Hi everyone, this is my first time owning a car. It’s a 2020 Honda civic. I had the « service » light turn on so I took it in to my local Honda service center. These are the issues they flagged and the estimated cost for each. Are these prices fair? Or are these things I can easily/safely learn to do on my own? (Ignore the wiper insert replacement, I can definitely do that on my own)
Thank you in advance!
Do your own air filter. The oil change is a fair price. The brake fluid is fair. This is reasonable except the air filter.
Takes longer to empty the glove box than it does to change the cabin filter.
$43 to replace the wiper inserts? Just go to the service desk and buy them, slide off the old ones, slide on the new ones and go. Takes like 2 mins. Charging you to replace inserts is ridiculous, they’re around $20 bucks to buy.
I do both filters on my Lexus for under $40. Wipers for under $20. Takes 5 min or less to do each. Cabin air filter may be tricky to get to on some cars though.
Have dealer service the CVT the fluid is about 90/gal so if they do it for 40$ good on them and that CVT is sensitive to fluid neglect. Is well rated otherwise. Cabin and engine filter are easy beginners level Do IT Yah-self (DIY) wipers if that is for the pair not too bad Walmarts are about 17$ per and will not last as long as OE.
They fuck you like a cheap slut.
I think you can change the filters yourself and save a little
I think you can change the filters yourself and save a little
The answer is ALWAYS learn to do it yourself.
Some lessons you learn the hard way. Sometimes you get in over your head. Sometimes you don’t have the right tools.
YouTube is your friend, also I always recommend everybody buy a PDF copy of FACTORY service manual for their car. (not the Haynes/Chiltons manuals, those are okay, but the ones from Honda are way better.) (check ebay)
You save money, even if you need to buy tools, you still save money, and collect tools. I sometimes call DIY projects “working for tools”.
Find a friend who likes to work on cars and is willing to teach you. Also, sometimes it’s good to have a friend on standby for those “oh shit, I broke this bolt, now I need to go to the hardware store” moments.
Have dealer service the CVT the fluid is about 90/gal so if they do it for 40$ good on them and that CVT is sensitive to fluid neglect. Is well rated otherwise. Cabin and engine filter are easy beginners level Do IT Yah-self (DIY) wipers if that is for the pair not too bad Walmarts are about 17$ per and will not last as long as OE.
The answer is ALWAYS learn to do it yourself.
Some lessons you learn the hard way. Sometimes you get in over your head. Sometimes you don’t have the right tools.
YouTube is your friend, also I always recommend everybody buy a PDF copy of FACTORY service manual for their car. (not the Haynes/Chiltons manuals, those are okay, but the ones from Honda are way better.) (check ebay)
You save money, even if you need to buy tools, you still save money, and collect tools. I sometimes call DIY projects “working for tools”.
Find a friend who likes to work on cars and is willing to teach you. Also, sometimes it’s good to have a friend on standby for those “oh shit, I broke this bolt, now I need to go to the hardware store” moments.
75$ for a cabin filter!? Better be HEPA certified! No? Rip off. Beside most cars it’s a 2 minut job and i pay about 10$ for part for my vw.
They got you on the cabin filter and engine filter. Otherwise the transmission oil and brake fluid seem normal price. The thing with the transmission fluid and cabin filter is they can say they replaced them but you would have no idea.
The cabin air filter and engine air filter prices are absurd. I just bought an engine air filter for my girlfriend’s civic for $25 and cabin filter for $20. I installed both. No tools were needed. The engine air filter took me a minute to swap. The cabin air filter maybe a couple minutes. $50 and DIY, or $134.
The brake bleed and CVT prices seem fair.
They got you on the cabin filter and engine filter. Otherwise the transmission oil and brake fluid seem normal price. The thing with the transmission fluid and cabin filter is they can say they replaced them but you would have no idea.