Ugggh. It’s the first breakdown we’ve experienced since we made the commitment to drive older cars and not upgrade every time we get a wild hair up our xxx. Last Thursday my wife called me on her way to work to say that many of the lights on the dashboard were stuck on and the car was making a funny noise. Luckily this happened about 50 yards from her “work” parking lot so she was able to get it parked. I was off last week so I loaded up my 4 year old daughter and drove down to take a look at the car.
When I got there I found that indeed some of the lights on the dashboard were on continually with the car running but the light I noticed most was the battery light. From my many years of working in my family’s auto parts store when I was younger I knew that the most likely suspect was the alternator. The alternator generates electricity to charge the battery when the car is running. The only thing that threw me for a bit of a curve was the fact that other lights on the dashboard were also on (like the door “ajar” indicators for all the doors etc). That made me worry that it could have possibly been an electrical short or something else.
I called AAA and had them send a tow truck (I love it when that pays off). While I was waiting for the tow truck, a AAA technician showed up to see what the problem might be. He used a multimeter and tested the output of the alternator. It was only showing 12 volts which was a pretty good indicator that the alternator was toast. The tow truck showed up and hauled the car down to the closest Honda dealer. Yes, I dread getting my car serviced at a factory dealership because the prices tend to be higher than other repair shops but I do like the quality of the parts and labor that they have so that’s where I took it. The one error was that I should have had them tow it to the dealership we bought it from way back in 2000.
My daughter and I followed the tow truck to the dealership and once the car was unloaded, we went in to speak with the service dept. They said they’d diagnose the issue and give me a call. At about 2:00 they called to say that it was the alternator and I would need to pay for the $95 diagnosis. When we dropped it off he had said that if it was something easy like the alternator, I could expect a $47 diagnosis charge. When he called at 2:00 he also said that the cost would be $620 for the repair, plus the diagnosis. I said, “Are you kidding me?”. He assured me he was not so I told him not to do any further work and I’d call him back. I then called another Honda dealer and asked for a quote to have the alternator replaced. Their quote was a full $240 cheaper. I wrote down the part number of the generator they were going to sell me and called back the dealership that had my car. The conversation went like this”
Me: “Hi John, You are killing me.”
John: “Uhh, what do you mean?”
Me: “How is it that you are a full $240 more expensive than the other local Honda dealer? It’s the same parts and they quoted me less labor to install it as well. It appears that I’m single handedly paying for your dealership remodel” (Their dealership is all torn up and is being remodeled right now)
John: “Which dealership was that?”
Me: “XXX Honda that’s about 10 miles from your place. Here is the part number as well”
John: “Let me talk to my manager and I’ll call you back”
Me: “Okay, call me back”
About 30 minutes later he called me back to say that he had called the dealership and their price was about the same. I said, “You need to call them again. I guarantee that they quoted me this price and I’ll drive the car down there if it comes to that.” Finally, he called me back and said that they would do the work for the same price. Amazing. Had I not “called” them on their quote and checked with their competitor, I would have had to pay over $240 more for the same work. Ridiculous really. As I was sitting in the service lobby, I could hear other service writers telling people how much they charged for various repairs and I was convinced that they were marking up their service much higher than they should have.
Needless to say, I won’t be going back again. We picked up the car and it’s functioning properly again. I’m hoping that it is truly fixed and we don’t experience any recurring problems with it. Uggh. In the future, I’ll go to the dealership that was straight with me from the start. I should have my head examined for not going there this time.
On a completely separate note, I hope you have a Happy New Year!!!! We finished the kitchen and bathroom at our lake house so we are very close to getting the final inspection. I CAN’T WAIT!!
Brooke says
It sounds like the maintenance dudes are trained at the same place the salesmen are trained…”let me talk to my manager…”. Ha! He meant, “Let me go eat a ham sandwich and call you back with an exorbitant price”!
I’m glad to hear your car is running again. That’s always a relief.
MattJ says
I’ve never replaced an alternator in an Accord, but the GM cars I’ve had were always a cinch to replace the alternators in.
$80-120 for the alternator and almost no work at all. Take off a belt (hardest part, if it’s serpentine, as they tend to be nowadays) and pull three bolts. Put in new alternator, replace bolts, replace belt, done.
Unless Honda has hidden their alternators as deeply as possible (unlikely, given that they’re driven by a belt) and they’re made of solid silver, you’re getting hosed on parts, labor, and diagnosis, even with the lower price. I amazed that the first guy had the stones to push back after you told him you found it cheaper elsewhere.
Consider DIY on such simple car-tasks…
aggressive saver says
call me a cynic, but it’s possible that the other dealer was giving you a low ball price to entice to you bring the car in to them. then they got their hooks in you. hope you don’t have any other issues with the car . . . and that i’m mistaken about the other dealer.
Hazzard says
Yes, Matt, I considered doing it. Having been in the auto parts business (family business), my whole childhood, I’ve replaced a few alternators (as well as just about every other part on the engine) but I just didn’t have the time. I was watching my daughter while my wife was working and then we had plans to come out and work on the lake house so I just needed to get it done. I looked at it and it wouldn’t have been too tough. You are right, the hardest part would have been the serpentine belt.
Aggressive Saver,
Yeah, I’m also very suspicious. I know that I could expect to pay somewhere around $350 or so, so I knew that lower price was still steep, but it was genuine Honda parts so I decided to just get it done.
Money Blue Book says
Knowledge is power…I never trust repair technicians and always do my own due diligence before committing to a price.
Shady!!
adalberto @ us government car auctions says
Thanks for the interesting post. I usually try research to see how much the part would cost. I look forward to reading more from you in the future.