Went to the dealer for an oil change and drove out with a 1300.00 estimate on repairs for my car. 2003 Grand Cherokee. Some of the things on the list I have done in the past but not on this car. I hope you guys can help me out. Is there anything I need to be aware of when changing sparkplugs? The service guy was telling me something about the computer...... Did not make a whole lot of sense to me. The other item I was going to try myself was replacing the fuel filter, only problem is I could not find it when I went looking for it. Can you point me to where it is located in the car, is it poissible it's in the gas tank? Other repairs have to do with transmission and brakes, might have dealer do the transmission stuff.

The fuel filter is part of the fuel regulator and needs only be replaced if it is shown to be bad.
It's located next to the fuel tank.
Just make sure you use the specified plugs as stated in the manual, don't improvise.

That's funny. I had a quote for about $1300 in repairs when my '94 Jeep GC was about 2 years old. That was the result of a "free inspection" as part of a promotional "free oil change" (which took about 1.5 hours). At the time I didn't replace anything except some burned out bulbs (which was a rip-off because I could have done it cheaper on my own). To date (9 years later), I've replaced brake pads, plugs, & wires, but don't think I've had to replace anything else on their list. Before placing any faith in the recommendation, I'd determine if your JGC really needs service, or if the service department just wants your money.

I second the "don't trust them" vote. Find a nice local independant mechanic if you have a real problem with the car. I was just quoted $880 to replace the radiator in my '94. I told them I wouldn't pay that much, and they recalculated to $707 before I told them that was still way too high. I found a local shop that quoted me $360 (the parts from Autozone would have been $300.) Anyway, you can pretty much take any needed work that needs done and divide the quote in half to figure what would be a decent price to pay, and if they're telling you that your '03 already needs a new fuel filter, they're full of more cr@p than your filter is, most likely.

As for the brakes, they're pretty easy to change yourself if you're mechanically inclined. At least they were on my '94. Pads are about $50 I think for all four and rotors are around $20-25 a piece. I don't mess with transmissions, but if it's not under warranty, I'd get another estimate somewhere else (not a dealership) just to compare.