My daughter let herself be ripped off today.

[chemman]

Be thankful she was not dealing with a Firestone. About 5 years ago I took our '99 Silverado in for an alignment (it was under a lifetime alignment agreement with them) and they also performed a courtesy inspection. OK, fine. Anyway, the service advisor let me know that one of the sidemarker bulbs was burned out, and for the small price of sixty-some dollars, they would be more than happy to replace it for me. If I recall correctly, the bulb cost was $6.00, labor was $55.00, and the rest was sales tax and shop fee for consumables.

 

[BHopkins]

Minimum wage in Missouri is still $11/hr, so if it takes you 4 hours to keep $30, then it kind of does seem like a lot for a pretty simple job... Probably most of us would feel a bit silly if we spent half a days pay on something quite simple to do yourself...
That's what got me into some basic part swapping auto repair, it seemed kind of dumb to pay half a days actual take home pay, for the convenience of not breaking out the tools myself for pretty simple jobs that I could do, or learn to do myself... Or paying the oil change place $200 to drain and replace $30 in fluids... For sure, its worth it to lots of people, but an average intelligence able bodied person can do basic maintenance if they want to keep some money for something else.
For sure $30 is nothing to lots of people, doesn't mean its nothing for everyone.

I'm not sure I follow your reasoning.

First, I sure hope that the shop didn't have a minimum wage grunt changing the bulbs for his daughter. I sure wouldn't want unskilled labor touching my car, even for a simple bulb change. I would want a skilled, trained, experienced technician, who knows how to change a simple bulb without breaking off any plastic tabs, pulling on the lead wires too hard and creating an open, or any other minimum wage stunts.

Second, shop rates do not only cover the tech's wages. The shop has bills to pay too. Someone has to pay to keep the lights on, maintain all the equipment, pay the rent, and at the end of the day, make a profit for the owners.

I sure hope that the daughter isn't made to feel stupid because she made a decision that her father feels was a ripoff.

 

[MotorFan]

My daughter works next door to a repair shop. Her employer buys coupons for oil changes for the employees so she went and had them change her oil today. They also rotated her tires for free even though she didn't buy her tires there. That part all went fine.

She has a 2010 Chevy Cobalt and two out of the three bulbs for the third brake light were out. They called her to ask if she wanted them to fix it for $30. She texted me about it but I didn't see the text until about 30 minutes later and by then she had already authorized them to do it.

The third brake light is in the trunk lid and to change the bulbs you open the trunk, press the four tabs that hold the assembly into the trunk lid and pull it out to access the bulbs. Less than a five minute job. They charged her $2.64 per bulb and about $25 in labor.

I told her next time to at least call me or get on YouTube and see if someone has posted on how to do the repair to see what all is involved before authorizing something like this. There was a video that showed exactly how to replace the bulbs and it was something she could have done because no tools are involved.

I'm just shocked that anyone would consider this a $30 job.

I think you have gone from helpful to micromanaging, unless we are dealing with a handicapped person situation. Also, labor rates are pretty much start at $100 - $ 120 plus/hr these days. In this day and age, in the year 2022 pricing, I don't think she was ripped off. As individuals you or I could have done it for less than $30, but neither you or I are running a business with all the associated overhead.

 

[wtd]

OK-What's a "fair Price"? When you a shop with overhead such as phones, employees, insurance, suppliers that need to be paid, etc.?

Well, let's say the shop charges $147 an hour in labor which is the average rate they say is for MO. This is a small town so I doubt they charge that much. That's $2.45 a minute. Let's say the job takes five minutes which is being generous because I was able to open the trunk, unclip the bulb holder from the trunk lid in less than a minute. Pulling the bad bulbs and installing the new ones takes around a minute and then the entire assembly snaps back in place. No tools required.

That's $12.25 in labor if I go off of 5 minutes of labor. So, with labor, taxes, and the parts, that would be around $20

 

[FowVay]

I'm going to be the devil's advocate here and simply ask - if it was so easy and inexpensive to perform this task as you have said above, then why were you allowing your adult daughter to drive around with burned out brakelight bulbs? You state that you have timed the procedure and know what is involved so I am guessing that you live near each other. Did you notice the burned out bulbs when you were doing the brake job?

 

[Skippy722]

Well, let's say the shop charges $147 an hour in labor which is the average rate they say is for MO. This is a small town so I doubt they charge that much. That's $2.45 a minute. Let's say the job takes five minutes which is being generous because I was able to open the trunk, unclip the bulb holder from the trunk lid in less than a minute. Pulling the bad bulbs and installing the new ones takes around a minute and then the entire assembly snaps back in place. No tools required.

That's $12.25 in labor if I go off of 5 minutes of labor. So, with labor, taxes, and the parts, that would be around $20

You’re also not running a business fixing cars. Business insurance and employees ain’t cheap.

