Is 280% mark up on parts normal for shops?

[db12]

Got lazy the other day and instead of purchasing the brake pads up front for my wifes Audi just sent her in cold to have her track pads replaced at a "reputable" large chain mod shop. Ended up charging her $787 for front and back pad replacement and a flush. I was rather taken aback. I checked the price of the pads they put on for the winter online which were $99 total (front and back). While the shop charged her $293...lol. Also got a quote from them for replacing brake lines with SS lines and the parts once again were almost triple the cost from everywhere online. Is this normal tactics for shops or just this one?

[BJYorko]

Curious as to what "mod shop" this was as I will be avoiding it at all costs...

And to answer you question, nope, don't think that's normal...

[db12]

Curious as to what "mod shop" this was as I will be avoiding it at all costs...

And to answer you question, nope, don't think that's normal...

Imola Motorsports. I have only had my APR tuning done by them in the past (which is cost neutral luckily). Their labor rates seem to be a touch on the high side but never assumed they would overcharge so much on parts when "margin" is already included.

[bigredone]

$293 for standard brake pads? lol

[BP11]

Imola Motorsports. I have only had my APR tuning done by them in the past (which is cost neutral luckily). Their labor rates seem to be a touch on the high side but never assumed they would overcharge so much on parts when "margin" is already included.

They deal mostly with exotics, and over charge for a lot of things.

[bhvrdr]

I think its pretty much buyer beware. If your interested in not getting ripped off its a good idea to ask what brand of parts they are putting on and what they are charging for parts and what they are charging for labor. A shop can overcharge you just as easily on the labor side too. If you have money to throw away, you just hand them the keys and say "fix it". If its a good shop, they wont try and screw you like that. Some shops tailor to the suckers though and can do quite well.

Mike

[seanj130]

Did they get genuine parts from the dealer? Seems in line if that's the case...

Got lazy the other day and instead of purchasing the brake pads up front for my wifes Audi just sent her in cold to have her track pads replaced at a "reputable" large chain mod shop. Ended up charging her $787 for front and back pad replacement and a flush. I was rather taken aback. I checked the price of the pads they put on for the winter online which were $99 total (front and back). While the shop charged her $293...lol. Also got a quote from them for replacing brake lines with SS lines and the parts once again were almost triple the cost from everywhere online. Is this normal tactics for shops or just this one?

[BJYorko]

Imola Motorsports. I have only had my APR tuning done by them in the past (which is cost neutral luckily). Their labor rates seem to be a touch on the high side but never assumed they would overcharge so much on parts when "margin" is already included.

That surprising... I've had pretty good experiences with Imola... They did a full detail and paint restoration when I first got my car back in June and that price was in line with what others were charging and when getting quotes on some other things, they were definitely close to prices that I had found online but then labor was added. I didn't notice an "almost 300% price mark-up" on parts though in any of the quotes they gave me which included pricing out things like an exhuast, wheels & tires, or even just a simple oil change.

[spitefulcheerio]

Being the manager of a shop, I will say that we need to make our markup to keep the lights on but that is a little ridiculous. I'd rather not say what my normal markup is but I will say that I think anything with 3 digits is ludicrous.

[seanj130]

Shops generally have set labor times, and labor rates (regardless of who walks through the door). I generally don't think that shops rip people off anymore. The power of the internet, and reviews is too great.

I think its pretty much buyer beware. If your interested in not getting ripped off its a good idea to ask what brand of parts they are putting on and what they are charging for parts and what they are charging for labor. A shop can overcharge you just as easily on the labor side too. If you have money to throw away, you just hand them the keys and say "fix it". If its a good shop, they wont try and screw you like that. Some shops tailor to the suckers though and can do quite well.

Mike

[bhvrdr]

Shops generally have set labor times, and labor rates (regardless of who walks through the door). I generally don't think that shops rip people off anymore. The power of the internet, and reviews is too great.

You have a kind and optimistic view on humanity :) Shops can charge you the full book rate (lets say 3 hours) to do a full F and R brake job at a $130/hour labor rate (some audi dealerships are up to $170/hour) or you can go to a shop that has better morals that will charge you the time it takes them (2 hours) at an $80/hour labor rate. So one shop charges as much as $390 to $510 in labor and another $160 in labor for the same job.

Mike

[db12]

Did they get genuine parts from the dealer? Seems in line if that's the case...

No they put on Akebono pads which I priced online from every retailer at around $99 bucks for both front and back total (just bought them off amazon for my S4 for winter).

[mgiglio]

I'm the finance manager at a high end dealership. We took in an Aston Martin on trade that needed brake pads so we called Aston...$800. One of my techs then walked across the street to Norwood Auto parts after finding out the car has the same pads as a CTS-V and $90 later we had new brake pads on the car. LOL

[db12]

That surprising... I've had pretty good experiences with Imola... They did a full detail and paint restoration when I first got my car back in June and that price was in line with what others were charging and when getting quotes on some other things, they were definitely close to prices that I had found online but then labor was added. I didn't notice an "almost 300% price mark-up" on parts though in any of the quotes they gave me which included pricing out things like an exhuast, wheels & tires, or even just a simple oil change.

