$550 30k Mile Service Rip-off at Gillman Mitsubishi !!
 

Gillman Mitsubishi of San Antonio charged my wife $550 for the 30k service on a 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS. She was in tears when she called me on her way home. I called the dealership, spoke to Ashley the service writer, then Richie the service manager, who both stated the service was expensive because the vehicle has a CVT transmission and required
"special equipment and fluid". I kept explaining that the XLS had a 6-speed automatic, that I was positive of this. Richie kept telling me that as of a couple years ago, "all Lancers and Outlanders have the CVT". After a few minutes of back and forth, he put me on hold. By then I was on the Mitsubishi website, and could see that only 4-cylinders had the CVT. When Richie came back, the story changed, the service was expensive because the dealer followed the "severe maintenance" schedule because I lived in Texas. I answered that the vehicle didn't tow anything, wasn't driven on dusty roads, didn't do a lot of stop and go traffic, that it did not fit any of the parameters for "severe maintenance". He replied that I could go to the other Mitsubishi dealer in San Antonio, that they did the same thing. He also said my spouse agreed to the servicing, and I said all she asked for was the 30k service, nobody give her an estimate of $550 for the "severe" schedule. His last remark was that it seemed I thought they didn't know what they were doing, and my last answer was if you can't even tell me what transmission is in one of your vehicles, it certainly makes me wonder. That terminated the conversation. I can only hope that I don't have transmission problems, they will probably try to replace
the 6-speed with a CVT. That would be interesting.
Thanks for letting me vent, I'm still in shock.
Gary, from La Vernia Texas.

Sorry to hear that, but "all she asked for was the 30k service" was a huge mistake. What did you (or she) expect? You should never EVER consent to anything without written estimate whether it's car repairs or a house repairs or anything else. This is a lesson I learned a while ago... Another lesson I learned is that my wife is capable to make the same mistake, so I usually pre-arrange things like that if I can't do it myself...

At this point once the service is done, there is not much you can do, but complain and hopefully they'll be kind enough to give you a discount of some sort. To be honest I don't even know how much the service costs for 30k, but mine will be coming up next year and I hope it will be less then that.

Big Two Mitsubishi in Mesa, AZ which is the dealership I deal with charges $273 for their 30K service. They have a brochure listing the prices and services performed at the various intervals. You may want to check with your dealer to see if they have a similiar brochure.

30k you basically need a tranny flush. Which should run around $150-$180. The complete 30k service will vary by dealer, but could also come with a full inspection, air filters, suspension grease, fluids, etc.

Did your dealer include paperwork that breaks everything down, or does it just say 30k service $550? When I get a service (oil change) done my paperwork breaks down what the oil cost, the filter, and misc shop supplies for example.

That sucks, and you should be very mad. Other than trying to cancel your payment to get them to fix it, the only thing I would do is go there in person and talk to the dealership manager since the service one is an idiot.

how is 550 expensive?
you get your oil changed.
You get a trans flush (and by the way, the 6 speed requires fluid thats 15 bucks a quart, and if flushed will need probably 12).
you get your coolant changed.
you get your rear diff oil changed.
you get your transfer case oil changed.
you get a new air filter.
you get a tire rotation and full brake inspection.

hell, you probably got a car wash.
550 is a good deal.

Reply to ManyBrews
 

ManyBrews, I understand your point about the amount of work that was done for $550, but my point is the vehicle wasn't due for much of this if Mitsubishi's "regular maintenance" schedule was followed versus the dealer's arbitrary decision that "all cars in Texas" get the "severe maintenance" service.
And no, they never bother to wash the vehicle. With today's tough economic conditions, most folks (like me) have a touch time shelling out this kind of money. I drive an Outlander, but it seems I'm paying Porsche Cayenne service prices.

I would DOUBT he got all this. Unless it says some where on a service statement. The service guy thought the car had a CVT for crying out loud. Who doesnt even know there own vehicles?

trust me, EVERY SINGLE CAR in america falls under the "severe maintenence schedule.

EVERY one.

this is exactly whats due at a "severe" schedule maintenance 30k.

and all the 4 cylinders DO have a CVT. so the service guy made a simple mistake... hes the mouthpiece, not the mechanic.

Another reply to Manybrews
 

Manybrews, from looking through some of your postings, you are a dominant figure on this forum. I looked at your profile, it lists you as a "Mitsubishi tech". Your statement that all vehicles in the US should fall under the "severe" maintenance schedule is illogical and contradicts what is in the owner's manual. I guess you must do your own work on your vehicles, and if so I applaud you for this, but the "average joe" like myself depends on the dealer to give us the proper service at a fair price. $550 for the 30k mile regular service on a Front-wheel-drive Outlander XLS is simply too much, I doubt anyone on this forum paid this much.
It appears I will not be able to make this point with you, and regrettably this is the last time I will sign on to this forum. I expected rational thought, but I'm not seeing it from you. Perhaps you should change your name to "TooManybrews".
Adios.

