Ripoffs and Airplanes
I don't know why I keep doing this. I had my truck serviced at the local Toyota dealership on Saturday, and it only cost me $279.95! What a bargain, you say!
Hold up now. Sure, I had 30,000 miles, so it was time for a somewhat major tuneup, more than just a quickie oil change. The part that bugs me though is what they actually do vs. what they "inspect." They actually replaced a lot of scary sounding things, like part number 17801-0P010, "Element Sub-assy Ai". Google, however, comes through and reveals it's not - it's the air filter. I replaced it once already - it's 2 snaps, not even a mere screwdriver required. And I got it for $31.95 too, what a bargain! (It was something like $12.95 plus shipping when I bought it previously.)
It gets better. "88508-01010 Filer Sub-Assy, Air" sounds menacing - what if it were "cabin air filter" - and if I had already seen that before and cleaned it with a shop vac? Another bargain at $32.95. Have I mentioned that the labor charge on this invoice isn't itemized, and therefore includes these wonderful replacements, which would have taken all of 15 minutes myself?
Those two parts were the most expensive ones on the whole thing. Of course, there's the little ones, like oil, oil filter, etc. But even if they were overpriced, they weren't much anyways, a few bucks here and there. I'll pay for convenience.
It's things like this that make me wish I was more mechanically inclined. I have a feeling that I could have spent $60 on parts plus another $30 on the service manual and done this myself. I could not have done a tire rotation, but I also get those for free at the tire shop.
I know, I know, you're not just paying for the time of the shop workers, but for their expertise too. That doesn't change how they get you (read: sucker you) into their shop - if you don't pay for their super-special service, they specifically note it on your service records, and say that it could affect your ability to get your vehicle repaired under said warranty. Sure sounds like backmail to me.
My next service, at 35,000 miles, is the last one before my bumper-to-bumper warranty is up at 36,000 miles. After that, I plan on continuing to follow the maintenance schedule suggested by the manufacturer. Things like the spark plugs that were replaced, which I really don't know how to do, can be done by a shop, but others, like measly air filters that take all of 2 minutes each, will be done by myself, thank you very much.
In a totally unrelated note, I dragged Leigh Ann to the Camarillo Air Expo today. Definitely worth the $14 for both of us, as we got to see a lot of the neat older planes doing flybys. I still think the Point Mugu air show is a tad more exciting due to the use of modern vs antique military aircraft, but this one still had a lot of neat different planes to see. Plus, some of the exhibits on the ground were kind of neat, like what I think was an Eclipse 500, a Diamond DA-40, and a bunch of other planes whose names I'll never be able to remember. I only took a few photos during some of the formation flying; I'll have to get them up here at some point
If nothing else, the expo made me continue to want to take flying lessons in the near future. Anybody want to loan me the money? :)
Anyway, enough for now. I'm still refining my "un-bucket list" which I hope to actually be happy with soon so that I can post it.