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$15 to replace a bulb

Geo-TH,In

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
Dealer wanted $15 to replace a driving light. $7 for two at the Auto Zone 3 miles away. Simple to do. No tools required.
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My nearest Ford dealer just spent a small fortune remodeling the dealership and installing the new "quick lube" stations. Somebody's got to pay for all that.
 
I don't have to pay for any dealer improvements. He can take it off his taxes. You can for it if you want
 
$15 in this day and age is a drop in the bucket. I remember my cousin complaining that he spent $50 getting a tail light bulb replaced on an Oldsmobile at the dealership back in the late 80s or early 90s.
 
Might be reasonable to some. No Way Will
pay that much for such a low tech simple
fix. YOU CAN.
 
$15 to change a light is so cheap they were likely happier than you were that you went elsewhere.
 
George break that $15 down to bulb cost and labor fees.
Now break the labor fee down to shop and mechanic.
What did you come up with for the mechanic's pay for replacing the bulb? 2 or 3 dollars at most.

Now the question is would you stop what you are doing and replace my light bulb for a couple of dollars?
I didn't think so.
 
Way too cheap for any dealer to stay in business. Hope they make it up on other work or their mechanics are in a poverty state.
 
John BREAK down labor to do two minute job, about $350 an hour. Guys have to be joking.

Funny thing I recently paid $25 for an oil change, 5 quarters of valvoine, Delco filter and a car wash at same dealer and some on YT cange their own oil. Not to mention dealer tops off all fluids 30 point inspection. I though that was a deal,others didn't.
 
Whatever brand your vehicle may be, it is well designed for such a simple bulb change. I was over in Europe this summer and someone took a certain late model Volkswagen to the dealer for a headlight replacement and that cost about $500.00 My neighbour in the Pacific Northwest was quoted $2000.00 for a headlight replacement on his top of the line BMW...the whole front bumper must come off. It pays to do your homework a head of time before you choose which vehicle to buy.
 
Any other brand you would not have to keep replacing them all the time ! LOL. I don't know why GM can't get them to stay lit ?
Good thing it's not one of those you have to remove the front fascia (bumper) to get at like some of the cars.
 
You really think it can be done it two minutes? It took you at least 7 minutes just to drive to AutoZone.
 
Yabbut, when you do the oil change yourself you are more likely to use the right filter and remember to tighten the drain plug - so in the end that saves you a LOT of money!
 
I replaced a bulb in the stop light on top of the cab, a bulb for the stop light in the main taillight and a bulb in the cargo light on the cab when the Tundra was 9 years old. It's now 13.5 years old and I haven't had to replace any more bulbs. I'm a DIY'er; I don't pay someone to mess it up if I can do the job myself.
 
I second that Rod. Some folks think a dealership is there to loose money and have no idea of the overhead cost associated with a dealership. Someone had to take the order for the bulb replacement, someone had to look up the bulb and bring it to the parts counter, mechanic had to install it, and last of all someone had to make the bill and collect the money. Fifteen dollars was a bargain. Most dealerships around here have a sixty dollar minimum charge. They might just tighten your fan belt but it is a sixty dollar charge.
 
Several have a much higher opinion of dealership "techs" than I do. $15 to swap a bulb is overpaid for some of the ones I have encountered, and they would be lucky to put a bulb in without messing something else up. I guess I have had far too many butchered jobs even on warranty work. Don't get me wrong, I know like every occupation there are good and bad, but i seem to get the winners. I had a rattle in the door on a new pickup, and rather than have the dealer rebuild the engine to fix a rattle in the door, I took the door panel off and fixed the rattle and saved myself the trouble. On another pickup I had a window that refused to roll up correctly (manual windows, under factory warranty) all the way, and when I picked it up not only did the window still not roll up correctly, the door was now misaligned - service manager said the window was caused by misaligned door (yeah, right). They did fix the window before I left, but I ended up realigning the door myself rather than drive an hour, leave it, drive another hour, and risk it still not be right. I guess it would not be nearly as bad if I were not an hour from the closest dealership so it is a very big deal if I have to return a second time for the same problem or worse, another problem caused by the tech (that infuriates me).
 
I've had many dealers try to scam me, my sister and my girlfriend. I don't trust them either. Take advantage of bargain oil changes
 
Mike, you got that correct. Even the Chevy cop SUVs have one of those lights out a lot of times mostly the RH one on all the PUs and SUVs that I see.
Loren
 
Like I tell my boys when they complain about some repair work they have done. Just do it yourself, no problem, right.
 
Mike, I replaced the bulb with the same brand I took out, same bulb that the truck came with new in 2007. two bulbs $7. So I have a spare. It was extremely easy and less than 2 minutes to do. No tools to get the job done. George.
 
Sounds like $3.50 for parts and $11.50 for labor. $75/hr is $1.25 per minute.

