30,000 mile service (aka dealer trying to bend me over)
 

Air Filter - $21.95
Cabin Air Filter - $69.95
Brake Fluid Service - $99.95
Transmission Service - $200.00
Rear Diff Service - $120
Throttlebody/Induction Cleaning - $289.90

All of that + tax of course...

Actually what they're wanting to charge is: 889.90

Trying to state that some of fluids (in particular the differential) are "discolored".

They should have at least tried lubing me up first before giving me that cost. Obviously I can do some of those things on my own easily, but, obviously this all seems "off".

Edit (I had my iPad on me, so I should have played this for them):

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqqRPvM_Sw"]"Fuck Me" - Eric Cartman "South Park" - YouTube[/ame]

You would shit yourself if you saw how much a 90k mile service cost for Toyota's and Lexus.

Those last 3 prices seem high, especially the last one. I am just about to hit 10k, hopefully someone who has already hit the 30k mark will tell you what they paid.

Air filter - $40 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/33-2300-High-Performance-Replacement-Filter/dp/B000CO80OW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404323271&sr=8-1&keywords=subaru+brz+air+filter"]link[/ame] - 5 minutes if you're handicapped (i.e. missing hands and shit).

Cabin filter - $35 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-2013-Subaru-Cabin-Microfilter/dp/B00939JDEI/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1404323271&sr=8-6&keywords=subaru+brz+air+filter"]link[/ame] - 5 minutes if you're handicapped.

Brake fluid - $20 each (get 2) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/ATE-706202-Original-Brake-Fluid/dp/B003VXRPL0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404323360&sr=8-1&keywords=dot+4+brake+fluid"]link[/ame] - 30 minutes.

Transmission and differential fluid - $80 link - 30 minutes.

Throttlebody cleaning - $0 because what the hell is this?

Totals to around $200 for parts. So they want $700 in labor? Tell them you'd rather learn to suck your own ****.

Or pay them. Whatever. It's your time/money.

Throttle bodies get dirty? On the inside? I thought that was only if you had other engine problems, you might get some oil in it.

Change your own filters and fluid. It really is quick and easy. Then go to the dealer and demand a refund for the money that they would have overcharged you if you had gotten service there.

Even if you had to buy all the tools necessary to complete the service, you'd still come in at least $500 under what the dealership wants. AND you have the added benefit of being able to use the tools on other projects/maintenance in the future.

Hell, throw in a nice low-profile rapid pump floor jack, jack stands, and a pair of ramps because why the hell not and you'll still come out cheaper than $900!

From what I gathered on the internet, it's $5 to do yourself
http://www.autorepairfacts.com/repai...vent-problems/
http://g35driver.com/forums/v36-diy/...le-bodies.html

Throttle body/induction cleaning is probably this: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Subaru-Engine-Maintenance-Kit/dp/B00AYXZJ5O"]Amazon.com: Genuine Subaru Engine Maintenance Kit: Automotive[/ame] - ~$20


They had been good up to this point, at least during the 2 years of free maintenance. Guess they're trying to get the "freebies" back in one swoop.

Actually I looked them in the eye and said "that pricing is offensive".

The air filter (Engine bay one) is like 10-15 dollars. This is easy to do.

The cabin air filter (The HVAC one) is like 10-15 dollars. I don't understand why they charge so much for this. It's SOOO easy to do. You can do this yourself.

Brake fluid service - 99 dollars is a pretty good deal at the dealer. But of course you can save money doing it yourself.

Transmission Service - Drain and fill....if you have a lift...this is easy to do...but going to an INDY shop is much much cheaper. Not worth doing at the dealer.

Rear diff service -- Same as trans service. Same recommendation.

Throttle bottle cleaning...now THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCAM EVER LOL. All they do is pour in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and spray your throttle body with some sort of cleaner. That's it. You SHOULDN'T ever need to do this.

