Anyone think this is reasonable?

I made an appointment with the dealer for the 22,500 service for this morning. I remember reading the manual that this service includes oil+filter change, tire rotation+balancing, and various fluid level check ups.

Total was $200+ with 1.5 hours of labor posted.

Since I change my own oil with Mobile 1 and K&N filter, I told the dealer to not change oil and filter. Ok, subtract $49.95 = $151 something.

Since my wheels are staggered, there's no need for rotation. And the last time they balanced my wheels, all 4 rims had extra scratches on them with one having a major scratch which I forced them to fix, I was hesitant on letting them do the wheel balancing again.

So I said, please remind your technicians to not scratch my rims. And asked, what else are you doing to the car on this service.

The service advisor said: we'll balance your tires and top off your fluid levels. Ok, we went ahead with the calculation of the final cost. It was 1.2 hours of labor which is $138, + the weights for wheel balancing (parts) at $9.99, plus tax... so roughly $151 something.

$151 for balancing tires?

I courteously thanked the service advisor for his time and said... I will have my wheels balanced myself at my friend's shop. Can you just check the fluid levels and top them off?

Well, the fluid top off were part of the wheel balancing job. So.... he went on and on about how they have great service and price and blah blah blah...

I ended up thanking him for trying to explain how they can justify $150+ for wheel balancing and took my car to my friends alignment shop who did 4 wheels in less than 20 minutes at $10 per tire.

Is it me or does anyone else think that this is a rip off?

 

I think the most I ever paid for all these services, oil+filter change, tire rotation+balancing, and various fluid level check ups, was around $70 or $80, with the oil change, so yeah, that sounds like BS to me!

 

the website for my Infiniti dealership indicated that the 22,500 mile service is an oil change and a bunch of inspections. They listed the price as $140. Considering you brought your own oil, I would say thats pretty high.

 

the website for my Infiniti dealership indicated that the 22,500 mile service is an oil change and a bunch of inspections. They listed the price as $140. Considering you brought your own oil, I would say thats pretty high.

 

what's the website for your dealership? -I'd like to compare them with what my dealer is telling me for the 15,000 mile service

 

I need to schedule an appointment for my 15,000 mile service...either that or find somewhere to get the work done myself.

 

So when you had your tires balanced, were they out of balance or was this
whole thing a waste of time and money? I'm supprised the dealership didn't
try to charge you for antenna service, that is on the list.... When
you actually need service you can go to a Nissan dealership, prices are a
little less. Warranty service is the "Only" reason I'd go to an Infiniti stealership!

 

The wheels were, in fact, off balance. So I don't think they were trying to scam me. It was 2 oil changes ago that the dealer balanced my wheels so I was surprised that they were off so soon.

 

I notice the dealer service prices are different depending on where you live, is this true?

 

Dealer services vary in Northern VA by dealer but the 4 that I checked were all within $30 of these prices. Here is the "official" scheduled maintenence guide for the dealer - this is not specific for the G35x but I've found these prices are close to what they've tried to charge:

3750/11250/18750/26250 - $145
7500/22500/37500/52500 - $220
15000/45000/75000 - $450
30000/60000/90000/120000 - $850

I missed the 15k service on my car since I was traveling and ended up just getting another oil change (always use Mobil 1) rather than retroactively pay for the service. I'll probably stick to the services every 7500 miles since i am driving all highway miles. Does anyone find this an unreasonable idea?

 

i mean what are these guys checking for that we cant just have our cars serviced for by the smaller companies who do better work for a lower price?

 

If I had a way I would scan this in and post it. Just in looking at it they are mostly inspections and a waste of ink. I mean, they actually list "Reset Maintenence Indicator" as one of the services. Wow, thats really hard.

All except the lowest level include a couple of BG treatments that are what 10-15 a can - MOA oil treatment and 44K. There are a few things like the cabin filter replacement that I guess some people (myself included) wont do on their own and then thinks like replacing the transmission fluid, differential oil etc. Believe me I wish I had a smaller shop that I could work with. Sad thing is I've actually gotten great service from them and they treat you like gold.

 

One of the things going for me to get services from the dealer is so that if they spot something that is out of the ordinary the repairs are usually covered by the warranty.

Other than that, I think most of the things that are listed can be done either by myself (I can change the in cabin micro filter myself) or some smaller shops can do it.