How much labor did it take to complete the job?
1. Type in the work request;
2. look up the part number;
3. pull the part out of stock;
4. disassemble the lamp;
5. install the bulb;
6. reassemble the lamp;
7. receive payment; and
8. print out the receipt.

$11.50 for labor is about right if it would have taken 9 minutes of labor to complete the job.

Or you can do it yourself at $25/ hr ($0.416/minute):
parts: (2 bulbs) = $7
vehicle: 3 miles X $0.55/mile = $1.65
driver's time: 10 min across town @ $25/hr = $4.16
installation time: 10 min @ $25/hr = $4.16
Total $16.97

How much would you do the job for?
 
Two minutes to get the job done after I went to town to get bulb. Spare bulb in truck. So next time two minutes.

Cheap, easy, fast fix.

Dealer has tried to scam a few times before. I don't trust dealer ex:

Your belt is cracked, better replace it, don't want to get stranded $150 we can replace it. Truck had only 60k at the time

Not a single crack in belt. Never replaced it. 10 oil changes later, not one work about replacing cracked belt.

You need a cabin filter. We can do it right away $200. I go to Auto zone ask for a filter and a diagram where it located. Auto zone said car doesn't have a filter. I took dash apart. NO FILTER.

Your car has an antifreeze leak, better get it fixed. Asked to show me. He couldn't find leak.

Your car needs new spark plugs. I asked to show me on the computer print out. He couldn't. One time my truck need a plug. Had auto zone scan computer and it was #6 plug.

I could write a book on many scams dealer tried to pull not only on me but others.

If you want to pay $15 go ahead, I REFUSE. SO WHY ARE YOU MAKING SUCH A BIG DEAL ABOUT THIS???
 
Yep, but maybe the folks at the dealership had a laugh at your expense. "Hey look Bill, here that guy comes again...Hey look Bill, and there that guy goes again. Making him mad never gets old, does it Bill?".

Mark
 
Its been a long time since I worked as a Service Writer at a dealership, but if I remember correctly for most bulb jobs the Mitchell Shop Manual pays 2/10's of an hour. A tech that makes $15.00 per hour will make $3.00 to do the job. But remember that you will be paying the shop rate of ??? per hour, which covers my salary too.

Shop times are taken from the Mitchell book for practically all automotive jobs. So, if the sharpest guy does the job in 10 seconds and the deadhead takes 2 hours, you still only pay the shop manual time of 2/10's of an hour.

Scott
 
So on your rental units do you try and make a profit? Or do you rent them so cheap that no one will get on the Internet and complain about the price?
 
Let me set a few things straight from the inside....
First, mechanic's labor is billed out in TENTHS of an HOUR. Current labor rates run around $100 per hour. Generally the minimum charge is going to be around .3 hours. This covers writing up a repair order, drawing and recording parts from stock, and the paperwork involved in completing and documenting the repair. While this may seem a bit cumbersome, this is the way a service department works. Personally, if it were my business, I would have sent you to get a bulb and put it in as a courtesy. No dealership will ever survive on bulb replacements to stay open. They need jobs with some meat in them.
Second, there is NO SUCH THING as a "2 minute job" in a dealership service department. It takes longer than that to go through the system, be assigned to a mechanic, and verified as a properly completed repair.
Third, As a DIY kind of guy, I would NEVER pay a mechanic to do a repair that I was perfectly capable of doing myself. So, it would never occur to me to ask a dealer to replace a bulb for me.
 

About 07 chebby made a mess out of a job like that, Its a hour job and worth every min.

Dunno what truck you have but will take a guess.
Book time to replace the headlight bulb .04
Book time for a parking lamp blub 0.3

You can round that off to $35 labor.

Book time will break you and sometimes you come out on the good end if you are a A/B mechanic.

Anyone that grumbles about what shop charges are its a free world buy 100K in tools and have at it maybe you may make money are go broke buying the next 200K in tools. I call it my collage debt.

A mechanic pays his collage debt from the day he takes it up till the day he dies. I don't think there will ever be a college debt forgiveness program for a mechanic. :cry:

I am happy for ya that you can do a simple bulb change that would qualify ya to do C jobs. Mechanics that do C jobs stave to death in a shop environment. I doubt they would ever be able to afford to buy the truck the bulb went in. You did the dealer a favor he could put his employee on a job that actually made a profit and was for the betterment of him and the mechanic.

He has added value to his service I don't think you get it.
 
You have to also keep in mind that there is not a "light bulb repair specialist" on hand who only gets paid min wage to sweep the shop waiting for light bulb replacements. You're generally paying a fairly skilled tech to do something that is really too easy. He generally gets paid the same rate be it for bulbs or computer diagnostics of a diesel control unit. That's on top of shop overhead. They'll tell you what's wrong and how much it cost to fix. Depending on your operation, you have to decide where you time and money is best spent. But yeah, $15 including the bulb price seems quite fair if you're not interested in doing it yourself.
 