You don't need a lift, just a jack, jack stands, and a drain pan. The drain plug on the transmission is near the bottom and the drain plug on the diff is on the bottom. The fill plugs are about halfway up on both. Use Motul 300 because it's awesome and the bottle has a flexible nozzle. It takes maybe 30 minutes to do both in your garage.

I can't believe people actually pay that kind of money to maintain their cars at a dealership, or anywhere.

The last time the dealer touched my car was when they still owned it, and I plan to keep it that way.

Dealers are so good at making money off unsuspecting people who don't know any better. Recently my father bought a used sequoia from a local toyota dealership and there was a 30k mile service receipt from the previous owner in the glove box.

I spent about 2 minutes deciphering the 4 pages and was in disbelief. They charged this poor woman 1000 bux. A 1000 bux to change the air filter, cabin filter, change the oil and filter, rotate the tires, and fill the fluid. No brakes, no transmission fluid, no diff fluid, ect.

If you looked at the service receipt it looked like everything was broken down by the specific service. All had a little box that said serviced. But if you looked closer there were special indicators that were not spelled out but rather coded. There was a breakdown of the codes on the last page. The most important codes were S for service and I for I inspected.
When just inspected they still charged the same as if they actually serviced it. A 1000 bux for maybe 200 bux worth of work. And 60 worth of parts if you did it yourself.

To those saying that cleaning the throttle body is useless, I have news for you. Junk from a 100% perfectly running engine builds up in there. It comes from the PCV and the slight amount of dust that makes it through the filter. Drive you car for 100k miles without doing it and then say its worthless. I'm surprised a MAF cleaning isn't in there somewhere.

That list is a very easy to do. Just document everything.

I agree. If the vehicle is in harsh environments or run up to high mileage, the throttle body could possibly be caked with residue. That can sometimes cause sticking of the butterfly valve and a quick lurch forward once the valve clears the gunk. The vehicle might even throw a code stating that the engine idle is not optimal due to the gunk. Removing the throttle body assembly and cleaning it is the right way to go if necessary.

EXACTLY!!!

I've already swapped all those fluids out well before 30k (tranny and diff)

I put in a fuel enjection cleaner every 5000 miles, and clean the MAF when I clean the air filter….MAF cleaner is $10 or so. It's just regular maintenance for me.

You should just be able to use carb cleaner on the TB unless there is electrical in it…then MAF cleaner should work there as well.

All pretty standard stuff IMHO. I've done this on all my cars as regular maintenance. Pick a time of year and just do it all. It might sound a bit excessive, but it keeps everything fresh. I usually do all my fluids every other summer. I don't race and the car is pretty much highway driven so it is more than enough.

For all of you telling the OP to screw it, you DO know that the service is required to maintain your warranty right?

There was a nighmare problem with the Camry/Solaras where engines were just blowing and the dealers were giving owners a really hard time replacing the engines under warranty because Toyota was claiming that the oil changes were done improperly and causing an engine sludge problem.
Their excuse was horseshit, but a lot of people had to pay out of pocket for a new motor.

The only ones who got the engine replaced under warranty without a hassle were the ones who had all of their oil changes done at the dealer and on record.

If you skip a scheduled service interval, they can hassle you if you need warranty work later.

So if you do decide to do your own service, keep a logbook, and all of your receipts (with dates).

Plus one on this. Warranty guidelines are black on white paper when you signed it. But still, some of the services are marked up like crazy, I know everybody gotta get paid but still... $70 for a cabin filter? seriously? :bonk:

It also looks better for resale value if you have all of the maintenance records for your car.

I use nothing but OEM oil filters which kinda shows I keep up with oil changes. They should have a record of all of my filter purchases. Its bs if they decline warranty repairs if there are no service records. They need to be clear in telling people they can't maintain their own cars.

Would a catch can help keep the throttle body clean?

I'm about to hit 30k, I wonder if I should clean my TB. Is there any diys on the boards for this ?

