I have the grey ones on the bottom. Don't remember when I got them but could be 30 years ago. Would guess I replaced a dozen struts with them. Doesn't really bother me but when the rod starts bending, your heart starts beating faster.LOL ya let me tell you those spring compressors are fricken scary to use.You can not have your cell phone with you in case you get a notification, absolute attention must be on the job of swapping out springs!
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Why are quick-struts more profitable for shops?
- Thread starter atikovi
- Start date
Complications can happen with quick struts as well. And few shops only have one garage bay and not all jobs need a lift and can be done in the parking lot. Regardless, if it takes a tech 6 hours to do a 3 hour job, you may have other issues to deal with.
I had a shop do the quick struts for me. Originally he quoted me a price to just replace the struts but I decided to go with quickstruts as I wanted the springs replaced too. So the job ended up being the same price even though it was easier. I mentioned it but he didn't offer any discount and I didn't really push it as I had been going there for a while. So they make money by charging 3 hours on the 2 hour job.
because they don't have to deal with this
Coming up next, how to reline your own disc brake pads to save time and money.,,,
Less chances of things breaking after you take it apart and then being blamed for it. Also the labor saving may not be much if the shop compress the spring and strut themselves, as factories made stuff are usually cost less in large scale. Less chances of getting hurt too.
I did my own struts twice when I was younger, I will not do it again.LOL ya let me tell you those spring compressors are fricken scary to use.
You can start on another car sooner an charge labour + parts there aswell. Plan well and you'll be charging labour for 8 hours a day regardless.
Why would you want to start on another car sooner when you can bill more on the car you're working on now and maximize your income? If your shop bills $120/hour, what difference does it make which car you are working on?
Auto makers use different springs for the same model depending on options.. . Look up how many different springs Honda list for a 2012 Honda Fit as an example. The diameter can vary to change the spring weight and you won’t be able to tell visually unless you see the paint marks on the spring.
cause I sell more parts and make extra money there.
Most places are going to charge the same labor but the quick struts will take less time to install
so it may be billed 3 hours no matter what but take 1 vs 2 hours. Much more profit and efficiency
there is less chance of anything going wrong or holding you up with a quick strut. Shop or tech can blame the quick strut and not a part they may have over looked on a quote
they are also usually cheaper cost for the customer and many it’s all they care about
they are usable I wouldn’t use them on anything performance related but for a general vehicle with rt43 tires the BITOG special they will be fine
so it may be billed 3 hours no matter what but take 1 vs 2 hours. Much more profit and efficiency
there is less chance of anything going wrong or holding you up with a quick strut. Shop or tech can blame the quick strut and not a part they may have over looked on a quote
they are also usually cheaper cost for the customer and many it’s all they care about
they are usable I wouldn’t use them on anything performance related but for a general vehicle with rt43 tires the BITOG special they will be fine
Billing for work not done is pretty shady and why some auto repair shops get a bad rep. If the flat rate is 2 hours for the quick struts they installed but they bill for the regular strut service of 3 flat rate hours, they are ripping you off.
Does "the book" have labor time for "quick strut replacement" vs "component strut replacement" ? For all the consumer knows is the labor time is for "strut replacement" and part(s) the shop uses, as long as they're quality pieces, people will be happy.
Yes of course. 1/3 to 1/2 hour per more.
Quick struts aren't more profitable per se, just a different option depending on the situation. For example, our policy is that usually cars over 100K are going to get estimated quick struts automatically unless they're unavailable because at that point the springs have at the very least had a car sitting on them for 100K, not to mention we're in the rust belt and they rust out and break. The mount and bearing should be replaced because those parts wear out as well. The rest usually fall into the 50-75K range, and normally get estimated because they're leaking or have some other problem; in many cases here we look at replacing just the strut, maybe the mount and bearing, and not the spring, but this is the instance where more labor is involved. Most vehicles pay roughly .3 to .5 additional time per strut to disassemble and rebuild it.
Not always. There isn’t quick strut listed in most labor guides I have seen
Most of the time it comes up as "strut R&R - does not include disassembly" and will then have an add on operation for either "replace strut" or "replace upper mount", which are both effectively the same thing.
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