mechanic
 

what do you guys think is a reasonable price to charge for:

front brakes and rotors
rear brakes and rotors
upper and lower ball joints
serpentine belt change

i drive a 2000 chevy S10. i'm trying to price out some local mechanics, not dealerships.

If you live in the Mansfield/Foxboro area, I could give you the number of a couple mechanics that I know to be honest.

I just had front & rear Pads, rotors and calipers changed on a Silverado 1500 and it ran $1,000. I had three options on each part 1) cheap, 2) middle of the road and 3) expensive. I'm very easy on brakes (125,000 miles before pads) so I went for the middle of the road option.

not dealerships. so you dont want the job done correctly, go to midas they will do a fine job.

Haha.... not dealerships probably because dealers don't supply lube before the raping begins. Dealerships expect you to just lay there and take it.

For example, I took my car to a dealership for some recalls. They gave it back to me along with a laundry list of things that needed replacing and a $2000 estimate. Took it to my mechanic who has done all the work on all my vehicles...

Taking out the un-needed replacements and the smoke test they wanted to do for the Evap leak that turned out to be my gas cap, cost me $1100 and months later the car still runs perfectly.

there are a couple options in between dealerships and midas.

A lot...:hihi:

yeah,

i've been taking my truck to a local guy for oil changes and inspections. he quoted $1200 for front and rear brake and rotors, upper and lower ball joints, and a serpentine belt. i thought that wasn't a bad price.

he also replaced a transmission fluid pan on a chit ford escort for 100 bucks last year. no more leaks, so no problem.

gm dealer would likely be almost 3K or 4K, with lube for the rape job.

$ 1200 if a fair price, If I were to do all that, Id probably be in the area of 1500 or so. The BJ's on those ain't the easiest or quickest to do IIRC.

Agree - $1200 is a decent price. That's probably close to the parets total at the dealer, not including labor.

I've seen both great and crappy dealers and the same for local shops. I also think it is far harder to find a hack at a dealer than it is at a local garage. That said, if you have a good local mechanic, in most cases it is something good to find...

Shocker,
Where you located ???

im just tired of people slamming dealerships. there are plenty of reputable independant shops, just less than more. i cant tell you how many vehicles get towed to us in pieces from local shops. the estimate you recieved is things that the tech saw on your vehicle that need attention, not a threat, or repairs you have to do. people are in business to make money, thats the point. ive worked goddam hard to get to the skill level i am at now, countless hours of training, not ase crap that anyone can study and pass, and when i see uncle joe jim bob down the street take a customer through the ringer it pisses me off to hear dealerships get slammed. i see things alot of these places do everyday that we the "thieving" dealership have to fix because noone else can figure them out. as i said before there are plenty of reputable repair shops around dont get me wrong, but remember where these shops send the cars when they cant fix them.

You'll never get that all done for $1200. Just the parts will be around $1000.

I just did front rotors & pads, upper & lower ball joints and inner & outer tie rod ends for my '99 Ford Ranger and the parts were $1100.

If you need ball joints you probably need the tie rod ends and new shocks too.

I have a friend I work with that is now a plumber, but used to be a auto mechanic

He did work on my Daughters car which needed work that was going to cost 2500 to 3000 bucks with parts and labor $925.00 and the car runs perfect now.

If you want me to talk to him to see if he wants to do the work let me know.

Also Mechanics are working for less just to have work