Service Question/Comments

[Mudstone]

So, I go in for a winter tire swap. Service is taking longer than needed. I inquire. The Dealership says, "I'm just drawing up a quote"! I'm like a quote for what?
She says everything your vehicle requires. I say, no it's for a tire swap, she says Oh, OK, I'll get them to put the winter tires on...???
Brakes were inspected at 25,000 km

So, questions comments on a 2020 RAM Sport (Canada) with 41,761 (easy) KM. This is the list they wanted to do:
Machine and Service Front brake pads and rotors ($290/cad)
Service rear brake pads and rotors ($180)
Brake fluid flush ($200)
4x4 service ($533)
Cabin air filter ($98)
Alignment ($150)

What, if any, of the above would be mandatory at this 2020 RAM with 41K km

any input is appreciated.....

 

[Scram1500]

A fool and their money are soon parted, you were wise to leave with just a tire swap. Check your manual for service intervals. I am curious what the "4x4 service" is all about for $533

 

[Mudstone]

A fool and their money are soon parted, you were wise to leave with just a tire swap. Check your manual for service intervals. I am curious what the "4x4 service" is all about for $533

Thanks, I haven't checked the manual yet. Probably no 4x4 service listed, haha

 

[Geddyflea]

So, I go in for a winter tire swap. Service is taking longer than needed. I inquire. The Dealership says, "I'm just drawing up a quote"! I'm like a quote for what?
She says everything your vehicle requires. I say, no it's for a tire swap, she says Oh, OK, I'll get them to put the winter tires on...???
Brakes were inspected at 25,000 km

So, questions comments on a 2020 RAM Sport (Canada) with 41,761 (easy) KM. This is the list they wanted to do:
Machine and Service Front brake pads and rotors ($290/cad)
Service rear brake pads and rotors ($180)
Brake fluid flush ($200)
4x4 service ($533)
Cabin air filter ($98)
Alignment ($150)

What, if any, of the above would be mandatory at this 2020 RAM with 41K km

any input is appreciated.....

WOW!! $98 ($72-ish US) to change the cabin air filter!!! I just changed mine myself for $14.00 (US) and about 10 minutes of my time.

 

[mikeru82]

The only thing on that list that you might need is the cabin air filter. But they're wanting to charge you 5 to 6 times what a filter costs, and takes less than 5 minutes to replace. You have about 25k miles on your truck. There's no reason to do any of the other services they listed. Don't just walk, run from that dealership. I hate to ask what they charged you for the tire swap.

 

[Mudstone]

The only thing on that list that you might need is the cabin air filter. But they're wanting to charge you 5 to 6 times what a filter costs, and takes less than 5 minutes to replace. You have about 25k miles on your truck. There's no reason to do any of the other services they listed. Don't just walk, run from that dealership. I hate to ask what they charged you for the tire swap.

Perfect, thanks for the input! $70 cad for the tire swap (on rims)...
I may be contacting my former auto shop whom I trusted!

 

[mikeru82]

Perfect, thanks for the input! $70 cad for the tire swap (on rims)...
I may be contacting my former auto shop whom I trusted!

So that's about $50 USD...ouch. Tire shops in my area often include free rotations if you buy their tires. So tire changeover in the spring and fall are free. You might look into that the next time you need to buy tires.

 

[Cbty2050]

Tire swap on wheels, should be charged whatever a rotate cost is. We charge $88 to mount and balance 4 tires.

Cabin filter, is high. With that do they sell an AC/HVAC service at the same time? Yes some places actually service the AC/heater core coils to help prevent odors and bacteria growth.

4X4 service(fluid replacement) could be done at 30k miles, some people do it them self and save $$$.

Brake flush... nope

Brakes, did they find some rust or something they wanted to machine off.

Alignment, IDK did they see some wear on the tires.

Dealers are heavily incentivized to use OEM parts, there is a lot of back end money from the manufacturer.

 

[Dewey]

Dealerships are constantly looking for suckers. Don’t fall for all the bogus add ons and work not required. One tried that crap with me about 20 years ago, told them to give me my keys back and haven’t been back to a dealership for oil changes or service since. I do all my own basic maintenance and repairs.

 

[mikeru82]

Tire swap on wheels, should be charged whatever a rotate cost is. We charge $88 to mount and balance 4 tires.

I'm glad to hear there are some shops still charging a reasonable price for mount and balance. One local shop near me charges $240 for that now. The best I could find lately within a 50 mile radius of me was $140.

 

[Cbty2050]

I'm glad to hear there are some shops still charging a reasonable price for mount and balance. One local shop near me charges $240 for that now. The best I could find lately within a 50 mile radius of me was $140.

Crazy a dealer isn't charging more isn't it. We also have a "Tire Hotel" and charge $50 to store customer tires for the season.

Not all dealers are the same, that is the unfortunate part. I can say our maintenance prices are very competitive for our area. Our door rate is also competitive.

 

[Scram1500]

4X4 service(fluid replacement) could be done at 30k miles, some people do it them self and save $$$.

How many quarts for the 4Auto transfer case?

