Mechanic Billing Question

[Mark-DuCo]

Yikes, I blew head gasket on my 95 gmc k1500 about 6 months ago between cylinders 4 & 6, which is fairly common. I was quoted around $1200 for replacing both head gaskets and that included the machining and everything. They said if the heads were cracked it may be around $2000, so that might be where your extra charges are coming from. Although they definitely should have notified you if that was the case.

My mechanic ended up having an engine with only 30,000 miles on it from a truck that was rear ended. Since my truck had 210,000 I figured I might as well put the fresher engine in, luckily they swapped accessories too because my AC compressor went out last year, now it works. The engine swap and a new radiator cost me $2300.

 

[russc2542]

So let's put it this way.... If they had called, engines in pieces, said we need an ok for x amount cause all your guides are bad and need to be replaced...

Would you have pulled the car out of the shop in pieces and taken it somewhere else for the same thing?

Had people try that with suspension work. There were a few I made initial a line acknowledging I told them the car was unsafe to drive and should be towed (no legal way to stop them tho). Many were back a few days later, sometimes to get the work done, sometimes with crappy ebay parts, sometimes with (also damaged) junkyard parts complaining (understatement) that I still wouldn't align it due to bad parts when the junk yard said it was OK and uncle Bubba always does them good.

I don't have a problem with getting a second opinion but I would expect payment for work done.

Another case where it's justified is if you can't afford the repair and don't want to accrue storage fees. take it home, bring it back when you can afford it.

 

[CTC B4Z]

Or just paid for a used engine. We did a lot of that. We had a good relationship with a junk yard, and we would get used low mileage engines from cars that had been rear ended. It was cheaper for the customer and faster to just R&R the engine, instead of tearing off the heads, finding all kinds of problems, having those heads machines or buying new heads outright. We had problems with a few store bought reman engines, but never a solid used one. And if we had, our junk dealer would replace an engine we had installed if it was faulty.

Besides, the complete lack of courtesy of not getting customer approval before spending their hard earned money for them is just unacceptable.

Too much risk in an entirely new engine. Sure you may have had a great relationship with your yard, but that's so rare now, you don't know what your getting cause the yard doesn't care, they will slap a 1 year on it and just give you another if it fails... Who eats the labor there?

I'd prefer an engine that the customer was familiar with.

We don't even entertain the issue of installing used engines, you can take it down the street if that's what you want to have done

 

[thunderchicken]

I have done a number of head gasket jobs in my life. Sure when you get it all torn down, sometimes you discover it needs guides, seals and maybe a valve grind and resurface. But usually theads don't need completely redone unless it is very high mileage.
Heck, a little over a year ago we pulled the heads off our race engine and had them surfaced, new guides, teflon seals, 3 angle valve job and replace 2 bent titanium valves, CC'd the chambers and it was $1000 out the door. But again that was on a high end racing engine.
Regardless, they should have either built that into the estimate upfront or they should have called for approval of the extra costs.
As a tech/service advisor, I always estimate high just in case there are some additional repairs needed. It is easier to explain why it costs less than quoted than to call back with your hat in your hand and ask for more money.

Was this done at an independent shop or a dealer?

 

[voidsherpa]

Was this done at an independent shop or a dealer?

independent

 

[russc2542]

Too much risk in an entirely new engine. Sure you may have had a great relationship with your yard, but that's so rare now, you don't know what your getting cause the yard doesn't care, they will slap a 1 year on it and just give you another if it fails... Who eats the labor there?

I'd prefer an engine that the customer was familiar with.

We don't even entertain the issue of installing used engines, you can take it down the street if that's what you want to have done

lol yep. did one of those in school. another student (ugh, whole 'nother story there) got a junkyard trans that they'd drained, removed the filter, and pressure washed (without capping anything). Tried to warn her. "oh, it's fine, it has a warranty". 3 guesses what happened after I swapped the trans and 2 don't count.

 

[Woobie]

Too much risk in an entirely new engine. Sure you may have had a great relationship with your yard, but that's so rare now, you don't know what your getting cause the yard doesn't care, they will slap a 1 year on it and just give you another if it fails... Who eats the labor there?

I'd prefer an engine that the customer was familiar with.

We don't even entertain the issue of installing used engines, you can take it down the street if that's what you want to have done

I ate the labor on 3 new engines. One of them didn't have compression in one cylinder, and we had to replace it before it left the shop. Never once had an issue from a low mileage used one.

 

[Woobie]

lol yep. did one of those in school. another student (ugh, whole 'nother story there) got a junkyard trans that they'd drained, removed the filter, and pressure washed (without capping anything). Tried to warn her. "oh, it's fine, it has a warranty". 3 guesses what happened after I swapped the trans and 2 don't count.

Transmissions are a different story. We didn't mess too much with used ones.

 

[churchmouse]

So let's put it this way.... If they had called, engines in pieces, said we need an ok for x amount cause all your guides are bad and need to be replaced...

Would you have pulled the car out of the shop in pieces and taken it somewhere else for the same thing?