Geo. After reading the body of the post, I have to agree that $15 (what is that a 6-pack or so?)is a more than reasonable price. Your statement of 2 minutes cannot be true, more like 10 mins. to unhook, flop out and re-install. I understand where you are coming from, BUT, when it comes to those simple jobs, for me it is way easier to pay the $$, get it done and walk away without skinned knuckles, or dirty hands. Time to loosen up the pocket. ;^) And no, I am not flexible enough for what you are thinking.
 
Although, I too generally do my own maintenance work (outside of warranty), $15.00 sounds like a very reasonable price for a more than 2 minute job.

Dean
 
I saved a lot more than that on a simple project several days ago. Only tools needed were a Popsicle stick and a nice small Blue Point needlenose plier. Oh, yeah, and a little generic Benzcaine.

CHEAP George would be PROUD!

Will snap a photo and post it one of these days.
 
"I've had many dealers try to scam me, my sister and my girlfriend. I don't trust them either"

If you don't trust them in the first place, then why in the world would you go to them in the second place, suspecting that they're going to scam you in the third place, and because of that not trade with them only to complain about it after you do in the fourth place? Why waste your and their time? Seems kind of curious to me.

Mark
 
Oh boy. Everybody's picking on George today.

Honestly, the fifteen bucks wouldn't be the reason I'd do it myself. For me to take a vehicle into the dealer is at least an hour out of my day, probably more. Swinging by the auto parts store to pick up a bulb is a few minutes.
 
Pete in MD,
Don't everyone have better things to do with your time than pile on George about something as insignificant at this?

As for me, I've been retired 12 years. I can spend my time doing as I please, including spending 2 minute to fix a driving light.

My excuse, I inherited the German Cheap Gene. Grandma and Grampa both came from Germany. Grandpa's stored his rusty nails in a coffee can. Grandpa had to straighten his nails before he could use it.
Geo
 
Wow!

$15 IMHO is cheap. I figured they would hit you with a minimum shop charge of something like 1/2 hour and $40. Just the fact that they'd do it right away vs schedule you out a week is impressive.
 
at any dealership here they would charge at least 50.00 in labor to change that,,, that was a very nice offer of them,, not that I would pay them either I can do it faster and I am sure its done right then as they do not always have the sharpest people working for them they call a mechanic,, lol
cnt
 
I don't trust them. But sometimes you have no choice in the matter especially on a warranty job. But I would never take one in for a light bulb, or a rattle in the dash, and I look things over very closely before driving off. Just because someone buys a few grand in tools does not make them a good mechanic or even able to change out a bulb. You know the ones. Yes, I do hold them to a high standard when I am paying those type rates - it had better be done right the first time.
 
Would love to get some prices on renting from you, must be so cheap I'm sure since no one is supposed to even break even on there costs and labor according to you.
 
Why are you so negative? It might surprise you my tenants like my places they don't move. One guy has been with me for 20 YEARS.

Why do you always want to attack ME? Do you think it makes Tia better man? You are a BULLY attacking people.


WHAT does any of this have to do with a light bulb?

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it.
 
The funny thing is you posted this thinking what, everybody was going to agree with you? the question was asked what should they have charged?you won't answer because you know there is no way they could have done it any cheaper sounds like you want something for nothing! don't like the rent comment? why? because that's your money and time ,way more important!if you don't want to hear the truth don't post this garbage...
 

I think the OP is off his meds today. My mother is 87 and also has dementia, and she gets just as cranky when her meds are late in coming at the care home.
 
Ah , but if you broke the socket while twisting the bulb you could order a Borg-Warner for 68 bucks or a Delco for 38 bucks ,or a Chinese one on eBay for 8 bucks. Twist gently!
 
I understand your point, I don't mean it to come across that way, just making a point that you always seem to bash other businesses for making a profit yet you yourself are a businessman who I would hope makes a profit to sustain yourself.
 
Sadly nowadays often times I have been disappointed to spend the extra on a name brand only to find out it is the same as the Chinese one yet lightened my wallet a lot more!
 
Forgiven, forgotten, and can we just be friends? I think your opinion of me would be different if we lived closer. I am always working on my neighbors Massy 35 and never charge him a dime. We've become good friends over our antique tractors.

The other day I thought he called me A CHEAP MECHANIC. I said what? He really paying me a complement, he was calling me A CHEIF MECHANIC.
 
Your are right, you shouldn't post garbage!! Why all the anger on TT? Never see it on other TY sites. Lots of BULLIES HERE.
 
Glad to see you too consider this insignificant. When you carry on like this with this post and some of your other posts, you look like a modern day Don Quixote.

I don't see what being retired has to do with this post but since you brought it up, I've been retired 15 years and also spend my time doing as I please including doing almost all the repair/service work on my vehicles, equipment, and facilities. But, I don't straighten rusty nails.
 
Well said Geo, and I must say I admire your creativity and adaptations of teramite uses and such. I know it's hard to fully understand each other thru the net with the lack of tone of course, my rent comment wasn't meant as an attack more of a see it from the other side point.
 
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