I'd like to point out an issue I think the GM dealer near me is trying to bend me over on and get all your opinions as maybe I am wrong.

Took my car in to a chevy dealer and asked what they would charge to mount and balance 2 tires if I brought the tires in. (I have some tires waiting to be put on in my garage)

He says "what size are they?" and I am thinking, what does that matter, its the same process whether it is a 16" or 18" tire??

So he goes out to my car and starts looking at the wheels (aftermarket 18'*) and tells me..well these are like the corvette wheels so it'* going to be at least $40 per tire to mount them..so i'm thinking, let me get this straight..in other words they think the size of wheel is directly correlated to my wallet size?? because that'* what they are making it sound like....and I wasn't too happy about that.

Only thing I could think of after I politely said no thanks, I will check somewhere else and left is, do they use a road force balancer or something? Still seems high even for that. and still, what does that matter what size the tire is? It is just the fact that he said they are like corvette wheels SOOOO they will be AT LEAST "x" much...

I feel like they look at your car, and then determine how much they can charge you.. We have used this dealer for warranty work on our Trailblazer and they are very friendly and helpful there, but when it comes to non warranty work it seems like they are money hungry or something. I wanted to give the business to a GM dealer..as I will usually support them before I support some tire chain or other business, but for that price I will be taking my business elsewhere..

Does this sound outrageous to anyone, or am I just looking into things too much?

its a dealer, they usually overcharge for anything if they have reason to believe they can. I have 4 different shops I can choose from, and if its something serious I'll go to the dealer, if its something generic like balancing tires I go to the cheapest place (which for me is free because I bought my tires there).

$40 per tire??? When i got my winter tires taken off, and summer put on those rims, balanced, and installed, it only cost me about $40. Dealers are full of ****. I would never take my car to one for anything that wouldn't be covered by a warranty or recall.

Ya that is what I figured, just wanted to confirm I am not crazy in thinking that it outrageous. Price Gouging is twice as bad down here because too many people have wayyyy to much money in this area, and they wouldn't even blink if they were told it would be $75 per tire to mount and balance it...Not saying I don't do the same, as when I pull up to a house that is 5,000 square feet in a gated community to work on their Mercedes, or Porsche etc.. you can bet your A$$ I charge them a bit more..but that'* only because those people kept saying "That'* all its going to cost?!?!" when I would tell them..even with charging them a little more (maybe $40 bucks more on a $200 job) they still think it is cheap.. When you get a $50-100 tip, you know they just have too much money that they don't know what to do with it...

Because of them though, everyone can get away with charging ridiculous prices...It has got to the point that when it comes to some things, you tell them you are going to go somewhere else and they say good luck, that is what everyone charges around here...sad thing is that they are right..

Example...I wanted to get 2 mufflers welded in...half hour job right? Well everyone wanted around $200 to do it...ya that makes sense, charging $400 per hour... Absolutely ridiculous, but I ended up being stuck going to some dump of a shop who had never heard of customer service and screwed up the welds, so I ended up going back...All the trouble of finding the cheapest place was a pain...and by cheap I mean "only" $130

Good lord, I pay about $10 a wheel. Granted, bigger wheels are a bit harder to change. Low profile are even worse.

Shouldn't GM dealers have a set price or at least close between all dealers? I mean you dont go to McDonald'* in Wisconsin and pay 3 bucks for a big MAC and then come where I'm at and pay 10 bucks.. just seems like the dealers can do what they want and get away with it. I love GM and won't buy anything else, but its stuff like this that pushes people to look elsewhere for their vehicles.

Hard to say. Independently owned. The way I understand it they have a license to sell GM cars. But they own the shop.

wow i charge $3 on $3 off per tire..And woulda only charged like 20 bucks to weld the mufflers in lol but thats me

dealerships also like to charge by the car, I bet if i rolled up in my smashed up buick they would say different as opposed to your GTO, but then im a girl and dealerships also like to prey on women, which is why i talk mechanics with them so they know i know what im dealing with.

I love when you show them you know your **** when they think they can scam you! When I was at the dealer that day he tells me, one of your rims is messed up and is going to need repairs (some curb rash and a chip out of the edge) I said no its fine just cosmetic, he says no we have a guy and we will have him repair it...I turn my back towards him and point at my shirt.."see my shirt, I repair wheels" (was wearing my work shirt which lists all the things I do.) For some reason he had nothing to say after that. Lol