My Toyota needs a 30K mile service. I called a local dealer and a reputable local mechanic to shop prices.
Dealer wants $440.00. Says the V6 will need new plugs.
Mechanic wants $50.00. Says the V6’s plugs are good until 100K miles.
What am I missing? Why such a drastic difference in price? I figure the mechanic will upsell me with “you also need new brake pads, machine the rotors, etc.”, but in my experience this same dealer would also do that so I don’t think the mechanic’s low price is a loss leader…
Will I be doing my vehicle and its warranty and resale value a disservice by opting to spend $390.00 less?
The “30k service” is a by-the-book procedure at the dealer. They have a checklist of things they inspect/replace/flush/etc. That’s why it’s $400.
The indy mechanic is most likely knowledgeable enough to know that some of those items are not 30k-mile replacement. Plugs last longer than 30k. With newer cars (2000+), 30k service should be little more than checking the brake pads and tires, maybe changing the air filter and making sure nothing under the hood is leaking, maybe toss in an oil change, and you’re done.
Certainly both ends of extreme examples…dealers will always be more expensive than the “local wrench” for a variety of reasons, primarily having to do with overhead, plus you have some additional recourse should there be some issue with a particular repair or service…
Local guy at $50 for 30k service sounds very cheap; he is correct in that certain “tune up” items don’t need to be done until much later in your vehicle’s life, but check the maintenance guide and ensure your guy is doing everything by the book—you’re still under factory warranty, so don’t jeopardize that by short cutting too much.
You car doesn’t “need” a 30k mile service. Change your oil every 3k and check the air filter at each oil change (or pay Jiffy Lube $30 to do these things). Change the air filter when it is black and no longer white. The brakes will let you know when they need replacing.
I assume you bought a Toyota for certain reasons. I would expect low maintenance is one of those. If the plugs go bad after 30k, you shouldn’t have bought a Toyota.
You car doesn’t “need” a 30k mile service. Change your oil every 3k and check the air filter at each oil change (or pay Jiffy Lube $30 to do these things). Change the air filter when it is black and no longer white. The brakes will let you know when they need replacing.
I assume you bought a Toyota for certain reasons. I would expect low maintenance is one of those. If the plugs go bad after 30k, you shouldn’t have bought a Toyota.
I agree with this. Although, you should be able to go 5000 miles before an oil change, even 7500 if you use synthetic oil.
Find a good local shop that can perform oil changes, tires, brakes, etc. on your car and develop a relationship with them. That’ll save you thousands of dollars over the life of your car. But $50 for a 30k service interval is scary cheap. I would run from them.
FWIW I googled “Toyota 30000 mile service” and the basic level is just an oil change, air filter change and a bunch of inspections that all together would not take more than 30 minutes. There are optional items, which you do not need at this point (e.g replace coolant - most coolant these days is either good for life or at least 100K miles). So, $400 is a rip off.
But, if you do need an oil and air filter change (and you probably do) and if the plugs need replacing (it is possible - some types do start to go off at about 30K, others are longer lasting - don’t know about Toyotas specifically) then $50 is too cheap to get this done. Oil, filter, air filter and plugs themselves would cost more than $50 then you have some labor.
That being said, $50 is way closer to the right number than $400 I’d go with the independent which will leave you some headroom in the maintenance budget for stuff that comes up later (or gets discovered now).
You car doesn’t “need” a 30k mile service. Change your oil every 3k and check the air filter at each oil change (or pay Jiffy Lube $30 to do these things). Change the air filter when it is black and no longer white. The brakes will let you know when they need replacing.
I assume you bought a Toyota for certain reasons. I would expect low maintenance is one of those. If the plugs go bad after 30k, you shouldn’t have bought a Toyota.
I agree with this. Although, you should be able to go 5000 miles before an oil change, even 7500 if you use synthetic oil.
Find a good local shop that can perform oil changes, tires, brakes, etc. on your car and develop a relationship with them. That’ll save you thousands of dollars over the life of your car. But $50 for a 30k service interval is scary cheap. I would run from them.
