Car Dealers and Service: This is why I do my own car work. A guy on the Fit forum noticed a small crack and leak in his oil pan. He went to the dealer to get an estimate. Apparently...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This is why I do my own car work. A guy on the Fit forum noticed a small crack and leak in his oil pan. He went to the dealer to get an estimate. Apparently, there is an awful lot of disassembly involved in removing the pan. Great design!

Below is the bill he received. Amazon lists a pan for $75 and an alternator belt for $13.

I wonder what the hazardous waste was. There was no cost for "Oil Disp." Is that disposal or dispensing? I wonder what shop supplies were used. Paper towels? Hand cleaner? Since it isn't listed separately, the oil pan probably came with a gasket.

I notice there's no charge for electricity, office furniture, printer ink. That dealer had better get with the times. He's losing a fortune! 🤣

BebuLamar

As far as great design I found that new car have great design in term of their spark plugs placement. You can replace all the spark plugs of an 8 cylinder 70's era car in about half an hour. It would take hours to replace the 4 spark plugs on a modern 4 cylinder car.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Yep, they build the cars so the shops have high work times. I had a heater core go bad in a car - total bill was $800 - they had to remove the dash to get to the last bolt that held in the core - talking with the mechanic, he was telling me that if they had left the bolt hole open in the plastic housing, they wouldn't have to remove the dash - and they were not allowed to drill through the plastic to access the bolt. I was in the Navy at the time and the bill was more than my paycheck - I was not a happy camper...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BebuLamar wrote:

As far as great design I found that new car have great design in term of their spark plugs placement. You can replace all the spark plugs of an 8 cylinder 70's era car in about half an hour. It would take hours to replace the 4 spark plugs on a modern 4 cylinder car.

Those labor charges add up.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Shellback wrote:

Yep, they build the cars so the shops have high wo... (show quote)

Same with some dash lights.......

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Car dealers often make relatively little on car sales, making up the difference in their service departments.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

jerryc41 wrote:

This is why I do my own car work. A guy on the Fi... (show quote)

Depending on the car make, your friend could be getting a decent deal. Vehicles today are not designed to accept individual repair parts. Like cameras, they’ve embraced a modular corrective maintenance concept. I have a friend who owned a Boxster for a few years. Minor issues with not terribly expensive part replacement quickly produced repair bills of $1500-$2000….. mostly labor. And it doesn’t have to be an expense sports toy. If your car has adaptive headlights, for example, get ready to pay as much as $1500 for a replacement. Life is good!

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Just for the hell of it I checked Amazon to see how much an oil pan for my 1996 Ford Explorer would cost. Looks like I would be out of luck if I needed one, they have pans for Explorers starting with the 1997 model.
However, it looks like it would only be about $35 if I needed one for my Kia Sorento.

LestheK

They go by the "BOOK". They have a reference book sent to them by the car manufacturer. If the book says 4 hours that's what you charge for even if it only takes 20 minutes. It's a great scam. A mechanic I know told me that the car dealer charged a customer for 18 hours of work, but it only took him 6 hours to do the job. The dealer went by the "BOOK".

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

LestheK wrote:

They go by the "BOOK". They have a reference book sent to them by the car manufacturer. If the book says 4 hours that's what you charge for even if it only takes 20 minutes. It's a great scam. A mechanic I know told me that the car dealer charged a customer for 18 hours of work, but it only took him 6 hours to do the job. The dealer went by the "BOOK".

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

David Martin wrote:

Car dealers often make relatively little on car sales, making up the difference in their service departments.

I worked in the auto repair industry for years as a service manager. Your presumption is incorrect. Though dealer service departments are normally profitable they are not the "backbone" of the dealership.The aim was "service absorption" which basically meant that the service department should make enough to pay the overhead of the dealership. That may have changed in the time I have been away from the industry.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

LestheK wrote:

They go by the "BOOK". They have a reference book sent to them by the car manufacturer. If the book says 4 hours that's what you charge for even if it only takes 20 minutes. It's a great scam. A mechanic I know told me that the car dealer charged a customer for 18 hours of work, but it only took him 6 hours to do the job. The dealer went by the "BOOK".

You aren't counting the times the book pays way too little time to do the repair; which is most of the time. And the revisions in book times when the "new book" comes out.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

The current Davis Bacon Prevailing Wage for plumbers/pipefitters in our area is currently $73.66 per hour which is what a "non-union" contractor must pay on jobs considered public works (local government, state, and federal projects) or contract-agreed projects designed to prevent picketing and harassment on the job sites that might cause delays and disputes.

We are a signatory member of the local union plumbers/pipefitters and the union contract wage rate is quite higher PLUS eight cents per man-hour worked for Contractors Union Association fees. It may not sound like much, but, we had several hundred tradesmen employed. We need not concern ourselves with meeting the minimum wage requirement for we far exceeded it on all of our work both public and private.

Training, safety equipment and programs, uniforms, tools, equipment, trucks, material inventory, warehousing, fabrication shop, etc., brought our hourly rate to the customer to $162.00 per hour for a journeyman/foreman.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

LestheK wrote:

They go by the "BOOK". They have a reference book sent to them by the car manufacturer. If the book says 4 hours that's what you charge for even if it only takes 20 minutes. It's a great scam. A mechanic I know told me that the car dealer charged a customer for 18 hours of work, but it only took him 6 hours to do the job. The dealer went by the "BOOK".

Yup, a mechanic’s rate schedule is the money maker.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

David Martin wrote:

Car dealers often make relatively little on car sales, making up the difference in their service departments.

True, but "relatively" is a word with a lot of variation.