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Maintenance from dealer


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So I scheduled a break in service with my dealer and called to confirm the appointment and asked how much the service would be. They said $800. I almost swerved off the road. 
 

Would others agree that is a pretty ridiculous price? Looked up what break in service entails and I’m not sure how they justify that price or anything close to it. I can get everything I need to do the exact same service for around $150. And will take me a Saturday morning to complete. Only thing that I have never done is an engine alignment but should be fairly straight forward for anyone that is handy at all.

I thought the purchase process was great with the dealer but with prices like that for service items I doubt I will ever bring my boat to them to have anything done. 

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ahopkins22LSV

Few things...

They don't do an engine alignment, they verify the alignment is OK.

Call your dealer back and ask if it would be OK for you to provide your own oil and filter. That will help with the cost.

That price does sound high, ours was quoted at $550 and that was with 2.5 hours of labor, and before I asked if I could provide my own oil/filter. Not sure what your dealers hourly labor rate is, but that is the main cost factor. I don't think it should take more than 2-3 hours.

Lastly, I always do my own maintenance as well. It really really burned me to pay for this service. However, it is a small price to pay when you consider the cost of the boat, and that this first service is verifying everything is 100% good to go. I verified with my dealer that future maintenance is OK to do at home and won't affect any potential warranty claims. They confirmed with Malibu that only the first service is critical so they can verify all fluids are good and there is no issues internally with the engine.

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19 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Few things...

They don't do an engine alignment, they verify the alignment is OK.

Call your dealer back and ask if it would be OK for you to provide your own oil and filter. That will help with the cost.

That price does sound high, ours was quoted at $550 and that was with 2.5 hours of labor, and before I asked if I could provide my own oil/filter. Not sure what your dealers hourly labor rate is, but that is the main cost factor. I don't think it should take more than 2-3 hours.

Lastly, I always do my own maintenance as well. It really really burned me to pay for this service. However, it is a small price to pay when you consider the cost of the boat, and that this first service is verifying everything is 100% good to go. I verified with my dealer that future maintenance is OK to do at home and won't affect any potential warranty claims. They confirmed with Malibu that only the first service is critical so they can verify all fluids are good and there is no issues internally with the engine.

To be honest, if they told me $500 for the service I would have just bit the bullet and did it. Mostly for the reasons you state.  

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11 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Do they buy you dinner first?

Didn't even offer. Figured I wouldn't have an appetite after getting kicked in the marbles.

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4 minutes ago, Leftlane said:

I'm glad I negotiated the break-in service at 10 hours to be included with my purchase - $800 for an oil change and a visual inspection is a lot of $$.

I wish I would have done the same.

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You will need to find a Malibu dealer to service your boat for the warranty or it may be voided. I think this even precludes you doing the work yourself. 
 

Can anyone else comment on the warranty? 
 

Call other dealers and ask them for pricing and see if they can give you a break. Or ask them to give you advance pricing on all future service checks at various hour marks. Then perhaps they can cut you a break if you do all with them? Might be worth it versus towing your boat elsewhere. My next closest dealer is 1.5 hours away vs 20 minutes. 

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ahopkins22LSV
6 minutes ago, Raleigh said:

You will need to find a Malibu dealer to service your boat for the warranty or it may be voided. I think this even precludes you doing the work yourself. 
 

Can anyone else comment on the warranty? 
 

Call other dealers and ask them for pricing and see if they can give you a break. Or ask them to give you advance pricing on all future service checks at various hour marks. Then perhaps they can cut you a break if you do all with them? Might be worth it versus towing your boat elsewhere. My next closest dealer is 1.5 hours away vs 20 minutes. 

I am not sure if it will be voided. I was just told that it is highly highly suggested that the first service be done at a Malibu dealer for the new Malibu engines. Future service does not have to be done at the dealer. Again, I wasn't pumped about it, but the last thing I want is a warranty claim denied in the future. I don't know if they could legally do that, but I also didn't read the entire warranty disclosure. It was much quicker and easier to just take the medicine for the first service and move on enjoying the boat!

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Crazy.... my dealer (Seattle Boat) includes the complete first service as part of the purchase of a boat.  (yes.. you could say that is part of the dealer prep fee (which is always somewhat negotiable) ..but it is kind of nice not getting his with a service bill after a few hours of use.

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18 minutes ago, gregtay said:

Crazy.... my dealer (Seattle Boat) includes the complete first service as part of the purchase of a boat.  (yes.. you could say that is part of the dealer prep fee (which is always somewhat negotiable) ..but it is kind of nice not getting his with a service bill after a few hours of use.

Same here, when I went to pickup my boat I fully expected to have to pay for the 10hr service. I started pulling my card out and he said no you're good.

I agree with @gregtay if its a required service it should be included in the prep. FYI oil change and impeller cost me $400 last summer (Raptor 410).

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I do all my services including the first one. Yes even checked the engine alignment. My dealer has no problem with that as long as I keep documentation on parts used. They now include it with new purchase but did not when I bought mine.

