Today i did some annual maintenance of my Toyota Corolla CE 2001 with 68 K mileage25pt. inspection
oil change & filter
Lubricate chasis
Inspect & adjust Brakes
Replace air filter, Fuel Filter
Replace Spark plugs
Cooling System Service & Automatic Transmission Service
Induction Service & Certified Road Test
Replace Rear brake shows & Adjust Systen
Resurface rear drums
This costed me 452$. Can anybody tell me are these reasonable charges???
$425 - NO. A little on the high side but it also depends on your area. In comparision - my dealership charges about $600 for the same service you have detailed here. Unfortunantely, less than hailf are actually neccessary or required, the rest is charged as "labor" or other - extra money for the dealership.
Couple of things I would like to point out - some items on the vehicle do not need to be serviced, especially with the miles you have on the vehicle. I'll put my comments in-line to each item.
25pt. inspection - waste of time, pure profit for dealership, they should itemized exactly which 25 points they were looking at.
oil change & filter - a good thing to do, should be no more than $20-$30 (should be itemized on the work order)
Lubricate chasis - scam / doubtful, our generation of Corolla has NO greasable fitting anywhere on the suspension (fully sealed from the manufacturer)
Inspect & adjust Brakes - same thing as inspection, but a little more important
Replace air filter, Fuel Filter - air filter OK, fuel filter does NOT need to be replaced under normal circumstances. I hope that you asked for your old parts back - as they have to remove the backseat to get at the fuel filter. Might be some frivolous charges tacked on here.
Replace Spark plugs - your car does NOT need sparkplugs at this time - OEM Iridium plugs are good up to 120K miles. Even worse case scenario, pretty hard to burn them up faster unless there was some serious issues with the ignition system or engine.
Cooling System Service & Automatic Transmission Service - both are good to have at this point, but it depends on how the service was itemized. Should be simple drain and refill for both - anywhere it says "flush", would be unnecessary work/labor for this mileage.
Induction Service & Certified Road Test - depends on what was serviced: did they clean the throttle body? clean the intake manifold? Changing the air filter can be counted as induction service for some. Road test = make sure they didn't screw up something. Might be some frivolous charges tacked on here.
Replace Rear brake shows & Adjust Systen - I'd like to see the work order on this. Rear brakes on a FWD car last a significantly long time, since most of the work is done by the front brakes. I'd be quite surprised if the rear shoes were worn at this point, parking brake adjustment may be needed if you do not use your parking brake on a regular basis (self-adjusting system).
Resurface rear drums - Again, I'd like to see the work order on this. I've not seen ONE case where they had to cut the rear drums at this low mileage. Even in a case where the owner accidentally drove with the parking brake engaged long enough to start trailing a smoke screen. Shoes were cooked but the drums were still OK. Some dealerships consider "freshening" the drums with a piece of sandpaper a resurfacing job - frivolous charges tacked on here.
All in all - I'd say they probably did about $150 amount of "actual" work on the car - I'd double check the work order and total every line item to make sure they didn't tag anything else on, like fuel system service (add a can of fuel injector cleaner to the tank - charge you about $50 - happened to my folks).
As for the appropriate amount of service needed - follow the links on the Toyota main website to Owner services and follow the links to Scheduled maintenance. Listed below are what is necessary for a 2001 Corolla with 60K miles / 48 months
2001 Corolla
60,000 Miles - 48 Months
- Replace engine oil and oil filter
- Replace engine air filter
- Replace engine coolant
- Rotate tires
Inspect the following: (NOTE: most of these are probably covered under their "25 point inspection")
Ball joints and dust covers
Brake lines and hoses
Brake linings/drums and brake pads/discs
Differential oil
Drive belts
Drive shaft boots
Engine valve clearance
Exhaust pipes and mountings
Fuel lines and connections, fuel tank band and fuel tank vapor vent system hoses
Fuel tank cap gasket
Steering gear box
Steering linkage and boots
Transmission fluid or oil
Additional Maintenance Items for Special Operating Conditions:
Driving on Rough, Muddy or Snow-Melted Roads
- Inspect nuts and bolts on chassis and body
Towing a Trailer or Using a Camper or Car-Top Carrier
- Inspect nuts and bolts on chassis and body
- Replace automatic transmission fluid
- Replace differential oil
- Replace manual transmission oil
BASICALLY - they only should have done:
- Replace engine oil and oil filter
- Replace engine air filter
- Replace engine coolant
- Rotate tires
THAT IS IT. Transmission service is a good idea, but not 100% necessary unless you fall under the Special Operating Conditions. Even so, it is a just a simple drain and refill. $20 in Toyota brand ATF and $1 for the drain bolt gasket.