Thats why I was shocked as well as I had a good experience with them for the APR tune. Maybe its because they just moved into that brand spanking new 30,000 square foot facility....lol I get they need to pay the bills with "some" mark up but wow.

[db12]

You have a kind and optimistic view on humanity :) Shops can charge you the full book rate (lets say 3 hours) to do a full F and R brake job at a $130/hour labor rate (some audi dealerships are up to $170/hour) or you can go to a shop that has better morals that will charge you the time it takes them (2 hours) at an $80/hour labor rate. So one shop charges as much as $390 to $510 in labor and another $160 in labor for the same job.

Mike

Yeah Imola's posted rate for labor was $90 per tire. $360 in labor a tad high compared to another Audi shop (non dealer) was around $290

[bhvrdr]

Yeah Imola's posted rate for labor was $90 per tire. $360 in labor a tad high compared to another Audi shop (non dealer) was around $290

Yeah and iimagine if it wasn't an Audi Shop but more of an independent you trust that would be cut in half. If you spending more than 20minutes per wheel on pads and rotors and you do this for a living you probably should be doing something else (or go work for a dealership). Mike

[seanj130]

Depending on the shop size, that makes sense.

If a tech is getting paid 2 hours to do a job that books at 4, then what motive does he have to work faster?

A tech making $20 per (non book hour) would have no means to buy himself $100,000 to $250,000 in tools, and also afford to live.

That is why "tuning" shops a set price, that is somewhere between actual labor time, and book time. If you went to a random shop, they would charge the the rate to remove, and re-install springs and shocks.

Lets break it down

Joe Schmoe charges 80/hr for a 2 hour job. but but the book says 4 hours.. That means that Joe Schmoe can only actually bill 8 hours in a day (unless he works more, but lets go with this for now)..
He can only possibly bill $640 a day, or 3,200k a week, so 12,800k a month. Monthly tool bill ($300-$700), insurance, taxes, overhead, lifts, property taxes, utility bills, someone to answer the phones, his accountant and so on... Then the mechanic goes home, he needs to pay his mortgage, and yada yada yada you get the point.


Holy shit. that was one incoherent rant with absolutely no direction, or grammar. @s4buckeye, can I buy some grammar? My government house is just about closed, so I can probably afford it.



At the end of the day, this is the difference between an Indy Shop, and a dealer. The indy shop will charge 80-100ish an hour, while the dealer will be 120-170.. Most QUALITY indy shops will still charge by the book hour, just to keep the lights on and the employees paid.

Granted, they usually are able to mark up parts 20%, which helps cover.

You have a kind and optimistic view on humanity :) Shops can charge you the full book rate (lets say 3 hours) to do a full F and R brake job at a $130/hour labor rate (some audi dealerships are up to $170/hour) or you can go to a shop that has better morals that will charge you the time it takes them (2 hours) at an $80/hour labor rate. So one shop charges as much as $390 to $510 in labor and another $160 in labor for the same job.

Mike

[seanj130]

Exactly..

What tech would only want to make 20-30 an hour working on audi's? Why should an average take make as much as a faster, more experienced tech? You would have one slow ass repair shop, or a shop where you could be billed for you 2 hour brake job, or that same brake job could take 3 hours.. What do you do in that scenario?

Yeah and iimagine if it wasn't an Audi Shop but more of an independent you trust that would be cut in half. If you spending more than 20minutes per wheel on pads and rotors and you do this for a living you probably should be doing something else (or go work for a dealership). Mike

[seanj130]

But yes. That mark up is insane. Shops are usually 20%, the usually get 20% off from their vendor, then pass them along to you at a similar price to what you could by from a store

[StevenStarke]

IDK why you would send your wife in cold to get a brake job, not tell her roughly what it should cost, and then be shocked about it afterwards. They took advantage of her because they figured she would have no idea what it should cost because she's a woman, which is something shops typically do. And just because they did your APR tune doesn't mean they're your friend. Auto shops are crooks more often than not and brake jobs are THE biggest money making scam that they perform.

[bhvrdr]

I was looking for a different video yesterday and this one came up on the side menu. Not the same but was entertaining

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-avpx8UTakI

[VenturiRS]

I was looking for a different video yesterday and this one came up on the side menu. Not the same but was entertaining

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-avpx8UTakI

That was very informative. Thank you very much.

[seanj130]

Any shop where they have a service writer will generally not rip you off.. It's the shops that have 2 or 3 mechanics, and one is the owner that will rip you off.

