kristenrice
NOT just an ambulance driver
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
DH and I have several professional mechanic friends, all of whom are employed by private companies (one is employed by the government) so we have a good idea what car repairs should cost. My husband's truck wouldn't start and, as we suspected, the ignition switch is bad. We had it towed to the dealership which is the only shop that would be able to fix it by tomorrow. The shifter cable is also broken and we were quoted a price of $658. Um, the parts are about $200 at most so I asked why so much for labor. DH says that they are charging us for 5 1/2 hours of labor. I immediately got on the phone with my BFF's DH (a full-time mechanic with the feds) and he tells me that's a 2 hour job at most. I reminded DH that we (him and I...2 idiots and a YouTube video) replaced the ignition switch in my Suburban in less than an hour and we had no clue what we were doing. I know that the rate for labor is +/- $100/hr, there is no way that is a 5.5 hour job.
So what is the best way to handle this? The dealership has the car. It won't start so it's not like we can just go get it and drive it off to another shop. It would literally have to be towed out of the lot. Is there any way to negotiate with large dealership/service centers? Do they budge on their prices? This just seems like highway robbery. I've never been a fan of this particular place but they are the only place on our end of town that could get the service done within a day or two and we need both of our vehicles since we both work full time and the kids have no busing to/from school. I already plan on leaving a comment on their FB page. I want to give them a chance to make it right and see if they will knock something off, but if they refuse to budge, I am prepared to name names and let people know what to expect if they bring their vehicle there for a repair. I had an awful experience with them before which did not cost me anything financially so I did not complain publicly, but if this is not handled to my satisfaction, I may have to bring up the prior incident as well.
So what is the best way to handle this? The dealership has the car. It won't start so it's not like we can just go get it and drive it off to another shop. It would literally have to be towed out of the lot. Is there any way to negotiate with large dealership/service centers? Do they budge on their prices? This just seems like highway robbery. I've never been a fan of this particular place but they are the only place on our end of town that could get the service done within a day or two and we need both of our vehicles since we both work full time and the kids have no busing to/from school. I already plan on leaving a comment on their FB page. I want to give them a chance to make it right and see if they will knock something off, but if they refuse to budge, I am prepared to name names and let people know what to expect if they bring their vehicle there for a repair. I had an awful experience with them before which did not cost me anything financially so I did not complain publicly, but if this is not handled to my satisfaction, I may have to bring up the prior incident as well.