civicity

Hi there,

My Civic 2008 has 18.5K miles, been driven gently, and always had regular oil changes. Tire rotation was done around 5000 miles I think.

I took it for its regular service to a different Honda service center for the first time, having an oil change and tire rotation in mind.

I was told that I need more than $450 of additional work and that it was necessary. Despite my unease, I consented.

In the opinion of the experts on this board, was the service necessary?

In addition to the oil change, here are the items I'm wondering about:

Four Wheel Alignment $90
Cleaning and Adjusting the Read Brakes $60
Cleaning of the fuel injector $130 + $40 for cleaner
Transmission Service $100 + $30 for fluidATF
Total Additional: $450 !

Keep in mind, the car has only 18.5K and has been taken care of.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

MindBomber

The four wheel alignment was a good idea and they charged you a fair price for that, I wouldn't have consented to any of the other service. Unless you use poor quality gas then the fuel injectors should not have needed cleaning, even if they did a bottle of injector clean run through the fuel system would likely have sufficed; the cleaner only costs around $10 noramlly. The transmission service was a good idea, but since it takes less than 5 minutes to complete $100 for the labor is completely unreasonable. I have no idea why they wanted to clean and adjust your rear brakes..

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah its mostly just a ripoff except the alignment. the rest are way overpriced and the only really necessary thing was the trans fluid which should only be $50 for fluid and labor. im almost at 100k miles and only had my rear brakes checked once and they are still okay.

lollygagger

i still have the original rear pads on with 98k lol

K20Z3

I say theres no reason for the alignment unless there was specific evidence pointing to a misalignment. The injector cleaner is a joke too because the car is practically new. Transmission should be checked but again, it shouldn't have needed replacing with mileage that low. And I'm not sure how they re-adjusted the brakes but that also sounds like a money grab.

I guess the main thing you got out of this was a greater resale value because now you can say that you regularly cleaned your rear brakes. =D

civicity

Thank you for all your replies.
I'm somewhat disappointed that this happened at an official Honda service center.
I guess the thing that bothered me most was:
The person I was dealing with, who told me the list of "necessary" repairs, told me that I would receive an email with a survey request.
He told me my next service would be free if I were to fill it out.
He followed it by saying "it's like: you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back".
I didn't mention:
One of the additional pieces of work suggested was to change the "A/C filter" for another $150. But he suggested that unlike the other $450 of work, it wasn't absolutely necessary.
It's my own fault.
But still, I expected more from an official Honda service center.

Too Tall

Is he referring to engine or cabin air filter? You can do either yourself with a $20 filter from a local auto parts store. There are threads on this forum describing how to do it yourself.

Four wheel alignment is not needed unless there is bad tire wear. With such low miles, it probably wasn't done correctly at the factory. Should have been a warranty issue.

What did he clean off the rear brakes? Usually just blow off the brake dust. I can't remember at the moment how it's done on a Civic, but sometimes there is a nut to tighten up the emergency brake handle to adjust the rear brakes, takes 2 minutes.

Good question, is it even possible to adjust rear disc brakes???

You could have cleaned the fuel injectors with a $5 can of fuel injector cleaner.

$30 for ATF indicates he did a drain and refill of the transmission pan, which leaves about 4 quarts of the old fluid in the transmission. That is a good idea to get done, but you should have it drained and refilled every 10,000 miles instead of waiting for 30,000 miles.

Check your owners manual. It does NOT call for any of those services to be done with as little mileage as you have.

Now what do you think about your dealer?

MindBomber

Honda service centers recommend service based on mileage guidelines from Honda engineers, it has little or nothing to do with what the techs actually see when they do an inspection.

nuxil

I agree, I didn't do that with my 2001, ok right now I have only ~70.000KM or 43.4959 Miles on it, but still with the mileage you got on it, it is really early for all that, don't always trust what they propose for your car, check the manual, that is what you really need

MindBomber

^The manual has more strange useless things listed as necessary than anything, check with someone you trust and is knowledgeable. Generally, if it sounds unnecessary it is.

02_d17a1_dx

iTrader: (1)

The only fair priced item on there was the alignment, and all were unnecessary. again, the alignment shouldnt have been necessary unless you curbed a rim or hit a BAD pothole or something.

whether youve got rear drum or disc, they dont need cleaning or adjusting for atleast 100k, and even then you would pretty much only have to clean a bit, only the parking brake has to ever be adjusted.

injector cleaner - total joke, absolutely not necessary

trans service - wow, i mean unless they "flushed" it, then its a "normal" price for a shop, but I would just get it drained and the filter changed every 15 to 20k miles, its great insurance for an auto, they need good fluid.

and the killer of all : $150 to change a cabin air filter! are you greakin kidding me?!?! theyre <$20 even at the dealer and take 5 minutes tops...

Please find another dealer or other reputable shop to do your work for you, atleast they wont rip you off again! I would call Honda and complain if I were you.

P.S. if you have your bill, could you scan it and post it up? Im interested to see how they broke those charges down labor and parts wise...

civicity

Hi,
Many thanks for your reply. I've scanned the bill and am posting it.
After reading your comments, I'm very disappointed in the Honda service center. I trusted them and they took advantage. Of course there is no way to prove that the $450 of extra work was not necessary. But I'm still going to complain.

K20Z3

Yeah injector cleaner and transmission service are some of the same things that Mr. Lube (oil change place up in canada) tells you that you need, its how they make a lot of their money basically because it costs them very little to perform these services.

lollygagger

damn 110/hr. it's practically criminal

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i remember when $60 a hour used to be alot... its too bad most people are stupid and the shops can get away with taking advantage of them charging an hour for something that takes 5 mins to fix. in the old days they would either do it free or just ask $10 for their trouble. i would be homeless if i didnt know anything about cars and had to be constantly paying to get work done on it.

LTDan

Sadly, that's about what most dealerships charge now-a-days for service I would look around and read reviews online and find a shop that will do honest work for a cheaper price before going back to that dealership.