 

[Cbty2050]

How many quarts for the 4Auto transfer case?

2 quarts will get it done. There are 2 different tcases one holds 1.7L and the other is 1.8L. Same fluid in each

 

[Jako]

FYI on cabin filter.

Don't forget to change those cabin filters guys....just did and WHOA!

19,000 miles and that thing was gross!. bought this LTD used 2 weeks ago, so who knows if it was ever replaced, doubt it. Glad I did though..

5thgenrams.com

 

[kzielu]

So, I go in for a winter tire swap. Service is taking longer than needed. I inquire. The Dealership says, "I'm just drawing up a quote"! I'm like a quote for what?
She says everything your vehicle requires. I say, no it's for a tire swap, she says Oh, OK, I'll get them to put the winter tires on...???
Brakes were inspected at 25,000 km

So, questions comments on a 2020 RAM Sport (Canada) with 41,761 (easy) KM. This is the list they wanted to do:
Machine and Service Front brake pads and rotors ($290/cad)
Service rear brake pads and rotors ($180)
Brake fluid flush ($200)
4x4 service ($533)
Cabin air filter ($98)
Alignment ($150)

What, if any, of the above would be mandatory at this 2020 RAM with 41K km

any input is appreciated.....

Well - they tried to scam you - if you're miles are easy, no way your brake pads are anywhere near a need to be replaced, rotors even less likely. For comparison - wife's F150 has 70k miles, towed different trailer for about 15k of those, brakes are still fine. I flushed the brake fluid after about 4 years of use - it was pretty dark but still braked fine.
Cabin filter - others chimes in, takes 5 mins to do. Alignment - highly doubt your truck needs it unless you hit something or messed with suspension - if they claim it's needed, they should have put in on the rack and measured current values - have them show you and compare to spec (camber, toe, caster) - otherwise they're full of ****.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

You visit the stealership again you need a bucket of this to take with you. Heft it up on the counter and say "I'm here to get my truck serviced. Get the line formed".

 

[jkm312]

An over zealous predatory commissioned service adviser. These kind make it difficult for everyone on both sides. All you want to do is get the truck serviced reasonably at a fair price. Why does that have to be so difficult?

 

[jloops]

OP forgot to mention his truck is a 4x2.

 

[Darksteel165]

I'm glad to hear there are some shops still charging a reasonable price for mount and balance. One local shop near me charges $240 for that now. The best I could find lately within a 50 mile radius of me was $140.

That's really expensive. It's around $24 a tire around here.
I only go to a few places that use the touch free machines along with hunter road force balancers with someone who actually knows how to use it so they don't scrape the hell out of the rims.

If you just want cheap Sams Club\BJs I think is around $15 a tire.

Even some Walmarts will mount and balance cheap. The website shows it being $11 per tire for carry-in tires.

OP was getting thrown around at that dealership. I would never go back to them, that's so many red flags.

 

[boogielander]

So, I go in for a winter tire swap. Service is taking longer than needed. I inquire. The Dealership says, "I'm just drawing up a quote"! I'm like a quote for what?
She says everything your vehicle requires. I say, no it's for a tire swap, she says Oh, OK, I'll get them to put the winter tires on...???
Brakes were inspected at 25,000 km

So, questions comments on a 2020 RAM Sport (Canada) with 41,761 (easy) KM. This is the list they wanted to do:
Machine and Service Front brake pads and rotors ($290/cad)
Service rear brake pads and rotors ($180)
Brake fluid flush ($200)
4x4 service ($533)
Cabin air filter ($98)
Alignment ($150)

What, if any, of the above would be mandatory at this 2020 RAM with 41K km

any input is appreciated.....

now sure about the rate in Canada but iirc my shop charges $20/ tire for mount and balance. The tire show we work with charges $120 or something for mount and balance including TPMS swap. Sometimes we do it ourselves but when we're busy or when we're dealing with expensive wheels (think TE37, Work wheels, etc) we send the trucks over to them. I may be off about pricing because I don't do quoting I just do the work, so I don't have the price sheet memorized.

Regarding your brakes, 16k KM (around ~10K miles) shouldn't eat your brakes away. Easiest way to confirm it yourself is to go under your truck, look at the calipers and look at the remaining life of the pads. For rotor, are you experiencing vibration while braking? If not then you should be ok still. We only do rotors if there's visible "damages" or if customers experience vibration while braking.

Brake fluid flush... we never do that unless the fluid is contaminated or customer specifically request it. Contamination usually means we swapped out broken brake fluid parts (resi, booster, lines, etc). Look at yours and if it's still clean then no need.

4x4 service. 41k KM (25.5k miles) seems too soon for 4x4 service. I'd skip this time.

Cabin filter. Amazon it and swap it yourself. then go buy yourself a nice steak dinner for $98.

Alignment. Is your truck pulling? Uneven treadwear on your tires? If none of the above then no need. You definitely don't need alignment after tire swap. Only times you need alignment are: you do suspension related work (lifting, lowering, or lower control arms), you're experiencing pulling or your steering wheel does not sit in the middle while going down a flat road, or you have uneven treadwear.

Hope that helps.