Major A/C Repair - does $1500 seem about right?

4-year old A/C compressor seized up and died during normal use. Indie shop quoted $1500 to replace compressor, fan belt idler and tension pulley, belt, and re-charge system.

Does $1500 seem reasonable?

This is the cost of the extended warranty that I never purchased.

 

Reasonable no. Consistent with todays prices, yes. Last year I paid ~$1,000 for diagnostics and fix of my Tacoma's AC. The fix was new fill valves and recharge.

Take it to another shop for another quote.

 

I was quoted 1600 for my major ac repair from a reputable shop. The shop told me toyota parts are way overpriced like everything else I guess. Mine was 8 years old.

 

Buy a new Denso one from Rock Auto and install yourself then go and get system charged .Or buy the compressor and have someone install it . The compressor shouldn’t be more than 300 bucks to buy. You can also possibly but a new clutch kit for the one that’s there , which most likely is what happened . Then you won’t need to disconnect any lines .

 

Sounds ballpark to me for the parts and labor required.

 

This is the difference between doing it yourself and paying a shop.

I'm honestly getting really tired of posts like this.

Of course it's cheaper to do yourself. But if you do it yourself, you're not paying labor...

I just had my other vehicle's clutch throw out bearing replaced at a local shop, and had them recharge the a/c while they had it. 7 hour job on the bearing, I supplied all the parts. It was $1200, just for them, and I spent roughly another $500 on the parts(I had been planning to do it).

And it was money well spent so I didn't need to put the car on jackstands and heft a transmission by myself in a hot garage., while burning at least 2 of my precious Saturdays doing something I don't know exactly how to do.

No one works for free except yourself. Either pay to play or accept it costs money for someone else to do what you won't.

 

Sadly that's about right

 

My cost rant over, I want to address this a little more.
First, the extended warranties could cover it. But it might not. Many of them are a crapshoot. Some are awesome. Some are horrific. But you as the buyer won't always know until the first repair comes up. But then you're stuck with it. Don't take them as a magic bullet.


Car repair isn't all that far off from grocery shopping. Everything costs more, and the cost at the register is always more than planned.



Part of any service writers job(the guy you're likely dealing with telling you the cost, getting the work approved, ordering parts) is to explain the charges.

So you can always clearly say to them "hey that sounds steep, can you break the charges down and explain?". It's their job. They won't always be happy about it, but they'll do it. Be calm, and receptive. You're likely not going to get a much better price anywhere else.



What they'll likely say is shop Labor rate is around $120-$180, book time( a magical book that has documented labor rates for every job) has all the parts installation and diagnosis and is saying it'll take between 4-6 hours of labor. (4hrs shop time at $120 is $720)

Parts are going to be roughly 1/4-1/3 the overall cost. Labor is always going to be the larger sum.




Keep in mind every mechanic in that shop likely has a bare minimum of $10,000-50,000 in tools to perform this job. Access to that level of care isn't cheap. But neither would it be for you to buy all the tools you need either.

As far as parts costs, in relation to " that part is only $300 on rock auto". Keep in mind every shop is going to mark up the parts slightly for their costs in handling and ordering--that office guy needs to get paid for his time at the computer to deal with the suppliers.

And many parts they use will also have preferred vendors or brands that they deal with after multiple bad experiences with other vendors/brands-- that parts markup is paying for their experience. This can also lead to "extra" cost, but something many shops do because the cheap $100 part is trash with repeated expensive replacements on their end, but the $300 version means they can move on.

So a "$300 rock auto" version, they might be charging $500 for the "same" thing. Some is going to be mark up, but some is going to be brand differences, as well as supply chain costs. The repair shop the truck is at absolutely DOESN'T stock these parts. They're contacting a supplier.

This is what I call "the Grainger problem". Anyone that stocks 'everything' has to finance a massive warehouse and staff to run around it. And with every person that handles the part, there's a slight upcharge. Because no person works for free. They all have their own car to maintain and groceries to buy.


And lastly, remember that you're paying for a service that has a warranty. If all this goes out in 2 months, this shop will be fixing it on their own dime. Again, this coverage isn't free. No business stays alive by giving away free work.