Reasonable labor or total rip off...I vote for the latter

[tommykoz1998]

Greetings,
Looking for some opinions. Back story: Just bought a very well maintained 2018 Limited with 180K miles. 1 owner, no ice snow or salt exposure. Did a fair amount of what I consider maintenance. Did regular oil changes, antifreeze flush and headlight restoration. HOWEVER, did no important maintenance upkeep such as tranny flush/fluid, original brake fluid, power steering fluid or rear diff fluid. Took it to a Toyota dealer and had a seasoned tech give me his opinion on tranny flush or just fluid exchange. Having no issues there. He advised to just let it alone unless an issue arises.
Wanted to keep my business local and support them, I took it to a local garage with a good reputation. Stupid me, didn't ask for an estimate to replace the power steering fluid, bleed the brakes and add fluid and drain the rear diff. I supplied all the fluids, so labor only. Took just a little over an hour and was handed the bill. Just about hit the floor when they handed me the bill... $535 and change. WTF. Never again, and needless to say, they will get a very negative review from me. Opinions? Have been sick or I would have done most of it myself and thought the dealer would have been higher

 

[hoobhoob]

Sounds like about standard shop rate for adding up all the individual services you asked for.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Go to 3:27 on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJr30r6RRgw&t=14s

 

[To_fire]

Greetings,
Looking for some opinions. Back story: Just bought a very well maintained 2018 Limited with 180K miles. 1 owner, no ice snow or salt exposure. Did a fair amount of what I consider maintenance. Did regular oil changes, antifreeze flush and headlight restoration. HOWEVER, did no important maintenance upkeep such as tranny flush/fluid, original brake fluid, power steering fluid or rear diff fluid. Took it to a Toyota dealer and had a seasoned tech give me his opinion on tranny flush or just fluid exchange. Having no issues there. He advised to just let it alone unless an issue arises.
Wanted to keep my business local and support them, I took it to a local garage with a good reputation. Stupid me, didn't ask for an estimate to replace the power steering fluid, bleed the brakes and add fluid and drain the rear diff. I supplied all the fluids, so labor only. Took just a little over an hour and was handed the bill. Just about hit the floor when they handed me the bill... $535 and change. WTF. Never again, and needless to say, they will get a very negative review from me. Opinions? Have been sick or I would have done most of it myself and thought the dealer would have been higher

Shops don't charge on elapsed time. Each procedure has an estimated completion time attached to it, and even if it doesn't take that long, they charge the shop time. So, power steering might be an hour, brakes might be 2 hours and diff might be an hour.

 

[02SE]

Shops charge by Book Time, not actual time. Shops have to charge enough to stay in business, which means paying salaries, insurance, paying for the building, taxes on everything, overhead, etc, etc.
The going rate at standard auto repair shops can be in the $200.00 per hour range. More for those shops dealing with high-end cars.

Back when I was a Master Tech at Toyota, and then at independent shops, I occasionally had customers or acquaintances who wanted me to 'look' at their car for free. Apparently MY time, knowledge, tools, and ability weren't worth anything. I always asked them if they got paid for their job, and if so, did they do the same work for the select few who complained about the price, for free?

In the future, I'd suggest doing your due diligence, and get an estimate before approving future work.

 

[osugsxr]

price seems about right for all the tasks listed. I'm usually a DIY on the cars and will research how much time itll take me to do complete it along with material cost.

ex: audi front pads & rotors $1700 quote. Rear pads $900
DIY : about $300 in parts plus a $10 month app subscription
time about 40 minutes, rear pads required an electronic brake release using the app. Smooth process overall and save some money.