$280 Oil Change on an Old Honda - Did I Get Ripped off?

btst7000 on 20/05/2019 - 15:24
Last edited 20/05/2019 - 15:52

Edit: Copy of the invoice for the curious (details removed)

My missus took her old Honda to get serviced. She's a youngish girl, so I'm a bit worried that she was taken advantage of. I told her to go to an indy who had served me well before.

For an oil change (and general inspection, i.e. pointing out brakes are getting low and timing belt is due soon):
1 hour labour ($150)
Oil filter ($30)
Oil (~$80)
"Workshop fee" ($15)
Oil disposal fee ($15)

So she paid $280 for just an oil change.

Did we get ripped off?

Canberra area for reference.

Poll Options expired

  • 398
    Ripped off
  • 9
    Fair deal
  • 2
    Value deal
Automotive

Comments

  • afah0447 on 21/05/2019 - 20:08

    Yes.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/05/2019 - 20:35

    Castrol edge Synthetic oil cost $45 for 5 litre during offers.. they not only rip U off they even put oil which requires frequent change.. what a Ripp off.. sorry for U.. shame them mate.. no company should do this.

  • fozzie on 22/05/2019 - 00:53

    We pay $170 to get cars serviced , oil and filter replaced etc. offer at our
    Local ultra tune. It also includes if car breaks down service for 1 year

  • shaybisc on 22/05/2019 - 09:37
    +1

    I put one of these oil drain valves on my old car. Makes oil changes easy.

    https://www.ezoil.com.au/

    • trev likes bargains on 23/05/2019 - 07:36

      What was the cost?

      • shaybisc on 23/05/2019 - 07:40

        Long time ago. About 40 bucks. Although now I think about it mine was a Fumoto. Same thing.

        • trev likes bargains on 23/05/2019 - 07:41

          Thanks. Sounds like a good investment as you can save time

  • baytrail on 22/05/2019 - 10:05

    I pay $240 at the stealership for a Hilux and who pays $20/l for semi syn?

  • myusername on 22/05/2019 - 10:25
    +1

    wow they saw your mrs coming didnt they

    pay day chaa ching!

  • Homr on 22/05/2019 - 10:26
    -2

    I think its time to invest in a newer car, 1999 Honda Civic jeez

  • navyskies on 22/05/2019 - 11:43

    $85 for semi synthetic oil?

    Thats (profanity).

    You got ripped off mate.

  • Bellerose on 22/05/2019 - 13:57
    -2

    For 1, I was there when he came in with his partner and he said it seemed rather reasonable and she even stated that it was pretty good for a service. 2, I was also there when the vehicle was booked in and heard the manager ask her if she wanted a service and heard him give the quote, she still procceded to book the car in. 3, if he wanted to complain he had plenty of time to do so when the bill was paid. 4, the vehicle has been in previously so if there was an issue with the pricing I highly doubt the vehicle would have come back. 5, if he wants to come in and do the managers job for a day he is more than welcome too.

    • John Kimble on 22/05/2019 - 16:30

      ?

    • ShortyX on 22/05/2019 - 19:53

      Are you a worker there?

    • btst7000 on 22/05/2019 - 19:55

      1) I don't know if you were there or not but yeah I thought $290 was reasonable for a service - but I had assumed that a service (e.g. including spark plugs etc) had been discussed and agreed to. My missus specifically asked for an oil change only (even going as far as to ask for the air filter and wipers to be left on the car). I didn't have any issues until I read the invoice when I got home.

      2) Can't comment on whether or not the missus got a quote for the oil change. She claims not, but you claim she did. It's not too important: $90 for 4 liters of semi-synthetic oil is a complete rip-off.

      3) The car had been in for a quote before, but never actually serviced at your premises.

      Anyways, I'm not too fussed. As far as I'm concerned, we were significantly overcharged for the work delivered. I like the staff and the oil change was done on time, but the cost was a little outrageous and we won't be coming back.

      • jimbobaus on 23/05/2019 - 05:53

        Most mechanics wont do a "oil change" only these days
        They do a service no matter what, if they did oil changes only for every tom, dick and harry they would go out of business very quickly
        overheads alone would make the pricing close to doing a service so no point.

      • brendanm on 23/05/2019 - 10:54
        -1

        As much as I think the price was high, if you didn't ask for a quote before hand, seems like that is on you. If you want a new tv, do you just walk in to know hifi, point at one, throw them your card and take it away without asking the price?

        In the op you also mention that you wanted an oil change and inspection, which is a service.

        In addition, if they hadn't looked the car over, would you have been complaining in a few weeks time when the front brakes go metal to metal? Report saysthey are extremely low.