I agree, under certain (most) circumstances the bold is true. The type of driving (highway vs city) and use of the vehicle would determine your oil change interval. 3k would be the extreme, most frequent oil change schedule.
I’ve got a fleet of about 30 trucks with around 1.8 million miles between them at this point. These trucks are all American (mostly Chevy, some Ford, 1 Dodge) and we go every 3k, but we do stop and go driving and haul equipment in the back.
A personal car should be able to go longer between oil changes, just as you stated.
Local guy at $50 for 30k service sounds very cheap; he is correct in that certain “tune up” items don’t need to be done until much later in your vehicle’s life, but check the maintenance guide and ensure your guy is doing everything by the book—you’re still under factory warranty, so don’t jeopardize that by short cutting too much.
Agreed. There’s nothing wrong with going with the local guy, so long as he does all that is necessary under the warranty’s requirements. But $50 does sound extremely cheap. If you can meet the warranty’s requirements for $50, power to you.
Local guy at $50 for 30k service sounds very cheap; he is correct in that certain “tune up” items don’t need to be done until much later in your vehicle’s life, but check the maintenance guide and ensure your guy is doing everything by the book—you’re still under factory warranty, so don’t jeopardize that by short cutting too much.
Agreed. There’s nothing wrong with going with the local guy, so long as he does all that is necessary under the warranty’s requirements. But $50 does sound extremely cheap. If you can meet the warranty’s requirements for $50, power to you.
Anyone performing a 30k service interval “by the owners manual” for $50 will soon be out of business. Unless your name is Amy Fisher and your mechanic is Joey Buttafuoco.
I suspect a good chunk of that cost are Toyota’s OEM Platinum tipped sparkplugs. They are probably selling them at a very healthy margin for $20/each - there is $120 of the total cost. You can buy aftermarket ones for less $8-$10 /each but will have to install them yourself (I can’t remember if the gap is preset on them)
The problem is that I though Toyotas only need new plugs avery $60,000 miles or so.
The other part of the servicing is pretty standard - all your fluids and filters. Your local grease monger can handle that.
Wait till its time to change the timing belt. The Dealer’s mechanic always like to hurt people with that one.
Without knowing which Toyota, and which engine, its hard to guess.
Without know what the Dealer will do for $440 above the spark plug change (which without knowing 1 we can’t tell you if it is needed or not - yes some engines still use plain old copper tips) we also can’t tell if this is better or worst than a non-descript $50 bill from the Mechanic.
on a Transverse V6 getting to those rear plugs can be very difficult / labor intensive .
Oil change interval, most new cars have an oil life indicator when it comes on change the oil (do you, your engine, and the environment a favor and wait for the light).
DONT OPEN THE AIR FILTER BOX… unless you live in a very dust or dirty air environment, your air filter wont need to be replaced for years maybe 80K 100K miles you risk more damage to the engine by pulling it and looking at it, which tells you nothing, as the induction system and filter are designed to run with dirt on the filter, it actually enhances the filtration and is planned for.
DONT OPEN THE AIR FILTER BOX… unless you live in a very dust or dirty air environment, your air filter wont need to be replaced for years maybe 80K 100K miles you risk more damage to the engine by pulling it and looking at it, which tells you nothing, as the induction system and filter are designed to run with dirt on the filter, it actually enhances the filtration and is planned for.
I have never heard this. How does oppening the filter box risk damage to the engine?
I have a 2012 Fusion and it only needs an oil change every 9 to 10,000 miles. The light did come on last time so I know that it comes on when the oil needs changing as opposed to the Dealership which sends me a postcard saying to change after 3,000 miles.
Things I have done to my Toyota truck since I bought it 11 years ago.
Changed the oil
Changed the air filter
New rear O2 sensor
Changed the brake pads.
New spark plugs at 90k, the old ones still looked fine though.
Edit. New shocks too.
It has never been to a mechanic. Why would I want them to screw it up.
Talk about a generic answer. An air filter can last anywhere between a week and several years, depending on driving conditions and what kind of filter it is. I’d agree that it is unlikely that an average modern car driven under average environmental conditions is going to need an air filter replacement at 30K but I have never heard of an 80-100K change interval for a car air filter (that is 7 or 8 years of typical driving). I am sure most cars could “run” with one that old but run well? I doubt it.
