Why so much?? Am I living in the 70s?

I took my 04 Durango in for a 30,000mi service. The maint.log
recommends several items of which I can do myself - such as oil
change/filter, front and rear diff. fluid, and air filter. I had my
local NAPA shop do the following: spark plug replacement(check first),
PVC, tire rotation, and tranny fluid change + the two filters that go
with it. They are quite good and very tech. savy.

They had some difficulty with the transmission in that it triggered a
code on the engine and the check engine light came on. Then it was
stuck in 1 gear. They got the right software and reprogrammed and all
is good.

When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
of the tune-up.

Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
something that is common in today's large vehicles.

Leo

lcarr wrote:
> I took my 04 Durango in for a 30,000mi service. The maint.log
> recommends several items of which I can do myself - such as oil
> change/filter, front and rear diff. fluid, and air filter. I had my
> local NAPA shop do the following: spark plug replacement(check first),
> PVC, tire rotation, and tranny fluid change + the two filters that go
> with it. They are quite good and very tech. savy.
>
> They had some difficulty with the transmission in that it triggered a
> code on the engine and the check engine light came on. Then it was
> stuck in 1 gear. They got the right software and reprogrammed and all
> is good.


>
> When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
> they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
> out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
> hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
> Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
> of the tune-up.

You gave us no idea of what was on the bill, so it is impossible to say
what you were charged for.


>
> Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
> something that is common in today's large vehicles.

Sure you can dispute it...feel free.

>
> Leo

lcarr wrote:
> I took my 04 Durango in for a 30,000mi service. The maint.log
> recommends several items of which I can do myself - such as oil
> change/filter, front and rear diff. fluid, and air filter. I had my
> local NAPA shop do the following: spark plug replacement(check first),
> PVC, tire rotation, and tranny fluid change + the two filters that go
> with it. They are quite good and very tech. savy.
>
> They had some difficulty with the transmission in that it triggered a
> code on the engine and the check engine light came on. Then it was
> stuck in 1 gear. They got the right software and reprogrammed and all
> is good.
>
> When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
> they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
> out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
> hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
> Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
> of the tune-up.
>
> Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
> something that is common in today's large vehicles.
>
> Leo
>

I seriously doubt that it needed spark plugs at 30k miles! Damn near
everything goes 80k to 100k now for a service interval regarding the
spark plugs and other ignition related parts.

It would have set a missfire code if it did need plugs...

I smell a skunk!

Those trucks have regular plugs that need to be changed at 30,000

lcarr wrote:
>
> I took my 04 Durango in for a 30,000mi service. The maint.log
> recommends several items of which I can do myself - such as oil
> change/filter, front and rear diff. fluid, and air filter. I had my
> local NAPA shop do the following: spark plug replacement(check first),
> PVC, tire rotation, and tranny fluid change + the two filters that go
> with it. They are quite good and very tech. savy.
>
> They had some difficulty with the transmission in that it triggered a
> code on the engine and the check engine light came on. Then it was
> stuck in 1 gear. They got the right software and reprogrammed and all
> is good.
>
> When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
> they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
> out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
> hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
> Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
> of the tune-up.
>
> Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
> something that is common in today's large vehicles.
>
> Leo

Labor is $100+ per hour. Parts and fluids perhaps $100.

lcarr wrote:
> I took my 04 Durango in for a 30,000mi service. The maint.log
> recommends several items of which I can do myself - such as oil
> change/filter, front and rear diff. fluid, and air filter. I had my
> local NAPA shop do the following: spark plug replacement(check first),
> PVC, tire rotation, and tranny fluid change + the two filters that go
> with it. They are quite good and very tech. savy.
>
> They had some difficulty with the transmission in that it triggered a
> code on the engine and the check engine light came on. Then it was
> stuck in 1 gear. They got the right software and reprogrammed and all
> is good.
>
> When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
> they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
> out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
> hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
> Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
> of the tune-up.
>
> Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
> something that is common in today's large vehicles.

Why in the world wouldn't you get an estimate before they did the work?

I never understood why people with some skill wouldn't do basic crap
such as PVC, air filters, or rotating tires.

> When they told me I can come and pick it up (which they had all day)
> they told me the bill - after waking up in the local ER after passing
> out my wife told me it is $495.36. I have to pick it up in about 2
> hours. How can preventive maintenance cost this? I also have a 93
> Dodge Dakota, and it costs me about $80.00/yr (max) for me to do most
> of the tune-up.
>
> Can I dispute this bill? I don't know if I am that naive or this is
> something that is common in today's large vehicles.
>
> Leo

For what they did, sounds about right. Figure they worked on it
probably 4 hrs at $75/hr - $300. Probably $25-$30 in haz disposal
fees(oil, filters, etc). Parts will be $100-$150 at marked up
rates(plugs, filters). Throw in some tax, and it's not inconcievable
to reach $500.

None of this is something you could not have done yourself and saved
yourself $400. I dont' know why/how they would have screwed up the
tranny doing a flush/change. They may have started it while it was
empty on fluid and caused it to set a flag.

JW

Unless that's one of the cars that are a right pain in the, er,
tailpipe to service, that sounds high to me. If you need a factual
basis for formally disputing the claim, check in a flat-rate book.

If they are "very tech. savvy" why did their work result in throwing a
trouble code and then getting your transmission electronically stuck in
first gear? One hypothesis on the cost is that they fixed their
screw-ups while the clock was running...

Having vented a bit, let's see what you need to look at when doing your
homework: parts and labor. Even seemingly simple vehicles can have
hidden gotchas that make certain items of routine service a pain (those
"five minutes of work -- but an hour to mine down to it and reassemble
everything afterwards" scenarios we all know and love), so maybe tht
would help legitimize the bill, especially around the transmission.
Where are those filters? Are any adjustments indicated? If this is a
4WD, did they also have to do similar things to the transfer case?

Since you seem to know your way around an engine compartment a bit,
just stare at it and visualize doing each task -- see if something
strikes you, with common sense, as being a lot harder than one might
expect.

Modern cars can also harbor shockingly expensive versions of
functionally familiar parts, so checking the bona fides of the invoice
and (if applicable) preparing a solid dispute would involve pricing
everything they replaced.

This of course assumes they presented you with at least a somewhat
detailed invoice, as most places will do these days. If they just said
"bend ze knees -- five hundred dollars, please," that itself would make
me go "hmm."

Best of luck,
--Joe

Hell, just cost me $430 to replace a VSS on a Ford Escort (took them FIVE
and a HALF hours to get the damn thing out and they had to practically
destroy the old one to do it).

What IDIOT came up with the idea to put it somewhere where it's next to
impossible to get out if/when it breaks (if not from access problems, from
heat/corrosion/rust/etc)?