Is there a guide online to how much a particular repair should cost in labor? I think that I remember hearing at some point in my life that there’s a book that says that it should take so many hours of labor, regardless of how long it actually takes a mechanic to do the repair. I’m trying to estimate about how much I’m looking at paying for a repair, but I’m not able to actually drop the car off at the place unless I’m actually getting it fixed.
As a secondary question, in case the answer is no, I assume that they don’t give quotes over the phone? That just seems like they’d be getting all sorts of angry people when car-unseen repairs are quoted at $X and cost $4X.
(although EVERYONE’s going to be closed tomorrow anyway. Stupid holidays.)
Yes there are several labor guides that shops use to estimate labor charges. Are they online? Not to my knowledge.
Will the number bear a direct relationship to the cost of repair? Maybe, maybe not.
You are confusing a labor estimating guide with flat rate pay plan for the mechanic. Flat rate refers how the mechanic gets paid. The shop says we will pay you 1 hour to do this job. If the technician is above average and get the job done in 45 minutes, he is ahead of the game. if it takes him 90 minutes he is behind. Either way he gets paid 1 hour for his efforts.
Exactly. Quote laws vary from place to place. Here in California, you have to sign, and be given a written estimate before I can touch your car. If an inspection reveals the need for additional work, I have to get your approval before I do anything else.
If you were to post a year make model and what work you need, there are some guys here that have grease under their fingernails, and can probably give you a good ballpark idea.
I’m just saying.
I have a '95 Monte Carlo, and I need that switch that makes the brake lights turn on replaced. My tail lights work, but my brake lights don’t, and it’s not the fuse, and it’s not the bulb. I had a big blowout a couple of years ago that ripped all the wires for my headlights/taillights/blinkers out, and my dad actually fixed it all for me, so I really hope that there’s a loose wire in there. If it’d be cost-effective, and worth my time if the repair is really expensive, I can just drive the 4 hours and have my dad look at it, but I’d also have to take time off work, etc etc.
Is there a guide online to how much a particular repair should cost in labor?
Online, free? Not that I know of.
I think that I remember hearing at some point in my life that there’s a book that says that it should take so many hours of labor, regardless of how long it actually takes a mechanic to do the repair.
The “book” tells how long it took (note past tense) someone to do it. No one can say how long it will take someone to do it. Virtually all car repair is billed by the job, not by the clock. The book gives a guide as to how big a job it is.
As a secondary question, in case the answer is no, I assume that they don’t give quotes over the phone?
Some places do, but there’s a multitude of reasons why it’s often a pointless exercise.
That just seems like they’d be getting all sorts of angry people when car-unseen repairs are quoted at $X and cost $4X.
Of course. One reason a phone quote is useless is that the consumer does not know what to ask - is guessing wrong about what’s needed, doesn’t know which engine is in the car, doesn’t include related items that shouldn’t be overlooked, etc. It’s hardly more realistic to expect an accurate quote over the phone than to expect someone to fix it over the phone.
You can, however, call a mechanic shop and ask for their per hour rate. Chances are, all the independent mechanics in a given areawill charge pretty much the same, and all the car dealerships will charge pretty much the same, but at least you can figure out how much that 4 hour drive to your father’s house would cost if a mechanic needed that same amount of time to find the problem.
By the way, tracking down electrical problems can often be time consuming.
Electrical problems and sometimes diagnostic time aside, it’s almost universal that jobs are billed by book time. It keeps everything fair and on an even balance. It many (perhaps most?) shops, mechanics are also paid book time for their jobs. Pro’s and Con’s? Well, if the book says changing your floating rotors is a 1 hour job and it only takes 30 minutes, you may feel ripped off. On the other hand, if the axle had welded itself to the hub and the mechanic takes the time to free it rather than charge you for a new axle and hub, but it takes more than an hour, he’s done you a great favor, kept the job at the price as promised, and also took a pay cut since he’s only being paid for the one hour job. The downside, then, is that some mechanics may just scrap the whole hub/axle, and give you the bad news that you need an axle plus the book time to replace it, which is fair, but you’ll still feel ripped off. From the mechanics’ perspectives, it’s a great motivator to excel at their work and perform their jobs more efficiently – hoping, of course, that they don’t take bad shortcuts.
