Advice negotiating with dealer for maintenance (2016.5 CX-5)

Hi all-
Dealer wants a ton of money for three jobs:
Rear/front brakes and rotors, fluid exchange $1500 (scheduled for tomorrow)
Drive belt and tensioner $570
Coolant $200
I have a 2016.5 with 55k mainly driven in the city.
I trust this dealer more than I would a local mechanic and cannot do any work myself. Do anyone has advice on how to negotiate the pricing down some. Thank you!
 
Call around to some other dealers and ask what they charge for the brake job. Gather a few and if lower or much lower then you can fight the dealer on the excessive brake charge. That sounds like highway robbery. I just had new rear brakes and rotors turned (not replaced) on my 2016 Touring and it was $200.00 at the dealer.
The other charges don't seem too out of line.
 
If you trust this dealer and aren't open to using a local mechanic, you'll be stuck with their (very) high prices. Parts for a full brake job are $500-600 for premium rotors and pads at most, for example. Maybe half that for OEM equivalents.

What I would suggest is taking the car to one or two independent shops or local mechanics. Ask them for a quote on everything above, with part names or numbers. If possible, communicate via email so that you have a written quote. Otherwise, make sure you have a written copy of the mechanic's quote. Then, contact your dealer service rep with the quote and see if they can bring their prices down a bit. You can explain that you'd prefer a Mazda tech to install OEM parts, so they don't have to match it - as long as they can discount it further, to a price you're more comfortable with. Generally, if they think they might be losing your business because you want to "take a gamble with a local mechanic", they'll bring their prices down.

Another thing you can do is ask what the prices would be if you brought in your own parts for the brake job, the belt and the tensioner, so that you'd only be paying for the labour to install those parts. This way, you can get around paying the OEM price premium on those parts (if there is a premium). Sometimes dealers will be resistant though, as they may only want to use OEM parts sourced from their own parts department. They make more money that way.
 
Hi all-
Dealer wants a ton of money for three jobs:
Rear/front brakes and rotors, fluid exchange $1500 (scheduled for tomorrow)
Drive belt and tensioner $570
Coolant $200
I have a 2016.5 with 55k mainly driven in the city.
I trust this dealer more than I would a local mechanic and cannot do any work myself. Do anyone has advice on how to negotiate the pricing down some. Thank you!

Why do you trust this dealer so much? Your trust is misplaced and they are ripping you off with those prices, especially the price for the brake service!

If you do choose to pay that price, they should at least kiss you after such a good screwing.

Why is the coolant being replaced at 55k miles?
 
Is it uncommon to need a tensioner/belt at 55k? They said coolant was nearly empty?!
I paid $27.00 for a gallon on Mazda coolant at dealer. CX-5 holds a little less than 2 gallons dry.
And why is the coolant nearly empty? Is there a leak or are they BS'ing you. Let the car sit for couple hours then check level.
 
I paid $27.00 for a gallon on Mazda coolant at dealer. CX-5 holds a little less than 2 gallons dry.
And why is the coolant nearly empty? Is there a leak or are they BS'ing you. Let the car sit for couple hours then check level.
No mention of a leak. They supposedly added a little during the maintenance service last week. Isn’t this a fluid they would add to during every regular service?
 
If there's nothing wrong with the coolant system and it just needs a top up, buy the coolant from the dealer and do it yourself. Otherwise you're paying the dealer to $100+ to open the coolant reservoir cap, put a funnel in, and pour some fluid in. A rip off at any price.

Question everything they want to do, and ask them to justify it by showing you in person or by showing you pictures of your actual vehicle.

My wife had to learn the hard way. She brought her car in to Honda once, and they noted one of her brake lights were out and replaced the bulb (without asking her first), and then charged her over $50 for it.
 
@CiudadCX5 , I would ask the same questions that @Conrad 16.5 mentioned ... Why do you trust this dealership? They seem [IMHO] to be ripping you off and taking advantage of you terribly! What part of the country are you located?

The brake parts are $200ish (dealer cost) . Even if double that $500 list they want $1000 labor? Ridiculous!

Belts/tensioner at 55k miles? Likely not needed. (There are discussions of leaking tensioners for the 16.5. I would clean it off and see if it leaks)

Coolant change? Why? Coolant is listed in the maintenance schedule to be changed at 10 years / 100,000 miles so why do they want to change it now?

I realize that folks on a forum don't have first hand, hands on knowledge of your specific car like a mechanic actually looking at it does and maybe there are good reasons that the shop can articulate why this work needs done. It feels to me like they're ripping you off.
 
Is it uncommon to need a tensioner/belt at 55k? They said coolant was nearly empty?!
No mention of a leak. They supposedly added a little during the maintenance service last week. Isn’t this a fluid they would add to during every regular service?
Yes, the dealer should top off all fluids when they do a service. Coolant change should be done around 110,000 miles as a normal maintenance item.
 