Just FYI at my local dealer they only want $77 in labor to swap the transmission and differential fluid. I bought 4 quarts of Motul Gear 300 and so grand total through the dealer for that will be about $160.

ALSO***** Does nobody look at the FACTORY maintenance schedule, which is the ONLY one that matters??? Below is copy/paste from Subaru.com on the items that they call out to be replaced (I left out inspections) There is no "cleaning of throttle body" in there. The items in the FACTORY maintenance are the ones anyone concerned with warranty retention should care about.

30,000 miles

Replace a/c filter
Replace engine oil
Replace engine oil filter
Replace air cleaner element
Replace brake fluid

Yep I had the same deal. Subaru do really well to hide their dealership service costs up front. You're thinking something like a $200-300 bill, and then blam you're stuck at the dealership with a $675 bill.

My 30k service was:

Oil change $70
coolant flush job $110
coolant $20
brakes fluid flush $70
brake fluid $30
tire rotation $20
fuel system $20
fuel system induction service $100
engine maintenance kit $30
ethanol treatment service $35
diff fluid service cost $85
Diff fluid $22
shop supplies $15
Tax $50

skipped air filter (was clean I checked) and cabin air filter, which I don't think it's necessary to change right now.

That's about it I think. I think it's shady of my dealership and Subaru of America to allow dealership service costs to get out of hand like this, for cars that are just a step up from most economy cars. They like to itemize every little thing and charge you full price for it. $85 just to change the rear diff fluid? WTF. IMO Subaru of America should offer the scheduled maintenance as a package price. Paying this much to service a japanese car is unheard of to me. And these costs are only going to get higher and higher as the 60k service rolls around and we're all going to be needing $400 spark plug changes.

I went to the dealership for the "free" 15K mile service a few days ago, and the service rep tried to sell me that throttle body cleaning for $200. I had to say "no" about six times before he let it rest.

The "free" 15K service included oil change, cabin filter change and tire rotation. After keeping the car for almost two hours (1:45, if I'm being honest), they brought it back out and informed me that the cabin filters were out of stock, so they'll call me when their shipment arrives so I can bring it back over for that service. I'm not feeling all that great about leaving my car with them for another two hours.

Regarding the transmission and differential service, has anybody actually sent samples for analysis to justify changing it? I think the maintenance schedule just says to "inspect" those fluids, but just eyeballing the color of them seems like a joke. I bought Blackstone's little pump for extracting engine oil samples (because I don't trust the dealer to collect the sample for me). I think as I approach 30K miles, I might climb under there and just take a sample right out of the transmission and differential and let Blackstone tell me if it really needs to be changed.

The factory mainteence schedule does NOT call for even an inspection of those, only for an inspection of fluid for automatic transmissions.

I'm not saying it would be a bad idea, but it is NOT in the maintenance schedule. And if you do it, you shouldn't overpay.

I think the _ _._ _ _ whatever service is a bunch of hogwash. I do believe that keeping the car maintained is extremely important of course. Yet the dealership makes money off of uneducated people that are fearfully drawn into performing the scheduled maintenance. Or their car will burst into pieces if the scheduled service is not performed.

Maybe having a mechanical engineer that works at Toyota helps a bit. But I have saved a lot of money on some of the bullshit they does is futile to have performed. I got the important maintenance routines that will be done when the time comes. To each his own. Hope I did not open a can of worms. It is not my intention to start an argument. Just want the OP to consider my thoughts. 30k is not a lot of mileage for what they are recommending be performed.

I took my car in around 35K for an oil change and they didn't suggest anything additional (tires get rotated when I switch winter/summer). Said everything looked good.

You have to remember a couple of things:

1. Majority of dealer profits come from service, not from selling new cars.
2. Majority of car owners do not do any of their own maintenance, so they pay whatever the dealer asks them to pay.
3. Most people who frequent car forums are much more educated than those who do not, and most do at least some of their own work.

