I have several friends in the business, and it's pretty common knowledge that the goal of a dealer, or chain repair facility, is to get you in the door and upsell you everything you are willing to accept. For example, I just took a late model CRV to the dealer to address two serious issues, both remain unresolved. However, the service "advisor" was in the waiting room twenty minutes after I got there. During that time frame, a mechanic got the car up in the air to hunt for "billable hours" He had a written estimate to address several issues. first the car missed a B.S, 10K service interval. This is nothing but bringing the car in for an overpriced, needless, visual inspection. Second the car "needed" a new engine and cabin air filter. My cost on these parts is $14, and there is no way in hell either is needed at this point. Last, the brake rotors are pretty crusty from a horribly toxic winter here in the northeast. They legitimately need to be removed and resurfaced on a brake lathe. The dealer offered to "clean" the brake system as part of his $275 quote, but would not confirm that they were going to machine the rotors. Doing this work myself would involve a weekend morning, including shuffling the rotors to the machine shop and back, and a total cost of $75 dollars. Ordering premium parts from Rockauto.com, I could replace the filters, rotors and pads, with all premium grade parts, for less than the dealer wants for their rather non-specific maintenance.
The fact that any car gets serviced at a big chain can be a concern. Mechanics at these places are sort of like the old saying, "I doubt he quit medical school to take this job" As in, if you have top flight skills you are either in a well regarded independent shop, or at a dealer. The knuckle draggers end up at places where oil changes are $19.95, and they are not allowed to rotate a tire without senior management triple checking their work. I once did a full brake job on a neighbor's SUV, just to prove that a big chain with a "lifetime" guarantee was screwing him. They got him for $900 for a full service, then another $4-500 a year later, since all the rotors were shot, and they were not covered. Oddly enough, if you use rock hard, severe duty pads and the cheapest, softest, lowest grade Chinese rotors you can find, the pads will last forever, and you can charge the customer half a grand to put four $10 rotors on, every year.
The best way around this is to find a high grade independent shop. The cartalk.com site has great referrals for trusted mechanics. On there I found a super travelling repair guy, who showed up several times at my daughter's university to repair her car, in the parking lot. doesn't get any better than that!
Finally, for many fascinating, and very unmustachian reasons, recommended maintenance schedules, per car manufacturers, has become a bit of a fraud lately. To the point that, in order to create the delusion that the things are basically maintenance free, they are simply claiming that things can simply be ignored. Transmission maintenance is a great example. Many are now dipstick free and sealed. IMHO, it's a crock. We have successfully driven many vehicles into the ground with very little repair involved. that said, they get every fluid and filter changed on a two year rotation, including differentials, brakes, trans and coolant. When you own trucks used in construction, and never spend a dime on things like frozen calipers and replacing transmissions, it really starts to add up. I had competitors who swore that my pick-ups were junk since they couldn't get 60K out of the trans. Funny I never spent a dime repair one, and they went several times as far? A $3-500 maintenance bill, every two years, beats a $3K transmission every time, but for some reason I doubt 1% of all vehicle out there get this level of care.
