Excuse me, How much??!!

[Alan]

So I call Ferrari of the Bay Area (certainly don't have a Ferrari dealer in the Valley!) to check on some wheel lug bolts for a walk-in customer. Seems the customer had some work done at a body shop, they installed wheel lug bolts, but they keep breaking, so he wants 10 new ones. The guy at Ferrari tells me $74.99 each, list price!!!! WHAT??!! He says they are titanium lug bolts!

I guess if you are going to drive it, you better be able to afford it! I have enough trouble convincing people with Corvette's why they shouldn't put cheap tires on them.........

 

[sharkman]

Back in the mid 1980s they (Ferrari) charged us $200.00 for a set of belts for a 308/328 GTS, Our price for a "full service" was $1,000, oil change,belts and a set of plugs...and rotate the tires untill HOT

 

[BaldyLochs]

I guess if you are going to drive it, you better be able to afford it!

That's about how it works with airplane parts, too. Bombardier-LearJet is ridiculous. My favorite saying at work is, "you gotta pay to play".

 

[Kelly]

My lug nuts cost .88 cents each.

 

[Alan]

My favorite saying at work is, "you gotta pay to play".

That pretty well sums it up!!! I told one of my salesmen to advise the customer to go ahead and pick them up from Ferrari himself. He says the body shop told him they were factory lug bolts, so I'm thinking the body shop may have been paid for Ferrari parts, and got some cheapies, thinking there was no difference, and making a large chunk of profit.........just a thought...

 

[clwill]

Owned two late model Ferraris (a 355 and a 360). Standard oil change was $365. Hourly rate in the shop was $190. And on an on. Ridiculous, yes, but if you can't stand the heat, choose another toy (read: drag racing).

 

[HEMI6point1]

My dad manages one of the quick lube places, and he lost count of all the people who come in with high-prices cars (BMWs, Benz's, Cadillacs....) that get shocked and sometimes offended that the cost of a service for their toy is more than what a lower-priced car would cost. Hey, if you want the high-end car, be prepared to pay the maintainence costs!

 

[TJ]

We have a 2004 VW Passet for our 15 year old daughter (driving age here) and a basic oil change is around $100.00...
Took the car is for rear brake pads as they wear quicker than the fronts and was given an estimate of $500.00...I said "no thanks" and did everyhting myself for $180.00 and 2 hours of my time...and I know it was done right.
The automotive industry is a huge % of Americas daily economy but some estimates are more than just 'keeping the lights' on for these dealers.

 

[Alan]

As a shop manager, I have seen some estimates from other shops (dealers, independents, etc.) it is shocking what they will pull. I can't even count how many times I have told people that 'no you really don't need brakes yet'.

I monitor every aspect of what are tech's recommend, and if they recommend something, they better be able to justify why.

 

[mw6789]

Took my dually into my local Chevy dealer for some warranty service, and told the service writer if they would run it back to me when finished, I would drive them back. Later that afternoon, 2 of their line mechanics drove up in my truck. I asked them if they were busy, and they both replied in unison "NO!!". Then one of them added that at $95 per hour labor rate, all they were doing was warranty work, and not very much customer pay. I know that probably sounds cheap to some of you, but in a state where a $15 an hour job is a good job, that is pretty stout. I was quoted $1200 to do a tune up on a 94 Z-28 Camaro that had an engine miss by the same place. I asked the service writer what some poor single mom with a Camaro was supposed to do when she was priced $1200 for a tune up--he had no answer. Dealership service departments are my last resort if I have to foot the bill (and I used to own part of a Chevy store). On top of ridiculous labor rates, the then add bulls**t charges for shop supplies and enviromental charges. Guess something has to pay for the chrome and glass and cars for $100 over invoice!!!!!

 

[club]

On the flip side of this, I took my 2007 Tundra (great truck) in for an oil change and the estimate was $27.00. They said it should be done in 45 minutes, this was on a Monday afternoon about 3:00pm. I got it back in an 1hr 15min. When I went to pay they said no charge since they were late getting it done.

A lot will depend on the dealer you working with. The one I use is first class and customer satisfaction is a big priority. That is probably why they sell about 28,000 cars per year.

 

[Alan]

Honesty and good customer service is the way to go!!!

 

[Alan]

I was quoted $1200 to do a tune up on a 94 Z-28 Camaro that had an engine miss by the same place.

$701.68 includes air and fuel filters, ACDelco spark plugs, ACDelco ignition wires, and labor. Does not include the infamous distributor cap/rotor combo at roughly $600. I will say that those model Camaros are NOT pleasureable to work on!!!! GM engineers must have had some brain fart's when they designed that one!

 

[aafunnycar]

I hate using dealership mechanics. No offense to those of you who are, but check this story out and you'll see what I mean. The ex and I bought a plymouth a few years back (thats the first problem right there, I know..) It was a rental for one year, so we bought it 1 year used from our local dealship, with a good rep. On the ride home, no wipers, on high beams, no directionals. Brought it back the next day and demanded to see the repair shop manager. He tries to blame me for the problem. Excuse me, I only drove it 10 miles, are you fu@knuts? Then he tells me his mechanic staff goes over every car with a fine tooth comb, 10,000 point check, bla bla bla.... I said well, it appears your best mechanics were replaced by apes with diarrhea or something! He wasn't too happy. Then he tried to charge me for the work! Uh, Biff, isn't there some kinda warranty when you buy from a dealer??? Oh, yeah he forgot. Had that car back at least 4 times in the first 2 months. I got so angry that I had to keep bringing it back that I demanded a meeting with the owner of the dealership, who is a major advertiser on our local radio and tv. In the end, to make me happy, he made 2 payments on the car to keep me from blabbing on the local radio show, and they eat that stuff up! Never bought another car from him again!

 

[T.Smith]

$701.68 includes air and fuel filters, ACDelco spark plugs, ACDelco ignition wires, and labor. Does not include the infamous distributor cap/rotor combo at roughly $600. I will say that those model Camaros are NOT pleasureable to work on!!!! GM engineers must have had some brain fart's when they designed that one!

I owned one and I always did the work myself. Plugs and wires were a pain in the ass. Everything else on that car was pretty easy to work on.

I would highly recomend the MSD Opti Spark(very nice piece) over the Delco version.

 

[onfire]

I owned one and I always did the work myself. Plugs and wires were a pain in the ass. Everything else on that car was pretty easy to work on.

I would highly recomend the MSD Opti Spark(very nice piece) over the Delco version.

The operative word there is "owned". That black ice wicked scary, huh "T"!!!!!!

Late............Mitch