Buyer and Southeastern Honda customers beware. Honda vehicles are no longer built to the standard they once were, and the service experience at Southeastern Honda has similarly declined. Despite being a loyal, repeat customer since 2020, I have found that Southeastern Honda does not appear to value long-term customer relationships.
I purchased a brand-new 2019 Honda Pilot from Southeastern Honda in 2020 and have consistently returned to their service department for all maintenance. This includes timely oil changes, fluid flushes, and all manufacturer-recommended maintenance and service minder requirements. The vehicle currently has approximately 75,000 miles.
Despite this careful maintenance, the vehicle has required several costly repairs. These began with the replacement of the Honda Sensing camera and radar units, which cost approximately $2,300 in parts and labor. More recently, all warning lights illuminated on the dashboard, and diagnostics revealed the need for fuel injector replacement, as well as a timing belt and water pump replacement due to leakage ("timing belt wet"). This most recent repair totaled $3,363.
The fuel injector issue is a well-documented problem affecting several Honda models, including the Pilot and Ridgeline. Honda issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) and extended the warranty to 10 years or 150,000 miles for certain 2016-2019 Honda Pilots. Unfortunately, not all VINs are included in this coverage, despite identical issues occurring within the same model years....my vehicle being one of them. Knowing this, Southeastern did nothing to try to lower the cost to help.
Additionally, Southeastern Honda's pricing is excessive, and there was no effort made to accommodate or support a loyal customer who has spent thousands of dollars at their dealership. Labor is charged at $200 per hour. While the actual work performed amounted to approximately 4.5 hours (approximately $900 in labor), I was charged $1,774.36 based on "book labor" rather than actual time spent. On top of this, a $90.57 credit card processing fee was added.
Based on this experience, I would strongly encourage other customers to consider alternative Honda dealerships and to explore reputable independent repair shops for maintenance and repairs. In many cases, independent shops provide comparable or superior service at a significantly lower cost than dealership service departments. As for myself, I will no longer be giving my business to Southeastern Honda.
Overall, this experience has been disappointing and has significantly diminished my confidence in both Honda's reliability and Southeastern Honda's commitment to customer service. read more