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3 minutes ago, dcarl said:

Same here, when I went to pickup my boat I fully expected to have to pay for the 10hr service. I started pulling my card out and he said no you're good.

I agree with @gregtay if its a required service it should be included in the prep. FYI oil change and impeller cost me $400 last summer (Raptor 410).

I was going to buy new and my dealer offered me additional funds off the purchase price OR free service for so many years, after some negotiation. I think it's something that you pay for one way or another.

My service department has been excellent. I call for my 300 hour service and I get a "No, you're good, we serviced it at 250 before you bought it." Wow, that is excellent customer service! Ended up buying used from my dealer. 

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1 hour ago, Raleigh said:

You will need to find a Malibu dealer to service your boat for the warranty or it may be voided. I think this even precludes you doing the work yourself. 
 

Can anyone else comment on the warranty? 
 

Call other dealers and ask them for pricing and see if they can give you a break. Or ask them to give you advance pricing on all future service checks at various hour marks. Then perhaps they can cut you a break if you do all with them? Might be worth it versus towing your boat elsewhere. My next closest dealer is 1.5 hours away vs 20 minutes. 

This dealer is the only Malibu dealer in my entire state.

 

I have read through the entire warranty and it does not state that it will be voided if service is not done by the dealer. Only if it is not done as outlines in the owners manual. I plan to document any service I do to prove it was done correctly.

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The service would have to be free for them to be able to use it to void the warranty.

One of the conditions of the lifetime powertrain warranty on my last truck was that I had to bring it in to the dealer every 5 years for a quick check - they were not allowed to charge for that check.

I'd personally have a real hard time paying someone $800 for an oil change and an inspection (or even $300)

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23 minutes ago, JBell said:

I have read through the entire warranty and it does not state that it will be voided if service is not done by the dealer. Only if it is not done as outlines in the owners manual. I plan to document any service I do to prove it was done correctly.

Correct.  The Magnusson-Moss Act allows that so provided that you keep all the recipts etc. you are fine.

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4 hours ago, dcarl said:

FYI oil change and impeller cost me $400 last summer (Raptor 410).

YIKES!  That is crazy price.  Why would you do that? (Note:  I don;t do my own maintenance but at that price I'd learn)

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I really like having the dealer do services for both cars and boats when they are under warranty because it just eliminates any argument that the service was improper when the same dealer does every service.  I am willing to pay a premium for piece of mind; but there is only so much premium I'm willing to pay.  I think $800 for a break in service would exceed my comfort level for sure.  

Edited by jjackkrash
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17 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

YIKES!  That is crazy price.  Why would you do that? (Note:  I don;t do my own maintenance but at that price I'd learn)

$400 to service a 70k boat seems fair to me but this was before I was educated by TMC.  FYI I did my first winterization myself last fall and plan on doing the 50hr service myself. 

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16 minutes ago, dcarl said:

$400 to service a 70k boat seems fair to me but this was before I was educated by TMC.  FYI I did my first winterization myself last fall and plan on doing the 50hr service myself. 

That's what's actually frustrating about it. I think some of the dealers think because you spend 100k+ on a boat then you should be ok to pay a ridiculous prices for simple services

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23 hours ago, Raleigh said:

You will need to find a Malibu dealer to service your boat for the warranty or it may be voided. I think this even precludes you doing the work yourself. 
 

Can anyone else comment on the warranty? 
 

 

Generally speaking,   the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents dealers from requiring you to purchase service from them as a condition of preserving your warranty.  You still have to do the maintenance, or have it done somewhere.

"Tie-In Sales" Provisions

In general, tie-in sales provisions are prohibited. A tie-in sales provision requires a purchaser of a warranted product to buy a particular item or service from a specified company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive the benefits of the warranty. For example, the following illustrates a prohibited tie-in sales provision:

In order to keep your new X Brand Lawnmower warranty in effect, you must use genuine X Brand Lawnmower Blades. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by the Y Maintenance Company, Inc., voids this warranty.

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Technically speaking you may be correct.  Practically speaking, do you really want the headache if something fails? 

As the saying goes (especially on this site)- Dealer relationships are important.  Yes it is expensive, but you aren't paying for just the parts/labor- you are paying for the peace of mind.

Edited by hunter77ah
correction
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11 minutes ago, hunter77ah said:

Technically speaking you are correct.  Practically speaking, do you really want the headache if something fails? 

As the saying goes (especially on this site)- Dealer relationships are important.  Yes it is expensive, but you aren't paying for just the parts/labor- you are paying for the peace of mind.

Yes, practically speaking I agree and I would take a new boat back to the dealer for them to do a ten hour service for peace of mind but not out of fear of having a warranty voided.

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2 minutes ago, Bozboat said:

Yes, practically speaking I agree and I would take a new boat back to the dealer for them to do a ten hour service for peace of mind but not out of fear of having a warranty voided.

This is good to know. My buddy (an attorney, go figure) told me it would void the warranty. Obviously not the case! 

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