Outrageous prices for repair at local dealer?

[Pondrat]

Hey gang,

I got this price quote from my local dealer and wanted your input. They are really nice group of guys/gals and I like to try to bring them business whenever I can. I've always done my own maintenance, but this year we now have 2 little boys and free time is not in my vocabulary anymore. I wanted to find out how much my planned maintenance/upgrades would cost me and this is what I got back (I asked for breakdown of jobs down alone vs. combined with other jobs):

PRICES ORIGINAL

SPARK PLUG REPLACEMENT-$130
VALVE CLEARANCES INSPECT AND ADJUSTMENT $475
BRAKE HOSES+FLUID CHANGE-$150(using supplied lines)
BRAKE PADS F+R -$240
SWINGARM PIVOT REPACK-$315
COOLANT FLUSH-$100
FRONT FORK REPLACEMENT-$135(using supplied parts)
REPLACE REAR SHOCK-$135(using supplied parts)
LUBE OIL FILTER-$135 PARTS INCLUDED ( non synthetic oil )
TIRES INSTALLED PARTS AND LABOR-$450

TOTAL-$2265

OVERLAP PRICING PARTS AND LABOR
SPARK PLUGS/VALVES/COOLANT-$535
REPLACE BRAKE PADS/LINES/FLUID-$215
REPACK SWINGARM PIVOT/REPLACE REAR SHOCK-$360(with supplied parts)
OIL AND FILTER CHANGE-$90
NEW TIRES INSTALLED-$405(subtracting 1/2hr labor from original to repack S/A bearings)

TOTAL-$1605

Isn't $135 for an oil change outrageous? This costs me $60 for a full synthetic change on my car which takes twice the oil. It makes me wonder about the other prices being inflated as well.

My questions for yall are thusly:

1) What do you think of these prices, ie how do they compare to other stealerships you've work with?
2) do you think the time alloted for the above work is reasonable?
3) how long do you think it would take me to do the above on my own?

Thanks as always for the advice and insight

 

[Monstro]

Jeez, they do seem to be adding one hell of a pre christmas bonus to the prices!!!

As a comparison from over the pond I've just had to have a new engine put in my FZ6 so.....

Take out old and replace with supplied engine
New oil filter = not supplied
Obviously replace oil and coolant etc
They cleaned and lubed chain
Plugs were fine so just cleaned them
Air filter was cleaned and replaced

total £415 or $655

 

[lonesoldier84]

PRICES ORIGINAL

SPARK PLUG REPLACEMENT-$130
VALVE CLEARANCES INSPECT AND ADJUSTMENT $475
BRAKE HOSES+FLUID CHANGE-$150(using supplied lines)
BRAKE PADS F+R -$240
SWINGARM PIVOT REPACK-$315
COOLANT FLUSH-$100
FRONT FORK REPLACEMENT-$135(using supplied parts)
REPLACE REAR SHOCK-$135(using supplied parts)
LUBE OIL FILTER-$135 PARTS INCLUDED ( non synthetic oil )
TIRES INSTALLED PARTS AND LABOR-$450

TOTAL-$2265

OVERLAP PRICING PARTS AND LABOR
SPARK PLUGS/VALVES/COOLANT-$535
REPLACE BRAKE PADS/LINES/FLUID-$215
REPACK SWINGARM PIVOT/REPLACE REAR SHOCK-$360(with supplied parts)
OIL AND FILTER CHANGE-$90
NEW TIRES INSTALLED-$405(subtracting 1/2hr labor from original to repack S/A bearings)

TOTAL-$1605

The things in green are stupidly easy to do if you know how to:

1) get the service manual

2) go buy a wrench set

3) turn a wrench

Brake pads are pretty easy too but the first time I opened my calipers I got confused as to how to get them back together. It would have been really easy but decided to get a friend to put them back together. Now I do them myself. It's easy-peasy. Spark plugs are just a PIA to reach.

Even brake lines etc you can do. Just take your time and use service manual + google youtube

Learn to do it all one time then you will save money every time you have to do it. Only you should ever work on your own bike if you can help it.

 

[ChevyFazer]

If you dont have time to do.it yourself then check around at a few other places, ive found that sometimes small independent shops offer awsome deals on stuff like this

Sent from my Pocket Rocket with Tapatalk

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Seems their prices are pretty high IMHO.

Valve inspect and adjust, if they don't need adjustment it should be approx an hour cheaper as your not pulling camshafts to swap shims. If they end up just checking (and all are inside spec, there's much less time involved). As an FYI, few FZ's have required valve adjustments unless seriously beat on, so a check is probably all that'll be required.


BTW, The spark plug caps have to come off with the valve cover(to check valve spec's), $125 to pull four plugs when you are literally looking at them at that point is a bit high...

As stated earlier, swaping brake pads is very simple as is oil and filter change...

If I was you, I'd tackle one job at a time on the bike, save your money and if the boys aren't too young, have one or both come out and help dad!

 

[Hellgate]

Try an independent shop.

 

[McLovin]

Thats pretty high. You need to find out from other riders in your area where they go. Try local forums maybe? Indy shops will give you 2/3 of that price but one that you can trust.

 

[04fizzer]

Seems their prices are pretty high IMHO.

