Shop around for service?

[Bryan Canter]

For the first time in my life I have a choice of three dealerships
where I can take my car for service. I just made an appointment with
one and they said the 37,500 miles service would cost me $140. (Its a
2000 Accord, BTW). I remember seeing a higher price at another Honda
shop so I was expecting it to be a little closer to $200. That is why
I asked them what they would do and the lady was nice enough to read
out an entire list of activities over the phone. It seemed
comprehensive enough though I could not match it with the other shop.
In fact she mentioned a "wash and wax" in the end which I am pretty
sure the old shop did not include.

This raised an Orwellian question in my head: are some Honda shops
really more equal than the others? Should I think about calling
the third shop and asking them for a price and list of activities?

Regards,
bc

 

[Bill B. Johnson]

For the first time in my life I have a choice of three dealerships
where I can take my car for service. I just made an appointment with
one and they said the 37,500 miles service would cost me $140. (Its a
2000 Accord, BTW). I remember seeing a higher price at another Honda
shop so I was expecting it to be a little closer to $200. That is why
I asked them what they would do and the lady was nice enough to read
out an entire list of activities over the phone. It seemed
comprehensive enough though I could not match it with the other shop.
In fact she mentioned a "wash and wax" in the end which I am pretty
sure the old shop did not include.

This raised an Orwellian question in my head: are some Honda shops
really more equal than the others? Should I think about calling
the third shop and asking them for a price and list of activities?

Regards,
bc

It never hurts to shop around. In my town we don't have that many choices.
The only Honda mechanic--other than dealership mechanics--has so many
customers that it takes forever for him to get around to working on my
car. I now just go to the dealership.