my daughter’s mdx’s air conditioning went out. took it to the dealer and they say that the compresser is finished. $1,400 to fix. then this morning they say that there are metal particles throughout the air conditioning system, because honda doesn’t have a filter on the system. the price of repair has gone up to almost $5,000. cough cough does this sound right to anyone?
I think you should take the vehicle to an independent shop and get another price quote and opinion.
A/C repair on an Acura is going to be more expensive, no doubt about it, but I think that 5 grand figure can be beaten by a bunch.
A search in the aftermarket shows new/rebuilt compressors running from about 250 to 600 dollars.
Add (possibly) a new condenser at about 200-250.
It also shows the vehicle does not use a receiver/drier (filter basically) in the normal sense of the word, but it does use a replaceable screen/dessicant bag (same thing as a filter) at around 50 dollars.
You’re looking at around 900 maximum there on parts, at the most. Figure in labor and I don’t see that it should be more than 1500-2000 or so for the whole shooting match, depending on locale, labor rates, parts procurement, etc.
Since this subject gets brought up, I’ll point this out now. The fact the dealer is very high on this does NOT mean they’re ripping your daughter off. The dealer is going to be using genuine factory OEM parts and while I don’t know the retail prices on those parts, one can figure the dealer is having to pay a high price for those parts also. Add the mark-up and, ouch.
The dealer labor rates are also higher due to the service dept’s higher overhead; way higher.
It would be the same thing as comparing a Mercedes Benz alternator priced from Advance Auto as compared to the Benz dealer. Vastly different prices based on parts sources.
A good reputable independent A/C shop should be able to handle this for much less and do just as good a job.