Stealership? Part 1: Platimum Plugs? '05 OBW

[Juan]

When a service tech. saves plugs for customer, would he/she return them in the boxes the replacement plugs came out of?

 

30k service. I got charged for platinum plugs, +$10 each. I told them I haden't asked for platinum. She took $40 off the bill.

 

Got home and the old plugs they had saved for me were in nice, neat OEM boxes that EXACTLY match what was pulled from my car. Each plug even had a crisp cardboard protector sleeve slipped over the threads.

 

Unless the '05 OBW 2.5i was shipped with platinum, I'm thinking they tried to hose me.

 

Juan

[Suzam]

The cold hard fact is this happens more often than not.

 

Billing departments have specific charges for a job, be it a tune-up, oil change, transmission R&R etc. You may or may not have had everything done on a list.

 

Time is charged by the book, which give a billable time that's usually longer than the real time. Again a plus for the dealer.

 

Parts markup is outrageous, especially for parts you can get the local autoparts store.

 

Remember that some dealers make more money in the service department than they do selling cars.

 

Of course I bet they also over charge SOA for warranty work too, and get the maximum allowable charges.

[RallyKeith]

I'm not a professional mechanic, but I always put my old plugs back in the packaging the new ones came in, including the cardboard thingys. I do it because I always save the last set I pull out in case of an emergency. Also, I'm pretty sure that all new subarus since at least '05 come with platinum plugs, so they would be the corrcet replacement.

 

BUT Check your owners manual. The platinum plugs are supposed to be a 100,000 mile item. If they changed them at 30,000 then something is fishy.

 

Keith

[WAWalker]

Yes, the '05's have platinum spark plugs.

 

The replacment interval for platinum plugs in Subarus HAD always been 60k miles. If you run them for 100k miles you are asking for trouble.

 

The replacment interval for pltinum plugs in the '05 and newer Subarus is NOW 30k miles according to SOA.

 

So, if the 30k mile service is being done by the book, the spark plugs should have been replaced (with platinum). If you asked for a 30k mile service then you asked for platinum plugs.

 

The old ones probably would look OK. If the dealer is required to save and return the old parts they may very well put them back in the box that the new parts came from.

[usaru]

"I got charged for platinum plugs, +$10 each. I told them I haden't asked for platinum. She took $40 off the bill."

 

If they gave you $40 back with a smile on their faces, especially when they were right, they got you somewhere else, big-time.

[idosubaru]

if you're getting serviced at a dealer, $40 for spark plugs is a drop in the bucket of unnecessary and exorbitant costs you're paying to maintain your vehicle. i wouldn't worry about it. that's why they refunded it so easily. a recent trend in the last decade or two is that the largest dealership profits (not total revenue, but profit) come from the service and parts departments.

 

stealership is the correct name. those exact same NGK plugs cost a few dollars at your local auto parts store, so Subaru gets a healthy triple digit mark-up on them. that is insane in any industry, except one where the consumer is "educated" to insist upon dealership service and parts! but then again i never take my Subaru's to a dealer and they all blow up after a year or two....ha ha.

[WAWalker]

Gary,

 

What do you pay for NGK spark plugs at a parts store? Regular and Platinum?

 

The parts stores here want more than dealership list price for NGK plugs.

[subyrally]

in our area, ngk plugs range in price from $1.50 - $10.00 depending on what you are after. the regular platnum plugs are like $3 each. where as the iridium plugs are $7 and the "laser platnum" plugs are $10.

 

the benefits of being an advance auto retail parts pro. granted, i quit there in march.

 

i highly reccomend hte ngk iridium plugs. they are 6 times stronger than platnum and give a spark.

 

as far as subaru saying that platinum should be changed at 60k or less, i think thats bs, that is the change interval on your standard copper core plugs. accourding to ngk, platinum is a 100k plug, the iridium plugs should last even longer, but i havent found the exact info on that yet.

 

 

either way, i reccomend the irridium plugs, ive personally had very good luck with them. on top of my use of them, every customer that i sold them to from advance, came back a couple weeks later to thank me for the heads up on em. thy always said that they got better milage and a little more power (butt dyno)

[idosubaru]

Gary,

 

What do you pay for NGK spark plugs at a parts store? Regular and Platinum?

