Last night my dad and I traded cars so he could take my car for its 90K mile checkup. He had called around to a number of different places, and supposedly the Honda Dealership had the least expensive quote, so I told him to go with the dealer.

Today during my lunch break dad calls me and tells me my car is finished and he's bringing it back. I was pretty surprised it was already finished, but very happy to get it back so soon.

Then he told me about what happened at the dealership. The price they had quoted was $259 + tax. While they were working on my car, they found out that the Mandolin? was broken and needed to be replaced - a $800 repair!!! Luckily it was a part that was under warranty (via the EPA, 14 years or 150k miles) so it didn't cost me a dime. WHEW!

Apparantally I also somehow qualified for a free tune-up (sparkplugs, oil change, etc). Also, they lubricated my gas pedal ($45 value) for free.

They also found out that some part on my rear wheel needs to be fixed ($600) but is not urgent. (Will wait awhile on this one.)

So, after all was said and done, my 90K mile checkup ended up costing $230.10 !!!

Considering how much I am driving, I have the feeling it will be a LONG time before I have to go in for another checkup ... but I am very happy that the dealership treated me so fairly.

Lesson learned: Don't assume that getting car repairs/maintenance at the dealership equals getting ripped off!

KIF,

Laura