shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

[niik000]

wow, First post in a long time, anyway,

I was driving with 4 other people in my car, 95 3.4 5speed, it was bottoming out on bumps because of the weight, even though the shocks were new (they were cheep). right by the off ramp it makes a huge clunking sound, and all of the sudden my clutch stops working. i can put it in gear, and when i hit the gas in gear it makes a metal grinding sound. I had AAA toe it to a big fancy looking tranny shop, who took off my tranny and said there wasn't enough fluid so the, standard shift barrings weren't lubed and they tore up the clutch with also damaged the hydrolics and he wants 2 grand! any advice?

[Qwesboy]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

Just get a used tranny and put it in yourself you can pick one up for a couple hundered not no 2000

[niik000]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

that's what i was thinking, i could pick up an lt1 and a tranny for that price. i just dont have tools or a garadge or anything, im liveing on campus at JU, plus i need a toe truck to move my car anyware. ill look around for a tranny tho.

[Qwesboy]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

yeah but at that rate if u still got to pay someone to put it in i would just find a used on still gonna be way cheaper then fixin yours

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

Agreed. Buy a used tranny and have a trusted but smaller mechanic company put it in (big help if you've got a friend). BTW, it's "tow." lol

[auto666]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

r&i on your trans is 4.9 hours tranny
chevrolet has discontinued carrying it, so depending on the shop rate rebuild cost, new clutch and flywheel
lets say 100h is shop rate, the clutch and fly wheel is 380 and the trans rebuild is 800
thats $1670
profit is only 330 on a job that big thats pretty low usually about half your bill is profit for the shop

[Skinny]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

r&i on your trans is 4.9 hours tranny
chevrolet has discontinued carrying it, so depending on the shop rate rebuild cost, new clutch and flywheel
lets say 100h is shop rate, the clutch and fly wheel is 380 and the trans rebuild is 800
thats $1670
profit is only 330 on a job that big thats pretty low usually about half your bill is profit for the shop

Your statement doesn't make sense. Your estimations:
R&R Trans- 4.9h * 100/h = $490
Clutch/flywheel - $380
Trans rebuild- $800 (I assume you're including parts and labor in this?)
Total $1670
If the shop charges $2000 then you say they're only making $330 profit. If that's the case then who's making $490 on the R&R and $800 (minus parts) on the rebuild???

To the OP, $2k really isn't too bad of a price for a tranny rebuild, new clutch and new hydraulics, but you might ask if they can locate a used trans for you to put in it. Rebuilding T5s is almost always more expensive than they're worth.

[auto666]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

very few shops do in house rebuilding anymore its cheaper to send it off to a specialist the mechanics no longer liable for the rebuild and it leaves the mechanic and the bench open to keep making money wile its rebuilt.
what exactly doesnt make sense

sorry didnt catch the first part the 490 goes to the mechanic, taxes, supplys, medicare,social security, uniforms building rent water gas soap exc.

[Skinny]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

Transmission shops do transmission repair. Note the OP, saying he took it to a transmission shop.

If a shop is charging $100 / hour, it's NOT all going to the mechanic. In fact not anywhere near it is going to the mechanic. The guy doing the R&R is probably a helper getting paid clock time but say he is getting paid flat-rate, then he's probably making around $15/hour. So for 4.9hr he's making $73.50. The guy doing the rebuild might make $25/hour if he's lucky. Call it 10 hours for the rebuild (probably less) and you're at $250 going to the mechanic. Of course there are other overheads to consider (insurance, benefits, etc) but my point is that the hourly amount that a shop charges for labor is meant to take into account paying the mechanics and all overhead, AND make a profit. Otherwise you'd be out of business in a month.

[Christopherrr]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

i could pick up an lt1 and a tranny for that price.

uh...I hope you didn't that a t56 would bolt right up.

[niik000]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

uh...I hope you didn't that a t56 would bolt right up.

i know i was just putting it in perspective. i should have said i could pick up a z 28 for that price.

[Christopherrr]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

i know i was just putting it in perspective. i should have said i could pick up a z 28 for that price.

:slap: ah, that makes sense...

[auto666]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

Transmission shops do transmission repair. Note the OP, saying he took it to a transmission shop.

If a shop is charging $100 / hour, it's NOT all going to the mechanic. In fact not anywhere near it is going to the mechanic. The guy doing the R&R is probably a helper getting paid clock time but say he is getting paid flat-rate, then he's probably making around $15/hour. So for 4.9hr he's making $73.50. The guy doing the rebuild might make $25/hour if he's lucky. Call it 10 hours for the rebuild (probably less) and you're at $250 going to the mechanic. Of course there are other overheads to consider (insurance, benefits, etc) but my point is that the hourly amount that a shop charges for labor is meant to take into account paying the mechanics and all overhead, AND make a profit. Otherwise you'd be out of business in a month.

no offence skinny and sorry for the slow responce but our shop rate is 99.5h and i get half, mechanics dont usually make hourly its all commision which is why alot of people get screwed(not by me) and i missed the tranny shop part my bad

[Skinny]

Re: shop wants to charge me 2 grand!

Well it looks like I need to move to AZ because no mechanic around here makes that (which is why I don't do it anymore). But anyway, my point was that the hourly rate a shop charges is meant to pay overheads AND make a profit. Any shop that has to add money on top of the parts/labor price just to make a profit either isn't charging a high enough labor rate or is just plain ripping customers off. You make a profit on the parts and a profit on the labor, if you have to add more then you're not charging enough for one or the other (or both).

To this end, maybe I misunderstood your original post, and I'm not trying to hijack the OP's thread with an internet argument (I HATE internet arguments). All I intended to do was correct what I perceived as a misconception of mechanics and shop costs.