ridiculous mechanic bill, am i wrong?
 

this is what i got done,

oil change / filter
fuel filter
tires rotated
a few vacuum lines replaced, which i dont think included the one to the transfer case (4wd)
fluids (except washer) topped

$570 w/ taxes .

in your opinion(s), does it take that long to do some of vacuum lines? keep in mind to the ones of you who i talked to before, i got charged separately to do the one line from the check valve to the canister recessed in the drivers fender which add 42.50 to the 570

my mechanic charges 85/hr. and he put down 5.25 hours of labor. i just called and left him a nice message.

am i wrong with being beyond pissed off about this? he let a different than normal guy do the work, and even told me he revised the bill to make it 2 hours less than the "mechanic" told him ..so if this wasnt the revised bill he worked on it for 7 hours? i dont think so...it took 5 to do my lower intake gasket

any input is better than none...i wanna be loaded with info when he calls back probably tomorrow

That is insane....

i cant wait to see what hes gotta say to that, if i may ask, what steps are involved in replacing a fuel filter. and est time it would take on a normal day lol. i know where its located and all

also how many actual vacuum lines are there?

one to the hvac, 4wd, and i know theres something else i cant think of at the moment. too mad to think,

That does seem high. Can you get a break down on the hours for each job? Did he have unexpected difficulty with any of the jobs? I would try to get an explanation of the total cost. If he does not budge I would never go back and would never recommend him to anyone else. What has been your experience in the past with this shop?

Fuel filter is not hard to do, if the lines come off how they should, if they dont come off how they should, they usually break. But that would be outlined that it happened.

he does not have jobs broken down by time, he has the total time of work. ive had minor issues fixed with him, hes a family friend and has been in business for over 40 years, he has himself and his main guy, then for the first time i saw another guy and discovered he worked on my vehicle. he is a welder that when he has no projects he "helps" with jobs...well aparently its the first time hes touched mine and did everything buy himself

other than that hes always been honest with me, especially when i had the brake line leak and pep girls tried telling me i had to drop my tank, he did the brake line job in 2 hours, so how the hells vacuum lines and a fuel filter take 5 hours? even if the oil filter and fluids were include theres no way in hell it took that long

correction, hes now at 90/hour but still this guy (that did the work) doesnt deserve 20/hr

also let me mention he broke my inline fuse holder for my amp, it was disconnected and the live wire was just dangling, im lucky it didnt short something serious like the fuse panel

According to the GM TSM on a '98 Blazer:

In hours:

Fuel Filter 0.7
Oil & filter 0.5
Tire Rotation 0.5

Can't tell you on the vacuum lines and topping off fluids. But I would guess the fluids at no more than 0.2. Vacuum lines could be a little subjective.

Stuff like this is why I've never taken my cars to any mechanics (with the exception of a couple re-builds on a TH-350). I can turn wrenches as well as anyone else! The only hard part is the diagnosing, and with this site, that's usually not a problem at all!!

45 mins for a fuel filter?!?!?! seems way high for whats involved. im with cleburne on this one, do it yourself and save about $500.
if he did change the vac line to the T-case then i could see it being higher, but no way it should be that much. the one to the vac canister can be a real pain, but if you remove the bolts for the ABS (?off the top of my head?) module its a bit easier. but it still took me about 20 mins to get the line off and make sure i got all the little bits that broke off.

Oh, I'm definitely with everyone else. I was just providing the book info so the OP could see that no matter how you add it up. 5 hours seems way too long for a professional mechanic that has a hoist and all the bells and whistles. Of course this is coming from a guy that has taken over a year to get his truck finished :o But I don't have a hoist! :icon_wink:

$85.00 per hour also strikes me as out of bounds...but that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. BUT on the other hand, I would expect a cost like that at the dealership. But that's why people use non-dealership mechanic shops I thought...the price...isn't it?

on the bill it said he replaced 3 vacuum lines with others needing to be changed eventually. so i mean i know the one from the canister mounted on the firewall down to im guessing the transfer case has not been done, and you can tell that just by the color compared to the new ones.

if this helps,
he used 1/4'' and 3/16'' lines states the "bill" if we can call it that...i didnt realize how easy it was to replace the lines or i wouldve done them myself.

i can see a max of maybe 3 hours of work. and im being extremely generous when i say 3 hours.

ill keep you posted on what he does, but at these prices, im not taking it there again and will get work done at a dealer. he just raises his rates with no warning when he feels like it...and im tired of it. i can get the work done right the first time at a dealer, which i have plenty near me

Some of those guys take advantage you customers whenever they can, instead of having a customer for life they go for the money grab. Is this your first time going to him ? I always get an estimate before I get anything done , and he needs to call me if anything pops up.

ive been going to him since i bought the truck which was may 08. he did my LIM, ac compressor, and ball joints to name a few of the bigger jobs, i never had a serious probem before this, bill wise atleast, but i mean vacuum lines taking 3.5 to 4 hours? thats a complete joke.
to say the least. however this gets solved, because if he doesnt budge im refusing to pay the full amount until it gets adjusted i dont care, but im most likely never bringing it back again. he let a non mechanic work on it, charges me the full 90/hour, breaks **** like my fuse holder and leaves a hot wire laying around. i mean id have better luck doing it myself. id take the time to do it right.

