The Challenger 392 owner was quoted over $1,500 for a spark plug change on his Hemi V8 engine, but a quick search shows the parts’ price is below $250
- A Dodge Challenger owner in San Diego was quoted $1,534.22 for a spark plug replacement.
- The dealership has yet to explain the reasoning behind the unusually high service quote.
- This shows how basic car knowledge can help owners avoid outrageously inflated service bills.
Supercar owners don’t just shell out a fortune to buy their cars, they often pay just as much in pain to keep them running. Just days ago, we told you of a Bugatti owner who faced a $15,500 bill for a new switch. Wild service charges aren’t exclusive to supercars and hypercars, though. One Dodge Challenger owner says his Stellantis dealer wants over $1,500 to replace their car’s spark plugs.
Read: He Bought A $3.5M Hypercar And Almost Hit An Ambulance Because It Was Too Loud. Now He’s Suing
The quote in question comes from Kearny Mesa Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in San Diego, California. Specifically, it recommends spark plug replacement for a cool $1,534.52.
Plugs Made of Solid Gold, Apparently
No doubt, like just about everything, tariffs are making products more expensive. Surely, NGK Laser Platinum plugs, the ones that match the original OEM plugs, aren’t cheap. That’s true, but they’re not wildly expensive either. One person in the Reddit thread reports finding the parts for just $232. Just to confirm, we did a little digging ourselves.
Across Autozone, Advance Auto, Napa, and O’reilly’s, the most expensive plugs we could find for the 2015 Dodge Challenger 392 were $246 out the door. So maybe the real issue here isn’t the price of the plugs.
What if the 392 V8 under the hood of a Challenger is just wildly tough to work on? I’ll admit I once told a person that swapping a light bulb in their car would cost around $20. When they arrived, I learned that their bumper had to come off to replace this bulb. Is that what we’re dealing with here? In a word, hahahahaha – NO (laughs don’t count as words, folks).
DIY Level: Reasonable Human
Below, we’ve included a DIY on how to do the spark plug swap, and it’s about as simple as it could get. Being a V8, the spark plug holes are basically as accessible as anything else on this engine. They rest below the coil packs, which themselves sit under easily removable plastic valve cover covers. After popping off the covers and removing a few ancillary pieces, the coil packs come out and reveal the spark plugs.
Sure, these cars take a little more time in that they have two plugs per cylinder, but even if we were to halve the total bill, we’d be looking at over $700. That’s simply bananas. In fact, it’s so wild that it almost sounds like somebody at Kearny Mesa made a mistake.
To that end, we’ve reached out for more information, and as of this writing no one hasn’t responded yet. Oh, and one more thing: the poster confirms that this quote includes nothing more than spark plugs and the labor to replace them. It’s truly a baffling bill and a reminder of why knowing just a little about maintaining one’s own vehicle can save you hundreds or even, in this case, thousands of dollars.
