for a change when I was at work because none of the oil change or auto shops had the "special filter tool" for our car. $120 later we had an oil change and tire rotation. Lesson learned (and taught to my wife), bought the filter tool online for $13, order the factory filters for $6/piece, and change the oil myself with Mobil 1 @$22 for 5 quarts.

[b_hickman11]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I guess you cant really understand what overhead is if you never owned a business or taken a business class in school. The dealership has the biggest overhead of any shop. Which is why they have the highest labor rate to cover it. Compared to a smaller independent.

You are not just paying for the lube tech. You are paying for the secretary that answers the phone. You are paying for the so called free coffe in the fancy waiting room. The food for the fish in the fish tank. The people that come and mop the floor every night. The security guard that walks the lot at night. The massive rent i could go on and on. They are not making some massive profit. put it this way if the dealership did ONLY oil changes. Nothing else. Do you really realistically think they would be making loads of money.

Yes i agree lots of things the dealership charges people can be very high. But you have to understand their overhead is so so high. If you dont want to pay a lot i have suggested time and time again find a good local mechanic that you can trust just like your doctor or dentist. My shop is in a complex with about 4 other shops. Two of the shops out of the 4 are 1 man operation 1 bay facility. Very little overhead. The owner is also the mechanic. Of course if the dealership may charge 400 dollars for a particular service he can do the same service for 200. because he has almost no overhead. He may be even willing to do it for 150. You can even find someone on craigslist to do the same service for 75. But guess what the guy on craigslist has zero overhead so he dosnt care.

But yet theres people that go to my shop cause they prefer the professionalism, appreciate the service and the fact that we use only OEM factory parts and have a 1 year warranty just like work done at the dealership but yet we are cheaper than them.

If they were only concerned with price they would probably find a mechanic on craigslist and go the cash no receipt gig and pray to god nothing happens to their car when they are done. But to me that is just insane. Thats like looking in the pennysaver ad for a coupon for laser eye surgery.

By your standards, no company ever makes any profit. I'm glad you're not the president, everyone would be homeless.

[Hershey]

I would check to make sure they didn't overfill your oil . Hopefully didn't install all 4 or 5 quarts of oil . I use little over 3 and a 1/2 quarts to get it to full mark , sometimes a smidgen over .

[b_hickman11]

I actually just got finished changing my oil this morning. Took about 10 minutes and only cost me about $10. I put 5000 miles on about every 6 weeks so spending $10 each time is a lot better than $80+.

[RUFFSTUFF]

It's funny in this day and age with all the resources available, people still don't understand the very warranty they signed saying they did. Changing your own oil does not void your warranty... as well as any other maintenance you may perform. For a claim to be denied it must be proven by the dealer that the failure was due to neglect or for lack of a better word, incompetence. If you change your own oil and say, you forget to torque your drain bolt, it falls out, your oil drains and your motor seizes... probably not going to get a new motor out of it at no cost... But like said previously, change your own oil and the fuel pump fails prematurely... no correlation... claim should be good.

The problem is the interface. There is some amount of faith in the dealer that they are going to help you out. After all. it is them that are filing the warranty claim... They don't want to do repair work on your vehicle and then get stiffed on the bill because the manufacturer's bean counter doesn't want to pay 2 weeks later. I've seen dealers go the extra mile and basically sell the repair work to the Claims Dept. to get it covered, saving the consumer big bucks. I've seen dealers tell a customer that the claim will be denied and they won't do the work unless the customer pays just because the dealer didn't feel like doing the legwork or checking. Or the customer was a douchebag... which is never the case, right?

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by b_hickman11

I actually just got finished changing my oil this morning. Took about 10 minutes and only cost me about $10. I put 5000 miles on about every 6 weeks so spending $10 each time is a lot better than $80+.

I'm about to do mine today, the filter was $4.50 and the 5 quart jug was $11. No need for full synthetic in this car.

[JBIZZ]

The dealerships are in the business to make money & are very dishonest. They could care less about the customer. Toyotas are very reliable & don't break that often, so they got to make money some how. I don't trust dealerships at all but if one wants to get ripped off go ahead. That being said it takes 10 minutes to change oil. That's equivalent to $200 an hour labor for the cost of labor which was charged above. Most dealerships usually charge $110 an hour labor. You got ripped off but only for $20. One can change the oil themselves at @ $8 a quart of Royal Purple from Advance auto parts, along w/ a superior K & N non-back flow oil filter for @ $10 ( @ $45 total).

[daf62757]

Originally Posted by behour

I have no experience with vehicles. My yaris is the first new car I bought. I sadly feel often screwed. I went to get an oil change today and was charged 86.44 for it.

Here is my questions

It was full syntetic oil. Is this the best to get or should I avoid?
I was over charged...correct? It seems ridiculously high.
My bill looks something like this

Labor 33.84
Parts 48.20
Shop Material 1.35
Sales tax 3.05
Total 86.44



This is my 2nd oil change at 10,000 miles. My first oil change I asked for syntetic from another Toyota dealer and was only charged $41.45. I was not sure if I was given full synthetic oil even when told otherwise. I was charged with "lube synthetic oil for $10.00". The bill was not clear. I have had problems with the sales department so I tried another dealer. Looks like I should of just stayed with them for a $40 dollar change in price and a 20minutes extra drive.

Any opinions and help would be great for someone as clueless as me with cars. I just want to take the best care for it you know?

I have a question.....would it have been worth a few dollars more to have someone come to your home...or work place....and change your oil?

I have toyed with the idea to start a valet oil change business that specializes in full synthetic oil and comes to where ever it is convenient for you.

How many would pay $100 for that?

[SpaceShot]

I would certainly recommend learning to do it for yourself. The oil change on the Yaris is not hard as engines go. You can even do it without jacking the car up. (not the most comfortable approach) The trickiest part is finding a filter wrench that will fit the little tea cup of a filter it has and not slip. Proper filters and oil can be found in any parts store or even Walmart.

If you don't have the Saturday morning to spare and a suitable garage or driveway, you can look for an independent shop. Try
http://www.cartalk.com/ct/mechx/find...63101&miles=50
if you have no one local that can recommend a shop.

There is nothing magic about dealer service. In many locations independent shop mechanics pass the same certifications the dealer staff do. If you are worried about warranty, just keep your receipts on file.

Quick lube places are another story. If you have no other choices, look for one that has certified staff (on hand if not under your car) and where you can watch the service being done. If you use one of these, you should check the level and fittings when you get home. (making it less of a convenience perhaps, but keeping your engine safe)

[Hershey]

would think synthetic be better for the 1.5 ltr. engine due to working harder to climb hills and highway speeds ( higher r.p.m. ) . Be better for very cold day starts and those hot commutes in summer .