        It's literally in this businesses reviews that they are expensive, yet you took the car, dropped it off and didn't ask for a price anyway?

    • parsimonious one on 22/05/2019 - 22:09
      +1

      Cool business model:

      Step 1: verbally quote naive/ unsuspecting people exorbitant amounts for goods/ services

      step 2: if person foolishly proceeds without complaining rub hands with glee and pocket $$

      step 3: if person subsequently realises they were swindled and complains online attempt to discredit them and say its their own fault for thinking businesses would act with decency

      step 4: profit

      PS: on one hand I agree that if people agree to a price/ service they shouldn't complain later but it seems unlikely that the OP would agree to a $287 oil change and then go online to complain just for fun

    • chk on 22/05/2019 - 23:29
      +1

      this is getting interesting, this garage has people who sit in the office but dont answer calls/bookings? maybe this garage charges so much? Also since you're answering questions on behalf of the business, just curious if point 5 will lead to lower costs for customers?

  • AMLagonda on 22/05/2019 - 14:08
    +1

    Ripped off, no excuses just plain as day, people dont earn enough for these kind of bills….

    • malich on 22/05/2019 - 20:14
      -1

      People can't earn enough if we always look for the cheapest service while neglecting quality of work.

  • payless69 on 22/05/2019 - 14:41

    Mecho was preparing for possible Venezuela condition under your big flag pole

  • Polo89 on 22/05/2019 - 20:05

    might need to raise my price now.. I'm in brisbane and i use penrite or at least castrol/shell semi-synthetic and ryco filter and i charge $120. I also change out sump plug washers

  • gezza90 on 22/05/2019 - 20:21
    -1

    Lol I pay $520 for servicing my 2010 Audi A3 (6sp man) by supplying the oil myself. At Audi service centre.

    • chk on 22/05/2019 - 23:38
      +1

      Thanks you jogged my memory, I hope you aren't due for a light bulb replacement anytime soon, the cost is only $750

      https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2567860

      • gezza90 on 23/05/2019 - 12:45

        Lol that's ridiculous. Bulb I'd change myself. Besides my A3 has halogen headlamps.
        I'm a tinkerer so why do I take my A3 to Audi service centre for a service? Because most 1.8T motors are destined for the piston ring failure. My car has 104xxx km on the clock and it burns through a fair bit of oil. To date, it's had full Audi service history, yes that's right, not one mechanic has done work on the engine or gearbox. If my piston ring fails, that will require an engine rebuild which will cost me $13.5k. However, because it has full Audi service history, the repair will be on them or they will give me a 90% discount. My cousin has the 2009 A4 and had same problem. But his car was serviced until 93xxx km until another private mechanic serviced the car. When his piston ring failed at 117xxx, Audi said since you have some history with us, we will give you 50% discount. He took some legal action and eventually got 90% discount. So going back to my point, I only drive the car 5000km/yr so it makes sense to do the service once a year with them. I knew what I was getting into before I bought the car. I insisted on a luxury manual car and this is the best I got. At a cost of $500 (so far) a year in maintaining this car, I am very happy with it. I paid $9700 for the car so being a manual transmission I don't think it would have depreciated. Unlike some people who spend $60k on a new Audi that depreciate (albeit claim gst and expenses on ACN…), I see the $500/yr as something really minor.

        • brendanm on 23/05/2019 - 13:18

          Haha good luck getting Audi to pay for oil consumption fix. I think there standard is 1l per 2000km (possibly even per 1000km).

          • JimB on 23/05/2019 - 15:40

            @brendanm: 1L per 1,000km before they will fix it. Forgot it if it's out of warranty no matter how bad oil consumption gets.

        • brad1-8tsi on 23/05/2019 - 15:56

          The timing chain tensioner will fail first. Then the valves will go "Hi pistons! Pleased to meet you!"

        • chk on 23/05/2019 - 16:04

          You're quoting the cost of doing the work yourself, try going to the ops mechanic, they'll probably quote you more than $750 for a bulb

  • 4tran on 22/05/2019 - 23:46

    Unfortunately, it would be hard to argue now which type of oil they used. They can fib and say we used the top of the range and there's no way to disprove. Definitely a rip off, especially for an old car too. a new filter and good oil diy would only set you back 40-50.

  • doubleclutching on 23/05/2019 - 05:05

    $280 for an oil change is daylight robbery, it's a 15 minute job for crying out loud.

