Got quoted for $225 for a basic service - oil change and oil filter etc
Its a Mazda 3 - is that a fair price?
Thanks
$225 for a Basic Service (Full Lube Service, Changing Engine Oil, Oil Filter) Is That Fair Price?
EM36 on 01/09/2022 - 11:57
Last edited 01/09/2022 - 12:27 by 1 other user
Last edited 01/09/2022 - 12:27 by 1 other user
Comments
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I just wouldnt buy all the car jacks to get it all done etc, i think thats the main thing im paying for
Don't forget the cost of running their business, other people not servicing, the shop/rent, utilities, other stuff that are not visible in the service.
DIY if it is worth your whilst is cheaper in the long run.
I just wouldnt buy all the car jacks to get it all done etc
Then you won't be completing the job in 18 minutes. Will you pay for proper disposal of the oil and other fluids or just dump them down the stormwater drain?
Council chemical/oil/electronic drop off.
@Montyjpm: My local workshop accepts used oil in small volumes. I just tip it into their used oil drum. .
Old oil goes to Supercheap…
you just put it in the bin
Free drop off at supercheap
He main thing you are paying for is the experience of ge mechanic to notice other issues with the vehicle.
You mean notice the unnecessary stuff that they can hit you at a premium for? Like overpriced wiper blades and $10+ 'worth' of water to fill your wiper reservoir.
That being said, the basics of a car service are beyond many people in both know how and equipment. A mechanic doing it for you will always cost more than DIY, but it gets done.
You mean notice the unnecessary stuff that they can hit you at a premium for? Like overpriced wiper blades and $10+ 'worth' of water to fill your wiper reservoir.
That’s he dealership/franchise model. I’m more referring to the honest mechanic noticing a damaged tie rod or ball joint that’ll wear out your tyres fast or that your brake pads are near done and will need doing next service.
it gets done
That is the key advantage that professionals have over most of my DIY projects.
If you want to save money and have time, a mazda 3 doesn't need expensive jack, pair of jack stand and a jack probably $100 Max, oil pan another $10.
Is this price from an official Mazda dealer?
You don't buy new stands and a car jack every few months at each oil change though. ;-)
Oil is NOT $20…
It is when you purchase in 44 gallon drums at wholesale price. Busy workshops don't purchase their oil in 5 litre containers at Autobarn. What a mechanic charges you for oil and what is costs them are two very different numbers.
They always seem to charge more than the 5L price…
I always buy my oil at Autobarn and bring it in and save the cost. It's always a saving
Didn't you get some oil for even cheaper than that?
Aren’t you way exaggerating? Do let us know where you can get 4-5 litres of proper synthetic oil for $20? And also would love to see you perform a full service in 18 minutes
Ok. 20 minutes then for a basic service (if that makes you happier). While the oil is draining all of the other basic checks are completed. It's not rocket science. They are simple visual inspections on a basic service.
Simple for people who know what they’re doing, like everything else in life, for others they can kill themselves or others if they don’t know what they’re looking at, all professional people need to be compensated for their knowledge and time, Mechanics are no different.
@RobotWizard: My local mechanic upped his price earlier in the year. He now does oil + filter for $80. He is a proper workshop too, metro Melb northern suburbs. The $220 price is a joke.
@Warehouse: Care to mention what car you drive? I highly doubt it for $80 he/she putting a fully synthetic oil and doing a proper safety checkup and fluids top up, you get what you pay for, even servicing at home only doing filter and good quality synthetic oil costs me roughly $80ish.
@RobotWizard: Yes synthetic fuel. I've had all my cars, new and old, with this same mechanic for over 10 years and he's never done on a dodgy on me. But thats ok if you don't believe me, if you're happy paying what you're paying then so be it. I'm just out here sharing an experience… and mine is that $220 is outrageous. Even my second best mechanic only charges $150.
Well my mechanic literally takes every single tyre off and checks the brakes everytime, that by itself would take me at least 30 mins to take 4 tyres off and put them back on, if not an hour.
Then the use of a proper penumatic drill wrench so that my wheels don't fall off whilst i'm driving cause I decided to save $150 and didn't tighten my lug nuts properly.
Oh, and void that warranty because none of the services were done by a certified mechanic to be able to score manufacturers warranty….
Well my mechanic literally takes every single tyre off and checks the brakes everytime,
Yep. That's what they do while the oil is draining…
Place 19mm socket on rattle gun - 20 seconds
Ugga Dugga 20 lug nuts - 4 minutes
Visually inspect pads and feel disc lip x4 - 4 minutes
Ugga Dugga 20 lug nuts - 4 minutes
Torque 20 lug nuts to 110nm - stuff that - ugga dugga machine over torques the shit out of the lug nuts
Replace sump plug with old crush washer but charge client for new one - 1 minute
Lower two post lift - 1 minute
Fill up with oil - 2 minutes
Check tyre pressures - yeah nah they look alright mate
Test drive - priceless - basically a free rental carIf you can't tighten your wheel nuts properly with the wrench in your car's tool kit then you shouldn't be doing mechanical work on your car.
