He said that The water pump needed to be replaced ($675)
I'd wager that this quote is for the timing belt and water pump at the same time and at this mileage, they are both due. Not really out of line. Neither are the brake quotes. As for the air filter housings, I can't see the car but I have seen them damaged but know-nothing yobbos in under the hood monkeying around. The fact is a seven year old car, any seven year old car, is going to need some work to keep in on the road. The Civic is a good car and at 128,000 km it has a lot of life left in it.
.timing belt and water pump at the same time!
Industry standard for any car using a timing belt. The pump may not be leaking but it may leak soon after the belt is replaced so you may as well do it while you are in there. The extra cost is small and the potential cost of having to do it again large. I wound not do the water pump on the first timing belt change here in the mild West Coast of the owner could provide proof of the appropriate coolant flushes but in Alberta, absolutely for sure.
I also agree that Honda gouges on their services. The "inspections" are a complete rip off. I have never had them done. Whenever an advisor tries to sell them to me I tell him, "Well, I'll go into your shop and look myself for free, ok?"
No vehicle runs forever without service. Wheel cylinders are a wear and tear item. Their wear can be reduced if the brake fluid is replaced at the three year interval that Honda recommends. However, in my experience, brake fluid flushes are about the hardest thing to get customers to do. It only costs $100 or so and this is way cheaper than replacing calipers or wheel cylinders.
I also agree with Cord and the other poster at the same time. GM invented the term "stealership." Mr Goodwrench is Mr Goodripoff. When I was at GM we charged $600+ for pad and rotors on the Malibu and at Chrysler we charged $340 all in for the same job in a Grand Cherokee. In my experience, a good dealership does much better work than an indie. They have the product knowledge and OEM parts. For example, my '04 Civic recently had front pads at the dealership which cost me $128 all in. They tried to sell me rotors but they were not under thickness and nor would I have them machined. The new brakes squeaked for 500km while the pads set in. Big deal! I wouldn't get my hands dirty for that price.
As for service advisors, their level of greed is very much set by the dealership. The Chrysler shop I worked for had a policy of treating customers fairly and competing with indie shops. We had an excellent relationship with our customers. The problem we had was Chrysler product, especially the Grand Cherokee, went down the crapper after 1999. The GM store I worked for was complete and total larceny on a grand scale. Once a retail customer had their treatment, they rarely came back.
Commonly, when at a dealer service dept., I see someone heaping sh%t on a service advisor about something relatively silly, and I think to myself, I'm sure that service advisor is really going to go the extra mile for that wanker
If a customer gives an advisor a hard time, that extra mile is not given. I could write my own "Cord's believe it or not" about auto service. I had a woman rant at me to two days in person and on the phone because her tires were worn out and she wanted free ones under warranty. Neither the car nor the tires were under warranty and she didn't understand what a "power train" warranty was. I could write a book. These types end up costing themselves a lot more in tow bills and rental cars, I know that from experience. Loaner cars for oil changes were a popular theme for example......
People love cars but they hate fixing them. They all get fixed at time or another. Water pumps and wheel cylinders eventually get replaced on every car ever built. It is ultimately up to the customer to educate themselves and to READ THE MANUAL. When a car gets to the mileage the original poster mentions, they need some wear and tear work. But really, women are marks in the business, they are known as "A woman with a Visa card." Women need to protect themselves by 1) reading the owner's manual and following the scheduled maintenance requirements and 2) educating themselves to know at least the basics of how a car works.
