How many wires could they have chewed and not affected your drive there? Only you know your dealer, but it smells a little fishy at first whiff.
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What can I say. We only have one dealer/service in town. I could drive 50 miles to large city.
I’m reading my service bill right now. Clean/ Disinfect Engine Bay Area/ Splash Shield/ And Engine Line: Labor $425. Total Line $425.
45K mile Service Total Bill $1094.95 + ordering part $350 (window washer spray big tubing part broken). should be here by 10/2. Total close to $1500.
Lol the garage must love you.
Is that a multipoint inspect and oil change on the actual manufacturer service schedule?
Edit: it’s a little unclear if she is including part of the extra damage repairs under the $1094 or JUST the “45k mile service”.
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Yes it is the manufacture service schedule. I have a Lexus book with regularly scheduled services. This is both, 45k miles which originally quoted $645. The rest of the bill includes cleanup of rodent wreck. They are ordering the extra broken part $350 extra. So maybe this bill is not outrageous.
My question is more what is in the manual for 45k miles. Did you pay $645 for just an oil change, tire rotation, and multipoint inspection? (And assorted “additives” from the dealer that the manufacturer advises against.) There could be other irregular schedule maintenance things like brake service, but usually those aren’t lumped into a “XXk mi service” line item. Could be brake fluid (but 45k seems like an odd time for something like that to be due, unless there’s maybe something every 15k), dunno your specific model (the manual specifies suggested regular maintenance…)
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On the bill I don’t see anything about brake fluid listed. My husband is really not a car maintenance man. Too bad. We go along with the service repair person & pay the bill. 
well yeah, at this point it’s done. Figuring out what you are paying for is a step before agreeing to the services.
I thank you (you referring to group of similar people) for subsidizing the loss-leader oil changes and regular service on my vehicle.
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You’re paying over $400 to clean and “disinfect” your engine and another nearly $1100 for the 45k service.
Your engine does not need to be disinfected. DId they actually say “disinfect”? ?
iN any case clean/disinfect sounds like 30 minutes of probably unnecessary work.
Nearly $1100 for a 45k service seems very high. I don’t know what model your Lexus is but I checkd average cost of a 45k service on a GS350 and its around $300-400
The model might matter because for different service they migth do a lot more than just oil & filters. But not that much more. And even those prices are usually pretty inflated. My dealer wants like $300 for an oil change, filter change and tire rotation. Thats under $100 at the Quicklube place and free tire rotation at the tire place.
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You must have missed the point that my vehicle had rodent damage under hood. amount $425.
45k mile service + replacement parts $647.47 Total $1094.95 + order window washer attatchment $350.
Perhaps if I went to the Quicky Lube place, I could get a better deal??
My advice would be to run away from any garage or shop that advocates for universal mileage-based service like this.
Each vehicle has its own set of routine maintenance, much of which is time based, and some of which doesn’t need to be done if, say, the fluid looks clean. Brake fluid, for instance, is a 3 yr thing, typically regardless of mileage unless you put a ton of stress on your brakes.
As far as the rodent infestation - if the little buggers chewed through wires, they have two options to fix that. They can get a new wiring harness, or they can reconnect the wires using something like a butt splice. Depending on where it is, how much stress the connection might have, etc… the butt splice fix might be feasible and could fix the issue a lot more cheaply than running new cable.
You don’t need to be a car guy or gal to avoid getting trapped - just do whatever your manual tells you to do, based on time and mileage. Never buy a maintenance package.
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Sounds like good advice. Thanks sullim.
My Lexus is 10 yrs old, with 45.5k miles. I’ve followed all the regular service that’s called for in the manual. Probably why the service manager told me when I’m ready to sell, give him a call.
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Ouch, what brand is it?
I have a Honda now with full synthetic.
There’s definitely some in town that were over $100 for those three things and using their own additive for the oil, etc… I could probably find one stating a generic “10k miles service” that’s higher, but couldn’t imagine an oil change for several $100.
I paid $42 (city is large so about a dozen Honda dealers) at a dealer by looking for a few minutes online then calling to verify cost with synthetic. (Online had only partial synthetic with rotate, fluids top off, and inspect for $30. And they usually say “gas engines only” on the adverts ).
Previous Ford was dirt cheap at the same dealer group. Post cards every 3-6 months for $9.99 oil change, ~$14 including fees. Every time they’d print out a nonsense booklet of hilarious “suggested based on miles” service items and attach to the inspection though… Its comical when they say it needs specific services that can’t even be done on the specific model.
I’m annoyed my new Honda will need what seems like frequent brake fluid changes 
Its a Toyota. Its just the dealers standard pricing thing for the standard service. Yhes its way more expensive then it should be, and thats how they make money. They do have deals and coupons and they aren’t too pushy though. And now that I think of it I don’t remember for sure if it was $300 or maybe only $200… just “way too expensive” vs what an oil change, filter change tire rotation should cost.
I caught the bit about the rodent damage.
Was the $425 to “clean / disinfect” or to “repair rodent damage”?
You said “clean /disinfect”
It is not necessary to "disinfect’ an engine compartment. Its usually not necessary to clean it. If there was debris in there then thats a legit reason to clean it out. But not a $425 bill.
If the $425 was not for “clean/disinfect” but instead for “damage repair” then tahts another matter.
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checked first four local toyota dealer websites. I can see it really be a problem if there is only a couple nearby dealers. Probably make sense to change my own oil if that were the case.
One has no oil change listed under service specials. Probably expensive.
Next expensive was 39.95 for oil change and inspection (separately, free). $100 for oil, tire rotation, wiper blades.
Next $45 ($55 synthetic) for oil, fluid topoff, rotate, inspect
Last $35 just oil change. $130 for oil change, tire rotation and engine air filter.
If she decides to fry an egg on her manifold, she’ll be glad it was disinfected from the rat droppings… 
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It’s fun to kid, but I have heard it’s common for rats/ squirrels/ mice to get into the air intake and die trapped by the cabin air filter. I’d try to clean that out really well…
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Dental hygiene and construction materials!
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I found one looking at me when I opened the hood. Scared the shit out of me.
Q: Is this a good time to sell my '11 Sonata?
Hertz is done dumping their inventory, for now. They got a very large BK loan, so I think they probably won’t need to shrink their fleet more but I wouldn’t want to be a HTZ shareholder the way this is going.
Hertz has recently met its target to sell approximately 180,000 vehicles, and as a result is pausing the car sales program including temporarily closing corporate retail locations