$400 oil change

[DUROC]

Had my first oil change at 950 miles. Serviced at the dealership that sold me the car. Filter $34, 10 quarts oil $86, 3 hours labor (!) $280 =$400.
Is that typical or did they charge me for not knowing how to do it?

 

[B O N Y]

Did he kiss you and rub you with oil before presenting this bill. Foreplay is good before phucking. You paid double. I would talk to the service manager. You were screwed :thumbsdow

 

[Red Rocket]

Had my first oil change at 950 miles. Serviced at the dealership that sold me the car. Filter $34, 10 quarts oil $86, 3 hours labor (!) $280 =$400.
Is that typical or did they charge me for not knowing how to do it?

My tech guy took nearly three hours for the first oil change (at 400 miles) but he purposely took his time, researching each step via the on-line manual at Ford; and he used only hand tools. Because of this, he charged me only 1 hour labor. So perhaps the good news is that your tech was careful; but the bad news is he charged for the experience. That's just bad business.

Also FYI, before I even let the dealer turn a wrench on our car, I "interviewed'' the service manager to get a clear indication of their policies, abilities and eagerness to work on the car. I also laid down - politely- my ground rules and expectations. Ever since then my experience has been 100% great. I suggest others take the same approach.

 

[Neilda]

Hi Red - I spotted you posted an amusing comment on the GT40 website about our colour choice!

I rarely visit that site as they don't seem to like the Ford GT very much - some do, the majority prefer their kits.

Hope you're well.

Neil

 

[Red Rocket]

Big Neil! Thanks. I don't visit there much either - too slammed by work + addiction to this forum! Plus, seems a more well-rounded group here, esp. when it comes to open-mindedness regarding other marques. I'm devoted to the GT, thus my rants against C&SC and others who slag the car UNFAIRLY, but having had a few cars in my past I know that none are *better*, just different. And they all have their quirks. If we can only train the techs and dealers then we can usually get the small bugs ironed out easily.

One thing about this forum - definitely more positive overall and the caliber of people participating is amazing. Some real 'car Einsteins' patrolling these shores. Top notch people from both sides of the Atlantic. :thumbsup

 

[barondw]

Had my first oil change at 950 miles. Serviced at the dealership that sold me the car. Filter $34, 10 quarts oil $86, 3 hours labor (!) $280 =$400.
Is that typical or did they charge me for not knowing how to do it?

It takes a long time to remove the belly pans and replace them in addition to changing the oil.

3 hours labor is reasonable, the labor rate seems a bit high for a Ford dealership but if that's their price .....that's their price.

Dave

 

[fjpikul]

I got my first oil change at 1K free, as did many of us. 3 hours seems like a long time. 1-1 1/2 is more like it.

 

[Nardo GT]

Had my first oil change at 950 miles. Serviced at the dealership that sold me the car. Filter $34, 10 quarts oil $86, 3 hours labor (!) $280 =$400.
Is that typical or did they charge me for not knowing how to do it?

Bought my own Ford 5w50 Full Synthetic(9qts for $57.78) plus a Motorcraft filter ($19.71) and the Ford dealer charged me $75.00 labor and it took the tech 2-3 hrs as I waited. Total of $152.49.

 

[DUROC]

Discussed this with service manager who said, "Yes, I'm comfortable with that bill. It took all that time to remove the valence -- 40 bolts -- and drain the oil at three points." That plus what some of you have told me leads me to retreat from being pissed off. Labor rates are high in the New York suburbs -- can't be helped.
Thanks for your good advice.

 

[nota4re]

Bought my own Ford 5w50 Full Synthetic(9qts for $57.78)

You may want to think about adding that last .5 quart. (Spec calls for 9.5 qts after filter/oil change.)

 

[Nardo GT]

Thanks

You may want to think about adding that last .5 quart. (Spec calls for 9.5 qts after filter/oil change.)

Yes, I am aware of that and I did purchase an extra quart for $6 and some change.......but when divisible by two (for 2 half quarts or 2 oil changes) I didn't figure I would mention the extra $3........you guys are very sharp...so effectively my total cost is closer to $156.00. Sure wish I had gotten one of those free first oil changes I keep seeing mentioned here. Must be a dealer "thing" and not a Ford "thing".

 

[tiger 6]

Interesting stuff here. I had my 1st oil change done last month at 2700 miles. Ford dealer had not worked on a GT before-had only sold 2 out of state[Va.]. Tech was young kid who, I was told, had been to the GT school.
Asked him when he attended and for how long. Turned out he watched a DVD at the dealership for 2 hours. He was, nonetheless, very careful with the car, let me stay with him while he did the work etc.
Took us ~ 2.5 hours to finish. Cost break down was:
.Labor-$130.00
.Filter-$36.24
.10 quarts of oil-$177.10

.Total-$343.34

Need to find a place to pick up the oil and filter for less.

 

[bigdan40]

Interesting stuff here. I had my 1st oil change done last month at 2700 miles. Ford dealer had not worked on a GT before-had only sold 2 out of state[Va.]. Tech was young kid who, I was told, had been to the GT school.
Asked him when he attended and for how long. Turned out he watched a DVD at the dealership for 2 hours. He was, nonetheless, very careful with the car, let me stay with him while he did the work etc.
Took us ~ 2.5 hours to finish. Cost break down was:
.Labor-$130.00
.Filter-$36.24
.10 quarts of oil-$177.10

.Total-$343.34

Need to find a place to pick up the oil and filter for less.

Tiger, the cartridge price is about right but I can't figure out the 17 bucks per quart of oil! You can get the oil from any Ford dealer for about half that cost. maybe 10 bucks a quart at worst. At least your tech did not damage the middle pan like mine did. They were nice about it though and made good for it...Dan

 

[FordGTGuy]

mechanics are not aloud to be paid more then what the job is apposed to take. You were cheat. :frown

 

[JAM-GT]

Oil change charge

I just had my first oil change at 2K miles here in the Seattle area. The final charge was for $418.82 ($350.00 plus tax and misc. shop fee). I was a little surprised because one of the other forum members had taken their car to the same place and got their oil changed for under $170 under a "special program". They didn't know anything about a "special program" when I asked.

 

[Big Carrot]

My first oil change was $60 or so, I think. They misquoted me on the phone and stood by their price.

 

[FordGTGuy]

on a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is it to do an oil change personaly?

 

[Big Carrot]

I watched when they did mine, and it looked to me like a time consuming 2.

 

[Specracer]

Hardest part is getting under the car. Once that is solved (either lift or you can use a stack of 2 x 12 boards and create a ramp), approx 25 t-25 screws to remove (take off the diffuser) 3 drain plugs, one filter. EASY, but just takes time.......

 

[KJD]

Interesting stuff here. I had my 1st oil change done last month at 2700 miles. Ford dealer had not worked on a GT before-had only sold 2 out of state[Va.]. Tech was young kid who, I was told, had been to the GT school.
Asked him when he attended and for how long. Turned out he watched a DVD at the dealership for 2 hours. He was, nonetheless, very careful with the car, let me stay with him while he did the work etc.
Took us ~ 2.5 hours to finish. Cost break down was:
.Labor-$130.00
.Filter-$36.24
.10 quarts of oil-$177.10

.Total-$343.34

Need to find a place to pick up the oil and filter for less.

You can PM 92NSX or call him at 1-800-342-9940 (his name is Maurice) -- he'll sell you the Motorcraft 5w-50 for $7.50/qt. He'll also sell the Ford filter for $25 but www.germanfilters.com sells the exact same Mann filter for less than $5 each.