$600 for spark plugs?

Well to be fair - if they quote you a price ahead of time - which they will do - it's up to you to take the deal or walk. Customers have power. Everyone should know if you get a quote from a dealer it's going to be insane. The only thing I use dealers for is warranty work and oil changes usually. It's always best to go to a trust local specialist who isn't the dealer.

Personally I put away $125 a paycheck for car maintenance fund - and then just draw from it when I need it, and never feel the pain of big repairs because I've been stashing a few grand away a year. Whatever is in there after 6-7 years of car ownership becomes the down payment for my next car.

 

I called for a quote ahead of time and they quoted me $340 which is reasonable, and i didnt really want to do it myself 1, because i dont feel like it and 2, because its still under warranty and i dont want to mess with it. So i went to the dealer and the service adviser, a different guy than who quoted me, said it was all wrong and its going to be $600. So i did what most people would do, walk!

 

How about I give ya 50 cents and you let me lick the spark plug???

 

I might say to myself wow that’s a little expensive, but I’m not going to go around town telling everyone I know that it’s ridiculous that it’s so much money, or go online to a forum and post about it. There are lots of things I don’t like the price of. But it’s pretty simple. I either shop around, do something myself to save money, or man up and pay and just live with it.


Everyone knows service work at a dealership is going to be the most expensive. 95% of the time they are quoting all OEM parts, which you normally pay a premium for over an aftermarket equivalent. Their labor rates can be twice as much as a small local mechanic shop. However they have 10x more overhead and employees.

I worked for dealers for 10 years. We always had people coming in and bitching about prices. Or asking for discounts or coupons and the whole nine yards. I mean you don’t go to the grocery store and ask if they can sell you steaks cheaper. If you don’t like the price of them you simply walk away. Do you haggle the price that your DR charges you for a visit? Even if your in and out, in 10 minutes they are billing you the same amount as if you seen the DR for an hour.

 

I

I must be old or something. Because for one thing $600 is still a lot of money to me. Plus changing spark plugs was one of the first things I learned how to do on a vehicle from my dad. He showed me how to remove them. Clean them. Gap them. Then reinstall them.

What's the world come to when a guy can't even change his spark plugs?

 

It had to be something full service of a set time/mileage. All new fluid, filters etc.

 

Dr's don't give quotes.

 

I wasn’t talking about quotes. I said I had customers coming in trying to haggle prices. You don’t do that at a drs office

 

BS. Times have changed. I have haggled specialist doctors and Dentists. Just got a $2k dental bill down to $1200 just shopping around and dentist dropped $800 to match. This is also covered under insurance. Doctors and dentists put the prices above the state recommended price and bend people over.

 

It’s not a Porsche

 

Well they probably have massive overhead, so they add on for that, Toyota always gets a cut, so they add for that, they have to pay some kid to do the dirty work, mark up for profit and benefits. $800 for something that takes 2hrs.

 

So about the part where you haggled your dr visit?

 

x2!

 

I see it all day long here. Especially where I live!
People Suck!
Gotta pay for that Tesla payment!

 

Then cross your fingers and hope it doesn't run over someone or catch on fire.

 

Fify

 

Because Dr's don't give quotes. The system is fucked. You're god damn right I'd shop around if I could at a Dr's office

 

They are on dope!

 

I saw a service price sheet sitting on the counter when I was in for my 5k service. if I remember correctly it was $633 for a sparkplug replacement on a 3.5 V6. it didn't specify by model, only engine. I could see where having this engine stuffed sideways in a camry could be a PITA to get to the rear bank, but they shouldn't be charging the same for a tacoma if the access is a lot easier. I checked my truck & I think I could have it done in a couple of hours tops.

 

I might have missed it, but which dealer in Lo-Cal offered this wonderful deal? Just wondering if it was the same one who tried to screw another Tacoma owner with their transfer case issue.

I won't have to deal with this for some time but I have done plugs recently on a '90 Nissan PU with the V6 that is rotated and that last one on the top in the back was all by feel. Doable but a pain. That Nissan was actually more difficult than changing the plugs on my '88 911, which is no cakewalk.