Valve inspect and adjust, if they don't need adjustment it should be approx an hour cheaper as your not pulling camshafts to swap shims. If they end up just checking (and all are inside spec, there's much less time involved). As an FYI, few FZ's have required valve adjustments unless seriously beat on, so a check is probably all that'll be required.


BTW, The spark plug caps have to come off with the valve cover(to check valve spec's), $125 to pull four plugs when you are literally looking at them at that point is a bit high...

As stated earlier, swaping brake pads is very simple as is oil and filter change...

If I was you, I'd tackle one job at a time on the bike, save your money and if the boys aren't too young, have one or both come out and help dad!

The 2nd part of the quote shows the price discount for "overlapping parts/labor", so the plug replacement is cheaper than it appears.

 

[Evitzee]

Absolutely no reason you can't find a few minutes to change your oil.....it's a half hour exercise. No need to go to a shop to have it done. As for the other stuff shop around and get better prices.

 

[Pondrat]

Thanks for all the good tips and encouragement. I've done the spark plug change and the oil change before and will continue to do so in the future - I just thought that it would be convenient to have them do it if they were working on it. But for those prices? No thanks!

I got an email back from him that said, in all caps, "IF PRICING IS MORE OF A PRIORITY THAN QUALIY WORKMANSHIP IM SURE THERE ARE MANY OTHER SHOPS THAT WILL BE ABLE TO FULFIL YOU NEEDS" and hourly rate is $90.

I'll definitely check into local independent shops - that's a great idea I had forgotten about. I had a local shop mount and balance my tires at literally half the price of stealerships.

My boys are very young (Liam is 2yrs and Noah is 4months) but it's never too soon to start passing dad a wrench!

No one is voting on getting a KTM SMT???? Dang-nabbit....

 

[Bates121]

Also you get a copy of the service manual from one of our members site's

Boneman's FZ6 Site - Mods

scroll down to the manuals section and you should be able to find what I refer to as the "FZ6 Bible" it will go through a bare bones explanation of the services and how to do them and supplement with knowledge you find here on the forum you should be able to most if not all this work yourself. In my opinion that is really high prices especially for the oil change

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Something to consider as well...

If you can and have already done most of these procedures, it would be considerably cheaper to hire a baby sitter for a couple of hours while you service the bike. $20.00 an hour for a sitter(?),.

You pick up the parts and spend an afternoon. Best part is, you KNOW IT WAS DONE AND DONE PROPERLY... You know all the bolts are replaced and tightened and a flunky didn't miss something...

Short of changing tires on rims, I would tackle all your procedures and do so including throttle sync's for $20.00 hour with the customer picking up most of the parts (oil, plugs, filter, etc).

How many valve checks were actually done that the customer paid for...

Below are pic's of my old KLR when I had to swap out the cam chain. A shop would have charged well over 8 hours.

I had the local Kawasaki dealership tell me (and document on paper) this bike didn't have a compression release(KARC), which it does. The last 2 pictures ARE the compression release.... (2 weights with a very small spring mounted on the exhaust cam).

I avoid dealerships whenever possible short of tire/ rim swaps...

 

[lonesoldier84]

Dealers just have randoms working on the bikes anyway. There is no reason a good independent will be any worse. Not like the dealers have motoGP pit crews working on your bike haha.

Many independent shops are started by guys who started off by working at dealers.

 

[MisterX]

I do all maintenance work on my bike. If something happens to where I'm in over my head, luckily I know people who can help and will do it for nothing more than a six pack and a pizza.

 

[SovietRobot]

First thought: Prices are outrageous. Like others said, read the manual, buy some tools, hire a babysitter.

Second thought: The reason why shops charge so much is because the typical labor rate is $90/hour. Yes the mechanic barely gets any of that, but shops cost money to run and don't have bikes to work on 24/7. They have to pay other employees, rent on the building, tools, insurance, taxes, utilities, etc.

This is why dealerships and shops are going out of business so often.

 

[Ben_H]

A dealership is going to be more because they have a lot of over head. I would try a good independent shop you maybe could save some money. I own a independent auto repair shop and usually can under cut ther dealer by about 30%

 

[Powerman]

How old are the boys? I used to take my boys in the garage with me to watch and sort of help as soon as they could walk. I was still able to do my own work and they were fascinated and wanted to help. They are all now very mechanically and electrically inclined.

 

[dxh24]

And i thought my tire ripoff was bad... 89 to change ONE tire.... and i also thought 75 bucks an hr was bad.... definitely shop around... sounds like these guys just want suckers' money who couldn't tell a carb from a clutch

Mechanical inclination FTW :rockon:

 

[FIZZER6]

$135 for an oil change has to be a typo. Even if you use Yamaha filter and oil the cost of the oil/filter is less than $30 and it takes about 2 minutes of work to change the oil and filter on an FZ6. If I could make $100 a pop to change FZ6 oil I would do that as a career! :BLAA:

The rest of those are doable with a few simple hand tools!

 

[LVNeptune]

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. What is their hourly labor rate $200?

It shouldn't be more than $100/hr and tire replacement takes about 1.5 hours so worst case $150. In Las Vegas, home of the rape prices, I can get my tires changed for about $127.50 (me supplying)