The last place i went wanted to charge me 2 hours labor at $120 per hour to simply instal my front shocks. $240 !! Eff them. I'll install them myself in the spring.

thats ridiculous! was it a dealer or local shop? pepgirls wanted $100/hr thats the biggest joke ive heard....i mean besides this bill i got lol

and yes, im still waiting for a call back...his shop either closes at 4 or 430 im not sure. we have had 8-12'' on snow but as he told me he never misses a day of work

I agree with everyone on here about the prices and hours. What the shop is doing...that's just dumb!
Where ever you take your vehicle to next, get an estimate/quote of everything that you are going for plus the $/hr and how long they expect it may take. Ask how long this estimate/quote is good through. That way you can make them honor what they quoted you.
Also, ask them what their warranty is...if they have one.

Fyi, most local mechanics will charge you a dealer price depending on what type of vehicle you have, ex: you have a toyota...toyota dealer price, chevrolet...chevy dealer price, etc. That's just something they don't tell you most of the time.

Local shop called Mavis Tire. I got my tires there, but they do other work as well.

still got no call...we got hit with 8-14'' of snow. ill give him to the end of the work day tomorrow. if no call, hes not getting a check, plain and simple. im glad i have you guys to help back me up on this and making me see im not the insane one, my "mechanic" is lol

i also found something interesting

the first bill i received (the one in the pic) has labor at 90/hr but when i went to him the second time to get the screw taken out of my vacuum line the rate was 85/hr..the more time he gives me the more im gonna find wrong with it.

its bothering the hell out of me

:icon_shrug: darn i guess i needed a rate change when i was twisting wrenches - heck i always felt bad when the bill was over two hundred bucks

those prices are the reason I do everything my self from rebuild trannies to changing tires on rims to the oil change all in my driveway, if something breaks its on me

i got through to him. we settled on 300, apologized and said its not about the money and im a very great customer. so i made sure it was for 2 bills and he said yes...so ill just leave it at that and be done with it. might just do the work myself or try a local dealer.

If you have the time, doing the work yourself will save you money in the long run on labor. You know what you want done and don't have to worry about a bad mechanic "fixing things" and creating more problems for more business from you. Plus on top of doing it yourself...you get to know your vehicle better than what you previously knew or thought you knew.

couldnt have said it better. the members on this forum give me the knowledge to do most jobs by myself, i should be taking advantage of it, and i believe i will start. i know in my case, most of the time, i have the patient to do things myself. plus im all about saving money lol

Thats a BS bill... Most of us could do all that in a cold garage with hand tools and a jack in 4 hours... In a shop with air and hoist, that should be cut in half.

You mentioned it doesn't include all of the lines?????? The lines are not 1/4" and 3/16". They are 5/32" and 7/32", might want to ask him about that too.

if anyone is going to mess my truck up its going to me :)

ive never brought any vehicle i ever owned to a mechanic. ive been a mechanic for a few years and what do you think we do when we are looking for help on a problem. go on google and type in the problem :) most the time you end up on forums like this one.

ive worked for some honest garages and even honest work i cant believe some of the prices that we charge. its just the hourly labor rate adds up

thats good to know, i was honestly going to replace the rest of the lines myself when its not 4 degrees out lol.

using the size lines he used, will it effect/hurt anything?

They're both 1/32" too big and will fit a little loose. It won't hurt anything, as long as they stay on and don't leak.

now im really wishing i didnt mail that check, although I could always cancel it. you think something as simple as vacuum lines wouldnt be hard to screw up. in most cases do the lines tell you their size on them? i noticed writing on it but didnt take note if the size was on it

Not all replacement vacuum line has the size on it, but the OEM vacuum lines have the diameter printed right on the line, right in plain sight, so people know what size to use when they replace them ;)

that will come in handy when I'm replacing the remainder of the lines when it warms up, if that ever happens haha

tomorrow im going to look at the lines it took 5 hours to replace :icon_gunhead: and see if they have the sizes clearly written on them, because i can call all i want he can say he put the sizes i say on, but itd be better if i saw it in writing lol

I have to agree with Captain on this one. If you don't see a diameter printed on the hose you can go to Advance Auto Parts and they have a hose chart, I know because I work there for a second job. Take the hose in and ask for assistance, press it on the chart to figure out your diameter and they also sell vacuum lines really cheap.

damn didnt know that either lol. ill have to check the one line when it gets warmer, cause its so brittle lol

Yup, brittle is another thing... when they get dried out and crumbly, you probably won't be able to see anything! Which might be a clue that the line is original ;)

Of course its always cheaper to do the work yourself and so much more rewarding when you get to give yourself a pat on the back when your finished but I think the real thing to be taken from this thread and the many many more just like it around the web is for anyone who can't or just doesn't want to do the work themselves GET AN ESTIMATE IN WRITING before they ever turn a wrench and make sure they notify you of any change orders that may effect the final cost before proceeding. I took my blazer in for an alignment a few years ago after changing out the tie rods and they gave me the price and once they got it on the rack they called me to tell me that they had to adjust the tie rod significantly and that it was going to add an additional $30 to the cost. I was fine with it cause it was my fault for overlooking it when I did the work but if I had shown up to pay for an alignment and then been told about the additional $30 I would probably not have been so understanding about the suprize cost increase. I did check the tie rod and could tell that they had removed the tie rod end to give it a couple turns and reinstalled it so they didn't BS me on it luckily.