Auto Sevice how much??

[kenku927]

Hi Ken again here,

Just wondering if anyone know how much around would the service be if the following has been done:

1) Engine Oil change

2) Transmittion oil change

3) resetting the handbreak thing (i saw him did sth on the left rear wheel disc with a screw driver )

4) pink slip (to renew my rego)

5) changing 2 of the rear light bulbs

he charged me $260, coz this machanic is a friend of my good friend, he didnt write me an invoice listing the service description and i didnt ask for it.

Ken

[Zeinheiger]

Hi Ken again here,

Just wondering if anyone know how much around would the service be if the following has been done:

1) Engine Oil change

2) Transmittion oil change

3) resetting the handbreak thing (i saw him did sth on the left rear wheel disc with a screw driver )

4) pink slip (to renew my rego)

5) changing 2 of the rear light bulbs

he charged me $260, coz this machanic is a friend of my good friend, he didnt write me an invoice listing the service description and i didnt ask for it.

Ken

Before I bought my current car, I used to do all the servicing myself, which saves actually a lot of money and it's not hard to do either...

Hypothetically we're using the best of the best

1. Engine Oil - $40

2. Tranny Oil - $50 plus tranny filter (Assuming it was done) $40 (I'm not too sure, but I payed $40 for my old bmw, so lets just say Toyota ones are the same)

3. Handbrake - $0

4. Pink Slip - $30

5. 2 Bulbs - $15

So $175, he charged you $260... So I'd say you payed a good $70-120 in labor alone, IMO that actually sounds about average, mechanics do usually get all their products fairly cheap as they buy in bulk, so that could even be more... And this all depends on what parts they used etc...

Reason being why I work on my cars myself, with a little knowledge you can save yourself quite a few bucks

Edited February 13, 2011 by Zeinheiger

[Andrew357]

Hi Ken again here,

Just wondering if anyone know how much around would the service be if the following has been done:

1) Engine Oil change

2) Transmittion oil change

3) resetting the handbreak thing (i saw him did sth on the left rear wheel disc with a screw driver )

4) pink slip (to renew my rego)

5) changing 2 of the rear light bulbs

he charged me $260, coz this machanic is a friend of my good friend, he didnt write me an invoice listing the service description and i didnt ask for it.

Ken

Before I bought my current car, I used to do all the servicing myself, which saves actually a lot of money and it's not hard to do either...

Hypothetically we're using the best of the best

1. Engine Oil - $40

2. Tranny Oil - $50 plus tranny filter (Assuming it was done) $40 (I'm not too sure, but I payed $40 for my old bmw, so lets just say Toyota ones are the same)

3. Handbrake - $0

4. Pink Slip - $30

5. 2 Bulbs - $15

So $175, he charged you $260... So I'd say you payed a good $70-120 in labor alone, IMO that actually sounds about average, mechanics do usually get all their products fairly cheap as they buy in bulk, so that could even be more... And this all depends on what parts they used etc...

Reason being why I work on my cars myself, with a little knowledge you can save yourself quite a few bucks

$40 for 'best of the best' engine oil? For $40 you would only get a Group III Semi-synthetic engine oil (e.g - Valvoline Semi-Syn, Mobil 2000, Penrite HPR). For a Group IV oil you'd be looking at ~$70 (e.g - Mobil 1, Penrite SIN, Valvoline Fully-Synthetic etc). What about the oil filter? Repco ones are around $8 for the 36 series, Drift ones from Autobarn are around $22 and K&N ones are around the $30 mark from Repco.

Labour will usually be the killer on most invoices at a mechanics but given there is a demand for their work; they will charge as they please. While servicing your own cars can save you some dosh; it can bugger you up if it comes to warranty time as you have already mentioned. Given the OP has a MCV36R, it's out of warranty anyway so it definitely wouldn't hurt to learn the basics (e.g - wheel rotating, engine oil changes etc).

I wish I knew how to replace my clutch, $300 for a Exedy Heavy Duty and was quoted @ 10 man hours to install the damn thing. It's going to cost at least $1000 in labour alone to replace.

[Zeinheiger]

Oh yeah forgot about oil filte, and when I said best of the best, I was being more realistic, knowing the type of oil would generally be generic

Edited February 13, 2011 by Zeinheiger

[kenku927]

Thanks all for comments mate!!

I assume the machanic wont give the best of the best, instead, giving the average oil

so both Andrew and Zeinheiger got your points.

In this case I seemed payed him around $100 for labor fee, if this amt is the average, he's got a good income job!