service stations (tire store). I took my car in today to have 2 new tires installed and to have it aligned. After 1/2 an hour, the counter guy comes and says they can't do an alignment on it. They need to replace a few items first. To start with, ball joints.......at $94.62 each!!!! Plus $168 labor?? Wow, $357.24 for 2 $22.00* ball joints(*price quoted from parts store where tire shop gets parts) Then, struts at $104.04 ($60/each at auto parts store) each plus $140 labor. That's $348.08 for 2 struts installed. So far, $705.32!!! Then, the really funny part, brakes. Granted, I could use new brakes, but not at what they are charging!! To start, brake pads, $39.99+$60 labor. That's $99.99 for $25 brake pads. Next, rotors at $79.99 EACH. WHAT???? These same rotors are $17.00 each at the same auto parts store I mentioned before. The only thing close to reasonable on the estimate are the rear shocks at $33.10/each. Now for the grand total, $1031.61 on a car that has 190,000 on the clock. I just need it for one more summer (25-30,000 miles)Needless to say, they won't be performing this work on my car, I'll do it my self and save a ton of cash. I should open my own shop at these rates, I could be rich!! BTW, they charge $70/ hour for labor Oh well, enough for now.

 

They must be quoting you prices for those "gold plated" parts.

 

High mileage car parts always seem to expensive. Must be the fact the car isn't worth what the parts they want to put on it is worth.

 

Yeah, I thought about those special "gold" plated parts. Must be something like that. My car is worth a lot to me, it gets me where I need to go, gets good mileage (27-32) and it's paid for itself over and over and over.... I'll probably buy the parts and do it myself. ball joints are $44, struts are $100-120 and brakes (front and rear are $70. Oh well, what can I expect for a car that's 11 years old and has 190,000 miles on it?

 

I understand your pain.
But what you fail to realize, they are in business to make money. They charge what they think they can get away with because the rich refuse to perform amnual labor and can afford it.
Also, they have the proper training and equipment to perform the job and insure that it be correct. Do you think you can align your truck after replacing parts and it be done right? As quickly as them? What about a warranty?
Next time talk to the shop owner about the work and why the cost is different. Try speaking to several shops to get a better price. If a shop is on a main street, he has to pay his rent. If he's on a side street, his rent may be less.
Shop around and ask questions.

 

Or they could be like the shop that quoted my brother-in-law 2 sets of kingpins when some of us know that one set does both sides.

 

I have to agree with krosati. I'm in business to make money. When I come to fix your boiler/furnace/AC, or install your gas system, I'm charging 78/first hr during the day and 117/first hr at night. If I use an ignition transformer on your oil burner, it's going to cost 75 bucks, my cost is half that. We stay fairly busy all year round. I have 2 guys on a job right now ripping a trench and putting in 100 feet of IPS plastic gas pipe, as soon as they're done, I'll bring up the LP tank thats on my trailer.

But lets rack up a few of my costs.
Building, for office and storage: 2000/month
Insurance: 4700/year. Thats 400.00/month
Standing stock room, at last inventory counting. 28,000 in parts, tools, and supplies.
Recently purchased a trenching machine,(We do a lot of underground gas piping):$14,000.00 Thats $289.00/month.

Not to mention almost 5 grand in recent repairs and upgrades to my trucks.

Not having to punch a clock or listen to anybody boss me around. Priceless.

While the labor rates seem high, those are cheap for this area, a couple of guys I know are getting even more an hour for thier labor, but we get the first call when people are shopping around.

 

I agree that someone has to pay the overhead and if you have employees you get to pay about a third again the wages for insurance and taxes. I was in the restaurant business and understand overhead and inventory and mark up.

One difference I see though is that the inventory is not perishable and a huge mark-up just isn't necessary. The main reason folks go to a garage is for someone else to perform the labor. And I see Napa (etc) trucks there all the time so it isn't like they have a huge warehouse full of parts. When you buy a burger do you get invoiced for the materials meat/bread/veggies and then labor for 5 minutes at $70 hour 1/4 hour minimum....no.

I think pricing a part or job as installed/completed is a good idea. There are manuals on labor quotes per job now and most have a break down for "if in conjunction with + or - $) makes sense to me. I go to a garage for technical stuff or when I can't get to it myself.

Now to share a bad experience I just paid $77 for a turn signal bulb. Yep $77. Why to pass inspection. The inspection fee wasn't refundable and there were two hold ups a bad signal and a door handle oh and the exhaust that I asked them to schedule which would allow my truck to pass. They were going to be out for two weeks and I needed the truck legal so I said fix the light and get a handle. Okay handle is going to be $30 labor to open the box and turn one bolt, took the tech 1.5 hours to check the possible signal wiring and pull a bad bulb and replace it. So there it is a $175 inspection. Since I needed the exhaust prepaid to pass inspection I was stuck. Oh the exhaust quote jumped 75% at time to pay as well. I just don't like paying $50 hour and a huge mark up on parts.

I'll give you a decent mark-up for convenience or special freight but if I have to wait cause it is coming across town from Napa where you get a discount I shouldn't pay more than I would over there. I will gladly pay the labor rate if your work is good and if you allow me to bring my parts and just charge labor so much the better.

Okay I'll stop now.

 

Well, this post was mostly about the mark up on the parts, not the labor costs. I didn't fail to realise people have to make money, but it won't be coming from me(at least in this situation). I do as much maintenence as I can myself to save that money for something else. I don't have the equipment nor would I attempt to align my own vehicle. I will, however, install my own parts and take it in to have it aligned when I am done. I don't think I need to be well trained or anything else to do this work myself and I do have the proper tools to do the job. I really doubt all the people working in this place are properly trained either. I do know there are a few ASE certified mechanics there, but I don't believe that they would be the only ones doing the work on my car. OK, back to the main point of my posting, the mark up on parts. I know for a fact that this place does not stock 90%(or more) of the parts they sell. They call the auto parts store up the street and order the parts, the auto parts store delivers them and the shop installs them. I don't know what they pay for the parts, but I very highly doubt that it is more than I am charged at the same parts store. OK, here's the numbers 430% mark up on the ball joints, 208% on the struts and 470% on the rotors. Now, you tell me, do(would) you mark up materials this much and expect to remain competitive with the other businesses out there? Of course, this all depends on where you are and how much competition there is out there. If you can get away with these mark ups, good for you.