Where to take my Acura for service?
 

Now that Acura of Victoria is gone and that my 05 RSX is out of warranty where would be a good place for a major service. I need to get the following done..

- Replace Engine Oil and Filter
- Replace Air Cleaner/Element
- Replace Cabin Air Filter
- New Battery
- Brake Inspection

Well, I'm gonna take a stab and say the honda dealership.

Campus Honda has been authorized by Honda Canada to complete all warranty and service work for acuras. So we have access to all Acura parts ordering and also have Acura service/diagnosis/repair information.

Are the prices reasonable at Honda? Acura was pretty ridicolous, like $301 for front brake "service" and rear brake pades.

I believe that we are reasonable. Are we cheaper then Acura was, check out campuscars.net and decide for yourself.

independant shops will always be cheaper than a dealer, and since your car is out of warranty, i don't see the point of taking it to a dealer.

Roberge Roadready in town has done a good job for me in the past, they are just off of Douglas behind the Supersave Gas.

I strongly disagree about that (alot of times diagnosis is cheaper at a dealership since we know the cars better and work on them all day and service can also be cheaper alot of the times as well, I have seen other shops charge people double for some jobs) but obviously I work for a dealership so anything I could say would be impartial and come across as bias. My only suggestion to anyone is shop around and find out for themselves.

rumour has it that all of the Acura tech's will still be working there under the Kia brand now...so I imagine they'll still work on your Acura for you?

And does this mean that we'll be able to buy Acura parts from the Honda dealership finally without the huge Acura markup?

The parts department now has access to all Acura parts cataloges.

Where did Acura go? No more Acura dealership here?

they are now a Kia dealership I think.

Yeh, I saw that it was Kia. No more Acura dealership for Victoria or is Campus Honda selling Acura now?

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail that would help clarify this topic:

Dear Acura of Victoria Customer,

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that as of September 1, 2009 we will be a KIA MOTORS Auto Dealer.

We are not closing our doors to any of our Acura of Victoria customers. Although, we have changed our name to GRAHAM KIA VICTORIA, we are still able to provide all your servicing needs going forward. We have all the same technicians and service advisors.

We are the same TEAM with a different name.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with you. If you have any concerns or questions, please call us at the same number 250-360-1111

Thank you,
Yvon Plante
Fixed Operations Manager

The Times Colonist mentioned that Honda technicians have been recently certified to handle all work on Acura's so I imagine that parts should be available for order there now too.

So, we have two Kia dealers now, and no Acura? Or has Reg Midgley taken over the old Acura location?

I believe the old Kia is becoming a used car dealership.

Same owners as before - just selling a new brand of cars. Apparently, this recession was the final kicker. Acura of Victoria struggled through the previous recessions, where the demand for luxury cars dropped. The owner felt that it was now time for a change towards a brand that was more affordable and "in demand" given today's financial climate. Kia's unit sales have gone up considerably in the past year which probably led to this decision (although I have no idea why anyone would want to drive a Kia).

Chrisco242 is right - Reg Midley is going back to its bread and butter - used auto sales.

I wouldn't ever take a vehicle to a dealership out of warranty. After witnessing a tech work on 4 vehicles at once, billing each for the shared time, I lost all respect for them(Dodge dealership, but I believe many dealerships do this). I take my truck in for every third service to the Toyota dealership because they do a good check to see if anything under warranty is replaceable, but otherwise I take it to the cheaper places that I trust.

ICBC claims on the other hand.. take it to the dealership as you get OEM parts for the same price as third party.

if only that were all true. Most dealerships charge flat rate times, so for an example a head gasket job may be a 12 hour job. If it takes the technician 25 hours, he still only gets paid 12, however if he is qualified, and good at his job, he may finish it sooner in say 8 hours, and still get paid his 12. So they can work on more than one car at a time, it doesnt mean they are double charging customers.

On the ICBC notice, dealerships dont always get to use OEM parts. It is based on insurance that the owner of the vehicle has, coverage, and value of vehicle. If you own a 1995 Toyota corolla you wont get a OEM fender, you will most likely get an aftermarket, or a used fender. Unless the aftermarket fender is sent to the bodyshop, is refused fitment and quality, then perhaps a used, or OEM one will be used. Bodyshops operate on a flat rate process too, so if they have to re-do work due to paint issues, rust, dents, fitment...etc... They dont get paid for it, that included the technician doing the work. So for instance they will not want to use a sub-par part because they wont get paid to do the job twice. I have worked for a few bodyshops in town, and all order OEM parts on a daily basis. My current shop spends close to $150k a year with Chevy, on parts, probably same with Subaru, Kia, and others. Using jobber parts becomes an issue with your insurance company, it is an insurance companies discression to use inferior parts, not the bodyshop, they would much rather use a part designed by the manufacturuer, to save time on fitment, and gapping. However it doesnt always work that way. I get tired of the accusations that people in this city make on all the shops, when they dont know 1/2 the truth.

Like Slammedcivicsi stated that is not completly right. Most dealership techs work on a flatrate scale so they are paid a set amount for a job regardless if they take the flat rate time or not (if the job pays 5hours and it takes them 7hours, they lose and vice versa) so they they are never charging all the customers the door rate at once.
I don't know about other shops but any dealership I have ever worked at (honda and nissan) or have seen would never charge like you just stated. The only time I have ever seen a tech have more then one car in the shop on a hoist at once is when he is waiting on parts or for something else like that (waiting for the car to cool down or warm up) or waiting for approval from a customer for work. All shops do this, a shop is a business and a dead hoist waiting for parts, customer approval while you have other work is losing money. The dealerships sometimes have the luxary of extra hoists so if they can save on pushing that car out, why would they not?
And if this one dodge dealership was doing what you thought, why paint all the dealerships with the same brush? Cause that can work both ways, I see quick oil change places recommend stuff to customer all the time that is not even close to being needed so should I say they are all bad? Or I once saw a small shop complete a timing belt on a Prelude, charge the customer close to double what the dealer does, they ended up screwing it up and caused major damage and then wouldn't even help the customer. So I guess under your statement, that means small shops do that to customers? just saying

i take my vehicle to down town auto located on Government and Chattam great service there!

Campus Honda quoted me $120 (parts and labour included) per side for my outer tire rod ends + $99.75 for alignment afterwards. Note that I have a coupon for $20 off the bill.

Is this a reasonable price?
Is it worth shopping around at other shops given the Campus Honda price?
Is it worth buying the parts myself and finding a shop just for labour?

Also, apparently my brakes pads have life remaining in them - 6.0mm front and 6.8mm back remaining. It this normal for a RSX with 90,000 km? I do 70% city driving, you would think I would need new brake pads by now? Never changed since new!

with many close friends at the local honda dealership (even go as far to say family, as long as they arent trying to give me a swift kick to the nuts)

id say by taking your car to campus honda you are in good hands.

if you are really concerned about any sort of mistrust or uncertain about price on parts, go into the service dept and talk to James (service dept) and ask for Sean (technician) to do the service work. They will take care of you.

Both are

BOTH ARE WHAT?!?!?!?!! The suspense is killing meeeee!



Though I'm guessing you were going to say both are great, as that's the truth of course.

sure we can go with that, i have no idea what i was going to say