Replacing A/C Belts

[Capt Caveman]

Dumb question, are these fairly easy to change? Just dropped my car off to get an oil change and auto inspection. The dealership called me to tell me that the belts on my a/c were cracked and dried (the vehicle is 8 years old) and that the rubber bushings on one of the stabilizer bars on my suspension were worn. They want $450 for the work.

edit - spoke to the cs manager again, it appears to be an a/c belt and a power steering belt that need to be changed.

 

[Vette73]

First rule.

Year - Make - Model - Milage - and trans/4wd/etc...

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
First rule.

Year - Make - Model - Milage - and trans/4wd/etc...

2001 Infiniti QX4 89k and AWD

fwiw - pretty much a Nissan Pathfinder

 

[nwfsnake]

The stabilizer bar links are about $20 each. The bushings are less than $10. Belts are $10 and $15. Maybe double this for dealer prices, so the rest is labor. Hope they throw in some Vaseline! :laugh:

 

[thecritic]

$450 is a little high, but not outrageous.

The dealer would probably charge $40 for both belts and an hour's labor to install them. So $40 for parts and $120 for labor.

I bet the OE stabilizer bar links are around $50 each, and labor is a little over an hour to take care of those. So $100 for parts and maybe a bit more than $120 for labor.

I would expect something closer to the $350 to $400 range.

And before someone says that I'm dreaming, dealerships or any repair shop charge by flat rate, not actual time. I'm sure I could do both belts and the links in an hour, but that's beside the point.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: thecritic
$450 is a little high, but not outrageous.

The dealer would probably charge $40 for both belts and an hour's labor to install them. So $40 for parts and $120 for labor.

I bet the OE stabilizer bar links are around $50 each, and labor is a little over an hour to take care of those. So $100 for parts and maybe a bit more than $120 for labor.

I would expect something closer to the $350 to $400 range.

And before someone says that I'm dreaming, dealerships or any repair shop charge by flat rate, not actual time. I'm sure I could do both belts and the links in an hour, but that's beside the point.

Good summary. You are correct they charge a fixed cost for the work. The Belts were $30/each. The labor was fixed at $90(45 minutes of labor, $120/hr ouch!). The Stabilizer link/bar was $60 with one hour of labor.

I did mention to them that I felt that labor shouldn't have been that high and they were cool about it and actually took a 3/4 hour of labor off. So, it ended-up being $360 overall.

 

[ehhhh]

Well your first problem is you took your car to a dealership for an oil change. If you did it yourself it wouldn't take more than an hour to change everything.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: ehhhh
Well your first problem is you took your car to a dealership for an oil change. If you did it yourself it wouldn't take more than an hour to change everything.

I normally do but not in 10F weather with snow, ice, etc. Plus, I wanted them to do my Auto Inspection since I've had some emission issues in the past, they've been able to resolve them for less money than elsewhere.