My friends dad has done that. He called me. We went and picked up the car with the engine in a box totally dismantled. The shop said they could not fix what was there and wanted a kings ransom for parts and labor. It took us 4 days to repair it. Install it and run it down the road. It was driven daily for 4 or so more years until traded off.
There is a level of scam involved with some shops. If the car was "Running" fine when they pulled the head I would bet you lunch they never touched the valves.

 

[danmdevries]

Subaru head gasket job for blown gasket came in about 3000.

On those cars the engine needs to come out to do the job. Maybe you could squeeze the heads off, but every one I've done has gone a lot faster pulling the engine.

Pull motor, disassemble, machine, reassemble and do PM while it's apart (timing belt, water pump, pulleys etc) is a LOT of work.

So IMO the price is not terrible, but the low quote and high finished cost is bad estimating on their end. When I was a mechanic I would go 10% before explaining situation to customer and offer to complete at quoted price, albeit without recommended work and anticipated early failure on the repairs.

 

[Thegeek]

Question it, but pay the bill. Then go to court to get the money back. If you refuse to pay, it won't work in your favor. I'm in total agreement. You took it in for a specific job. They did more than what you asked without your consent. You shouldn't pay for that.

 

[Rookie]

I wouldn't pay it unless it was my last resort. I can just hear judge Judy, "why did you pay it if it was wrong?"

 

[Butch627]

Car went in because it was leaking oil, a decent amount, apparently from the head-gasket. So I'd say slapping a new head-gasket on it and putting it back together would have been a viable solution.

Now you are diagnosing the entire issue with the engine based on leaking oil. Based on your diagnosis he should not have even paid for the resurfacing and mechanical cleaning only a simple head gasket change. Would you now have a thread complaining about a simple head gasket swap causing the leak to get worse or that he changed my head gasket and I am now loosing coolant and overheating?

What year, model, and engine is this anyway? How many miles are on it?

 

[churchmouse]

Now you are diagnosing the entire issue with the engine based on leaking oil. Based on your diagnosis he should not have even paid for the resurfacing and mechanical cleaning only a simple head gasket change. Would you now have a thread complaining about a simple head gasket swap causing the leak to get worse or that he changed my head gasket and I am now loosing coolant and overheating?

What year, model, and engine is this anyway? How many miles are on it?

I see this as wondering "Why" they did $700 more work than originally agreed was needed with no phone calls/OK's by the customer.

 

[yeahbaby]

I tell my 2 sons there are 2 people you want to get to know and trust. A mechanic and a plumber. About a year ago my youngest sons car had check engine coming on and performing like it was going to stall. Took it a shop that I have used for basic services. They put it on the OBD tester, could not come up with anything. Reset the error and told him to drive it a bit. Same thing happens again. Takes it back to the shop. They do more testing and tell him it's the throttle body assembly, and it will cost $850 to fix. He brings the car back home. A few days he is talking to one of his buddies about the problem. His buddy says let me come over and take a look. He looks it over and off to the auto store they go. Come back with about $25 worth of stuff. Changed out a sensor and cleaned up something else. The car has not had a problem since he did that. Needless to say I was pissed at the shop. Went and talked with the owner who said he would check into what happened with the diagnosis. And get back to me. Never heard back from them. And this is a rather large supposed reputable shop in Portage.

 

[CTC B4Z]

Doesn't surprise me. Stuff like that happens. Had they out the part in and it didn't fix it, they could of given you the part free or reinstalled old

 

[Thegeek]

#1 To prove you're the more ethical party.
#2 To prevent them from holding the vehicle and charging storage fees. To prevent them from putting a lein on the vehicle. To prevent giving them the opportunity of sabotage.

 

[yeahbaby]

Doesn't surprise me. Stuff like that happens. Had they out the part in and it didn't fix it, they could of given you the part free or reinstalled old

For sure, although at that point I'm not sure I would trust them.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The one on my chicken was worth the $1200 by a few hundred. I also blew one on an 87 Cadillac, and the repair was more than the blue book. Cadillacs do depreciate fast. I donated that one to one of those charities.

 

[Rookie]

#1 To prove you're the more ethical party.

Let me give you a scenario that actually happened to me. I'm curious to know how you would have handled it.

I needed gutters for my house, so I called a local company to get a quote. The owner arrived and saw that I was building a trailer. He told me he really needed a new trailer and he needed his old trailer fixed. He told me that my gutters were going to cost $1,500, but he was willing to work out a deal. I would build him a new trailer, fix his old trailer, and put those items against the cost of the gutters. So, I built him a trailer to his exact specifications. Before I started on it, I made sure he knew that the trailer he wanted wasn't going to be cheap, and he said it wasn't an issue. He installed the gutters and two weeks later, I gave him a detailed bill for the materials I used to build the trailer exactly how he wanted and to repair his old trailer. The bill was right at $3,000 which did not include labor. He said it was too much, he only wanted to pay $500. He suggested I keep the $3,000 trailer that I didn't want and I should pay $1,500 for the gutters he installed.

What would have been the ethical thing to do?

In case you're wondering, this was all done on a hand shake and verbal agreement. There was no written contract.