 

The parts stores here want more than dealership list price for NGK plugs.

 

i thought about $2 and change but i'm seeing multiple varieties and have not worked on any 2005 and up models. i assumed they took the same platinum plugs i've used on other earlier models. maybe that is not the case. i looked and saw platinum plugs online for $2.82 and $2.79 at advanced auto parts, but they had more expensive "laser or double platinums"...etc. if the newer ones use different platinums than i'm used to buying then that is news to me and i'm wrong on the pricing.

 

i wonder if online Subaru pricing is better. they're typically 20% under MSRP through the local dealers. that would save $2 per plug and would be worth a quantity order for anyone doing substantial subaru work if they combined that with another order. or - the local dealer gives me that cut rate anyway and i have an account with advaned auto parts for discounted pricing as well...though sometimes it doesn't help much with things like - oil. not sure if spark plugs get discounted or not. in any event - im sure you have accounts with someone as well.

[WAWalker]

 

as far as subaru saying that platinum should be changed at 60k or less, i think thats bs, that is the change interval on your standard copper core plugs. accourding to ngk, platinum is a 100k plug,

 

Not in the real world............NGK platinum plugs are NOT good for 100k in a Subaru engine. Yes, the car may still run with 100k on the plugs, but the platinum tip will MOST likely be gone and the gape will be huge. NOT good for ignition wires and coil packs.

[WAWalker]

i thought about $2 and change but i'm seeing multiple varieties and have not worked on any 2005 and up models. i assumed they took the same platinum plugs i've used on other earlier models. maybe that is not the case. i looked and saw platinum plugs online for $2.82 and $2.79 at advanced auto parts, but they had more expensive "laser or double platinums"...etc. if the newer ones use different platinums than i'm used to buying then that is news to me and i'm wrong on the pricing.

 

i wonder if online Subaru pricing is better. they're typically 20% under MSRP through the local dealers. that would save $2 per plug and would be worth a quantity order for anyone doing substantial subaru work if they combined that with another order. or - the local dealer gives me that cut rate anyway and i have an account with advaned auto parts for discounted pricing as well...though sometimes it doesn't help much with things like - oil. not sure if spark plugs get discounted or not. in any event - im sure you have accounts with someone as well.

 

The OE platinum plugs have always been "double platinum".

 

The '05 and newer cars take a different platinum plug than did the '96-'99.

 

'96-'99 OE NGK# PFR5B-11. Cost from my supplier is $9.07. Cost from local dealer is $10 something. Cost from local parts houses is $20 something.

 

'05 and new OE NGK# FR5AP-11. Cost from my supplier is $6.51. Haven't prieced them anywere eles.

 

Regular copper core OE NGK# DKR6E-11. Cost me $1.54. More from local parts house.

 

Problem I have with buying parts online is that the price is good till the shipping is added.

Early on I did business with a huge well know wholesaler or import parts, but they would not pay shipping till I could spend something like $2000 a month. It was cheaper to buy OE parts for the dealer than aftermarket parts from them.

 

My currant supplier said they would pay shipping if I spent $300 a month, now they get up to $6000 a month from me. Pays to help the little guys out:)

[Juan]

Thanks for your replies. Looks like I got platinum plugs (FR5AP-11 NGK) at 30k.

 

Dealer should have more clearly posted prices on the boiler-plate price "flyer" I was given. It clearly said "Platinum plugs, 60,000 miles, add $10.00 each." Owner's manual calls for replacement at 30K. Why would ANYONE figure they would replace a 60K plug at 30K? I figured they would put in regular plugs this time and put in 'special' plugs -platunum- at 60K.

 

In any event, just following your discussions here, it would seem that changing the plugs at 30K would offer a great opportunity to "look" inside each cylinder by examining each individual spark plug for signs of abnormal wear (I'm remembering the ugly plug pictures in the front of every Chilton's repair manual.).

 

It would probably be too much to ask them to mark the plug box with the corresponging cylinder each plug came out of (ha?).

 

Thanks again,

 

Juan

[forester2002s]

FR5AP-11 NGKs are indeed 'DOUBLE-Platinum.

 

Check out this link:

http://www.ngk.com/results_cross.asp?pid=FR5AP-11