Capitol Honda
Categories: Car Dealers, Auto Repair
5/21/2010
My wife has 2000 Honda Civic that she has taken very good care of an it is almost like new at 10 years old and 150K miles. Over the years we have mostly taken it to the dealer for all service.

At the 150K mark the dealer recommends a major service which I was quoted $600 at first. Then I a coupon for South Bay Honda showed up in the mail. The coupon was for $100 and it said the major service was $448. Since we have taken her car to capitol before we figured that their "match any other dealer coupon" would be honored. When I asked the service advisor said sure they was accept the coupon, but not honor the reduced price, cause they flush the coolant and brake fluid as a part of the service and South Bay Honda does not. I had the guy call South Bay Honda to verify and they did verify that those services are not included. So I told the service advisor to go ahead and flush the fluids.

About four hours later my wife and I were shopping for house stuff and planning on spending a few hundred bucks when we she got a call from Capitol Honda. At first I figured it was the typical "Your car is ready" call, but my wife's face quickly change from happy to sad/afraid. She handed the phone and said "there is something wrong with my car and it is going to cost $600 more. So I asked the service advisor what was up and he said "The right rear brake cylinder was puking fluid." I was amazed and shocked that it was puking fluid and we had not noticed any problems. When I asked how much he said he would us a discount down to $600 including a $75 brake cylinder. I asked him how low the fluid reservoir was.

While waiting for the service advisor to call me back I called a mechanic friend and asked him if he could fix it for us at his shop. My friend quoted me $150 including labor and 1 $40 (direct from Sunnyvale Honda) brake cylinder. Hmmm quite a huge difference in labor price at a gas station shop and for dealer direct parts.

The service advisor called me back and said the fluid was 4mm above the low fluid line. Hmmmmm now that does not seem to bad for something that was puking fluid. I asked the service advisor flush the brake fluid as part of the service and fill it up.

After picking up her car we drove it directly to my friends service station to get it fixed that day. My friend noticed that the fluid in the reservoir was very dirty and just above the low level line. Hmmm I thought I paid for this to be flushed. When he lifted the car and took off the wheels we noticed that there was no leak at all and the cylinder were dusty but semi new. They definitely had not been wiped down or replaced and other than brake dust the pretty clean.

Not only did the dealer try to steal $600 form us, but there was no hint of a problem and they did not flush the brake fluid as we had paid for.

I am not a mechanic, but these guys are shady. Please stay away from Capitol Honda Service Center and save yourself from getting ripped off.

Picture to show you what I saw when my mechanic opened the brake cylinder.