Recently called dealer to inquire about
30k mile maintenance and was told this
would cost appr. $525.00 which seemed
excessive. Would appreciate any comments
agreeing or disagreeing. I have a 2000
protege ES with automatic transmission.

 

yep that sounds about right... Im not sure what mine is but that sounds like what it is for me... I think its ridiculous!!! I want to take care of my car and all but good gosh! They say its not mandatory that you pay for all that- you only have to get the oil changed... That is unless you purchased the damn extended warranty like me and then you have to get all that done or else it voids the extended warranty that YOU end up paying for!! Money suckers! If I would have known that this is what would have happened I would have saved myself some money and went w/ out the extended warranty!!!!!

 

Wait a minute!
I have a pro 1.6l SE and I got the extended warranty.
I recently did my 25k oil change and they tried to make me take a brake cleaning and a winter crap inspection.? I didn't take any of these, only the oil change. Does that mean that it voids my extended warRanty???

 

i dont know about all of your warranties but i have had a couple extended warranties in the past and currently have one on my protege and NOWHERE in it does it say anything about that. i think as long as you change the oil and MAYBE the timing belt thats all that is required!!! so take a look at it i just did to make sure!!!

 

Don't go by what the dealer recommends. They are there to make a profit. Follow maintenance procedures in the car's user manual. You'll find it in the glove box for those that have never looked. You should be able to take your car to any general repair or maintenance facility and have the 30k work done for probably half what the dealer wants. And you won't be wasting your money on needless services.

 

If I'm not mistaken, in the book, the 30K mile inspection is the longest page in the book. And my 30k inspection was around $400.00. They tear out the recent mileage inspection page everytime they service my car. They said this helps them know what they did and what needs to be done.

 

no it only voids your extended warranty when your extended warranty is in effect... so when your extended warranty begins to go into effect- that is when you MUST do the scheduled maintainences... (sp?) If you dont do them then- thats when it is voided... Atleast that is what my dealer's policy is.. and it freakin bites!

 

Does it say you have to take it to them to get the work done?

 

Suspected that the 30k maint is a dealer
profit generator. In the meantime I
found an interesting link on edmunds
www.edmunds.com/products/maintguide/index.html
that was interesting. The estimated cost is
half if what dealer wanted.

 

That was a pretty intresting site. I changed my plugs, oil, I got a k&n filter, that cost me less then 50 bucs. Thats with synthetic oil and iradium plugs. 500 is krazy.