Hi all-
Dealer wants a ton of money for three jobs:
Rear/front brakes and rotors, fluid exchange $1500 (scheduled for tomorrow)
Drive belt and tensioner $570
Coolant $200
I have a 2016.5 with 55k mainly driven in the city.
I trust this dealer more than I would a local mechanic and cannot do any work myself. Do anyone has advice on how to negotiate the pricing down some. Thank you!
Sorry, but that's highway robbery. Straight up theft. I'd tell them to pound sand.
 
I would ask why do you even go to a dealer. Dont see anything major in those services thet require Mazda tech.
The price is insane its almost a downpayment for new lease car
 
Is it uncommon to need a tensioner/belt at 55k? They said coolant was nearly empty?!
I'm presuming they meant the overflow canister, and not the radiator. If the radiator was almost empty, you'd know in a hurry (car will overheat). I don't think you should pay $200 for a coolant replacement at 55K. Just keep the overflow bottle at the proper level.
Tensioner and belt I'm not familiar with, but I'd get a second opinion on that. Sounds like waaaay too much. That's probably a 30 minute job at the most. Besides, why replace the tensioner? Is it noisy? Ask them why it needs replacing.
As for brakes, dealers are expensive. Two years ago I got a quote for rear pads and rotors, for $625.00. No thanks.

I had my 6 in to the dealer yesterday to replace the two stabilizer links on the rear suspension. One was broken so I wanted to replace both sides at the same time. I bought the parts, thinking I could do it myself. Ha. For the life of me, I could not get the old ones off. They charged me one hour labour, at $140/hr. (Parts were half that).
I also asked them how much to do the rear brakes if I bring in the parts (which I already have). They said two hours labour (so, about $300).
 
I could see a preference for the Mazda dealer for brake work because of the steps needed to put the brakes into Maintenance mode (assuming OP's car has electric parking brake). Otherwise they have stated that they don't trust local mechanics to work on their car. Maybe they've been burned by them before?
 
There are only three dealers w/in an hr drive (maryland). The other one I called gave similar pricing for the brake work and tensioner. I should have said that I trust the dealer more than a local mechanic and local mechanic is closed on Sat.

The detailed pricing for brakes(pads/rotors) is
$225 labor rear
$225 labor front
$440 parts front
$350 parts rear

So they should have topped off engine coolant as part of the maintenance #1 service that Ive been getting? On the last invoice it just says they topped off wiper fluid.

I greatly appreciate all of the advice/info!
 
The parts cost is flat out price gouging. Run from that dealer. You can’t do the work yourself, which is fine, but you can buy the parts yourself and find a local mechanic that gets good reviews or maybe a friend has a suggestion. Brake pads and rotors are $200-300 tops and there is nothing difficult about doing them.

Coolant is a hard pass…unless there is an issue.
Why is tensioner needed?
Why is drivebelt needed? a drive belt is usually changed around 7 years, 100k miles unless there is cracking. You are within the time frame, but I’d ask to see the condition.
what is fluid exchange? Brake fluid? Brake fluid will run you $100 at any local garage. If you’ve never had brake fluid changed, you need to do it by now, it’s every 3 years.
ask questions!

if I were you, I’d go on rock auto and find the brake parts, very easy to do. You’ll save yourself more than half off the dealer price. One warning, if you do go to a local mechanic, make sure you tell him the car needs to be put in maintenance mode to do the rear brakes.

I would guess a local mechanic would charge maybe $400 in labor tops on the brakes.
 
Last edited:
From last November on my 2016 Touring.

Replace Rear Brake pads and Resurface Rotors:
1 KAY0-26-48ZA $80.78
ZMCP Zip MAZ Car Pt -$3.01
ZMCL Zip Maz Car LBR -$3.01

Labor $130.00
Total $204.76
 
I hope you cancelled all appointments until you get more reasonable prices elsewhere. Major rip-off at this dealer and as mentioned above, some services not needed yet.
 
From last November on my 2016 Touring.

Replace Rear Brake pads and Resurface Rotors:
1 KAY0-26-48ZA $80.78
ZMCP Zip MAZ Car Pt -$3.01
ZMCL Zip Maz Car LBR -$3.01

Labor $130.00
Total $204.76
wlong01...
Depending on where OP lives ... cost varies very much.

In my area (SF bay area),
brake pad replacement + rotor surfacing would cost about $400 minimum.
(Most dealers will charge you $500).
Assuming no rotor surfacing, I found a dealer that charges $250, but that one is 40 miles away.
If you don't believe me, you can call any Mazda dealers in Bay Area.
Crazy living cost here. No wonder people move away to Austin.

BTW, all dealers in SF bay area simultaneously take down service coupons w/ actual $ on them.
(strange if you ask me) They only have coupon like (10% off, 15% off).
Conspiracy ?!
One dealer told me that they no longer honor coupons posted on MazdaUSA.com.
 
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