Budget buster - car

[pam95]

Discovered DH's car was leaking antifreeze. Took to mechanic - $1500 to replace the water pump and some belts! Is this normal?!?! It's a 03 Chevy Tracker. We were told that the majority of the cost is for labor - estimated 10 hours of labor!! We had been discussing getting a slightly bigger family vehicle. We were hoping to wait a little longer until we were in a slightly better position financially. I'm thinking maybe we just take our $1500 and go ahead and do that now instead?!?!!! DH is currently calling around to see if we can get a better price on the repair. $1500!?!! I'm still reeling from this. It doesn't help that my car is having some issues too.

 

[scrapquitler]

Discovered DH's car was leaking antifreeze. Took to mechanic - $1500 to replace the water pump and some belts! Is this normal?!?! It's a 03 Chevy Tracker. We were told that the majority of the cost is for labor - estimated 10 hours of labor!! We had been discussing getting a slightly bigger family vehicle. We were hoping to wait a little longer until we were in a slightly better position financially. I'm thinking maybe we just take our $1500 and go ahead and do that now instead?!?!!! DH is currently calling around to see if we can get a better price on the repair. $1500!?!! I'm still reeling from this. It doesn't help that my car is having some issues too.

I hate cars for this reason. Things go wrong (and always at the worst possible time) and there's nothing you can do to prevent it most of the time. And if you are like most of us, you feel like you might be ripped off when you take it in because you don't know or understand enough about how they work. It's just crazy. And that's nothing compared to the inconveniences involved.

All I can tell you is that where I am, $75 per hour is completely normal for labor. And I do know that with a lot of the car stuff we've dealt with in the past, the labor is long because they often have to disassemble other things to get to the part that needs to be repaired or replaced. It's no fun.

And yes, depending on the car you are dealing with, it's age and what else might need to be done in the near future, it may be easier and make more sense to ditch this one and accelerate your plan to get something newer/different.

 

[01spirit750]

The dealer is quoting you the "book time" which was set by the car mfg. A good mechanic can do it in about 3 hours.

You pay the "book time" The mechanic gets paid for the book time, but it might only take him 3 hours to do.

So in a 9 hour period the mechanic could do 3 of these and get paid for 30 hours of book time.

Example:
1. I had a problem with our cars ac/heater. The dealer quoted 9 hours to repair. I did it my self in less then 1.5 hours and the part was $60.
2. We had the same issue with my wifes Taurus ($600 for a water pump). Dealer told me the engine had to be partially removed (outright lie). I did it myself on a Saturday in about 1 hour. Now granted I know what I am doing and do all my own maintenance.

Try finding an local repair shop who will charge you the actual labor time.

 

[Debbie7452]

My DH can do most mechanical things that the car needs. He had to replace a water pump in my Olds Aurora once. It turned out you needed a "special" water pump removal tool that only the dealership was able to buy!! My Dh looked at a picture of one on the internet and fashioned his own tool out of scrap metal. Ha!

Talk about a racket...

 

[pam95]

The $1500 quote is not from the dealer. The dealer quote was a lot more.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Check with your local vocational school. They generally only charge just for the parts and they are always looking for cars to repair so the students can practice. Don't worry there is a qualified instructor over seeing all of the repairs. If the bill comes to say $100 we will throw in a little more cash. They use the extra money to do fun stuff like have pizza parties or go to the bowling alley.

 

[Swimalie]

All I can add is good luck. My husband is pretty good with cars but his was doing something odd in reverse and he couldn't fix it after trying for months. So he took it in to a local repair shop. They ran a $62.50 diagnostic test and then quoted us $1200 for the repairs. My husband, not paying attention, picks up his car and the invoice is $1491. Yes, around $250 higher than quoted. They charged for shop supplies (huh?! Aren't those part of the fees above in the invoice) and Hazardous Materials tax of 6.5%. They didn't tell us about either of those fees. And they said we'd get a 5% discount for being a federal worker. That wasn't on there. My husband, when I pointed out the over charge, stopped in and they gave him a $60 gift card for the 5% discount but said they would not change the over charge on the repair. We will never go back there again!

So, make sure you get your estimates in writing and go over the invoice with a fine tooth comb before you sign. If I had gone in to sign, we would not have been over charged.

 

[pam95]

Thanks all! We decided to hold off on the repair and bring the car back home. The mechanic gave us a very detailed breakdown of the cost for all of the parts associated with the repair as well as labor. I'm taking tomorrow afternoon off, and we're going to hit up a few car places to see what kind of a trade-in offer we might get on it as is. Then we'll determine whether it's more cost effective to trade it for something newer/different or make the repairs. I was kind of in shock this morning, but now it's starting to sink in, and we'll figure something out! Thanks for listening!

 

[mrodgers]

Water pump and timing belt isn't an unexpected repair. It is routine maintenance. It costs a lot because there is a lot of labor involved to make room to remove the maintenance items and replace them.

Some cars it is every 60k miles. Some cars it is every 90k, some every 120k. Very very rarely any more do cars have a timing chain in which the longevity is quite a lot longer.

You replace a timing belt at regular maintenance intervals because more times than not (interference vs. non-interference engines) the pistons smash up into the valves and bend everything when it breaks resulting in an extensive rebuild or just plain old purchasing a new engine.