IDK why you would send your wife in cold to get a brake job, not tell her roughly what it should cost, and then be shocked about it afterwards. They took advantage of her because they figured she would have no idea what it should cost because she's a woman, which is something shops typically do. And just because they did your APR tune doesn't mean they're your friend. Auto shops are crooks more often than not and brake jobs are THE biggest money making scam that they perform.

[CrownSeven]

Imola Motorsports. I have only had my APR tuning done by them in the past (which is cost neutral luckily). Their labor rates seem to be a touch on the high side but never assumed they would overcharge so much on parts when "margin" is already included.

I'd never set foot in Imola. I've had some friends who've brought their cars there and were not happy with the service. Imola was started by someone who decided they wanted to get into the 'biz', and wanted to open up a 'high end' shop, borrowed some of daddy's money, opened up a nice looking place, bought themselves a sweet semi to bring around to various shows, and VOILA - a high end car shop everyone seems to take their cars to (porsche, ferraris, benz's, audi's, etc...), which blows my mind.

Now things may have improved since then (this was about 4 or 5 years ago), but there are better shops in the twin cities to take your car to (Orr motorsports, Anderson Motorsports, etc....)

By the way, it takes about 2 hours to do what that shop did yourself. SS lines for the front take literally 20 mins. Brakes although very important, are one of the easiest things to change on almost any car.

[LINDW4LL]

I understand that it sucks, but I don't think it was unscrupulous by the shop. Any time you blindly enter a transaction without knowing dollar amounts you are putting yourself in a bad spot. This can easily be avoided by asking the price of the parts before giving the go ahead.

At the same time, I don't think the shop is likely to retain a lot of customers with their mark ups being that high.

[AngryQ5]

If this is more a Mod shop like op said wouldnt they charge more for repairs than a indy mechanic shop?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[brianc21]

I'd never set foot in Imola. I've had some friends who've brought their cars there and were not happy with the service. Imola was started by someone who decided they wanted to get into the 'biz', and wanted to open up a 'high end' shop, borrowed some of daddy's money, opened up a nice looking place, bought themselves a sweet semi to bring around to various shows, and VOILA - a high end car shop everyone seems to take their cars to (porsche, ferraris, benz's, audi's, etc...), which blows my mind.

Now things may have improved since then (this was about 4 or 5 years ago), but there are better shops in the twin cities to take your car to (Orr motorsports, Anderson Motorsports, etc....)

By the way, it takes about 2 hours to do what that shop did yourself. SS lines for the front take literally 20 mins. Brakes although very important, are one of the easiest things to change on almost any car.

I just had my car in there for a detail and honestly have zero complaints. 150 out the door and got to see some sweet cars that I'll never be able to afford. Interesting to hear how they started tho....

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[MrFunk]

Imola is not a chain mod shop. They have techs "stolen" from the Audi and BMW... very good techs. Yeah yeah the owner got daddy's money but many business start that way - gotta get investment somewhere. Their work is top notch... but they are expensive - as expensive as the dealership. They service/mod Porsche, BMW, Ferarri, Lambos etc... so don't expect budget quotes from them... that being said - seems they charged you OEM prices for parts. If you want cheaper or to choose your own prices then you should buy them and bring them in.

I have had nothing but excellent service from Imola and highly recommend them - but do your due diligence and bring them the parts yourself...

[hotleadsingergu]

IDK why you would send your wife in cold to get a brake job, not tell her roughly what it should cost, and then be shocked about it afterwards. They took advantage of her because they figured she would have no idea what it should cost because she's a woman, which is something shops typically do. And just because they did your APR tune doesn't mean they're your friend. Auto shops are crooks more often than not and brake jobs are THE biggest money making scam that they perform.

This. Doesn't matter if it's a chain, a reputable dealership, or a two-mechanic shop...if someone goes in that they don't think will know any better, there's a good chance they'll try taking advantage. I've had to go to dealerships and shops with girlfriends after hearing the amount they quoted for work, and in every situation the shop reduced the price. It's ludicrous to charge $293 for a brake job.

What I'm willing to pay for something has nothing to do with that person's mortgage or situation. If I can do the job myself for $90, including parts, I'm not going to pay someone $290 to do it. There are plenty of other shops that would do it for under $200, which means it's not worth $290.

I think some people are lacking in their understanding of capitalism. You can try to explain why someone would attempt to charge that much (because of their costs and whatnot), but according to capitalism that shouldn't be a concern of the end-user, at all. What you're doing when you explain that is making it seem acceptable, which it's not.

[Smellie]

Jesus, my APR dealer only charged me 109$ for my hawk s4 pads..

Sent from my SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[db12]

Whole point here is I was shocked to see that they were overcharging so much on the parts. I usually provide all the parts for both my car and my wifes cars due to regular tracking of both vehicles. No idea they had the audacity to charge 300% above regular mark up on just pads. Lesson learned of course. And yes I should be doing alot of these standard maintanence procedures myself however time is usually the decision factor for me.