The dealer tells me that I will need the following service at 7,500 miles. Which will cost $150.00

Oil change - acceptable
Rotate tires - acceptable

The rest sounds fishy to me
Inspect the following:
Front and rear brakes
Tie rod, steering, gearbox
Tie rod and steering boots
Suspention components
Drive shaft boots

This sounds like a way for the dealer to make money. There is nothing in the manual that says this. The only thing I can imagine is, that there has been problems and they want to catch them early. Has anyone experienced this request yet?

Thanks,

Dale

 

Your paying to have someone look at a part. What a bunch of b.s. That's not even including charges for labor and parts. You can inspect them yourself.

 

Yes, but if something goes wrong in the future and I do not have a receipt that they were checked (by Honda or another party), won't it void the warrantee?

 

That inspection should be in your owner's manual, it is in mine (for a '99 Accord).

And you are right in wanting to preserve your warranty. What I did was to take my car to a tire shop that was also a certified mechanic, gave them a list of what to inspect (basically the same list you provided, straght from the owner's manual), and asked them to inspect those items also, and to document it on the receipt. Then just keep the receipt.

The cost should be ~ $15 for the tire rotation, $20 or so for the oil change, and $20 or so for the inspection (or less). Remember that the items you listed can easily be inspected while the car is on the rack and the tires are off (that is, during the tire rotation).

The $150 price from the dealer is outrageous. The funny thing is if you were to call the dealer and ask them how much an oil change cost, how much a tire rotation cost, and how much it would cost to inspect the items you listed during a tire rotation, the cost would be much less than $150 (the package deal is always more expensive than the individual components when it comes to routine maintenance).

This is why I have never taken my Honda to the dealer for routine maintenance. In fact, the only time my Honda has seen the dealer's mechanic was for a recall (no charge to me, of course).

 

I work at the Honda dealership here in Fayetteville, and our charge for a 7.5K sevice is $49.95.

I'd question the dealership why so expensive.

 

WOW - $49.95. I think it's because they can get away with it here. I guess they figured it's the Chicagoland area and that's just the going rate. No worries, I know a repair shop that's Honda certified and they can do it for $50.00.

Thanks for the input. It's a big help.

 

I called our local dealership, he said that it would run "about $75".

But yes, just take it to the place with certified mechanics and who charges $50. Even that isn't dirt cheap, but it's much better than $150 or $75.

 

I got screwed by a dealer for about $100 for the 7500mile. Called the owner, he basically told me to **** off. So I thanked him for letting me know where to find a real ******* next time I'm looking for one, and never darkened his door again. Good you checked first, at least your dealer told you about the screwing beforehand. That's worth points.
--Mr. Haney

 

These dealer service schedules are called "cash cows" and are very high profit margin services. You'll never get a true reply when you ask why so high

 

I found a great place near my house called C & M Auto Service. They charged me $55.00 for the same service. They say the only time they send their customers to the dealer is because of a recall or warrentee work. Case solved, Thanks for all of the replies.