I came for an oil change. They told me I also needed ; a cabin filter, an air filter, PCV valve, clean & adjust rear brakes, total Bill $272.22. I said "OK" and got the car back in about an hour. I paid the Bill. I had only expected to pay for an oil change. Looking at the Bill at home I noticed the labor charge for 2 hours, but the Bill says (and I concur) they finished in 1 & 1/4 hours at the price of $92.49 per hour. I called and told them they owe me $76. for being overcharged for labor time. I expect a call tomorrow from them. What will they say?
Most repairs or maintenance, the labor charge is set for what the task should take. Example; changing plugs and wires the book may list this for 2 hours, but a skilled tech may be able to do it in 45 minutes. They usually charge what the boks allows. If you had sat at the dealership for 4-5 hours waiting it is doubtful they would have charged you 5 hours of labor. Talk to the manager and advise of your concern. I doubt they will adjust the bill, but you may get a free oil change or something on your next visit. Good luck
it's done on book time, aka flat rate, which is not the same as the actual amount of time it took the guy. there is a standard time per job that the dealership bills and the tech is paid based upon that standardized time. if it took the guy 8 hours, they would still bill you the same 2 hours. it doesn't matter how long the tech actually took.
Yes, I say this only because you should have specified that you only wanted an oil change and ask how much? before they start work. The dealer would have abided by this. well..next time.
Standard book rate, if tech has experience with a particular vehicle he most likely will get it done faster then the book time and a lot of times because of unfamiliarity of a type of car or job sometimes it will take the tech longer then book time. Sometimes you win too.
Well without knowing your mileage, year, etc., how are we to know if you were ripped or not? If your car has 50K and the original filters, then you needed filters. As for the rear brake adjust, same thing applies.
Are you asking whether (1) you paid too much for those items, or whether (2) they sold you stuff you didn't need? If (1), that sounds about right. If (2), check the appropriate time/mileage page of the Toyota Prius Scheduled Maintenance Guide that came with the car, or the following Toyota (not a dealer!) website: http://smg.toyotapartsandservice.com/guides.php?v=0&y=0&int_id=0&done=1 It's easy to change the engine and cabin air filters yourself if you want to save about $20 each.
How many miles do you have on the car? They tried to get me on all that, except the PCV, at 15,000 miles and then again at 20,000. Filters (~$100) are due every 30,000 miles, unless you are in extreme dust. I just read here that 60,000 is a decent interval to do the PCV, and yes that can be pricey due to time. The rear brake adjustment (~$60), imo, is a waste as there is a thing called self adjusting brakes.
If you are paying $100 to have the engine and cabin filters replaced YOU are getting ripped off. The 2 filters cost about $40 total. If they are charging you time to replace them, tell them NOT to replace them. Buy them at the parts desk while the work is being done. You can install them both in less than 10 minutes the first time, 5 the second time. My dealer charges 15 minutes to put in the cabin filter, nothing for the engine filter. Also, you can WASH the cabin filter. Use Woolite or other 'hand wash' laundry soap. Let it dry overnight. It doesn't hurt to take the cabin filter out every month and shake out the leaves and other little stuff that gets in there, even if you aren't going to wash it. The fact that the brakes are 'self adjusting' doesn't mean they don't ever need adjusting. They also might need cleaning and lube to ensure the calipers/shoes are moving freely.
The only scheduled maintenance items are: Oil and filter, rotate tires every 5000 mi Air filters every 30,000 mi Spark plugs every 120,000 mi Everything else is "inspect", which means you should only work on something else if it's broken. If your rear brakes need "adjusting", it's because the auto-adjusters are broken and should be fixed. The only place I'd deviate from the factory schedule is the transaxle fluid, which is supposedly lifetime. Some users here have done oil analysis that indicates the fluid does wear out.
As I said the TRIED to get me to do that stuff. I've never had a problem with rear brakes, never adjusted them. Every now and again I'll take the drum off and knock the dust out.
