koala2

I have a 2002 ES300, 10 years old car. Sent to the dealer to do the 120k and 90k maintenance together. They quoted the 90k maintenance with timing belt change of 7.6 hours labor and total $1,077. 120k maintenance 5.6 hours labor and $888 in total. I want the regular 120k maintenance plus the timing belt change (they quoted 4 hours labor and total $523), and they recommend to change the water pump as well (1.5 hours labor and total $345). Total with 10% VIP discount, it's $1,500.

Then, more things happened. After they took the timing belt off, they found the the cam seals and crank seal leaking oil, and the bearing of the idler pulleys the timing belt rides are noisy. AND the drive belts are worn. Replacing all these is another $500.

Plus, my key case is breaking off, so for replace a case, it's another $105.

Total cost is $2,100. I tried to negotiate to $1,900.

Does it seem reasonable, or they just made it up to make more money (especailly the 2nd parts after they took the timing belt off)? What about the cost? How much should I negotiate to?

Any input is apprecaited!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Well what is part of the service, aside from the timing belt/water pump/pulleys/gaskets?

You're overpaying for this service, but it's hard to get out of it once you've settled on 1900. And they have your engine taken apart.

hypervish

Welcome to Club Lexus!

The key shell is $5 on eBay, and having the key cut on it is $20. They ripped you off....

$1900 is too much, but they've already taken the engine apart so it's a bit late. Even the original $1500 is too much, you shouldn't have agreed to that. You should have went to an independent mechanic.

If you look at my post below you will see that 90k service and 120k service are basically the same with the exception of spark plugs (120k), and the timing belt (90k). So, they are definitely charging you way, way, way too much!!

hypervish

120K service includes: Spark Plugs, Coolant, Brake Fluid, Cabin Air Filter, Engine Oil/Filter, Rotate Tires, and of course inspect a billion things...

90k service includes: Coolant, Brake Fluid, Cabin Air Filter, Engine Oil/Filter, Rotate Tires, Inspect stuff... And, timing belt, etc.

Power6

Its hard to tell but it seems the dealers get a lot of extra money out of adding the full labor price when "just one more part" needs to be done, is there really 1.5 hours more labor to replace the water pump on top of the 4 hours for the timing belt?

BradTank

Probably the single biggest money wasters a car owner can do is when they go to the dealership and just let them do the "(insert number) thousand mile service" It's basically an open invitation to be robbed.

Most of it is nonsense like "inspect tires and inspect windshield wipers", where you basically pay the dealer $900 for them to change your air filter and maybe flush your power steering.

You should read your owner's manual, and just have those specific items done.

MikeLex

Agreed. Being an educated consumer is your best defense against all of the BS we have to swallow when we take our cars to dealerships.

ES330MD05

I had not changed a darn thing on my Car until few months ago. My car now has 104k miles. This is what I did with this 90k service recently -

Timing Belt service (with water pump, tensioner, seals, drive belts, thermostat, coolant) -
OEM kit from ebay - $350 + OEM Toyota Coolant from ebay - $50
Paid local mechanic to do the job - $350

Brake Fluid - Paid local mechanic $80 to do it

Cabin Air Filter - bought from Amazon for about $15 or so and changed it myself.
Engine Oil/Filter - I buy my own fully Synthetic mobile1 and filter at Walmart for about $35 and pay local mechnic to do the job for $10 (this weekend I am going to do it by myself)

Rotate Tires - Costco does it for life (as I buy it from Costco)
Inspect stuff... - What stuff? I do it myself.

So total - $890

hzt30

Just buy an Aisin kit for a 2002 Camry V6 for about $280 on Ebay. The Camry V6 and ES300 are the same engine. I did this job last year for a 2002 ES300.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AISIN-Water-...#ht_2117wt_749

bronco2454

I just paid 700 for the timing belt job at a local shop. This included the timing belt, water pump and the cam and crank seals.