$400+ oil change

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bauhausbold

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So I brought my 4runner in today for the air bag recall and decided to have the oil changed too, $79 ... I get a call that there was a "big" oil leak. I knew it was leaking it was probably from me not tightening something all the way. I tell them to change the oil. I get a call telling me that the oil filter housing is made in china and thats why its leaking, they'll need to order a new one $158. OK fine.. Oh now there is 2 hours of labor, 2x $180. Ummm WTF? I tried to have him justify the 2 hours, "cleaning up the oil" How does a $79 oil change, turn into $180 an hr to replace something that has to come out during an oil change already. :ybrick::ybrick::ybrick: Just charge me for the part and two oil changes!

He told me he'll tell the mechanic to hold off on the work and to come by and look at it tomorrow.

Can someone give me advice on how they are gonna try and get me tomorrow? Is it possible he was confused with the oil filter case?
 
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How is a plastic housing $158? And, how is labor $180/hr. Going to see a Dr. is cheaper than that! You're being ripped off in, what appears, several ways. I'd have somebody else call and ask what shop labor rates are; and at a few other dealers to compare. There are people on this site that changed over to metal housings and I don't think they paid that much.
 
I know I'm getting ripped off, I just need to figure out how to get out of it with now spending the least amount of money, ohh he was also giving me a 10% discount..... which brought the total to $466.

I was trying to do the right thing and support a local business... welpppp.:mad2:
 
Tell them NO. Tell them the truth - you are not seeing $400 on value in that.

Have them put it back together, and take it somewhere else.

Tell them you tried to give them some business, but they reached too far.
 
If what you say is all the facts, name the dealership so we can all know who has decided to gouge customers; especially during a pandemic. Disgraceful.
 
That'll teach you not to let the stealership service your vehicle!

How did you not notice a big oil leak?
 
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LIT4R said:
If what you say is all the facts, name the dealership so we can all know who has decided to gouge customers; especially during a pandemic. Disgraceful.
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We'll see what they come up with tomorrow. I also overheard some unscrupulous up-selling related to "viruses" the first time I was there in the office.
 
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Dealers!!!
Put one on my T4, going to put one on our Sienna next oil change.
Copy this and show it to the dealer, ask for a more reasonable charge for service.
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Tell them (ask in person) you want your cracked oil filter housing back. Then tell them you want to speak to the service manager. If the service manager doesn't drop the bill to the an oil change and filter housing insist on speaking with the general manager. If that gets you nowhere tell them you want a detailed written record of what occurred, why they proceeded without your permission after finding something obviously wrong, what they did to fix the problem and clear explanation of each individual charge including what labor was required to amount to 2 hours of work. Take that and the broken part with you. If you have a VISA credit card, pay with that. You can file a complaint with credit card companies (I had to do that one time when a mechanic cut down a serpentine belt to make it "fit" so it wouldn't slide off lol...got a full refund). Tell them you want the part numbers of any parts replaced and that you are going to call another Toyota dealer to compare to what they are charging you.

Be very specific with the GM (I'm assuming you'll have to take it that far) that you want an explanation as to why the mechanic removed the broken oil filter housing from an obviously "big" leak without contacting you to discuss before proceeding (if this was the case). If they removed an obviously broken part and made a mess, that's their problem. You drove your car into the dealership which means it was very unlikely a "big" leak...you would have had no oil in the engine. Be very direct, look them straight in the eye during all conversations, request everything detailed out in writing and set your phone down between both of you and tell them you are recording the conversations (and do it). You have to be confrontational in a situation like this. If they see you are pissed and going to document everything they will likely stop trying to rip you off. Don't be an ass, just be very direct and confident in yourself.
 
Where do you live that labor is $180 hr? That’s BMW money in my area. Toyota service departments are the worst in my opinion, they’ll hire anyone to turn a wrench.
 
Tell the to send you pictures of the cracked housing. Could’ve been that’s the new lube tech thought you loosened the housing by turning clockwise.
 
bauhausbold said:
So I brought my 4runner in today for the air bag recall and decided to have the oil changed too, $79 ... I get a call that there was a "big" oil leak. I knew it was leaking it was probably from me not tightening something all the way. I tell them to change the oil. I get a call telling me that the oil filter housing is made in china and thats why its leaking, they'll need to order a new one $158. OK fine.. Oh now there is 2 hours of labor, 2x $180. Ummm WTF? I tried to have him justify the 2 hours, "cleaning up the oil" How does a $79 oil change, turn into $180 an hr to replace something that has to come out during an oil change already. :ybrick::ybrick::ybrick: Just charge me for the part and two oil changes!

He told me he'll tell the mechanic to hold off on the work and to come by and look at it tomorrow.

Can someone give me advice on how they are gonna try and get me tomorrow? Is it possible he was confused with the oil filter case?
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I guess I will be the oddball out here, but IDC.

You knew you had an oil leak, and suspected it was from not tightening something all the way..... Yet you drove around without investigating or fixing the issue?

Now you are complaining the dealer wants to make some sort of money here? You do know the dealership and the folks working during a Global Pandemic don't make money off the parts they are putting on your car, they get paid on the labor. You were too lazy to fix yourself, so now you should pay someone else to do it.

You can't tell them to put the cracked part back on and your used engine oil back in at this point, so ordering the metal housing and DIY isn't an option.
 
That amount of money is ridiculous. For all you know they cracked the housing. This is yet another instance showing that you should never bring your vehicle to a stealership for anything than can be easily done at home.
 
My dealer cracked the housing on mine. It was leaking after an oil change so I brought it back in. They accepted that they must have done it - kept it overnight to get the new one and replaced free of charge and gave me a free oil change. Not all dealers are evil. But... kinda sounds like yours is really jerking you around.

Like the others have said - I'd also want to see the cracked housing and also some justification for the claim of 2 extra hours. It is possible for the plastic threads on the filter housing to break off on the male threads of the oil cooler assembly where it mounts. That could be a PITA to remove. So there's one possible scenario I've heard of on these that could take a bit of time to fix. But it's really unusual.
 
EddieV4runnin said:
Where do you live that labor is $180 hr? That’s BMW money in my area. Toyota service departments are the worst in my opinion, they’ll hire anyone to turn a wrench.
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East Bay Area.

That's not a typo.

Labor is like 150-180/hr and they invent excuses that even something that takes 2 minutes is a "minimum 1.5 hour job." I got charged $145 after the CA dmv stripped my license plate screws and held my DL hostage as I hurried to the Toyota dealer to cut out the screw since I was away from home without my tools.

All the granola morons who think their Toyotas will "last forever" gladly pay 3-5k for needless maintenance every year.
 
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