I'm taking my '03 Accord Coupe, it has 85,000 miles, in for it's scheduled tuneup. The garages and dealers are asking around $400-$450 for the service (Washington DC area), is that a good price?

 

Please detail what services that price includes and put the car info in a signature .... see below.

 

way way too much money,,,,,,,,,go to our DIY section and chk the write up on maintanace and what it takes on the 90k service,

o/f, tranny fluid, air + cabin filters, brake fluid, tire rotate,
NO plugs at 90k ,, ........you can do all this stuff yourself,

cabin + air filter really easy to do,, ,, buy and do those yourself,,
take car to garage and ask for , oil + filter change, tranny fluid change, tire rotation and brake fluid flush

if it is a v6 put some money aside to replace the t-belt soon

 

So I went and paid for the 90K service and (kinda) regret it at this point. I paid a total of $413 for the 90K service. And when I got the itemized bill, I calculated that I prob should've only paid about half that for parts and labor--based on the idea that this was stuff I could do on my own. I wasn't vigilant about what they were performing on my car, for example I'd changed the air filter myself a few weeks back and they installed a new one.

I'm not super confident on my ability to do all the things on the list and certainly don't have the ability to spot potential problems (which is something I hope they did). But it was also convenient to just have them do it all for me.

The only other questions I had on the subject are:
1. How much training would I need to be able to do this on my own?
2. Under the itemized labor items they listed "perform 90K miles service". Kinda vague wanted to see if anyone could help clarify what this involves.

 

ouch $ 413 ??? woooo big rip off ,,, How can they live with that.. ,,
most of the stuff you do not need much experience , cabin filter is very very simple, drop down the glove box from the sides pins , remove the cabin filtyer cover, install new filter,
oil and tranny fluid very simple as well, ,,tire rotation ? piece of cake, of course you need some tools and equipments to do the work yourself but you save a lot of money .
.WOW.. $ 413 .. way way too much , sorry buddy i am not trying to put salt in a wound ..
Also, i would go back there and at least get your money back for the air filter, which according to you was only 2 weeks old,

ask them to tell you as to why they replaced a perfectly new air filter .. and see what kind of bull they try to feed you.
.Find out exactly what they did for the 90k ,, And ask why you had to pay so much money,

 

I know it's a lot. Looking at the itemization didn't feel good at all. No worries, no salt in the wound. I kinda had a feeling that I was gonna feel this way, because I did check out the list that's in the DIY section here AND another list in a similar forum. So shame on me I guess for being informed and still getting fleeced. Anyway, I have decades of car ownership ahead of me to use this as a learning experience.

But is there anything a professional does when he goes in during a routine maintenance like this that an untrained eye might miss? Or is it as straightforward as it appears, refilling fluid levels, checking belts, replacing filters, and rotating tires? I calculated the stuff I couldn't do myself after I got it done and figured I should've paid only half that amount.

 

Darn i guess i forgot to reduce the fonts,,OOOOOOOOOps[]