If you live in a Big City... beware.

I got to get my car inspected, it passed except for the tag bulb, told me would cost $18 to replace it, $2 for the part and $16 for labor.

No thank you, I can do that myself. Maybe a good deal for a helpless grandma.

Someone else I know had a problem with a compressor or clutch making noises, took it to the same place, and was quoted $1300 to fix it. And that's on a '98 compact Mazda, worth more than the car itself. Their other prices are similar. I think that shops probably makes a million bucks per year, or close to it.

Toyota dealership charged $400 to replace the accessory belts on a 2000 camry (I did them myself in 40 minutes), then $440 to do the timing belt at only 60K miles. I told the owner that it's not necessary at 60K but it was done anyway.

This explains my conviction to never take the car in for anything, unless you just absolutely have to. The last time I got screwed, I had to have exhaust put on an old Bimmer. I bought it myself ($200 was the cheapest I could find) and paid $100 to have it installed - just the labor to pull a few rusty bolts. I just didn't want to risk my life crawling under a jacked up car.

Most things they charge for are earth-shatteringly simple to do with a few sockets set and a factory service manual. If you have to take it in, don't take it to someone on a major street who doesn't depend on repeat customers, but to a country mechanic. He may take a day or 2 longer but charges much less and does a better job anyway.

Also having on old Ford pickup as a backup for your daily driver helps a lot so that your daily driver is not held hostage by the shop. Never mind the 10mpg it gets, Fix the car when you get to it!!!

 

We do a lot of our own work, out of economic necessity. $400 for rear brake pads? $800 for ball joints? I ain't got that kind of money! The only place I'm screwed is when the computer stuff acts up. Then I go buy another cheap car.

 

Computer stuff is the easiest. Get a code scanner off Ebay. The ones for EEC-IV are under $10.

 

I run a very small auto repair business of my own. If you knew the costs of simply keeping the doors open, lights on, taxes paid, business licensing, etc. before I actually get to keep some of the money that comes through the door I am pretty sure you would be very unpleasantly surprised.
One example: My business employs my wife, myself and one other man. Total of three employees on the S-corp.
I pay $5000.00-7500.00 per month in taxes alone. Just taxes. Never mind the lease on the storefront.

 

I do know the costs- I went out of business a few years ago. That doesn't mean I can afford to have my car fixed- or have my teeth worked on, or work done on the house, or any number of things that need doing. It's not the fault of the small businessman that things like taxes and insurance have gotten out of hand.

 

it really sucks when you live in an apartment complex and they do not allow any auto maintenance done, not even simple waxing a car.

which is even more ironic about that is most people live in an apartment because they can not afford a house, so figure in they would be the ones that would need to do car repairs themselves due to the cost.

 

I just had this same discussion with a friend of mine at church who is also self employed, needing to hire someone and is flabbergasted at the going rate for the wages paid for his trade. He's also shocked at the prices that are being charged within his field. Double what it used to be just five years ago. One of his competetors is charging 127.00 just to show up at the door and they are booked out two weeks in advance.
Furnace repair.
I told him to not fear the numbers and go for it.
I also told him that I have been very surprised at some of the quotes that I have come up with in my own business and the owners don't even blink when they tell me to go ahead and fix it.

 

That's the Truth. I just wrote a check for $3900 to get my smile fixed .... haven't smiled since.

 

of course that goes back to other threads, about the lack of pushing of trades as a career in schools over college. i guess it appears there is a shortage of people for trades? that would be the only thing i could see about such high prices, excluding of course the other factors that would apply to everyone like taxes.

i wish i could get it in my head to learn a trade, but i just can not get my career goal i am going to college for out of my head.

 

Around here there isn't really a shortage in trades, it's just that the majority of tradesman are getting set to retire. But nobody is hiring the young guys like me who want to get into the trade to replace the ones who will retire. They aren't hiring because the economy is bad.

To get back on topic around here, the dealerships are charging crazy prices. The cheapest dealer in town was charging $90 an hour, but he was shut down by GM because he refused to update his building and he wasn't moving enough vehicles anyways. The Ford dealer went bankrupt for the same reason I don't know what they were charging, the only dealer left in town now is at about $95 an hour for labour. The only real shop we have in town is about $70 an hour.

 

Gee I had the truck in a shop. New cord on the block heater. checked the antifreeze. Tested the heater. and did an oil change. Only charged $12.50 for labor.

 

Well, I hear you.
It's expensive to run a business in People's Republic of New Jersey, and California and Chicago, etc. and just about any other place where people have money, meaning a major metro area.

Move in the middle of nowhere, rural Kentucky, and real estate is much less and taxes are less also, but nobody has any money and there is competition for near-min-wage jobs. But, you can get your brakes done for $39 vs. $500 in Washington D.C.'

Myself, I cannot afford to have my car fixed by a major shop, so DIY is more of a necessity.

 

Also - just because a customer is charged $90/hour or $800 for a brake job, doesn't mean the corresponding value is there. Most of these mechanics are making a small fraction of that, maybe $12-$15/hour if not certified? With oil changes, they may be downright inexperienced - or negligent given the high volume of work.

So if you pay $90 per hour, you may not always get the value.

 

A master Ford tech use to make $33-$35 an hour or about 1/2 the dealer rate. I don't know about now.

 

Exactly the same here in the mountains of Virginia (about 60 miles from the Kentucky border). The independent shop I use on occasion charges $30 per hour and the dealership is just under $50.