$260?! You're kidding right?

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LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 9:48 PM
So I dropped my gf's car off at the Mr. Tire across the street from my office this morning for a simple oil change ($12.99 coupons FTW). They called and told me that her serpentine belt was all cracked and dry and needed replaced, so I said ok what the hell I don't feel like messing with it, how much? The guy responds $90 for the belt and $170 for labor......


.....



Are you fucking kidding me? What a rip off. I promptly just laughed and told him no thanks. Got a new belt at Autozone for $15 and am changing it first thing in the morning in the garage. What a bunch of bullshit.
Jan 15, 2010 9:48pm
M

mallymal614

Senior Member

3,746 posts
Jan 15, 2010 9:50 PM
I hardly ever trust car mechanics. Sometimes it's better to find someone you know, who work on cars on the side.
Jan 15, 2010 9:50pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 9:53 PM
mallymal614 wrote: I hardly ever trust car mechanics
I have a guy I trust. If I wake up and don't feel like doing it I will take it to him. He charges $45/hour and bills you on what he actually works.

My Ram needed a new distributor cap and rotor put on, but you can't even get into the engine bay without a step ladder and you have to take the intake manifold off to get to it, charged me 2 hours labor to do it.

But $260 for that... WOW! Stealerships only charge like $125
Jan 15, 2010 9:53pm
M

mallymal614

Senior Member

3,746 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:04 PM
The hourly rate is where they really make their money. Having a car is good but sometime can be a person's worse enemy. It seems like there is always something goes wrong with it.
Jan 15, 2010 10:04pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:07 PM
mallymal614 wrote: The hourly rate is where they really make their money. Having a car is good but sometime can be a person's worse enemy. It seems like there is always something goes wrong with it.
Yeah, book time. Mechanic works on the car for 35 minutes and bills 4 hours. I had a buddy that was a BMW mechanic and cleared ~$95k per year because of book hours.
Jan 15, 2010 10:07pm
M

mallymal614

Senior Member

3,746 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:26 PM
My grandfather's friend who knows mechanics said there is a trick to it. For example, say an auto repair business had six garages to work on cars. He said instead of working on one car until it's repaired, they will work on all six little by little so the booked hours can increase, which means more money for them.
Jan 15, 2010 10:26pm
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:28 PM
Wow, the place I go to does it for $60, but I don't know if that's just for the belt, but that's what they seemed to advertise.
Jan 15, 2010 10:28pm
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trackandccrunner

Senior Member

1,283 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:30 PM
Dude thats just crazy. I just got my serpentine belts replaced for 96 bucks.
Jan 15, 2010 10:30pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:34 PM
sleeper wrote: Wow, the place I go to does it for $60, but I don't know if that's just for the belt, but that's what they seemed to advertise.
Yeah if they would have called me and said $60 to do it I would have said sure thing, go for it, but $200 on top of that? I mean I am still in disbelief as I have seen them do wheelbearings for people at cost yet they are trying to take me for ~$200.


Let me preface this next story by saying that everyone in my family has K&N filters in their cars. Anyways my sister dropped her car off at a Firestone one day and she comes in to see her filter sitting on the counter next to a new paper one. The salesperson starts to go into this spiel about how dirty her filter is and how clean the new one is and how she needs a new one. She apparently looks at the salesmen like this and preceded to yell at them to put her $45 filter back in the car and to quit trying to scam her.
Jan 15, 2010 10:34pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:35 PM
trackandccrunner wrote: Dude thats just crazy. I just got my serpentine belts replaced for 96 bucks.
They wanted $91 just for the belt LOL
Jan 15, 2010 10:35pm
T

tuskytuffguy

Senior Member

615 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:38 PM
God, I have a mechanic who won't even charge $260 in labor for something that might take him all day to fix!
Jan 15, 2010 10:38pm
majorspark's avatar

majorspark

Senior Member

5,122 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:39 PM
Mechanic shops also get a volume discount on parts. I doubt the belt evan cost them $15.
Jan 15, 2010 10:39pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:40 PM
majorspark wrote: Mechanic shops also get a volume discount on parts. I doubt the belt evan cost them $15.
Yeah shops that do a lot of maintenance will. That's the problem with going to my buddy's shop for maintenance issues, he doesn't get a discount on those items.
Jan 15, 2010 10:40pm
O-Trap's avatar