Then the use of a proper penumatic drill wrench so that my wheels don't fall off whilst i'm driving cause I decided to save $150 and didn't tighten my lug nuts properly.
To be pedantic, a pneumatic impact wrench is not the correct way to fasten wheel nuts. They vastly overtorque the fasteners and can lead to brake disc warpage and even broken studs in extreme cases. The correct method is to use a torque wrench set to the torque spec in the user manual.
Normally don't have to take the tyres off to check the brakes
The reason mechanics "check" things is to hunt for more (often unnecessary) repair$ they can "warn you of" and charge you for. e.g. "We noticed your brake pads are a bit thin… down to XXmm… and the legal minimum is only a couple of mm more." But it's your choice - they can't force anyone to replace pads until rego time, and it can take up to a year to use those last few/several mm. So unless you live in a state that doesn't have yearly roadworthy checks, there's no need for them to be checking things like brake pads, to gift themselves extra work.
First, you can see how much pad remains yourself by removing a wheel and looking down at the brake caliper from above (and if someone doesn't know how to remove wheels they need to learn so they don't get stranded with a flat tyre one day).
Second, pads will get checked at rego time anyway, so unless someone puts on the cheapest/softest pads and drives like they're in NASCAR, they're going to last more than a year and will be checked up at rego time (when they should be).
Third even if they skip a check one year, and the pads wear through to metal, you can still drive/use them. Metal against metal does make a lot of noise, but I've driven that way a few times over the years for up to a couple of weeks. Not only is it nearly impossible to get more than one pad down to metal at exactly the same time, the pads are designed so only a tiny bit of metal touches the rotors to start with (like a small point of metal touches the rotor as a warning, but so you don't overheat and warp the rotor). If you're down to metal they've been on the car so long the rotors will need machining anyway (to make them perfectly flat again so new pads will wear evenly and get their longest life), or, the rotors will be too thin after machining so need replacing anyway. (So who cares if you're down to metal for a couple of days - rotors are going to be chucked anyway.)
You could also have your brother in law fix your plumbing, he's handy around the house and only charges a slab of beer. Once the leak is stopped you're laughing. But then you will need to fork over a small fortune when you realize he had no idea what he was doing and only made things worse in the long run.
You aren't paying them a mark-up because they think they just can, you are paying for the expertise at fixing a problem quickly and concisely. How would you know what to look for if you didn't know there was a potential problem brewing? That's included in the safety check. $200 to $225 is a fair price.
@MS Paint, what an absolutely ignorant comment!
While this is a funny comment and arguably deserves being the top comment due to number of upvotes, OP probably wanted to know if the price they were paying was fair in comparison to other mechanics (and didn't necessarily want/was able to DIY).
Good point. In that case, yes, it's about the same amount of excessive charge as every other mechanic.
$600 an hour is more than lawyers and doctors alone and combined
Does it include checking others?
This is whats included
"Every Standard Service includes: full lube service, changing engine oil, oil filter, and full brake inspection and vehicle safety report."Be aware that checking up the fluids is part of the full lube service but not including topping up when required.
They may charge you more if brake fluid or coolant needs topping up.
Merged from Mechanic - Better to Supply Your Own Oil or Use The Ones The Mechanic Uses?
Would you recommend supplying your own engine oil or using the engine oil supplied by the mechanic?
Whats better if there is no price difference?
Depends
This has been discussed to death on these forums.
Waiting for the OP to post their fourth post about their car within a week …
There's a search box in the top right hand corner…
I bring my own oil and then get the mechanic to mix it in with their supply - the best of both worlds!
And, of course, then write down the mix ratio in my oil journal, in case I forget when someone asks.
I supply my own blend of canola oil to Macca's and ask them to use it.
Motor, Cooking or Massage?
Some inobvious clear lube of unknown origin maybe?
Essential oil thanks
Yep, fair price
When I get it changed It costs me $100 ($90 for oil 10W40 and $10 for filter incl labour) in metro NSW
local mechanic? or larger franchise?
my local. Proper workshop with sign in front.
could you share the reference please, I am also looking around
If it has a sign out front, it must be above board.
Just as shonky operators are not permitted to advertise on TV.
@ThirdRonnie: I can't think of any mechanic I've seen advertise on TV apart from Lube Mobile and Kmart Auto. Most half decent ones don't need to - their books are full two weeks in advance. (Perhaps that's a hint why the first two need to advertise, lol.)
