A dealership almost scammed me out of $90 over my car’s cabin filter - how to avoid the trap
Olivia House
Published Sep 11, 2026
SOME drivers feel they’re being scammed when auto dealership service centers recommend a cabin air filter replacement service.
Luckily car owner Kimmie Kurl has posted a TikTok showing how you can tell if your cabin’s air filter actually needs changing.
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Kimmie’s video begins with her stating that she changed her cabin air filter before visiting a Honda dealership.
Kimmie said she swapped her cabin air filter since she figured her Honda dealership would recommend the service unnecessarily and attempt to overcharge.
This TikTok creator shows the dirty cabin filter she replaced to the camera to support her claim that she changed the filter before visiting the Honda dealership.
The savvy car owner then displays her new air cabin filter’s box and notes that the new $15 filter she bought on Amazon took under a minute to install.
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Kimmie walks us through her car’s air cabin filter replacement steps, beginning with opening her glove box.
Once her glove box’s open, Kimmie presses on both sides of the glove box’s tray, which causes the cabin air filter’s cover to pop off.
This cabin air filter’s replacement process is finalized when a driver pulls the filter out of its slot and inserts a new filter before reattaching the component’s cover and closing the glovebox.
Kimmie is shown removing her cabin air filter, which appears brand new.
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Kimmie claims that this new-looking filter is the filter that her local Honda dealership attempted to charge her $90 to replace.
When this TikTok creator asked if her Honda dealer’s technicians actually checked the filter, the technicians allegedly told her they filmed themselves examining the filter and showed her the video.
Kimmie responded: “No, you didn’t, because half of the video cut off, and number two, I just changed it [the cabin air filter] yesterday.”
The technicians then reportedly suggested the glove box was locked, which Kimmie said wasn’t true.
The service center employees then tried to change the subject by asking Kimmie what her Fourth of July plans were, she said.
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A representative from Honda told the U.S. Sun: “I’d like to facilitate connecting her [Kimmie] with our customer relations group.
“They can be reached at 800-999-1009. Our customer relations group is best equipped to work with customers, to get a full understanding of the situation and facilitate a resolution.”
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