There is no such thing as “TooManybrews". :) (Unless you are driving!!!)
And yes, he was exaggerating about EVERY car in the US needing the “severe maintenance” schedule. Only about 97.2% of cars in the US need the “severe”, the other 2.8 are still sitting in the car lots.

Lol. Well he is just putting his oppinion out there, which is fair. So relax and take it with a grain of salt. If he wants to stick up for the dealer, so be it. I, on the other hand agree with you fully. The POINT is if the service guy thinks your V6 outtie has a CVT and then cops out on the "severe maintenance" schedule then nobody really knows what he did, didnt do, or charged you for. If my dealer charged me that I would want to know exactly what they did, with paper work backing it up. That way if something happened down the road (and it ended up that they didnt perform everything they said) then I could bring out that paper work. The thing is, is that if someone is in that position of management and cant tell you the 1st time exactly whats going on, then argues with you, and then changes his word, he obviously isnt doing a good job at ALL.

Yes, they should of gave you a estimate for the "30k service", and yes you should talk to the manager in person. If no resolution can be had, then tell them you'll never be back. Ya it doesnt help your case, but lets assume that if this happened to you then its happening to other people, and soon enough it will hurt their business/image. The owner or manager of the dealership, not service, should not put up with this and thats who you should speak with.

Ya, the guy might be a "mouthpiece", but then customer service would then be his job description...

PS: I agree though that your outtie would probably fall under the "severe maintenance" schedule, your in TX, which would fall into that category just like me in CO. Hot, cold, dry, humid, dusty, wet, whatever... if you have some of these then I'd go with it, its just a good idea. But if you dont want to, thats fine, up to you. But I do dissagree that "ALL" vehicles fall into this, there are places in the US that dont need this schedule.

Hopefully you will over look manybrews oppinions, and "dominant figure" lol. For a forum is only as good as all its contributors.

apparently you have no idea what it costs to own a car these days.

yes, any car in texas is under "severe" conditions. ANY OF THEM.
550 is NOT a lot. yeah, you had misinformation given to you, which sucks.

but if all this maintenance is that easy, you can always do it yourself.

Unfortunately Manybrews is 100% right. He's been a Mitsubishi Tech for 16 (is that right?) years now. I wouldn't question anything this man says.

Although I personally experienced some shady **** at that dealership. They had an EVO IX on the lot that I was looking at. When the guy saw me show up in the Lotus Elise he instantly said "Hey, we have a video of this car beating a Lamborghini around a track inside." I quickly explained that I knew exactly which video he was talking about, and the car in question was in fact an EVO FQ400, which is very different, and not even available in this country. He was astonished that I actually knew what I was talking about. I shut his ass up quick.

He was cool enough to let me do donuts/burnouts in the parking lot though.

The 30000km service in Norway
costs 1000$, so be happy you only have
to pay 550$.

I live in a region with 38 ºC average all year, hi relative humidity and TOO MUCH dust; my dealer suggested to me schelude service (12000 km/1 year), but according to which I saw in the last service about conditions oil and filters, myselft went to the schelude severe service (6000 km/6 months), and maybe, I will change coolant every year (the owner's manual says every 96000 km); so, I agree with Manybrews about this topic.

The best thing to do is to do nothing except oil and safety things. Or things that have to be done.

I have a Honda Civic that I have only done oil changes on since 77k miles. It has 211k on it now and still is humming away.

I probably have saved $5000. Over the life of a car you end up paying more then what you paid in it for maintanance.
________
herbalaire vaporizer

Get that civic some timing components before you destroy your motor.

pretty much the worst advice in the history of car ownership.

So if "every single car in America" falls under the severe service schedule, why do they have a "regular" service schedule?

I searched around for 30k maintenance price and it looks like 500 sounds about right. Out of curiousity I called my dealership and they said $400 + tax for regular 30k. Yes, you can do it cheaper by either doing things yourself or taking to mechanic Joe, but dealership's have overhead costs that's why any service costs an arm and a leg and listen to my advice in my first post.

Lesson learned
 

I'm glad that I ran across this thread. I know it sucks to have to pay so much for the 30k service, but it will go a long way having that service done by the dealer if you have any drivetrain/warranty issues. My outie is an investment, and I plan on doing things right (even though an oil change is 45.oo in Oahu, not like Littlerock where it was 21.00). 550.oo is not bad considering the prices of oils/lubes, waste fees and labor. Just make sure they did EVERYTHING stated in the work order that they did to make sure you did not get ripped off or charged for something they did not do. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, I would. Now, to set aside some money for my Outie's 30k service.

