I’ve been to my local Hyundai dealership for oil changes 3 separate times and it always seems to take 3+ hours! And today, in addition to my oil change, I had to spend $760 on 4 new tires – the manager there only took $10 off the oil change to lower the price.
I’ve checked online, and while 4 new tires typically cost a max. of $725, plus alignment, etc. it still struck me as too much; and only taking off $10 seemed ridiculous.
Me thinks you could have said " No, I will think about it ".
That’s true, however tires have gotten ridiculously expensive these past few years, and if you truly did need tires that price is the going rate… even for budget brands.
Not sure why you would expect a discount in the first place. Also $750 isn’t an outrageous price for a set of tires once you figure in the mounting/balancing. I bought a set of tires about two months ago and the out the door price was a little under $1200 and that’s from a warehouse club retailer. With that said dealerships do tend to have higher prices on tires.
I paid about $750 for four new Michelin tires my Sienna a couple years ago. I buy my tires from an independent tire store. This shop does a lot of alignment work as well. Also, any tire repair is done free. I know dealerships now sell tires, but I feel more comfortable buying tires from an independent shop where tires are the main product and it is in the shop’s best interest to do the alignment correctly so that the tires that they sell don’t wear out prematurely.
Obvious question - did you check the cost at tire stores in the area? How about Costco or Sams?
That’s on my list too before winter. I suppose I’ll be shocked again at the cost.
Ask friends for recommendations for a mechanic.
Dealership will always be the highest in price.
After building a good relationship with a mechanic, you will sometimes get discounts.
Tire stores like Discount Tires give free balancing and tire rotations.
I feel your pain, OP. I can get out for around $700 on my Acura, but not if I want a good, quiet ride. That costs closer to a grand.
I remember putting performance tires on my old CRX and thinking I’d just dropped a fortune spending $250 for everything. Now I spend that for one tire.
“I had to spend 760 dollars on 4 new tires…”.
No you didn’t. You CHOSE to spend 760 on 4 new tires based on a conscious decision.
“Typically cost…” means you’re in the ballpark.
Taking 10 dollars off should be considered a gift from heaven.
You paid a local retailer 5% more than an online price. Considering the overhead that any local retailer has, I think that’s actually more than reasonable.
If the dealer’s price was a problem, why didn’t you buy them online?
The price of tires depends on the size,brand,model, etc… It is not unusual to pay $$$ for premium tires.
Until the OP posts the make, model, speed rating, and size of those tires, none of us will have any clue as to whether he was ripped-off, got a decent price, or received a bargain. It is typical to pay inflated prices for tires at a dealership–as well as having a very limited choice of tires–but perhaps his dealership is the exception to the rule.
Could the OP please supply us with the necessary details?
You said yourself that the price was less than 10% higher than the on line price you quoted. Dealers do charge a bit more, and in this case, you paid for the convenience of having the work done at the same time as your oil change. If you are fed up with high dealer costs, find a god independent garage to do your work. If you don’t know one, ask everyone you know for recommendations. Eventually, you will have a short list that are mentioned frequently. Call them and ask if they can do an oil change quickly. If one does it while you wait, then see if you can get out in a half hour to an hour.
…and, if the OP prefers dealer servicing, he may be able to find one that doesn’t keep him waiting 3 hours for an oil change.
The dealership that I use is almost always very fast, but I help that process along by scheduling my service appointments for 10:30 AM. That way, the bulk of the customers, who all seem to show-up between 8:00-9:00 AM, are already gone. I usually find only one or two other customers in the waiting room with me, and occasionally I am the only one at that time of day.
Typically, I am out of there in 30-40 minutes if I am just getting an oil change.
If I am also having the tires rotated, then I might have to wait for almost an hour.
But…3 hours?
Nope!
As for the 3 hours at the dealership . . . I’m wondering if OP is showing up during a busy time AND without an appointment?
