Dealership maintenance costs

Tomorrow my oldest daughter and I are servicing her 2011 Toyota Corolla (transmission service, spark plugs, air filter, cabin air filter, oil change) and "passing the torch"... so to speak.

One of my co-workers has a Subaru Impreza and stated his oil changes were 79.00. He is 24 years old and never performed oil changes or service. This got the ball rolling. Within three months he is now doing his own oil changes and now differentials.

This got me thinking about what I save and the headaches. I made some calls and it blew my mind....

2022 Subaru Crosstrek Limited 2.5

Oil change- 110.00 (5 qts and spin on filter)
Rear differential- 180.00 (1 qt)
Front diff/CVT- 675.00 (4-4.5 qts)
Spark plugs- 485.00 (4 plugs)
Struts- 1600.00

The spark plugs are a bit of a PITA to do on a boxer motor, but not 485.00 worth. The dealership told me the battery and air box had to come out. Then the motor mounts had to be removed and engine lifted. I know for a fact the motor does not need to be lifted.

I just did the rear diff for 7.55 using AMSoil.
The engine oil changed was 45.00 using AMSoil and a WIX filter. I also installed a Fumoto drain valve for 26.00.

2011 Toyota Corolla S 1.8L automatic transmission

Oil change- 80.00 (5 qts/filter)
Transmission drain and fill- 240.00 (~4 qts) and this transmission has a dipstick to check level.
Spark plugs- 400.00 (4 plugs)

I picked up at Toyota:
4 qts of ATF WS 58.00
4 spark plugs 62.00
5 qts Mobil 1 oil/ 1 oil filter 35.00

Anyone that has ever worked on a 4 cylinder Toyota motor, the spark plugs don't get any easier than that. 400.00? Seriously??!!!

Same with the transmission. You remove drain plug, drain ~3.7 qts out and refill from the dipstick tube. A child could do this (and mine will tomorrow).

2016 GMC 3500HD diesel

Oil Change- 179.00 (this is with DEF fill)
Diffs & Transfer case- 480.00
Allison full flush (which is not recommended by allison) 327.22 I have a larger capacity (1 gallon) pan so it would be more.
Fuel Filter- 220.00

These services are totally different from my last "quote" of 1600.00 for the same services. 1206.00 is still ridiculous. Now the oil change would be under 100.00 if I didn't do the DEF fill since the dealership uses super duper super secret DEF fluid for 25.00 per gallon (you can buy 2.5 gallons for 10.00).
I just did 2.5 gallons of AMSoil with a WIX filter for 85.20. Now if I used rotella T-6 full synthetic this oil change would be 75.00.
The differential change I did with AMSoil was 121.00 and is one of the easiest services you can do on a truck. No diff covers to remove with easy access.
The transmission service I just did was 3 gallons of fluid and spin on filter. 140.00. Fill from dipstick, warm up, check level. Not overly hard.
Fuel filter in factory location is just a spin on that costs 25.00. Really? 220.00? I run two 2 micron fuel filters (one in factory location and the other is an external aftermarket lift pump with fuel/water separator filters.) This usually costs 55.00 for two CAT Filters.

Guess I should check on prices every 5 years or so. Mind Blown....

 

The maintenance on my daughter's car went pretty good.

Tools needed (missing the 10 mm Allen wrench)



We need to get her some coveralls. Wearing Dads shirts is a bit much.



Pretty sure these are not 20k miles worth of wear on these plugs.



She couldn't believe how easy this was to perform and the cost savings.

So far:

New sealed battery, sanded and painted corroded hold down. 139.00

New radiator cap 20.00

New Denso spark plugs 64.00

3 qts ATF WS fluid 47.00

New full sized spare/tire 157.00 (didn't charge her for that. Just regular maintenance items).

Minus the wheel and tire, she performed all this maintenance for 271.00 vs 979.00.

Oh how they grow. Just seems like yesterday I started teaching her how to shoot her Buckmark .22 at 10 years old and now about to get her license.

 

In the past 10 years at work, most of the "men" I was teamed up with didn't do their own maintenance. The one female I was teamed up with did...her husband didn't.

I have the money if needed to spend on a mechanic...but why?

Now if I had to swap a transmission out of my truck...no thanks.

 

I was on a Corolla site and will be buying an owners manual off eBay.

There's plenty of PDF downloads.

https://www.manua.ls/toyota/corolla-2010/manual


Canadian version

https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/servicemanuals/toyota/2020-corolla.pdf