Chen127

I brought my vehicle into my local Nissan Dealership(Devon Nissan). Here's what was done. Rotate 4 tires. On the rear drums, new shoes and cylinders, and resurfaced drum. Oil/filter change, alignment, and replace worn out front left ball joint. What exactly is the ball joint, and how can i inspect it, and and how difficult to replace, because that was like $175 or so at the dealership. And how long do those ball joints generally last for? I don't wanna be changing that like at the next tuneup. They charge you to fix things that aren't even broken, one time they told me i needed my front brake pads replaced, but i went home and tried changing them myself, and the pads still alot meat left on them. I drove it for another 15K miles. That really was annoying, it should be illegal for them to do that. Maybe next time, I can try to do it myself and save some money. And I didn't even get to change my suspension. Does $712 sound right? Luckily i had a $100 coupon, so it was only $612, but still my car is 10 years old and has 127k miles! it's prob not even worth $3000, and to pay that much for repairs!?!? what the heck, i might as well go buy a honda. Help me out here guys, I'm in college right now(expensive one) and next term I have to start paying for it myself. So it's either gonna be the max or college, and I think college is a lil more important, but I'd hate to give up the max because I can't pay for tuneups!! Thanks for any help!

superdesi

Dealer are notorious for price inflations.

I only go to dealers if it is an electrical issue. They are better equipped to handle those types of situations.

The amount you paid is painfully a huge sum. But if you want to own a car, then you have to consider the maintenance costs. I been through college and suffered the tuition horrors, but I would never had sold my vehicle, unless I was about to be evicted for non-payment of the monthly rent.

Get a part-time job, donate sperm (or eggs if you are a gal), do work-study, whatever it takes.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Tire rotation: 25
OEM rear brake shoes: 55/set
OEM rear cylinders: 35 x 2= 70
brake labor: 100
resurface drum: 10
oil/filter change: 25
alignment: 2 wheel-40.. 4 wheel-70
ball joint: parts- 40 labor: 50

these are ballpark figures, given what I know about the parts and labor involved with changing them. this comes up to $450. obviously quite a bit below your price.
How did you pay for this? If you paid cash, you're pretty much hosed. if you paid by credit card, you've still got a little time to do something about it.
Talk to a private mechanic and get an estimate from them on all this stuff (I'm guessing it'll be close to my numbers above)

then go back to the dealership where you had the work done and talk to the service manager and raise some hell.
If there's another nissan dealer locally, I recommend going there for the estimate.. tell them you had this work done already, but think you got hosed on it. DON'T tell them it was at another dealership. just say like "mike's garage" or something.. tell them it's a small shop near your house.

good luck man.. hope you can recover some of that cash, because you DId get hosed.

Chen127

Hey Matt, thanks a lot for the price breakdown. I'm at school right now, but first chance, I get, i'm gonna go back to the dealership and bug em then to another dealership as you suggested. And yea I paid by credit. The dealership has a $72 per hour labor charge, is that a little high? I thought average was like 55 or 65? Oh well thanks again, I'll let ya know how it turns out.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

72/hour is about right for a dealer.. most private shops charge between 40 and 60. average is about 50 or so for private, so dealers are usually about 50% over that... which is 75 (you're in college, you can do math.

but yeah, that price still seems really high, even with a high labor charge.

if that stuff doesn't go anywhere, call your credit card company and dispute the charges. it may or may not get you anywhere, but at least you can try.
good luck!

brubenstein

Did you get an extimate before the work was done? Did you ask for one? 10 year old cars are going to have higher maintenance costs than a new one, that's why they cost less. I think you just got an added class in the College of Hard Knocks.

roadiusmaximus

Cars are funny...demanding actually. Its either the fact that your a college student and you need that, so you dont have too much time to invest in fixing all those faults on your car. Maxima or not, they happen. And if you have time, you spend less money on labor but more of your time. You should find a chiltons or the nissan shop manual, and read a little so you can do the easier stuff, oil changes, brakes, filters, sensors, etc. Sometimes you will even take more care than a mechanic would when doing something like an oil change. (you know take your pinky finger and run it on the oil filter seal with oil) you know they dont do that!!

Its all about time or money
Which is more precious?

And as i am about to enter the college life as well, i know damn strait its tight on both!

John

SkyMax

Devon Nissan?? sounds familiar... Do you happen to be from PA?