Hi All,
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I saw some posts with a few questions which I’ll address here:
• the vehicle I have is a 2007 Hyundai Tucson, 40-41k miles on it;
unfortunately I don’t know what the speed rating and tire sizes are – I’ve honestly been driving the vehicle for about 8 years now. It was previously owned by my father and was bought to be used for family trips. The family trips were very few and far between and was then given to me once I started working. I know next to nothing about cars and between school and work it’s a bit difficult to take time to learn about all things automotive, let alone my own vehicle. I have picked up a few things here and there during the 8 years, but that’s not saying much.
• As for the recent trip to the dealership: During my last oil change there it took maybe less than 1 hour, and that included them vacuuming and washing the SUV. Keep in mind, I schedule my appointments online for the earliest possible time and get there as soon as they open because the very first time I took my vehicle for an oil change at the dealership it took about 3 hours, which included a tire rotation – even with an early appointment.
• This time around, I was expecting the same thing to happen – go in, get an oil change, maybe a vacuuming/wash, and be done in about an hour. So I go in as soon as they opened and tell them I’m there for an oil change (costs around $39). After an hour or so, they call me and tell me that the “tech” says my tires are bald and I need (4) new ones and that it would cost a total of about $730. I (genuinely) show my exasperation and horror by holding my head, at which point the manager comes over and says he’ll take off the $30 to make it an even $700.
I agreed to all this because I have neglected to even check my tires’ condition, much less keep abreast with it. However, this would be the first time I’d be getting new tires, in addition to that, with my recent job I commute about 1 hour (each way) and I tend to drive relatively fast so I figured the time might have been due.
After waiting an additional 3 hours to have the tires ordered, installed, and aligned, they tell me the final price comes out to be $780. Again, I express my disbelief (but I’m not one to yell, rant, or rave – this is all a first for me). The manager again comes over and says that the $700 for the tires (alignment, etc.) stands but he’ll also take off $10 from the oil change to make it ~$29. In the end, with tax, it all came out to be $760. Honestly, after 4 hours of waiting, and having to shell out $760, I couldn’t be bothered to check and analyze the bill to see how much that tax was for it all to be $760.
So there you have it. Sorry for the long post. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again, as always.
Again, it depends on the exact brand, model, size of tires they installed. Could be a very good deal, could be a few hundred high (typical for a dealer).
You never looked at your tires? Did you check at the dealer to see if they were actually bald as they claimed? Note that actually bald tires would make a lot of noise on the highway due to the low thread warning bars built into tires. And bald tires would be very unsafe to drive on.
You should make a habit of checking things like fluid levels, tire depth and pressure on a weekly basis, or at least monthly. Makes for a longer life.
Like I mentioned above, I’m pretty new to vehicle ownership, and it had never dawned on me to check my tires routinely – I used to it at the very beginning when I first started driving, but then quickly stopped since I hadn’t noticed much of anything aside from it needing some inflation now and then, which I would do myself.
I had wanted to check the tires when they told me they were bald, but it was one of those things where when you’re in the situation you end up acting/doing something different, or freeze up. I had however, taken photos of my front right side bumper (because I had some scratches on it due to an incident about a month ago) which shows a bit of the tire (see photos uploaded).
Not sure if those would be considered “bald”.
Again, like I mentioned above, there are some things I am able to do (i.e. check engine oil, brake fluid, windshield wiper fluid); I used to check my tire pressure until a mechanic friend of mine told me that the devices you buy at the store aren’t usually calibrated as good as they should be…so I leave it up to the “techs” at the dealership when they do the oil change.
The tire shop here is right next to the GM dealer. The dealer has a big sign that is adjacent to the tire shop parking area “lowest price tires”. I dunno. Seems a little unfair advertising to me but I’ll get them at the tire store anyway. Last time I was told the prices took a jump with the price of oil so maybe it won’t be so bad this time. I know they went from 5/32 to 4 and probably 3 now but it rained the other day and when I would step on the gas after a stop light the tires would lose grip. It was the first rain for a while and wasn’t as bad the second rain of he week, but still its time for tires before winter.