O-Trap

Chief Shenanigans Officer

14,994 posts
Jan 15, 2010 10:46 PM
Yeah, there's a guy at our church who works on our cars for free. Just charges us parts. We all kinda use our strengths and giftings to help each other out. It's like a giant co-op.
Jan 15, 2010 10:46pm
M

mallymal614

Senior Member

3,746 posts
Jan 15, 2010 11:05 PM
LJ wrote: Yeah if they would have called me and said $60 to do it I would have said sure thing, go for it

Auto repairs can be sneaky like a car dealer. For example, somebody can want to buy a car. He and the dealer agreed on a price of $30,000. The customer signs the papers, only to notice later that the price of it is now $40,000. So even though the dealer verbally said one thing, this person now has to pay another

In this situation, since you never asked for the price, the mechanic likely used it to their advantage to charge you anyway they want. Society is becoming people trying to profit off of others.
Jan 15, 2010 11:05pm
O-Trap's avatar

O-Trap

Chief Shenanigans Officer

14,994 posts
Jan 15, 2010 11:27 PM
mallymal614 wrote: Society is becoming people trying to profit off of others.
Eh, I think we've been doing that for centuries already.
Jan 15, 2010 11:27pm
Rotinaj's avatar

Rotinaj

Senior Member

7,699 posts
Jan 16, 2010 12:29 AM
O-Trap wrote:
mallymal614 wrote: Society is becoming people trying to profit off of others.
Eh, I think we've been doing that for centuries already.
Pics or it didn't happen.
Jan 16, 2010 12:29am
S

Swamp Fox

Senior Member

2,218 posts
Jan 16, 2010 6:19 AM
I recently had my master cylinder go out on my Lincoln and so I had to have my brake lines bled and the cylinder replaced. My son is a diesel truck mechanic and when he heard what the shops wanted for all of that he told me to go get a rebuilt master cylinder at one of our local parts shops (about 40 bucks) and he would stop by after work and we could do it. He shows up and we bled the lines and the pressure blew out one of the old rusty lines, so he went back and bought new lines, he called his wife and she followed him to their country home as he drove my car using the hand brake for stopping purposes. He has a heated garage to work on cars, and he replaced all the brake lines, installed the new master cylinder and I essentially had brand new brakes. Brake lines were about 30 bucks, and of course, he didn't want me to pay him but for all the work and time he put in, I gave him $200 and still saved almost 300 dollars that the shops were quoting me. Plus, my son and his wife, like all of us, can always use a little extra money to get by in these difficult times.I will pay him every time rather than pay twice or more the actual cost of doing a job to any garage. plus, the car is preforming perfectly and I am a very satisfied "customer".
Jan 16, 2010 6:19am
Scarlet_Buckeye's avatar

Scarlet_Buckeye

Senior Member

5,264 posts
Jan 16, 2010 11:42 AM
Car mechanics are the worst. I hate going to get my oil changed. They always have some elaborate story about "You need to fix/replace such-and-such"
Jan 16, 2010 11:42am
darbypitcher22's avatar

darbypitcher22

Senior Member

8,000 posts
Jan 16, 2010 11:44 AM
Its BS that they can rip you off like that. I don't take my car to Quick Lube or Jiffy Lube or anything like that anymore.. I know that going in there for one repair is going to lead me to having to have $100s of dollars worth of repair when I don't need em
Jan 16, 2010 11:44am
NNN's avatar

NNN

Senior Member

902 posts
Jan 16, 2010 12:36 PM
My boss had to take her car to get the front brake pads changed...ran her something like $350.

Of course, I didn't know they needed done until afterward; I could've saved her, oh, about $330.
Jan 16, 2010 12:36pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Jan 16, 2010 12:41 PM
Maybe you princesses should work on your own stuff and quit bitching about what people charge? I can't believe anyone would pay for a brake pad change or oil change. You deserve to be price raped.
Jan 16, 2010 12:41pm
GoChiefs's avatar

GoChiefs

Resident Maniac

16,754 posts
Jan 16, 2010 1:02 PM
Sorry guy..get my oil changed for 15 bucks. You're ignorant if you do it yourself at that price.
Jan 16, 2010 1:02pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Jan 16, 2010 1:09 PM
and let some monkey touch my car and put cheap oil in? You can't even get 3 qts of Mobil 1 fully synthetic for 15 bucks. Your car prolly hates you.
Jan 16, 2010 1:09pm
wes_mantooth's avatar

wes_mantooth

Tomfoolery & shenanigans

17,977 posts
Jan 16, 2010 1:12 PM
I usually try to work on things myself, but if I get in over my head, my mechanic is dirt cheap....$40 an hour.
Jan 16, 2010 1:12pm