what have you'll found for the shop labor charges? local ford was $145.00 last time in, my wife had her subaru in for a warranty job today, shown on the repair order was shop rate $199.00 a hour.
talk about ripoff numbers

 

Kenworth dealer was $350 per hour back in October. probably closer to $400 per hour now.

 

My Fords have been so trouble free that I don't even know. However, when I bought the 2020, I did spring for the seven year 100K mile warranty and I'll continue to do that no matter what I own going forward.

At $200+ p/h, it won't take long to gobble up the cost of a warranty. The $100 deductible seems like a blessing.

 

one of my charter boat owner buddies had cat do 1000 hour services on the c18a engines, heat exchangers on both were found in need of replacing,the bill for each motor came to 10 grand took 22 hours

 

Those rates...$149-$200+ an hour is why I never bring my car to a new car dealer...my local mechanic...who was a FORD Tech for 20 years has his own shop...$90/hr...and...he only does what's necessary...no..."Well...you really need a cabin air filter."

 

To be fair, the $90/hour shop doesn’t have anywhere near the overhead that a Subie or Ford (or any other) dealer has.

I’m sure our customers don’t like when we pass on price increases, but I ain’t turning down my raise, either.

Yeah, that CAF thing…took the ‘03 for an oil change and inspection and the air filters were laying out for me to see. I’m like, “No thanks. Those filters are two weeks old!”

 

Johnny...I agree...but...why pay more than you have to??? The guy who works on my car has been doing it for about 30 years...even when he was working at the dealership he worked out of his home or another garage. I trust him implicitly...while...having spent over 30 years in the dealership...I don't trust them at all. The store I worked at for the last 16 years before retirement had a bonus plan in effect when a tech or service writer added lines to the repair order. The service writers kept dirty air filters and cabin air filters under their counter so they could show the victim...errr...customer how dirty they were. They closed probably 75% of the people...bingo...$10 extra in their paycheck. There's a reason they're called "Stealerships."

 

hear you both, that subie dealer videoed the 2, doing a walk around safety check got told NO wife showed them her phone photo taken before going in, looked good had only 14600 miles on them what was in the video showed really dirty ones . plus they wanted to do a BG brake fluid flush for 200,00 more .

 

I do just about everything myself. Lately, I've heard that it seems like $150.00/hour is about normal for my area.

 

i wish dan. just at age 78 doing somethings i can't anymore, NJ most are now $200.00 plus a hour, they charge a hour to do a oil change ,
yes the techs have to make a living,shop overhead is sky high, yet our pockets are not very deep,

 

It's not just the shop rates draining us dry. My Explorer was in need of a brake job. I called my dealer as I have an appt set for recalls and state inspection and I wanted to see what a four wheel brake job would cost. I was quoted $1000 over the phone and it was explained to me that the rotors aren't turned but replaced. After a few choice words, I found a brake shop that I've used in the past. All they do is brakes, suspension work, half shafts and state inspection. I still paid $970 but I was out in 90 minutes with a full four wheel job that included rotors, ceramic pads and a new e brake cable end.

The tech told me that he had a helluva time getting the car out of maintenance mode. I've never bought the tool to place it in maintenance mode and I ain't gonna. I really can't complain as this is all the money that I've had to spend on the car in the 62 months that I've owned it. So, shop rates and flat rates have all jumped exponentially.

 

some need a special tool to crank the rear pistons back into the caliper an one needs to know which way to turn them as they have L&R threads my escape the right turned left the left right.

$1000.00 brake jobs, AUDI's run around 2500 with oem parts

 

A lot of newer ones (18+ Jeeps/German Cars and nearly all brand new vehicles with f'n stupid electric parking brakes) require a scan tool with bidirectional control ability to retract the pistons electronically before replacing rear pads.

 

Yes sir which is another tool that I ain't buying.

 

your not alone tim. already have enough tools