Mechanic rant!!

[always quiet]

It's no wonder some mechanics or car dealerships get a bad rap. My 86 yr old father took his car into the dealers to have a tune up. While he was there, he was going to ask them to re-attach the rearview mirror that had fallen off the other day. My husband had put it up for a second time over the weekend and even bought a new mount since the last one was broken.

I was looking at his receipt. They charged $7.00 for the adhesive and $16 in labor!!! He also needed a new battery...$95 for the battery and $32 to install it. Insane what they can get away with.

 

[bicker]

Those prices actually sound pretty reasonable.

 

[tone.def]

Now $60 in labour would be a problem and that's what they charge around the city of Toronto. He got off cheap! CHEAP!

 

[trip]

This summer my daughters rear view mirror fell off. When I called our mechanic to make an appointment, he told me to take it to a glass repair shop-- said they would do a better job!! It cost her $5.

 

[tar heel]

I'm a middle-aged woman with no mechanical skills . . . but I had no trouble reattaching the rearview mirror with adhesive from Auto Zone. I think it's been on about five years, so I must have done an okay job!

 

[disneymom3]

Yeah, our garage charged us some exhorbitant amount of money to replace the airfilter with the one we had brought in ourselves. The screws were rusted which is why we didn't do it ourselves, but still. It was a lot.

My personal favorite right now is that they told us we need a new oil pan because the gasket is leaking. OH! You mean the one we had replaced here 10 months ago????? Along with the brakes we just had to have replaced after 20,000 miles? I need a new mechanic!

 

[Kimberly]

The "labor" there is total bullcr@p. Going to college at Syracuse, I used to get reemed all the time on car repairs (before my parents finally broke down and bought me the mini) from local dealerships and mechanics, because they saw my out of state plates. I remember I once paid 67 dollars for a new battery, and 75 dollars for labor! I don't think replacing the battery on a Pontiac is too hard! These were the same people who ripped me off for an alternator too about a month before that...

On a side note, I now use the Sears Auto center for car repairs when I'm home (although I haven't been there since I've had the Mini!). They're very trustworthy. It all depends on the location I guess.

Most dealerships should have a chart up of how much "labor" actually is. I don't want to pay for them to sit around and look at my car in their lot for a few days either.

 

[taylor1293]

I think it was very reasonable charge. Did you expect them to do it for free? Dealerships have a set hourly fee clearly visible to the customers. Each repair is given X amount of hours (or parts of an hour) to be completed.

My DH manages a collision shop at a dealership and he would have done the mirror thing for free or nearly free for customer service purposes. However, I see nothing wrong with a dealership charging the standard rate. Afterall, they are in business to make money.

Teresa

 

[always quiet]

What made me mad was that they charged that much for something that took them maybe 5 minutes tops to do. And $95 for the battery.........no mark up there!!

 

[mudnuri]

Actually they probably are a flat rate shop

That said- it doesnt matter how much time it takes, they charge based on flat rate. If a job according to their book/computer says it takes an hour thats what they charge you for.

$95 for a bettery doesnt seem expensive to me. But then again, I have a 900 CCA batter in my Blazer that was a lot more than that!

When I had the ignition switch replaced in my Passat, they were a flat rate, book said 3 hours- job to 45 minutes but I was charged for 3 hours...no biggie to me, but VW reimbursed me for that.

I replaced my mirror in my blazer, and to be quite honest- it took longer than 15 minutes....you have to clean the window, put the adhesive on, wait for the adhesive to "set" then put the tab on the windshield- then wait before you attach the mirror....$16 I'm guessing they only charged him for 15 minutes of labor. That would put them at a $64 per hour garage, which sounds right to me. The $32 for the battery labor, they probably cleaned the battery cables etc.. so thats about right too

Brandy

 

[escape]

This summer my daughters rear view mirror fell off. When I called our mechanic to make an appointment, he told me to take it to a glass repair shop-- said they would do a better job!! It cost her $5.

I was told the same thing when my rear view mirror fell off. Cost me about $5 also.

As for the prices at the dealership, I don't think they were out of line...for a dealership. I only go to the there when I have no other choice. I would think your father could have come out better had he gone to place like Wal-mart, Goodyear, Sears, etc....

 

[goofyfatherof2]

There are books out there that tell how much an average mechanic will take to do a repair. Chiltons, Motors, All Data are a few names. Not worth buying for most people. If you think someone is too expensive just call around and compare prices.

Dealerships are required to purchase all kinds of expensive one of a kind equipment to repair cars. They have to pass on those expenses and others to the people that choose to have thier cars repaired there. That is one of the reasons dealerships are usually much more expensive than other garages.

Most repair shops will (must) tell you how much the repairs cost before they do them and give you the choice of if you want them to do it or not. If you don't like the prices at one garage you can always go to another.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I had my car in two weeks ago to have alot of work done on it, including a new battery and it cost me $99 complete, so the battery price seems righrt to me.

 

[kadaten]

Everywhere I've gone charges labor around $60-70/hour with a minumum charge of 1/4 hour. So, the $16 labor charge was probably for 1/4 hour labor...which would put one hour at $64 which really is about average.

As for the $32 to install the battery....well, I think that should have only been 1/4 hour, but if the battery was in a hard-to-reach place, or they did additional testing to make sure it was up and running right, then it might have stretched to that 1/2 hour. *Actually*, they charge for the 1/2 hour when it goes over 20 minutes in most places...

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I think those battery prices are in line. My battery for my trailblazer cost $85 from sears in February. DH was in the hospital or he would have put it in himself. As it was, I teach in a school where we have an auto mechanics program and they do most of that little stuff for me for no labor, so they put it in. I just have to hope most of my stuff gets broken during the school year!
Robin M.

 

[LargoLori]

I think the charges sound very reasonable. The shop and the mechanic both have to make money. My husband is a mechanic and gets paid flat rate. This means he gets paid by the job, not by the hour. He could actually work a 40-50 hour week and only make 30 hours.

Lori