I said thanks, left and went home to call some local parts stores to check their prices and availability for a remanufactured alternator. They said it would cost nearly $600 for parts and labor. I took the car to my local Ford dealer and asked for a quote to replace the alternator. The total cost to fix it myself was less than $50.Ī few years ago, the alternator died on one of my cars (an old Ford Probe my son was driving to collage at the time). It took me about half a hour to saw off the old muffler and install the new one. I bought a muffler for less than $40, and a couple of clamps and a hangar. I said thanks, left and drove to the nearest AutoZone parts store. He said it would cost $450 to replace the muffler and adjoining pipes! I made it clear that this was a charity repair job, hoping he might give me a break. I took her car to a local muffler shop, explained the situation and asked the service manager how much it would cost to replace the muffler. About a year ago, our church offered to help a single mom in need get her car fixed. I've had dealerships and shops try to overcharge me for relatively simple repairs. I can't say because every situation is different. ![]() Maybe they are tying to rip you off, or maybe they are not. In addition to the normal overhead such as the cost of the building and property, taxes, utilities, insurance, employee benefits, and so on, repair facilities have to spend thousands of dollars every year on equipment, scan tool updates, information access and other costs that are necessary to repair today's cars.Ĭonsequently, when a shop quotes what seems like a very high price to change a relatively simple part, it may seem like they are attempting to take advantage of the situation and are overcharging for the repair. Why so high? Because it's expensive to run an auto repair business. The labor rate in most dealerships and repair shops today ranges from $60 to over $100 per hour. This is the kind of story that gives the auto repair industry a bad name. They obviously thought they had him over a barrel. Just $200 to change his thermostat.Ĭonsidering the fact that there are only two bolts attaching the thermostat housing to the engine, that's roughly $100 per bolt to fix his problem! Of course, the mechanic also has to drain some coolant out of the radiator and pour it back in once the thermostat has been replaced. ![]() They wanted nearly $200 to change his thermostat. ![]() They told him the thermostat was $54 and labor would be $142 to replace it. He told me the repair shop where he stopped at when his engine overheated wanted $196 to replace his thermostat. So I told him it should cost maybe $60 to $75 or so. I said the thermostat itself usually costs around $10 to $15, and it should only take a good mechanic about 15 to 20 minutes to change it, assuming the thermostat is relatively easy to get at (which it is on his car). He asked me how much I thought it should cost to replace the thermostat on his engine. He drives an older Hyundai Scoupe and his engine had been overheating. I got a call the other night from my uncle, who lives 300 miles away. ![]() Auto Repair Library, Auto Parts, Accessories, Tools, Manuals & Books, Car BLOG, Links, Indexĭon't Be Overcharged for Auto Repairs! Don't let them charge you $100 a bolt to replace a thermostat!īy Larry Carley copyright 2022
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