So my girlfriend and I are going on a road trip pretty soon. My daily is a Honda S2000 and I recently bought her an Acura TSX. I noticed the battery was old and that there was some cracks in the sidewall of the tires so I told her to get a new battery and order new tires while I was at work, since I have a buddy that mounts and balances tires for $20 (for four tires). I do all of the work on my cars myself so I was planning on also bleeding the brakes and changing the transmission fluid this weekend. Long story short, my girlfriend went with her mom to a car care place and spent $1500 on new tires, an alignment, a battery, and a brake bleed. Luckily my girlfriend's parents payed for it, but I'm still upset at the whole situation. I know it was not her fault for not listening to what I told, but please reassure me that I'm not crazy. $1500 for that work just seems outrageous.
Girlfriend got ripped off
Depends on the tires and battery.
This
tires could be $800+ by themselves. Battery is likely at least $100. Alignment is around $100 $1500 is highish, but not outrageous given all the things done.
4 new tires + alignment + balance usually costs around $800. $400 for a battery and a brake bleed does sound like they got ripped off. A stingy shop might charge ~$200 for tire mount + alignment + balance, so I would check what tires she got and how much they cost online.
I paid $760 last time I got new tires, but they were MPSS which were ~$160 each
Hankook Ventus S1 Noble tires (215/50/R17). Everstart battery. They literally charged $50 for brake fluid. It's not like she's running Motul fluids are anything special. Just a regular DOT 4.
>and a brake bleed.
As if they really did it.
The battery was $110, which is fair but they charged $50 to install it. Also, the tires are listed at $98 on tire rack but they charged her nearly $180 per tire which leads me to believe that mounting and balancing was hidden within this fee because it is no where to be found on the receipt.
I'm always skeptical about shops when they bleed brakes, but for $50 for brake fluid and $80 for the labor on the brake bleed itself I would hope they did it.
$50 dollar battery install fee sounds like bullshit, but if you think about any vehicle might walk in the door. Some of them have the battery in bullshit places that takes actual work and time to get to. For example, I had a Chevy Lumina and the batter was under the washer fluid tank, and that was underneath a brace.
Acura probably doesnt do that shit, but install fees are blanket
So
Tires: $720
Battery: $110+50
Brake fluid: $50
>$930
That leaves $470 for labor+alignment+tax. I wouldn't go to that shop again.
When my girlfriend asked why it was $50 to install the battery they said it was because they had to hook it up to a fancy computer. I call bullshit on that. You're installing a battery not clearing engine codes.
The alignment was $180 and they also charged a $25 "shop fee". I know most service advisors will drop the shop fee if a customer tried to dispute it because they know it's a bullshit fee
alignment was probably $100
Labor is tough, probably did that "shop hours" crap so by the book all those jobs added together would be 3+ hours of labor
Factory in tax and you can get to $1500 pretty easily.
Not saying it wasnt on the high side...but its not like they paid $1500 for $100 worth of work either
Dot 4 is not for highway use.
wut?
Agreed, but the higher boiling point won't hurt. The point is that $50 for brakefluid is a complete ripoff. You don't need more than one liter to fully bleed the system. One liter of Type 200 is $15. One liter of Castrol brake fluid is $8. Both are rated at DOT 4 and both are nowhere near $50. Unless they used something like Motul Rbf600 (like I run in my S2000), there's no reason to charge $50 for brake fluid.
Keep your dumb whore in check you dumb rich normalfaggot
Sounds about right depending on the tires and judging by the fact you said ACURA that means expensive, slim tires.
Do you guys not have a Belle Tire around you?
I legit only paid for the price of tires not even installation.
Everybody missed this. She is a trophy wife who brought an Acura in to some shop just for tires. Of course the guys gang banged her while her husband was helpless
I've never heard of that. Normally I just buy my tires online then get my friend to mount and balance them for me for $20. I'll look into that.
$1500 is a little high, but it's not outrageous. Why is it so hard to understand that an auto shop is a business that is designed to profit servicing vehicles?
Nigga do you go to outback and get upset when they charge you $30 for a $5 steak? You're paying for a service provided by a business that must recoup their expenses in order to remain profitable.
My car came with dot 4 out the factory you fag kys
thats a lot, that better be some high performance tires and a crazy ass battery, what hourly tarrif they ask? and what tax rate?
here in eu for all that would be 1050 incl tax and thats with some decent tires and battery, so ye si think you got ripped of
You forgot
>Tire road hazard warranty
>Tire disposal fee
>Shop supplies fee
>Liquid disposal fee
$180 for an alignment is absurd.
A battery install fee for a battery in a normal, easy location is absurd.
Not much you can do about it though. Just have to train your girlfriend not to buy this stuff from shops. You got lucky that her mom paid for it.
>I know it was not her fault for not listening to what I told
yes it was her fault. Bail now, seriously, not trying to be and edgy dipshit, but you are best cutting your losses now. It isn't a matter her obeying you but of how easy she dismisses good advice. You have no doubt proven you know about cars, so why would she place no weight on that opinion and be so quick to spend money? Sure it was her parents money, but more often than not children inherit their parents financial behavior.
I meant to type it was her fault...my bad
That seems crazy high but I'm going off Aussie prices. $150 for battery + install. $150x4 for tires mounted and alligned, brake bleed $50~. I would think that at an absolute maximum it would cost half of what she paid.
You bought your girlfriend a car?
I certainly hope you didn't pay for it in full. That's worse then getting her name tatted on yourself.
Car is in my name and I let her use it. We're engaged so...
time for a righteous hatefuck session, OP
FOR GREAT JUSTICE!
holy shit 1500 dollar
you got cucked hard
>The battery was $110, which is fair but they charged $50 to install it.
Sam's Club sells batteries and installation is free. My GM stealership sells batteries for my chevrolet malibu i bought from them at $298 plus $58 for installation (that was what I was told). As for alignment, a 4 wheel alignment is $178 everyday price from that dealership. A front-end align is $109.95 on special right now with coupon. www.goodchev.com
Their prices are high for many things. I know people say dealers use "book" to determine prices and times, but their book must have been written by someone else. Lee Johnson Chevrolet is unfortunately far away, but they are known for better servicing prices. For example, their 4 wheel alignment is $68 everyday price since the digital equipment made it much faster and cheaper to do, and they passed the cost savings on to the consumer. Instead, Good Chev in renton simply pocketed the cost savings as extra profit.
Rate can vary a lot by location. Things are cheaper out in the rural areas by quite a large margin compared to the big cities.
>and I recently bought her an Acura TSX
Found OPs mistake
> be me
> have Toyota taco, easiest oil change in the history of the meme
> short on time
> need new mechanic anyway
> do it at a service street to evaluate their service
> forget to ask price
> $96 fucking dollararydoos for a fucking oil change
>$96 fucking dollararydoos for a fucking oil change
Jiffylube here in seattle area is $104 after tax for synthetic oil change. Sure does make changing the oil yourself into a cost savings. But people pay for oil changes. Pay for engine servicing. Pay for battery installation. Because they don't know how to do it and they don't have the tools to do it.