30K Service

[RevoRunner]

Even though I get my service done at the dealer, I tend to agree that the dealer rips you. Mainly the reason I'm having it done is because they offer "free tires for life" if the maintenance is done through my dealership. So I'm giving it a try. If the positives don't out weigh the negatives then I'll go do the stuff on my own. That being said, is it easy changing the oil in a V8 without spilling oil on your driveway? Does it need to be jacked up? How do the DIY guys balance your tires or 4 wheel alignments? Do you guys keep all your fluids around your garage (AC, brake, oil, transmission, etc)? I can see why some people would prefer to just drop it off rather than deal with the work.

Now that you think about it, pretty much any place you get service done (dealer or not) has the potential to rip you off.

 

[cdoyle]

Even though I get my service done at the dealer, I tend to agree that the dealer rips you. Mainly the reason I'm having it done is because they offer "free tires for life" if the maintenance is done through my dealership. So I'm giving it a try. If the positives don't out weigh the negatives then I'll go do the stuff on my own. That being said, is it easy changing the oil in a V8 without spilling oil on your driveway? Does it need to be jacked up? How do the DIY guys balance your tires or 4 wheel alignments? Do you guys keep all your fluids around your garage (AC, brake, oil, transmission, etc)? I can see why some people would prefer to just drop it off rather than deal with the work.

Now that you think about it, pretty much any place you get service done (dealer or not) has the potential to rip you off.

Well changing the oil is a little bit of a pain, because you have to remove the skid plate each time, but I still do my own. I normally just drive mine up on some ramps, to give me a little extra room to move around under there. Takes me about 20 minutes to get all done.

I havne't had mine aligned yet, but will probably take it to a tire shop that I normally go too. I have bought tires from them in the past, so they have been rotating my OEM tires for free

 

[dwulffusa]

Recently paid $250 including a puncture repair on my 05 V6 4wd, other than 2 more spark plugs and perhaps different oil, I dont see where the signficant additional cost comes in.
Even at that I think the 30k service is too high, they are not spending the whole day on the vehicle looking for anything amiss, its replacement by check box and you're done.