It does suck that dealers can try to weasel out of honering warranty if you don't have conclusive proof that you've kept up with maintenance. You should absolutely NOT be required to have all worked performed by dealer just to keep your warranty.

I forgot to mention that the charge for the transmission service was originally verbally presented to me as "front end differential service for my AWD". I had a hard time believing anything they said to me at that point after I correcting them with "I don't have that".

Part of these prices probably have to do with the fact they're the only Subaru dealer within 100 miles of the area I live.

Holy crap!! That would be my last service visit to that place.. and I'd reach out to SOA too.. not that they'll give a crap.

Complain to head office. People over there are usually alot more helpful and reasonable.

You guys.... your almost all wrong... The Dealer is charging correctly for almost all of those service's.




you don't think technicians should get paid for the work they do? You don't think service writer should get paid for what they do? At the end of the day this is still a business to run a shop regardless if its a dealer or not. They have to make money and they also have to follow protocols on what they can recommend and what they should be doing based on service intervals.


If its recommended to inspect the fluid at the 30k mark and it looks discolored, or smells burned, then yes it is correct of them to recommend to change the fluid. Dealerships charge anywhere from 110-150$ per hour of service. They also have to mark up the parts they buy from the parts department. So yes a Cabin air filter takes .4 of a hour according to labor guidelines to install even @ 110$(low end) is 44$ and then the cabin air filter itself is 26.16 list price... so there is over 70$ and they only charged you 69.95.... what nice guy's they actually saved you .25$.
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I just got back from a Direct Injection Class yesterday and DI cars are seeing horrible deposits as early as 15k miles, they are going to be recommending changing how we do injection services which will need to be done every 15k to properly maintain DI cars. Luckily with D-4S we also have port injectors so 30k intervals should still be o.k. but it is defiantly a actual needed service, and putting that stuff in the gas tank is NOT enough you need to have a machine that does it properly.
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You are also not allowed to spray any cleaners on electric throttle bodies. you can/will ruin them. I see it all the time when people spray carb clean on mafs or electronic TB they fry em up and then you have to go spend a bunch of money replaced a part that just needed a cleaning.
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Just so you know as well, Subaru has been recommending for a long time that pretty much all the fluids to be changed every 30k... so i'm surprised they didn't have coolant recommendation as well, with the brz/frs maybe they are pushing that to 50k I'll still do all my fluids every 15-25k, because I do my own labor and like to maintain a perfect condition car(mechanically)


So before you all try to say they are trying to screw you, you have to realize its a business, and just like any other business they have to make money. and if you can do your own labor, yes you will save money, but there is still labor being done, and trained professionals command 20-35$ per hour and the business doesn't get free electricity or anything, they have to make money to pay all those bills.
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For the Fuel induction service, it usually pays 1 hour labor (so 110$) and the fuel induction kits we buy cost us around 40-60$ and we have to mark them up to usually around 110-135$ They usually will clean the throttle body as well as part of the service which could be another .3-.5 depending on the car and how they pay their Technician. so 289 really is a little on the high side, but for a dealership, probably about right.
For the transmission service 200$ is also a little on the high side depending on what fluid they use. most transmission services are not based on a per/car application, so 200$ is probably what they charge on every manual transmission, 120 for a diff fluid change is about right on what it should cost.


Air filter list price is 16$ usually .1 to put it in which is 11$ they saved you money again!
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Can you save money doing it yourself. Hell yes you can. But you have to do work to save that money, and time last I checked is still money so your paying it one way or the other. You don't have to do it at the dealer just keep records and they won't give you too much trouble about warranty stuff. But all you people thinking they are trying to screw him are dead wrong. You don't know what it takes to run a business. It's not easy or cheap.

You're absolutely right.. of course it's a business and like any other business, people have the option to either do it themselves or pay as much as 4 times more for the same products and services.

