So I recently had a motor, trans and rear end swap for my firebird. The shop also laid the new carpet and put new gears in the rear end. They came back with 75 hrs of work on the car. Does anyone have a chiltons guide that can verify this cost for the amount of work - The bill came in at 4200 with a new ac compressor and altenator in parts. Sounds pretty high if you ask me. Just trying to get a second opinion before I go and argue with them??

 

Nope.

If the $4200 doesn't include parts that's $56/hr labor. Reasonable, here it's $60/hr. I just paid $900 for the R&R of a 4L60 in my Jimmy and that included about $250 in parts.

I think it's reasonable IMHO.

 

if thats the whole bill including parts thats really good i know the A/C compressors run around $200 rear gears right around $100 - $200 (depending on brand), Carpet prolly $100 (depends whether it was formed), The swap all depends on what was originally in it and whether it was carb or TPI/TBI.

You probably have right around $600 in parts and 3600 for labor for motor, trans, and rear swap. Was the rear swapped or just gears because that will make a little of a difference. If it were just the gears then they wouldn't have to pull it out and would be quite a bit less labor.

Either way i wouldn't complain that is a descent price around here. We have garages charging close to what dealerships do and that ain't right. Its $98/hr. at a dealership near me, most shops are half except for the few guys that are retarded and do half *** work for top dollar.

 

I think he's more concerned about the amount of time it took. They charged him for 75 hours of work. It's hard to look up the amount of time it would take without a specific breakdown of all the work that was involved. Changing the engine, transmission, diff, carpet and changing the AC and alternator is a very open guesstimate. So many little things could have been done to complete those jobs which would add to the overall time. Newer cars are much harder to work on and the time it takes to do a simple job is getting longer. Customers don't realize why it costs so much to fix the newer cars. I changed a heater core in a 2001 Chev van last week. Took me at least 3 hours. I remember doing the heater core in my old 70's pickup truck. Took about 30 minutes.

I hate using book time to do repairs. The mechanics need to do the job within the allotted time or they start losing money. Because they need to do the job in a specific amount of time, many other things may get missed because they're not being paid to look at them. They may also choose not to do something properly because they don't have the time to do it the way it should be done.

If the job can't be done in the book time, shops will fudge the numbers to allow more time. Usually on older vehicles seized fasteners is allowable over book time jobs. Nothing comes apart and goes back together like it did right from the factory.

You'll also be charged shop expenses on top of the repairs. It could be a percentage of the shop rate for the 75 hours or a percentage of the parts cost. Shop expenses cover things that can't be accounted for to do the job. Grinding and cutting disks, oxy/acetylene, small fasteners, stuff like that.

I think any shop with less than $60/hour shop rate is a smoking deal. Just means they have a low overhead. I've worked in shops with up to $120/hour shop rate and the bays are usually still always full.

 

Sounds alright to me. I was expecting you to say 8k$, but here the local shops are charging 94$ an hour. My mom went in to get a front right disc brake check, because it was rubing on the caliper. She just said "it's making noise fix it".

They did a transmission flush (which I checked the week before and was completely fine) and told her it was rust ridges rubbing and there was nothing they could do.

Charge: 217$

 

So what would you call $15/hour? Thats what my mechanic charged me the last time I had him do more than just slap the inspection sticker in the window of one of my cars.

Shop rates vary, and s44200 sounds like a fair price to me. I know of a couple shops around me that charge a lot more than than per hour, and some that charge a lot less. One that comes to mind right away is $1500 to change the head gasket on a Honda Accord. Around me, $30-45/hour is about the average unless you go to a dealership. Then you're looking at around $60/hour.

 

this is why I do my own work. these cars are so easy to do yourself. even after all that, your car still isn't worth $4200, no third gen is.

 

Wow $4200?! You could get a really nice paint job for that! My fiance's dad owns a shop, they charge $30 an hour but all I have to do is walk in and say hey can i use the garage? And on the lift my car goes. I'd much rather do stuff than have anyone else do it, it's less strain on them and more of a learning experience for me.

 

It's probably a fair rate/charge - although it's obvious I need to go up on my rates - probably why I don't do it for a living

I agree - well my insurance company agrees - in my world my car is priceless!

I did! $1200 in HOK paint and $3k in body labor/painting/sanding/buffing

I agree - and I now have more tools than I can carry (and a bad back to prove it!).