At Habib's fully sick backyard lube joint?
There's a few 1 star google reviews for Habib's. They were brave.
Hopefully they are licensed cos I had my esafety checks done there too. No probs renewing my rego.
My mechanic charges $200 for oil but gives me a discount of $50 for his labour so it costs $150.
Sometimes I drop it of at lunch time and it’s ready before morning tea the same day.
What a legend!
Lol, you had me there for a minute!
Missing time traveller found!
Similar - I have paid $100 or $110 for oil and filter changes for the last 4 years. That is inclusive of oil, filter and labour. Sydney Metro. 2 different service providers. One a large local mechanic and tyre shop, the other a smaller local mechanic. The larger mob used average oils, the smaller guy uses Penrite full synthetic.
I pay around $150 with filter, synthetic oil from local mechanic.
A lot of people are scared about choosing warranty on new cars that's why they go with dealership mechanics.
The economics of selling cars is the servicing because that's where a lot of the money is made.
A lot of people are scared about choosing warranty on new cars that's why they go with dealership mechanics.
Yeah, and they really shouldn't. My parents bought a new Ford sedan and had to go back to Ford about 9 times for auto gearbox problems. A couple of those times Ford did literally nothing, just claimed they couldn't reproduce the fault (complete lie - it was acting up constantly). Drove in with problem, drove out with same problem, drove back in next morning. One time they even left a first year apprentice "service" it on his own who put the wrong type of oil in.
If its a diesel, make sure they change the spark plugs.
Especially if its an ev
Diesel EVs will need the micronised alpha particulate blinker fluid also.
sounds cheap to me..
I pay $500 service for my Kia car at Kia
I am paying for the full service log book, why the negative for?
That seems ok. I paid $200 for a 2007 Corolla from a tyre power shop in Sydney. My car has to be serviced every 6 months, so I do one service by myself and the other by a shop.
They always make the total to $200. If nothing is broken or needs repair, they change wiper blades and make total bill $200.
Yes, that is fair enough. $295 generally for my wife's BMW X3 Diesel.
Wait until you get the brake pad and rotors done $2500 lol
Feking wut? May aswell just burn the thing for the insurance money at that point.
It's kinda what they sign up for owning a beamer
@Poor Ass: Any brake rotor set thats over 300mm is going to cost over $1000. Doesnt matter if its its euro or not.
@Commander Shepard: Yeh sure. Issue is even if the rotors are perfect , BMW preventive maintenance forces you change them with the pads
@Commander Shepard: Not quite. My Kia SUV takes 320mm front and DBAs start around $120 each. My other car takes 360mm and yeah they are pricey so i get them from US/EU for 1/2 the local price.
It might be worth shipping rotors from OS when that comes around. It's not like they're complicated to replace.
No joke
That's how much it costs for the X series done at BMW
Not that I own one but I see these invoices put through regularly
Hope ya Tuscon goes well and not on recall list. Isn't it traditional to buy blue n-line colour?
No joke
That's how much it costs for the X series done at BMWMaybe Genuine. But not after market
Never did I do genuine and never did servicing or other parts really cost that much. Up until the 200,000kms mark, it was a great car. Then a few things needed to be done before we finally traded it in.
Hope ya Tuscon goes well and not on recall list. Isn't it traditional to buy blue n-line colour?
Thanks. My wife didn't like the other colours, the white looks pretty good as a N-Line, the standard elite with the black looks terrible.
@geekcohen: Ya genuine… Aftermarket does the job and much cheaper of course.
Ya black sure does look bad
Is that at BMW?
It's surely got to be.
Affirmative
Not my car
What about a 300 point safety check, wash and vacuum
They also fill the tyres with nano-ionized aged nitrogen, which significantly improves handling as well as crash performance.
In case of a crash the nano particles absorb a lot of the crash impact energy by bouncing around within the tyre and then gradually letting out the energy through the valve like a fart. Think about it. You have a head-on collision with a b-double at 70kph, just hear 4 loud farts and you get walk away like nothing happened. Ingenious if you ask me. This is optional but a highly recommended safety feature at only $490. Per tyre.
I once checked with my local mechanic about this and he didn't even know what I was talking about. Never went to his shady garage again. Always better to go to the dealer for service.
it also depends on if you need your log book stamped & if you have a turbo you will need the top quality synthetic oil.
You don’t need top quality synthetic oil. You need what the manufacturer recommends (which may be top quality synthetic, but not always)
$220 would be more reasonable.
The extra $5 goes to TPG NBN plan price rise.
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Oil filter $15
Oil ~ $20
Labour -18 minutes at $600ph $190
Total $225
Yep, seems about right.