You do, however, seem to follow dealer mentality that fluids should be changed more often than is recommended by actual car maker.

BRZ manual: "replace coolant at 11 years or 137,500"

Will it hurt to change it more frequently? Of course not. Is it necessary? Not at all.. pure profit for the dealership. Same goes for oil changes which many dealers still suggest should be done every 3k miles.

I can't fault the dealer for trying to make money. When I bought my car new first shipment May 2012 the dealer stood by no markups and I paid MSRP which was a good deal at the time and market. When I went to the finance guy (you know, the one trying to sell you all the add ons) he tried to sell me the extended warranty.

How? He showed me a blown turbo and told me how much it cost out of pocket to replace it. Then I asked, does my car have a turbo? His face was priceless. Then I told him I probably won't keep it stock through the 3 year warranty.

He asked, you are going to tear it apart huh? I just shrugged.

You have to take the good with the bad at dealerships and make your way through. I still would recommend them because they gave me no bullshit on purchase price and didn't try and force me into add ons when I rejected them.
I agree with you. I realized I needed to try and DIY when I paid nearly 1,000 for an interval service on my first car, a honda accord. While the service turned out great and solved my vibrating brakes issue, I couldn't get over the fact "what did these guys do that I couldn't for THAT MUCH MONEY?!"

And here I am today servicing my own car in my driveway for A TON CHEAPER. Sure there are bumps in the road as far as tool cost and learning trial and error, but even if I end up even to what I paid a dealer the satisfaction of owning the tools and ability to do it myself is priceless.

If you have a driveway and preferably a garage to store some tools I think it is a no brainer to start learning to do it yourself.

It may bit save you money (probably will) but the satisfaction, reward, and time efficiency (working to your own schedule) is 100% priceless.

Nice try Subaru dealership. You must have mistaken this forum for the moms with minivan club.

:bs::bs::bs::bs::bs::bs:

IMO, they pad the labor times when deciding what to charge you. It does not take a trained mechanic at a dealership 24 minutes to replace a cabin filter. I know its a business etc, but you have to draw the line somewhere. It's already a high hourly rate (IMO), why fluff the numbers on top of it? Do one or the other, not both (good rate, fluff time OR high rate, accurate time).

My comment was geared towards most of the work being easy to DIY that it's absurd (to me) to pay a mechanic/dealership an hour of labor for a 15-30 minute job @ ~$110/hour.

A persons free time (ie weekends or after work) is not 'money'. It's only money if the person has a potential to make money during the time they spend working on their car, which I don't... so you're not really paying for it one way or another. You're only paying for labor at a mechanic/dealer.

+1! Well stated.

I will only cite one example of Bullshit to the above:
"Rear Diff Service - $120"

This takes almost exactly 5 minutes and about $20 worth of fluid (that is being generous).
What are they doing for the other 55 minutes? Looking for the correct socket?

And some automechanics will charge the max that the book states for labor even when they know they can do it in a fraction of the time.
Sometimes they will double book on labor.
Toyota could charge the full labor (on my camry) on a water pump AND a timing belt replacement when the labor overlaps almost 100%.

And some automechanics are honest, MY Toy dealer was replacing the water pump under warranty (camry) and called and asked me if I would like them to put in a new timing belt for $40 out of my pocket.
Labor and parts to do that is almost $1000 so they were doing me a huge favor for zero profit.

I am sure none of us on here know business 101. I had no idea that it takes money to keep a business running. I thought candy canes and gum drops were sufficient.

Sounds like you like donating money to the dealership. That's not where I prefer my money go. Do you think that the dealership charges that much to pay techs and overhead? The dealership/company have more than that in mind. The dealership/company is only concerned about making profit. Profit is what drives the business. Payroll and overhead is only part of the formula and the method to their madness. The mark up is for the dealership/company to make profit. And the uninformed population should be thanked by the dealership/company for their success. Welcome to business class 101.