  • jimbobaus on 23/05/2019 - 05:47
    +2

    So i work for a mechanic (major chain) i wont mention which one but the pricing seems a bit high but not super high

    It wasnt just an oil change FYI.. they did a full check over of the car from what i can see, Air Filter checked etc as u can see on invoice (not defending them but to say its just an oil change (as some are commenting here) is wrong)

    Standard hourly rates for a good mechanic these days is around $110-$132 inc GST

    oil can vary depending on car and is usually around $9-$30 per litre depending on the oil used (its rare to be at the higher end though, $15-20 is about right if it was FULLY synt.. your case it was not)

    EPA and WS is over charged, its a government mandated fee (due to need to dispose of the waste) and it is $19 TOTAL for both.. they have charged you $30 so yeah u were ripped off there.

    $19-$25 for oil filter is about right unless its a higher end "brand"

    Remember your bill (mostly the hourly rate) includes more than just the time, insurance, rents, etc and so on are included but yeah you def got the "dealer" tax for going to a dealer.

    To be honest there is no reason to go to a dealer these days, legislation regarding warranty etc says that you can take your car anywhere as long as they adhere to the service schedule. And you def have no reason to go to a dealer when car is out of warranty (if you are certain you want to have dealer servicing when under warranty)

    i am in VIC and as an FYI that service would of cost $199 INC GST where i work (maybe a little bit less depending on which semi synth oil we used)

    Note: i am associated with the industry

    • parsimonious one on 23/05/2019 - 07:43

      Thanks for the insider knowledge.

      From what you’ve said OP got gouged at every step/ point.

      Btw, OP went to an independent mechanic, not a dealer (garage is named and linked to a couple of times in the thread)

      • jimbobaus on 23/05/2019 - 07:57
        +1

        Oh i missed that part. Honestly just looked at pricing so assumed it must of been dealer pricing. Yeah def gouged then for sure.

  • Munki on 23/05/2019 - 09:30

    Pretty sure my fully synthetic oil was about the same price…Wow. Did hers come with a bit of unicorn blood, perhaps?

  • brad1-8tsi on 23/05/2019 - 15:52

    I've got an Accord and Hondas seem to use interchangeable consumables
    Ryco filter at most parts stores is $18 (say $20).

    I use 10w-30 synthetic (I'd be questioning 10w-40 in a Honda engine). The most expensive 10w-40 semisynth at SCA is $55/5litres. Even with 20% markup it's only $65.

    An hours labour? At a stretch, if they did a thorough wheels off safety check and maybe fixed a few minor things for free or rotated the tyres but really a service is about 40 minutes at most including road test and paperwork.

    Workshop $15 - that's any extra fluids, rags, etc.

    Waste management is oil disposal which sounds a bit expensive.

    About $200-$220 would be more the money as a worst case.

  • amberstyre on 23/05/2019 - 18:00

    Ripped off, Subaru dealership in CBR as well only charged me $140 for an interim service on a WRX which included oil change, spark plugs, fluid top ups and brake/tyre checks. Labour charge was less than half of yours.

    • JimB on 28/05/2019 - 11:32

      'Subaru dealership in CBR as well only charged me $140 for an interim service on a WRX which included oil change, spark plugs, fluid top ups and brake/tyre checks.'

      I won't call bullcrap on this but I would like to see a copy of the invoice :)

      • brendanm on 28/05/2019 - 11:45
        +1

        Haha yeah. The plugs alone are worth near $100

  • Pantagonist on 23/05/2019 - 19:14
    +1

    Have been to this mechanic before.

    First time was for two vehicle inspections to transfer interstate rego to ACT. Both passed no worries. Got the service I was looking for as I don't think anything was looked at too closely. Paid the standard regulated government price.

    Second time (about two years later) I called to arrange another vehicle inspection and was told that they weren't doing inspections anymore.

    Third time I gave them a bell about doing a big transmission swap job that I wanted outsource because I couldn't be bothered taking time off other jobs to do it and thought that I could make the job fairly cost neutral by paying them to do it and continuing to work. They weren't interested in taking on the job and I was told that they were short staffed.

    Overall, my evaluation is that they are like most mechanics who want to charge the earth for tiny jobs that can easily be bashed out in an hour or two.

    The invoice reads like it was written for someone who knows nothing about cars as an attempt to blind them with science. Good that they checked the coolant was GREEN in colour though, that's super important. /s

    • btst7000 on 23/05/2019 - 23:54

      Yeah. My mates have had easy experiences with roadworthys, which is why I went to this mechanic myself in the first place. I still respect the owners and staff, but I'm not happy about the way they charged the gf. Can't do much now.

  • Eeples on 24/05/2019 - 23:20

    The invoice says 200k service and lists items.
    Ring the garage and check.

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