Steering rack leak.. my turn..$2300 bill
- Thread starter giguchan
- Start date
mtbtim
Elite Member
Well, I guess it depends what you think your time is worth. If you make big money and have very limited free time, I could see paying high labor rates and overpaying for parts. But, if you don't have money burning a hole in your pocket and you're not short on time, why not turn a wrench and be smart by ordering your parts from an online seller.
The thing is, I doubt any of us commenting on this thread are looking to open a shop. We're commenting from our perspective as DIYers not looking to get bent over at a dealership. I don't give a shit that a dealership or shop has high operation costs. My local dealer's labor rate is $200/hour. I don't make anywhere close to $200 hour so it's a no-brainer for me to the avoid the dealership service department like the plague. Maybe the mechanics and other employees at these dealerships aren't making much money but I can guarantee the folks at the top are probably rolling in doe.
To each his own. People like me enjoy doing their own wrenching more than just for the money savings. The learning, the challenge, the sense of accomplishment, and the knowledge the job was done right are other reasons why I choose do do my own wrenching.
T4R2014
Elite Member
Lolol triggered. Hence why I said logical from a DIY perspective. If you are running a business you BET time is valuable. Unfortunately Elaine the middle aged 3rd gen owner isn't waiting 8 days for a steering rack to arrive from Camelback Toyota, so she will have to pay $834 that the cheapest dealer in the area will charge. And the book states that a steering rack job is over 4 hours despite guys on a forum being able to change it at the speed of an F1 pit crew. It's all true, but business is business. $2300 is definitely high but I guess to an original owner this isn't much after this many years.
Oh and keep truckin OP.
mtbtim
Elite Member
No Dude, not triggered. LOL back at ya buddy. I'm just stating my opinion that I don't care what a shop's operation costs are. It's no concern to me whether or not they can pay their light bill. My local dealer has a line of cars waiting to get into the service department everyday. At $200/hour, I know this dealership isn't hurting. What I'm here to tell people is if they have an interest at all in auto mechanics and have the time and space to do it, it's a worthwhile pursuit for more reasons than the money savings.
My 98 4runner is heavily modified now. I paid $6500 for it and since then put another 10k easily into it from the maintenance, repairs and modifications I've done to make it more off-road capable. I can't imagine what I would have invested into it if I paid someone to do all the work, probably at least another 10k. I don't know about you, but 10k is a pretty good chunk of change to do something with.
There's things I gladly pay someone else to do for me. I thought about tearing off and installing my own roof recently, but decided the amount of labor it was going to take was going to be more than I wanted to take on. Weeks of physical work out in the hot sun didn't sound so great to me so I parted with a lot of cash instead.
By the way, Camelback Toyota will usually get you your parts in 2-3 days.
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giguchan
Senior Member
Oh I'm sure of it.....
The Local shop(of ONE that i would even come close to trusting) was $250..
with that close of a price i figured the dealer was the better move. I dont know what resurfacing and pads would cost elsewhere in the country but i am curious as to what someone else would pay.. I did ask if it made any diff because i did the upgrade they said no.. So yeah.. I could've done better..
I mean i did do SOME pricing before i was bent over... and yeah it still hurts.. but either get screwed by the local guy or get more of a reaming from the dealer.. some indie shops are getting close to dealer prices..
The Local shop(of ONE that i would even come close to trusting) was $250..
with that close of a price i figured the dealer was the better move. I dont know what resurfacing and pads would cost elsewhere in the country but i am curious as to what someone else would pay.. I did ask if it made any diff because i did the upgrade they said no.. So yeah.. I could've done better..
I mean i did do SOME pricing before i was bent over... and yeah it still hurts.. but either get screwed by the local guy or get more of a reaming from the dealer.. some indie shops are getting close to dealer prices..
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mtbtim
Elite Member
Well, don't feel bad. I got reamed at my local dealer when their labor rate was still $150/hour. They raped me charging $1500 for a rear axle seal job and rear brake job. When I realized the mechanic botched the rear axle seal job and I had to return to the dealership and school the mechanic in front of his peers about how he had a poor mating of the axle seal with the inner retainer, I realized that day I'd probably be best doing most of my own work for now on.
I made the assumption that Toyota dealership mechanics would be the best guys for the job because they work on Toyotas all day. But, these guys work on a wide array of model Toyotas so who's to say any of these guys are experts on our 3rd Gens. No doubt there's dealership mechanics that could run circles around me in knowledge and experience wrenching on these rigs. But, by frequenting forums like this and doing a ton of wrenching on 3rd Gens over the last 3+ years, maybe I'm more knowledgeable than most of these guys at the dealerships.
This might not always hold true but it's my belief the best person to be working on your rig is yourself. You're going to do the research and you're going to take your time and make sure the job is done right. A lot of these mechanics work on a Flat Rate System. When a mechanic works fast and gets the job done under the booked time, they make more money. I don't know about you guys, but I Do Not rush through any job on my rig. When I work fast, there's a higher chance I'll make a mistake. Dealership and private shop mechanics make mistakes all the time and you're paying them big money for those mistakes. When I make a mistake, at least it didn't cost me thousands of dollars.
Anyway, my two cents on why it's better to do your own wrenching.
giguchan
Senior Member
Holy cow...
That's a pretty good reason to do it yourself.. I can imagine the frustration you must have felt when you discovered that the job wasn't completed properly.
The Assumption that you made is the same one I've made since day one. Chevy? go to the Chevy guy... Japanese food? go to a Japanese place(yes some of us can tell). I like to see some gray hair in the work area too.. like when you get on a plane.. you want Sully in the left seat.. The time before last there was a old 3G enthusiast working on my truck.. I believe he's since retired... Now that i think of it.. i should seek him out.
I hope that this will be the next High Dollar repair.. I mean if there is another then so be it.. I hope this will buy me at least 2 years.
That's a pretty good reason to do it yourself.. I can imagine the frustration you must have felt when you discovered that the job wasn't completed properly.
The Assumption that you made is the same one I've made since day one. Chevy? go to the Chevy guy... Japanese food? go to a Japanese place(yes some of us can tell). I like to see some gray hair in the work area too.. like when you get on a plane.. you want Sully in the left seat.. The time before last there was a old 3G enthusiast working on my truck.. I believe he's since retired... Now that i think of it.. i should seek him out.
I hope that this will be the next High Dollar repair.. I mean if there is another then so be it.. I hope this will buy me at least 2 years.