Generally those signs with hourly rates have small-type disclaimers stating that charges are calculated from the times in the estimator books. Disclaimer or not, that’s how it’s done. If the book shows 2.0 to replace the water pump on your car, and the shop rate is $75, the labor charge for that job will be $150. Chances are it will take approximately 2 hours, or seem to, but whether the actual working time is 90 minutes, or 120 minutes, or 150 minutes, the labor charge will be $150 - because it is billed by the job, not by the clock.
What creates the confusion I mentioned is that it often appears that work is billed by the clock. After all, the sign says $X per hour, right? Right, but that’s $X per flat-rate hour - the time in the estimator book - and NOT per clock hour (time actually spent doing the work). Most shops do a dismal - or nonexistent - job of communicating and explaining this to customers, and even worsen the situation by saying “time” and “hours” when they really mean “book time” and “flat-rate hours,” terms which do NOT refer to the actual time spent working on the car.
And occasionally a customer will feel he’s been overcharged when his bill indicates 2 “hours” of labor while the car was only being worked on for 90 minutes (customers never offer to pay more when the working time exceeds the billed “time”). But as previously mentioned, it’s an inherently fair system. You pay a set and consistent price for a particular job. You can get an accurate quote of that price beforehand. It doesn’t cost you more if the slow guy is assigned to the job. The problems with the system aren’t in the fairness of the billing, but in misperceptions of the billing process.
In sum, almost all auto repair is billed by the job, even if you think it’s billed by the clock.
It was actually the front passenger side, and not a whole lot. We ordered a new inner fender from eBay (from what I remember, the outside metal one was alright), and then he went through the effort of reconnecting all 200 of those tiny wires.
In this case I would be very surprised if the wire from the brake light switch to the brake lights was in those repaired.
GM wants to use the least amount of material possible to build your car. The shortest distance between the brake light switch and the brake lights does not include the right front inner fender. Now it is possible that the power supply to the brake light switch is one of those wires, and the repair has gone bad, I would have to see a wiring diagram to verify this. It might just be a bad brake light switch. But if it was a problem with a splice in the repaired area, and you brought it to my shop I would estimate it like this. Electrical repairs are $___ per hour (fill in the blank for your location) it could take up to three hours to sort this out. So I am going to give you an estimate for 3X the hourly rate plus some money for material ($20-$50). If this is worse than I anticipate, I may have to increase the estimate later. Armed with a wiring diagram, I could probably sort it out in 1-2 hours.
Now on a slightly different note, you might want to consider this. Assuming that the splices do have something to do with your current problem. If the previous repair was not done using weatherproof splices, this brake light issue might be the tip of the iceberg. Moisture and dirt get into each of those 200 splices causing corrosion and electrical resistance. One by one the various circuits start having problems.
In the long run you might be money way ahead to either replace the entire harness, or sell the car.
I’m not familiar with how Chevy routes its brake light wiring, but I wouldn’t expect it to be through the front fenders.
Before we condemn anyone to “ring out” some 200 wires, if the problem really is the brake light switch, it should be a simple nuts and bolts job at the top end of the brake pedal. The hard part is wriggling yourself under the dash to get at it.
Replacing the brake light switch is likely to be in the neighborhood of 75. Testing to prove it’s faulty would be somewhat more, but not much.
The real question is, do we know for a fact that the switch is faulty? For that matter, do we know for a fact that the fuse and bulbs (note the plural) are good?
Visual inspection of components is not a reliable test; replacement of components (cheap enough for fuses and bulbs) is almost always reliable; proper testing with a test light is reliable. If I were addressing this problem, I’d first test the fuse, if it’s okay test the brake light switch, if it’s okay test for power and ground at the brake light sockets, then, depending on the results, replace bulbs or troubleshoot the circuit.
That said, brake light switch failure is a much more common problem than wiring and socket malfunctions, so odds are you’re right about what it needs.
Ok, so at least it’s not as bad as I had imagined. I’ve replaced the bulbs, and done a visual inspection of the fuse, but didn’t actually replace it. Since my credit is too bad for a credit card, I know that I’ll be able to save up for the repair in a couple of paychecks, even at the top end of the estimates.
