Not Sure What Happened

hang on

Do you mean they were charging 6 hours book time and the job only took 3 hours so essentially their $90/hour rate was doubled ?

 

I'm curious also. What does Toyota charge for front hub assemblies?

 

Here's the invoice.

 

So $700 labour to change the wheel bearings and road test

 

The Service Writer told me they charge $170 or $180 per hour for labor. I forget, I was so pissed at this point. When he 1st told me I need the driver's side, he quoted me about $800 total, which included about 3-hours of labor. At that time, I didn't know how much they charged for labor. Then when he told me that the passenger's side was needed as well, he said it he'd give me a 10% discount.

So, based on all that and knowing that this completed the the driver's side in less than half the quoted 3-hours, I figured my bill wasn't going to be all that bad. When I saw the original $1500+ bill, I almost shit myself. That's when he told me that no matter how long the job takes (not just this job but most jobs), they charge for what the book calls for labor. For this job, that wold be 6 hours @ $170/$180 per hour. I flipped out, especially because everything was done and I had the truck back in a bit less than 3-hours. To me 3 x $180 and that should have been my original labor cost.

That's when he explained to me, it gets bill at 3-hours each, whether it takes 1 hour or 12 hours. After some back and forth, he was able to take some money off, but not as much I thought he should have.

Live and learn, I guess. Kindingly, he said something along the lines of that he could have kept it for the duration, but he wanted to get it to me ASAP. I understand his stance. The issue I have is with Toyota, not this dealership.

 

That's the way I read it. From the time they pulled the truck in to the time I left the dealership, about 2 hours and 45 minutes passed.

 

Flat rate is flat rate. It's the Flat rate cost per hour you should be pissed about. $180 an hour is RIDICULOUS!!! It's been almost two years since I was a writer, but we were charging $95 an hour.

Anyhow, flat rate is designed to make it an even playing field. Let's say you get a tech that can do a 3 hour job in an hour. You pay him the 3 hours as a flat rate tech and you bill the customer for those 3 hours. If you get a less experienced tech that is qualified but slower and it takes him 4 hours to do it, you still pay him and charge the customer for only the 3 hours. The amount of time charged should be the same from one place to another, but the cost per hour is where you shop around. That sounds like gouging with that high of an hourly rate.

An alignment takes pretty much the same amount of time at any shop with the correct equipment, but some places here charge $79.99 and others charge $129 for the same exact thing.

You don't get a discounted rate for the work if it takes an experienced tech less time. That's also where some mom-and-pop shops are different in that they may charge a very low cost per hour, or they may only charge you for actual time needed.

 

6 hours @ $180 would be $1080 so he didn't get charged that if they went by the book hours

 

Op your invoice shows $696 for labor. Divide that by 6 hours and you get $116/hr.

 

I didn't do the math- someone else did. Just pointing out flat rate and how it works. And, as I'm responding, looks like BudMan did the math- and at a Toyota shop, $116/hr seems close to normal, and he's in NJ which is likely more costly than where I am in MA.

 

Maybe I heard wrong, but I'm almost sure that's what he said. I agree, the bill doesn't reflect that rate, if it's supposed to be the flat rate of 3-hours x 2 to equal 6 total hours of labor. I still think it's inappropriate to pay almost $700 in labor for less than 3-hours of work. I just can't make that right in my mind.

 

Sometimes they use extra hands to help speed the job up but its still the same man hours. Sometimes they claim to use extra hands but just do it very fast (they get good at doing some work and can finnish it much quicker than the "recomended time"). They will still charge the same

They dont call them "stealerships" for nothing.

 

Hey ! That Tech is pretty good. He looks at the Vehicle and diagnoses bad wheel bearing without even touching it or driving it/hearing it. I admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the toolbox, but that guy was SOOOO good he should have swapped both bearings is 20 min.

I'd investigate the total $ invoice with another Toyota dealer and also a good local shop. After all, the Tech could not charge for Diag time since it only took a second to diagnose. If I did find that the dealer was screwing with me for a lot of money I'd get the AG, Local Paper/TV and Toyota Corporate well in formed.

 

Good idea. I think I will call another dealer and get them to quote the job.

 

Don't ever go to a dealer for repairs unless it's warranty work, there are too many good independent shops out there.

By the posted invoice they charged you msrp for the parts, then knocked off 13%. They still left meat on that bone.

Plus you paid $600. for Labor!

If they would have showed me that estimate, I would have laughed and left.

 

Easier said then done, finding a trustworthy independent shop to perform this type of work. I've always used the dealer, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, due to liability issues.

Congratulations to you for obviously having more common sense than I do. You should be proud of yourself for being so knowledgeable and worldly, compared to me.

 

About an hour or so ago, the Service Writer gave me a call to ask how the truck was performing. I told him it was like it was new, definitely better than when I had brought it in the 1st time. This must have been going gradually, but I really don't know. I thanked him for following-up with me. I thought that was a pretty nice thing to do.

I asked him again what their standard labor rate is and he told me $116 per hour, so I must have heard it wrong the first time when I said $160/$180. He probably said the 116, I heard it as 160, then for whatever reason got 180 out of that. Who knows. At any rate, it's $116.

 

Thanks again to everyone that helped along the way. It was definitely a learning experience. I hate the fact that I'm out $1500, but I'm pleased with the result. It hasn't felt this good/stable for a very long time.

 

Most shops work the same way. Labor rate manual is standard practice. Everybody knows this.

 

Not everyone, because I certainly didn't. If something takes 3-hours to do, I expect to pay for 3-hours worth of labor, not 6.