The only way to know if you need a new one (save your engine starts running bad because it is totally clogged) is to take a look at, assuming you do not have some type pressure differential measuring device on the intake system . Agreed that it can be a heck of lot more than just “dirty” looking and still work great but you still have to look at it every once and a while to see. Also, it would be a shame to get to 80K, pull out the filter and find out it had been torn or otherwise was not “filtering” for an unknown number of years . . . .
FWIW, even my “lifetime” K&N filter still needs to be cleaned and re oiled every year or so. Maybe you are confusing the lifetime oiled filters that do last nearly forever but still need to be serviced regularly.
Finding a good honest local wrench is worth its’ weight in gold. I would never take a car to a dealership having worked with them in the past, they typically mark everything up, recommend lots of things that are unnecessary and hose you if they can.
Like others have said, if you’re driving a new car before 100,000kms basically oil changes, maybe brakes and a new set of tires and a tuneup at 60k and you’re pretty good. All of these flushes, etc. are a waste of money and time IMO.
Thanks all. Maybe the $50 really is just a loss leader and they’ll try and sucker me into a dealership-priced brake job, differential fluid change, transfer case fluid change, etc., etc., etc.
For those who’ve asked:
Type of vehicle and engine: 2010 Tacoma 4x4; 4.0L V6; automatic transmission.
Level of service: the dealer service manager I talked to told me that they’d change the oil, filter, and plugs; rotate and balance the tires; check and top off fluids; and change air filter. The mechanic will change the oil and filter; rotate tires; change air filter; and check and top off fluids. I understand that the two services are different, but $390.00 different? Maybe it’s, as someone wrote, OEM plugs at a healthy margin, plus balancing, plus whatever premium you pay for dealership labor.
I think the bottom line that I need to get off my butt and learn to COMPETENTLY wrench on our vehicles myself…
My personal experience - dealers are con men and rip off artists. I’ll go to the local mechanic any day. The sad thing is the local mechanics are disappearing due to the cost of equipment needed nowadays. I’m fortunate to have a good local mechanic in our little town.
Oil change runs $30, 30 minute job at most
New plugs run $20-25 and 30 minutes to replace
Air filter is $5-10, $15 at most, 2 minute job
Rotate & balance is $20 EVERYWHERE
“Top off fluids” means they do nothing because none will be low at 30k
That’s a hefty markup for the dealer to justify $400.
All of that is DIY-able in your driveway in about an hour or so (beer time included. You drive a Tacoma, time to start acting like it.
$50 seems perfectly reasonable, depending on the cost of the filter.
OK, maybe a little low:
Air Filter: $20Oil Filter: $4Oil: ~$20
Basically, your getting free labour - even though all this plus rotating tires takes less than 30 minutes. He’s probably going for a loss leader to get a new customer. But, I’m sure he’d still charge you much less than dealership prices for a brake job - his OH+P are probably 10% of a dealership’s
Or (and this is unlikely for a basic job like this) he doesn’t know what he’s doing and going to screw himself over. Time for a little story:
The last s130 I owned - an 83 280ZX 2+2 - needed a new exhaust manifold gasket to pass smog in CA. It’s a nasty job. The engine doesn’t have a cross-flow head, and has an archaic 70’s multi-port fuel injection system, hoses and pipes everywhere. You’ve got to take all the FI parts off to get to the manifolds, which you’ve got to take both the intake and exhaust off because it’s a single gasket. Every non-dealership place I talked to quoted me in the $700-800 range to replace a $30 gasket. Really, for the amount of work, reasonable. One place (a Mineke IIRC) quoted me just over $300. The prevailing wage was about $100/hr at every non-dealership place - so he was saying he’d be able to do the job in 3 hours, not 7-8 everywhere else could. Well, 7 hours later, the car was done . I was out $300, and he only made $40/hr - probably just enough to cover overhead in the 5 bay shop…
I’d go with the independent which will leave you some headroom in the maintenance budget for stuff that comes up later (or gets discovered now).