Rob

Buckmaster,
I have some info for you that hopefully will put you at ease.
First off, I too am about to get my 07 Outi xls 2WD serviced and recalled reading this thread a few days ago, reason is I have an issue with mine (see my recent post) and I too am at the 30k mile service and the Maintenance alert appears at startup. So after reading your post here I was starting to worry if I would get stung too as I have no faith at all with the Mitsu dealers around here. So I called up the local dealer here who I went to last time and was distinctly unimpressed with them, but since the next nearest dealer is 35+ miles away compared to 5miles I felt it would just make things easier to go back. The first thing I said was I have an 07 Outlander xls and he replied "The CVT!" I said No, and he insisted it was a CVT. I again insisted it was not and said v6 MIVEC, its NOT a CVT sir. So he kept quiet and then looked at his system and guess what his quote was??? $529 + tax. My guess is that'll round nicely up to $550. Just like yours. SO, as I had read up on this post I said to him, No I dont want a Severe maintenance I only need a regular and he BS'd me and said that at 30k it was due a severe service.
Anyway, I asked him what it entailed and he spewed out a few things so I wrote the jist of them down and relented and said book me in. I also mentioned the problem I have about the acceleration hesistating and asked if there were any recall notices and he said no, so I asked if they could check it and adjust/reprogram any computers which they said they'd look at. Call ended.
I then went to Mitsubishi's corp website and decided to see what info they had on scheduled maintenances and found this http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/j...ers/service.do in there you'll see 2 links - for regular and severe maintenance and they both detail what the service will do.
At the bottom of each of those 2 links you'll see the following;

If you experience any of the following, the Severe Maintenance schedule is for you. If not, follow the Regular Maintenance schedule.

50% of driving is done in heavy city traffic during hot weather.
Extensive idling and/or low speed operations (stop-and-go traffic).
Extended use of brakes while driving (stop-and-go traffic).
Repeated short trips with engine not fully warmed up, especially in freezing temperatures.
Dusty, rough, muddy, sandy, or salt-spread roads.
Vehicle is used for towing.

Now, I live outside of LA so although I do not have major hours of city drving I do sit in traffic in hot weather AND I do have a fair bit of stop and go on the brakes.
Admittedly, I am loathe to pay $550 for a maintenance but on the other hand IF these f**kers fix my acceleration problem and do everything on the list (I've printed it out and intend to check it against the itemised bill before and after they service it) then I'll be happy to have parted with my $550!!

Sorry you were upset with Manybrews' views but since others also are in the same boat as you hopefully it'll be of comfort that we would be willing to pay that amount considering its being done by the Mitsu dealership and it will give you some peace of mind that IF something does go wrong you can take it back to the dealership... Again, $550 is a lot but since its a good product (in my opinion) the money is worth paying to keep the car running as optimally and correctly as the maufacturer recommends.

Hope that helps
(P.S I will write up how the service went if that helps)

Not a recall
 

If you asked the service guy (most of whom seem to be ex-con fraudmen) about recalls, he's right, there are none. The Hesitation is a TSB, technical service bulletin. Check out the thread below. If yours has been done, there has to be a sticker under the hood to show the revision levels as this effects EPA and smog ratings of the vehicle. Print out the pictures and bring them with you...it helps.

https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=33732

Well I guess I have something to look forward to then when my 30k comes up. Even though im in San Antonio also I wont be going to Gillman as Westloop has always taken good care of me as this is my 2nd outlander.

I am sure that $550 is pretty expensive. New Outlander is using a CVT transmission, no matter it is 4 or 6 cylinders. One little suggestion. Whenever before you guys agree on any service, ask them to give you an estimate so that you can have a chance to decide if you want the service base on the estimate.
If I know what is 30k Service included, I will list those service and request an estimate so that I can make sure that I did not overpay it.
Anyway, my car has 14000 miles until 30k, a long way to go, and I even havn't had my 15k service yet due to good maintenance of my car. I guess you have paid the price for a really good lesson. Do a little research before get your car for service will also minimize the chance of being cheated for money.

6 cylinder is not CVT

dealers are fun. In WA they want around 560+tax for 30K miles service

When we set down to create an estimate, service specialist could not refer me to any document, manual or whatsovever to explain why they recommend to replace transmission oil & differentials fluids for over $200. The same goes for replacing antifreeze for one year old car for over $100.

This is just an example how dealer may interpret "inspect coolant level and condition" from a manual/maintenance plan.

the owners manual clearly states to change all fluids at 30k.

Ahhh, whoops. NO they dont, just the 4 cyl have CVT. ALL 07-09 V6 have 6 speed auto.

The average price for dealership tranny flushes is $150-170. Otherwise they are probably over charging you.

