I had intended to do it myself, but I’m realizing I don’t have enough time to do it before school starts. How much will it cost to have an independent repair shop replace my clutch? How much more if the flywheel needs resurfacing?
I believe I have all the parts necessary. Clutch, pressure plate, release bearing, new flywheel bolts. Will most garages be upset that I already have the parts?
I think most shops around here charge around $80 per hour.
It’s a 2001 Volkwagen Cabrio, engine is the 2.0 ABA, transmission is the 5 speed 020.
The labor calculator on the subscription thing through my library says 6.6 hours, so around $500. I find clutches are one of those jobs a skilled mechanic can often beat the book time on, though, so it might be worth shopping around.
Most shops won’t be thrilled about installing a customer-bought part, but will do it. Of course, if any of your parts are defective, you get to pay them to do the job again. I also have had quite a few DIY jobs where I bought parts but never found the time, and I always try to return them and let the shop use their own stuff.
Thanks for looking that up for me. Do you know what the labor calculator is called? I hope my library has it.
I would have to pay to ship it all back, losing about 25 dollars. Also, the local shop is either going to get the parts from the dealer($220 more) or get an aftermarket clutch of unknown quality from one of the chains.
It’s an EBSCO service called the auto repair reference center or something like that. It’s mostly repair manuals (I think the same as the Chiltons ones) but it also has other handy stuff like the labor times.
With the parts, your mechanic should be able to get whatever brand you want and for a lot cheaper. Maybe they’d even knock $25 off their markup if you explain the situation.
The only accurate answer will be from the shop doing the work. One of my labor estimators shows 5.6 hours, another shows 6.2, and while most shops will use figures from an estimator, they aren’t required to. The price of flywheel resurfacing will vary with what the machine shop charges and how the shop marks up that charge.
The smartest shops won’t use parts that they don’t supply, because they risk some legal liability even though they didn’t provide the parts. Shops that will use your parts but still have reasonable business acumen will charge more for labor than if they provided the parts, because their normal fees are based on realizing some profit from selling the parts.
This is a situation with a number of potential variables. The best we can do on the internet is to give a rough ballpark idea.
What’s that got to do with anything? The shop’s fees are based on how much work is involved, not on how fast they can do it.
Not necessarily. Some parts are available through the internet at the same price a shop would pay for them, and of course the shop is going to mark up anything they sell.
Not every mechanic does straight book rate, or even if they usually do they might give you a deal on a job they know they can usually beat the book on.
I found a garage I trust to do the job. His quote to me was 400 for labor and 263 for parts(generic clutch from NAPA). I told him that I already had the parts, but that he could charge me a little more to make up for the lost profit. We agreed on a price of 435, a good price to me.