All things considered, the Honda oil filter is a snap to remove compared to many cars out there. It's more trouble to remove and replace the access panel than to remove the filter.


FWIW, I bought the "official" Honda oil filter wrench. It's a perfect "fit" over the end of the Honda OEM oil filter, and, in addition to a square hole for a 3/8 drive ratchet, it has a raised 17mm hex, so you can use the same wrench on it that fits the drain bolt. Nice.

 

a couple buddies have worked at the "front end" of a honda dealership for decades and make a decent living. they say there is a constant friction with the "back end" (service) and both of them always argue the mechanics should be making more money so they stay for life, like the front end employees do

i guess dealerships push service advisors to try and sell anything extra they can, but when they are trying to sell a timing belt on a honda vehicle that has a timing chain, and continue to push and push that i am risking blowing up my engine...they are quite annoying. the dealerships pushing advisors to upsell may make them extra money, but really annoys most people. cabin air filter45$'s.....sheesh

 

For a dealership, the margins on parts and service are higher than vehicle sales. Not unusual for a dealership to try and maximize profits on service & parts, but if doing so means underpaying the mechanics, we have a problem. Conventional business theory holds that it's best to keep everyone happy - owner/manager, employee, customer - rather than screwing the employees and the customers to pad the owner/manager profit margin.

A wise old friend once told me that the most important position at a dealership was the oil technician, which is typically an entry-level position. The idea is that while the oil tech has the car up on a lift, can spot problems which wouldn't necessarily be obvious otherwise. "Hey, your right CV boot is torn." "I noticed your front pads are quite worn - you might want to have them replaced soon." That kind of thing.

Now if said oil tech is recommending service that is not necessary, we have a problem. Ideally, the oil tech is only bringing relevant service issues to the table and not unnecessary repairs.

With all this in mind, I like independents for most routine service, and the dealership only for warranty work. The difference between a dealership and an independent is that a dealership has several profit centers (new/used car sales, service, parts, maybe leasing), whereas an independent is more heavily dependent on service profit margins with perhaps a bit from parts. So an independent's reputation is more on the line because they don't have a different profit center to back them up when service is slow.

 

Our labor rate is $98 an hour and more than half of our technicians have been here for over ten years and a few have been here over twenty. I have been working my ass off you be honest with people about what their car needs and not being another advisor selling wallet flushes. If you walk into a dealer expecting to be ripped off and treating the people there like crap then you get treated the way you deserve to be treated. I understand you have had bad experiences and you have the right to feel how you feel especially about the dears that treated you bad but your constant dealer hating and acting like you know how every dealer works because a few dealers ripped you off a long time ago is hateful ignorance.

 

i dont know about ur chevette, but the GD and GE were not bad as the filters are positioned horizontally (my memory is a bit cloudy as i work on differnet cars).

my nissans's filters are positioned horizontally so there is absolutely no mess. i can drain the filter while unscrewing it so no oil gets on the filter housing.

 

Your the minority. Sorry. Wish it were different. My success rate with dealers is probably about 1 in 10.

1. Toyota dealer wrong lube in front drive assembly of 85 toyota required rebuild of whole front axle dealer no help.
2. Jeep dealer put 4 gallons of oil in my engine first oil change engine required total dismantle to replace all the seals and pistons.
3. Jeep dealer set Jeep on fire while replacing cat under warranty, and tried to tell me it was burnt when I brought it in. Required full new carpet kit and repainting of the passenger foot-well. (Id have never noticed that?
4. BMW did best body repair and customer service I ever had... then,,,
same BMW dealer had to return vehicle three times to get stuff fixed correctly after suspension repair. ($7000) Installed incorrect steering rack, bad alignment, ruined CV axle boots. Missing under tray parts..
5. Jeep dealer took care of sudden transmission seal fail and bent over backwards to get me on the road.

Many many more .. Sometimes I don't have time or I'm traveling and need to just get stuff done. But the apprehension just makes it very expensive.

 

I talk to too many shops to go to private garages. Barring an emergency, there are only two that I'd take my car to and be happy about it. There's a third I'd consider, and that's it.

It's not that I'm an I work at a dealership and nothing else is as good snob. When I get a "foreign" car in here I go straight to aftermarket parts, only calling the dealer for parts that I know won't be available downtown or I know from experience are going to have undependable listings. I don't expect the garages that call me to be any different, but most of them have a cavalier attitude towards doing what's right (what fluid on my shelf can I get away with using?) and only a vague relationship with reality (one referred to the front differential on a truck as "the front rear end"). I don't bother explaining to them any more that if the factory services a balljoint as a control arm, it's probably not better for the customer to throw a $40 aftermarket balljoint at it. Yes, if everything goes well it'll be cheaper today, but it's really just kicking problems down the road. When they ask me if they can substitute 80-90 oil in a diff that calls for 75-90 I just tell them that they can use vegetable oil for all I care: I'm not a chemist, I didn't specify the fluid and I don't care what anyone else does at their own shop. I'm just not taking my car there.

You're going to find mercenary bastards in any industry. You're more at their mercy in auto repair because you have to take their word for a lot and your car is apart at the time, so it just seems more prevalent there. But as an absolute lowest baseline, there will be more knowledge about your car's quirks in the building if you go to a dealership. If the tech doesn't know something, the writer or parts guy has heard of it. If it's something rare, simply looking for the part in the factory's system is likely to throw a flag explaining a potential underlying problem.

 

Ah, blame the victim!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't "treat people like crap." I'm rather friendly and easygoing. That hasn't stopped dealers and service writers from routinely trying to deceive me, often by saying things that are blatantly untrue. With dealers it happens more often than not. Is it any surprise that I limit my visits to warranty and service bulletin tasks that cannot be done anywhere else? Not all of my experiences were long ago either.

The biggest problem is that, at most dealers, customers do not talk directly to the people who work on their cars. Instead, they talk to service writers who are essentially salesmen. At an independent I talk to the mechanic or to an owner who gets his hands dirty and appreciates that I understand what I am talking about. Communicating accurate information is a lot easer if it isn't filtered back and forth through an intermediary who assumes that all customers are stupid.

In closing, I acknowledge that there may be some dealers that treat customers reasonably well. OTOH, there are enough dealers who don't play straight that customers need to keep a close eye on them and verify things at each step. I don't see that necessity as particularly hateful or hostile.

 

$98/hour for labor? Yeesh.

 

OP, the oil change is very easy. See this and save yourself a lot of money:

https://youtu.be/QgFXOYsJIF4

 

Yeah, who do they think they are? Harley-Davidson?

 

Remember, the mechanic sees about $20-$25 of the $98. The rest pays for the pretty building, the service manager, the service writer, and other people who don't actually work on cars.

 

In our area (North NJ), hourly rates can be 50% higher than that, especially at high-end dealerships.



Both local Honda dealers DO provide donuts, coffee, and free wifi. Arrive HUNGRY. LOL

<BURP>

 

Now that's a racket. Charging that much for service of something that unreliable