 

[wtd]

I'm going to be the devil's advocate here and simply ask - if it was so easy and inexpensive to perform this task as you have said above, then why were you allowing your adult daughter to drive around with burned out brakelight bulbs? You state that you have timed the procedure and know what is involved so I am guessing that you live near each other. Did you notice the burned out bulbs when you were doing the brake job?

LOL. As you stated above, my daughter is an adult and she can do what she wants. Why would you think that I have any say in what she does? I don't track her every movement or make it a habit to check on what works or doesn't on her car. We live 30 miles away from each other and I only work on her vehicles if she tells me that something is wrong with it and wants me to.

I did not notice that her third brake light had bulbs out when I did her front brakes. I had no reason to check for working brake lights on a rotor and pad replacement job.

I think it's time to lock this thread since there is nothing else constructive to come from it.

 

[D60]

Arguing per-minute pricing overlooks the standard of a minimum labor charge which is standard. Some abuse the concept of a minimum labor charge but this example sounds very reasonable.

As a machine shop I have a (n arbitrary) minimum of $15 which I should increase given inflation. If I drill a single hole for you that takes me 1 minute the charge is still $15. If I charged by the minute I'd make no money after I chatted with the customer about their needs, selected the bit, loaded up the chuck, etc. And no one considers the wear on my consumables, eg the drill bit

OP wants the thread locked because he's not getting the response he wanted, but the daughter was not ripped off here. I was expecting a $150 oil change on a small 4 cylinder and several over-priced upsells. Sorry, not sorry

 

[Cruisin'n5thgear]

Delete this post, snarky re post of what was already said.

 

[Wolf359]

Well, let's say the shop charges $147 an hour in labor which is the average rate they say is for MO. This is a small town so I doubt they charge that much. That's $2.45 a minute. Let's say the job takes five minutes which is being generous because I was able to open the trunk, unclip the bulb holder from the trunk lid in less than a minute. Pulling the bad bulbs and installing the new ones takes around a minute and then the entire assembly snaps back in place. No tools required.

That's $12.25 in labor if I go off of 5 minutes of labor. So, with labor, taxes, and the parts, that would be around $20

I think you missed some other time like them doing the check to find anything wrong. Include that time in and also the time to write up the bill and process the payment. Then there's also the cost of having inventory on hand, it costs money to maintain as you have to order parts as they're used up and they're not making any money while just sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. I wouldn't say she was ripped off, but it was certainly no bargain, but probably the going rate at a garage. It's like places that have $100 oil changes, you could buy the materials yourself for $25 and DIY but it's not a total rip off, you can certainly shop around and find cheaper places.

 

[99dej]

What about replacing the fuel filter on my daughters 3.1lv6 Sunbird for $275? Sounds a bit excessive but she was 4h away from dad, so had no choice.

 

[vavavroom]

Whatever about five minutes of work equals to.

That only works for doctors.

 

[Lubener]

It's done. No need crying over spilled milk.

 

[TCL]

I don't fault them for suggesting to fix it. My problem is the cost to do so. She knows she got ripped off and accepts it. She may be an adult but she always asks me my opinion on vehicle related issues.

If you didn't get back to her they may have needed the bay for another job. So she made the decision without you.
If they had to get the bulbs and install them it was at least 15 minutes at 100.00 per hour labor most shops charge to stay in business, I think it's fair price. 25 for labor plus the cost of the three bulbs. No rip, just business.

 

[skyactiv]

It surprises me how many fathers don’t teach their kid(s) basic car stuff. My dad taught my two brothers, two sisters and I how to to check fluids, change oil, change bulbs, change a flat tire.

 

[RooflessVW]

So, with labor, taxes, and the parts, that would be around $20

So now this whole thread is about $10.

 

[PWMDMD]

I'd easily pay $30 to not have to deal with doing it myself, not because it's difficult, but because it's not worth my time to figure out which bulbs I need, where to buy them, and how to change them. That was a deal IMO.

 

[4WD]

Sometimes you know it’s coming - We just paid above MSRP for the first time ever (likely once ever) …

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

My daughter works next door to a repair shop. Her employer buys coupons for oil changes for the employees so she went and had them change her oil today. They also rotated her tires for free even though she didn't buy her tires there. That part all went fine.

She has a 2010 Chevy Cobalt and two out of the three bulbs for the third brake light were out. They called her to ask if she wanted them to fix it for $30. She texted me about it but I didn't see the text until about 30 minutes later and by then she had already authorized them to do it.

The third brake light is in the trunk lid and to change the bulbs you open the trunk, press the four tabs that hold the assembly into the trunk lid and pull it out to access the bulbs. Less than a five minute job. They charged her $2.64 per bulb and about $25 in labor.

I told her next time to at least call me or get on YouTube and see if someone has posted on how to do the repair to see what all is involved before authorizing something like this. There was a video that showed exactly how to replace the bulbs and it was something she could have done because no tools are involved.

I'm just shocked that anyone would consider this a $30 job.

Seriously? $30 is essentially free.

 

[TiGeo]

You misspelled "my daughter paid to have her car fixed today".