I have honda accord 2008 > 20 K miles > service light is on > did my tire rotation last time at 16 K.

No other issues till now.

I asked my dealer how much it will cost and it is $ 350. As all the previous services are done from this dealer they know what was changed before and what is needed.

I asked another honda dealer and they said $ 200.

Now i am confused about what is a better choice here .. and how it is been decided on the price of service ?

Regrads
Singh

 

I'd get a detailed list from each place of EXACTLY WHAT they plan on doing.

Many dealers like to do extra stuff, which may not be NEEDED, but sometimes is good things to do. Or maybe the cheap dealer is skipping something that IS needed?

 

Definitely find out EXACTLY what they plan on doing.
I would NEVER trust a stealership. Many of them make around half of their profit by overcharging customers for unnecessary services, or flat out lying and saying something is broken when it is not.
quick example: a woman in my office took her car to a local dealer when her alternator was bad (car failed on the road and she had it towed there.) They told her she needed a new transmission and didn't even tell her anything was wrong with the alternator.
This is NOT an uncommon example either. I have seen plenty more examples of dealership ripoffs in my years on the forum.
If I were you, I would look for a Honda certified shop that is not a dealership. They will generally be honest and will be cheaper than the dealership.

 

Ehh, a LOT of dealers are good. You just gotta know enough about your own car so you know when to call bull$%^&.

Tell us the list when you find out & we can tell you which things really need to be done. And we can explain WHY.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I think may be honda can have better indications on what exactly needs a change rather then just giving service sign with a small code ?

 

The service booklet (in the bundle along with the owner's manual) has a detailed list of everything that should be done with A, B, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc displayed on the maintenance-minder.

Some dealers like to add extra things. Some of these extra things are actually GOOD and they make sense to do them. But it's good to KNOW exactly what you're paying for.

 

20k service does not really call for much,,,,,,,oil + filter and tire rotation and a visual inspection , ( brakes, hoses etc etc ..)
I would also chk the air + cabin filter , ( $50-$55 for both ) if they need replacing it is something that you can easily do yourself and save a lot of money,, chk the tranny fluid, if it looks clean wait till 30k to replace it,, if it looks a bit dirty have it replaced ..

but either way, the quotes are too high ,, the $350 is way , way too high ,, i would avoid that shop..

i would have a shop do the o/f and rotate , and ask them to chk car over, should be no extra charge for visual inspection, ( brakes they can check when they rotate tires )

 

The dealership I worked at had a lot of inspections that made up their service price, which I don’t feel the customer got much value out of.