I think if that 100 dollars was broken down it may be found that it’s not out of line. Part prices on-line or from a local parts house cannot be compared to a dealer part and there’s more time involved than what is shown in that video.
There’s service writer time, dispatcher time (if applicable), parts counter time, and mechanic time from flagging in on the job, finding the car in the lot, running it in, standing at the parts counter for hopefully not very long, doing the job, running the car out, and flagging off of the job.
The fact that a comparatively simple job appears to be expensive does not mean a scam.
What one should do is actually go to work for a dealer on the flat rate pay system. A few years of that may become enlightening when one eye is on the clock all of the time.
I don’t mind paying for good service. I’ve got a great independent shop that has been in business over 20 years. I have heard some people complain that this shop charges higher prices than some other independents. However, the work they have done for me has always been top notch. We depend on them and I would rather pay a higher price so that they make a reasonable profit than to see them go out of business. I’ve seen too many independent shops go under because they didn’t charge enough.
Some years back I was putting a new water pump on my car and was turning the air blue trying to get some stuck bolts out. A long time friend who lived around the corner and was in elementary school with me came over and said, “Why are you doing that? You obviously don’t like doing it. Give the work to someone who needs it and likes doing it. Use my rule. I look at a job and if it is going to take me more than half an hour, I hire someone to do it”. I took his advice. I used to do much of my own work because of financial necessity. Now I am in a position and unfortunately the age to gladly pay someone to do the work.
I have an honest mechanic, once in a while he makes a mistake , or more likely one of his guys does. He has been quick to correct it for free.
He realizes that I only bring him the hard stuff and do everything easy myself but I have introduced all my relatives and a lot of people in our church to him.
The point is, it took me a long time to find him and I have had to deal with a lot of dishonesty, deception and incompetence along the way.
I have had 4 good mechanics in my lifetime but 2 retired and one died.
If you have a good mechanic, spend as much time praising him as you did complaining about the bad ones.
Part prices on-line or from a local parts house cannot be compared to a dealer part and there’s more time involved than what is shown in that video.
That’s true, but we’re talking about a little paper air filter in a non-engine-critical system that gets swapped in and out in a few minutes. It’s not worth $100.
My favorite is on my Acura. They put a plastic shield between the glove box and the cabin filter drawer for the sole purpose of having to remove the shield, which requires removing the glove box and its frame, when you change the filter so that it’s not an easy DIY job anymore and people will take it to the dealership.
I dremeled a hole in the plastic shield and now swap the filter out in 45 seconds
@db4690
Sorry you took it personally. But without a doubt, two people with the same abilities, one working on his own car and one working on someone else time while punching a time clock will have their work separated by their personal integrity and their knowledge that any screw up will be payed for out of their own pocket. It will also be under influence and the direction of the business itself. Individuals do screw up all the time at a rate much much greater then the perfessional mechanic of course.
But, remember one thing which you failed to read that my quote was directed to, Cig doing work on his own car within his level of competence. He WILL be more conciencious, like most who post here, including you when working on your own car without your own time constraints. When you, specifically, are payed by the hour, the shop is payed by the job, there is more constraint on you as a professional then you as the same mechanic working at home. You can at home, check that torque for the umpteenth time. Unfortunately, many really fine mechanics are sometimes stymied by the business they work. No reflection on them. Let me add that some are enhanced by sound business practices and do BETTER work then they would on thier own through guidance and the integrity of the shop itself. But it’s the nature of the beast. I see it all the time at the dealership and at the independent I take my cars to, because I know some of these guys personally. A master transmission mechanic, failing to replace the transmission plug correctly ? Definitely not his decision and definitely some other factor related to the professional world he was forced to work in. Factors including the number of vehicles he has to put through and the time he has. Professionalism whether it be in auto mechanics, or teaching like the field I was in, does not automatically make an individual more competent then an non professional with the same attitude working within his own constraints. . Please take that comment in context of everything else I have said.
Now, if you are going to be offended by a remark directed at a specific individual in what I feel is his level of competence compared to the professional, that’s for you to re read my other comments. This was cig( and you) not “anyone”. Saying I feel Cig can do a more consistent job is not saying ANYONE else is bad. That is a mistaken assumption on your part. It implys I respect Cigs abilities that much to make fewer mistakes.
I see so many responses claiming their Hyundai dealer asks $100 to do the cabin air filter which they call Climate Service. I wish! Key Hyundai wants $200 to do the service! What’s going on with these dealers?
What is going on with dealers is not the question . The question is why don’t you look in the owners manual and see how to do it yourself . Or even watch a You Tube video . And I would imagine that after 4 years the person who started this thread has solved their problem.
Ask your dealer about the service. Some offer a foam cleaning treatment to clean the evaporator coil for owners that stink up their A/C systems. If you don’t need that just replace the cabin air filter every 30,000 miles.
If you go to the Key Hyundai site you will find a offer to replace cabin air filters starting at $49.
I went to my (previously) trusted independent to get oil change and change brake fluid. Mechanic said they don’t have the machine to do that and suggested I go to Jiffy Lube.
A decent professional brake bleeder doesn’t cost the world. Neither does a power probe master adapter kit. It would probably pay for itself in a short amount of time.
