Volvo FrontEndFilter: How much is this going to cost me?

June 28, 2012 7:46 AM

My 1994 Volvo 850 Turbo sedan failed inspection for a tie rod, a ball joint, and front tires. I took it in and am sitting around waiting on my estimate. Just curious. How much should I expect to pay for this? Labor is $70/hr.

The car is good otherwise. It continues to serve me well. It has a nice stereo. It's peppy. Advice on whether or not to buy a new car is welcome, but I must admit I'm a little hesitant, just because it seems like a pain in the neck.

posted by even butter to travel & transportation (5 answers total)

$425, but since estimates like that generally don't take very long this is kind of chatfilterish.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:48 AM on June 28, 2012

You're right. My bad. Thanks for helping me anyways.
posted by even butter at 8:18 AM on June 28, 2012

(How much was the estimate?)
posted by Burhanistan at 8:19 AM on June 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't know if this will apply to you in your current situation, but if you find yourself with a busted-part car again, waiting for it to go up on the lift or whatever, go log into Amazon and put your car in 'your garage', then search for the parts the mechanic says they want to replace. Should give you a good idea of what the retail price is of the parts you're buying. I've also had success with my phone's barcode scanner to get parts prices down at garages.

They're selling you parts and labor, and usually marking up parts quite a bit over retail. A belt failed on my truck a few months ago and the AAA-recommended shop close by wanted nearly half-again what the belt cost at the chain/warehouse parts store down the street, according to my barcode scanner. When I showed them, they reduced the parts portion of my bill significantly. Didn't match the lower price, sadly, but still saved me more'n a few bucks.

I've had a lot of luck buying parts online and having them delivered to my shop too. But when I was looking around for shops a year ago there were several that quoted me one (already high) price for labor when they provided parts and another, much larger price if I wanted to bring my own. They wouldn't guarantee the work either. So, uh, YMMV.
posted by carsonb at 11:26 AM on June 28, 2012

It ended up being $594. Thanks for the Amazon tip, carsonb. I had no idea that existed.
posted by even butter at 12:41 PM on June 28, 2012