With the purchase of my outtie I got a "coupon book". One of them was a free coolant inspection. I just moved and before my 800 mi trip I did this at 35k miles. They did it and said everything looks good with the coolant. And Colorado is a "severe maintanence schedule". So if your dealer is saying coolant is needing done at 30k or before, wow. Go some where else.

Manybrews
 

Manybrews, Do you work for Mitsubishi, your an As$h^le

The man has worked there since you were ****ting in diapers, that kind of makes him an authority on the subject.

A question was asked, and it was answered just fine.

Wtf is wrong with people these days.

An Update...
 

When I first posted this thread, I was obviously irritated. There has been a lot of good feedback here. Manybrews, I still think you are taking a hard-line view of the service requirement, but I respect your opinion. My problem is that I've owned more new cars than I can remember over the past 35 years, and maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had such a negative experience with getting one serviced. The day after the servicing, I wrote a letter to the General Manager at Gillman Misubishi of San Antonio, and I also wrote to their corporate office in Houston. I was asking for a better explanation than I got from their befuddled Service Manager. It's been a month, nobody has bothered to respond. Looks like I'll never set foot in a Gillman dealership again.

WE got hammered nearly $600 for our 30K service. This 'severe mx service' seems to be a convenient excuse for higher fees and more frequent servicing when you probably don't need it.

I have had my LS AWD for nearly two years and although I am fairly happy with the car, the dealers are complete idiots. Salespeople don't know what they are selling, mx people dont know what they are talking about, as witnessed in the posts above, and in my own experience and Mitsu USA doesn't seems to have the testicular fortitude to whip their dealerships into shape.

Next car wont be a Mitsu. For sure.

I take my 08 outlander 4wd XLS to the dealer for all oil changes. I usually refuse their suggestion for the 7.5K and 15K service because all of those things on the service listing are inspections, such as fluid levels and leaks. Those are all visual inspections which don't add any value if the owner occasionally opens the hood him/herself. So I simply have the dealer to do oil and filter change every 3k miles. But when I was at about 20k miles, I wanted to tire rotation too and somehow got persuaded to do the 15k miles. A regular oil/filter change runs about $40-50. Which is a reasonable deal. The standalone tire rotation is about $90. So I could have paid only $140 for what I really wanted. For some reason that day, I agreed to the 15k service which costed me over $330 for the oil/filter change, rotation and visual inspections of fluids and some aftermarket additives for the injection. To be honest, I felt ripped off every time I got charged for inspection works because nothing really get done. If the inspections turn up anything in an unlikely event, they will charge more to fix unless it is covered under warranty. Obviously too, the additive stuffs are rip off too.

I know how you feel about being ripped off. But at the same time, unless you had refused the 30k service, paying $550 seems to be the market rate since a 15K service costs more than half of that already. I don't really have a point in my post here, I just kinda wanted to put it in perspective how much the services costs at the dealer, whether we think they are worth it or not.

Do they drop the transmission pan and replace the filter? Or do they just hook up the ATF lines to the flushing machine and flush it?

Is it me or am I the only one that viewed this as a sarcastic remark? ;)

Way to bring this thread from the dead.

I'm scheduled for the 30k service next week... in Canada, the dealer asks for 750$ for that service... sure they do flush and replace transmission and coolant fluids, inspect a bunch of things and so on... my feeling is that we are being charged way too much for service on this car compared to other brands. Let's face it, someone must pay for the 10year warranty and it's definitly not Mitsu who's paying! So 750$ every 24 months plus the other oil change and maintenance, this car costs about 50$/month for maintenance. The salesman definetly never mentionned that initially and simply replied to my question that "there is nothing to do on that car besides engine oil change"... It's funny cause I bought a new car under the argument that I would have no money to spend on repairs... strangely enough, I'm going to spend more in maintenance now than I ever spent in repairs on my old Mazda through its entire 9 year of use. I guess these high maintenance fees are the new "hidden fees" that you have no idea about when you first buy and they force you to or they void your warranty.

wow. I completely agree with these "hidden fees" but so far *knock on wood* my tune ups have not been so bad.. I have 20k on my car and did a 15k tune up, and now at 2300 im going to do the 18k tune up. The dealer out in Long Island, NY where I originally bought the car helped me out a little bit. I paid roughly $200 and now im going to pay another $60 for the rest to be done once i reach 23k.

This outlander has been my first car, and a great one at that. You also live and learn. I now know how to buy my next car, I did my research prior to purchasing an outlander but theres things that to me seem important now, like tune up costs and flexiblity for modifications.. or more than 2 fourms for the vehicle lol.

I feel its where you go and who your dealing with that makes the difference getting a car. Hopefully down the line my tune ups wont be so bad :(