Replacing power steering lines

No I didnt bro as I said, he was a friend and I never had to compare his labor or parts but the last two times, he jacked me over. Now I am going to get referrals for other shops to go to. Sometimes in life, people change but not for the better so you have to change them out for those that are honest with you. My landscaper told me today that he had it out with him about four years ago which I didn't know. I guess when he got one over on me too many times and I questioned him, he got huffy and irritated which people do when cornered.

 

How do you know he overcharged if you haven't compared his prices to any other shops?

 

Asked a friend who is a mechanic at a Toyota dealer in pa but 200 miles from here. Also checked on the part myself on numerous sites.

 

Yes but what about the price of the entire job including parts and labor? Even though you've already paid for the p/s work, call around locally and get some quotes

But I saw 2.3 hours for both lines if it's a 4.0/4wd on my Alldata. I might have bumped it up to 2.5 if it was me.

Did he add more for the flush? Diagnosis like using dye to check for leaks? Is your vehicle rusty, frozen fittings and bolts?

As for the parts, if you compare online parts stores and shop prices you're always going to be disappointed. Shops mark up parts, we double stuff all the time and try to keep our minimum parts profit around 35-40%. That's what we need as a business to stay healthy. We also never use Amazon or Rock Auto, only wholesale vendors that are set up to deal exclusively with repair shops. We return stuff all the time, the parts pipeline has to be seamless in both directions.

Anyway, good luck and hope you find a place you can trust

 

This comes to mind.

 

Not sure why, but part of me just wants to read your explanation

Really now?

 

Usually places charge hour diag minimum to look at it first

if you’re an adult you already know how it works
as well as shops

I know for me, I definitely have diagnostic time into my own diagnosis. I cleaned the area to re-evaluate later, and will probably add dye.

Like other things (medical, etc.) never hurts to get a second opinion.
I don't Toyota computer access or AllData so I don't know the labor time.

A man not knowing how to cook is a red flag. Avoid

In life you get maybe one or two true friends.
"If you love something, let it go. If it returns, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was."
Maybe you didn't lose a friend.

that type of character is 1% of society

If you don't already know how mechanics work, here's how.
If I do side work, I charge $50/hr. This is standard everywhere. I don't, because I don't have the time. Or am not giving up a Saturday. That and I don't like dealing with people like that. They fuck around too much. Last person fucked around and found out. Blocked their number. They couldn't find any mechanics. I wonder why.

Independent shops, approx $100/hr
Dealers, approx $200/hr
Book times, already covered that.
Customer pay multiplier. Warranty times are usually trash. Outside of warranty there is a number you multiply to the warranty time (if that is what you have) to obtain labor. It varies by shop.
Parts cost. Parts are usually marked up to some degree. Everywhere.
Shops tend to use high quality more expensive parts with a warranty to reduce the likelihood of some junk quickly failing, from a company that offers no support in terms of cost/replacement/labor needed to do the job over again a second time.

This depends on who your customer is. Again. Back to friends. If you become incapacitated, your friend will throw you on their shoulder and carry you. They can drive your stickshift car, and you the same for them. Such a thing is rare.
For people like that, I may be open to doing things for free. Usually with people like that you've helped eachother out in life so much that it's just another favor traded back and forth in a long series of them.
If is a stranger, there is a cost.

It's up to you to find out what a reasonable cost is.
Underpayment is theft. Overcharging is also theft.
Haven't done my line(s) yet (need to) so no idea if it's going to be a walk in the park, or a PITA with banjo bolts in hard to reach places with crush washers like certain vehicles can have.
A real mechanic with any grain of skill does not need to overcharge because he understands there are more broken cars in the sea to work on than there are people to fix them (a plethora of work), it is not worth the risk of ruining reputation, is usually efficient enough to do a job well when it's out of warranty with the right investment in tools and training, etc.
A sane mechanic does not need to overcharge on one job, because he knows that if he has skill and people who go to him, that there's a million fish in the sea. Except the fish keep jumping out of the ocean and onto his table. Instead of fish, they're broken cars. So many cars breaking them. All of them. And needing maintenance. No matter what. Even Toyota. Toyota reliability is simply a facade the average person falls for.
It's almost like the current job market. "Not enough workers"
people run up to you, grab your shoulders and shake you, "fix my car!!!"

Some people are in it for profit. Usually owners without bleeding knuckles. I once knew one. Here was his strategy:
-pay mechanics pennies and be understaffed due to this
-buy the part on WorldPAC/IMC/dealer/etc at wholesale cost, then mark it up, usually significantly to high dealer level
-charge normal amount of labor, which is higher than crap warranty, because independent shops only do out of warranty work
Owner is about the only thing that pays in that industry as well. More than being the actual guy who does the work (mechanic)
This strategy bought the man multiple houses in nice areas, many nice cars, and more.
It was still a good deal to clients.

I still pay the higher price of a better quality part, but DIY.
Too many times have I gone the cheaper route ("buy nice or buy twice")
only to have the cheap aftermarket part fail/perform poorly/etc. requiring buying a replacement *again*, doing the multiple hours job over wasting time *again* which becomes even more expensive than it would have cost to just do it right the first time ("do it right or don't do it at all"). Then more parts get worn out like bolts that only like to be loosened so many times, doing the job.

scenario a) nice part $100, do job once
scenario b) crap part $50, install. Fails. Nice part $100, do job 2nd time, total $150 (+ more hours wasted, whatever you value your time at)

we've all regretfully overpaid for something at least once. Hopefully not often. Sometimes nothing can be done about it and just moved on from. Or sometimes, if caught, the person does the right thing.
I don't know if my demeanor affects anything, but twice I had a bad alignment. A long time ago. First time was a bullshit alignment. Not "I think it was". It was. I know how to do alignments. Second one, same thing. Ended up getting a refund both. Separate incidents possibly years apart. Lots of talk about "yeah I'll do it right." - it wasn't. Not always a good idea to take it back to the same Cleetus who fucked it up the first time, to give them a second opportunity it butchering it more.
Sometimes overpayment is more innocent. Like buying something before it goes on sale vs waiting for it to be cheaper

 

Yes charging 3.5 was way too much even as a non friend. 35% mark-up on an $85 part is not $180 which is absurd. And replacing a serpentine belt that had 8K miles on it and a year and a half old was pure scam. When I caught him, he said it was defective and charged it as a warranty with no charge to me and then polished my headlights as a courtesy which I know was guilt he was caught. Like I said, Karm's a bitch! I will find someone who charges ethically.

 

A couple scenarios to share.

I brought my work truck to a Nissan dealership for a lock solenoid replacement. Shortened version they tried to charge $1100 for a squirt of wd-40, no replaced part I requested and what they called a full lock inspection or something. I screamed bullshit. Unfortunately the billing is handled by a maintenance management company called ari. Anyone who's ever had to deal with ari knows how bad it is. They ended up paying about half which is still excessive.

I had to replace a caster wheel on an industrial lift. Told the customer 90% of the time it's just going to need the wheel & wheel bearings. As soon as I jacked it up the entire assembly fell out with the pivot bearing balls rolling away. Of course he threw a fit when I gave him the bad news.

I always do my best to be honest, although sometimes it still ends in disaster. I'm lucky to have a local shop I'll occasionally use, they're honest and willingly eat any mistake they happen to make.