lp20th

Could anyone be kind enough to give me an opinion on this cost. This is my daughters 98 civic sedan. Unfortunately she recently moved over a 100 miles away from me to the Boston Ma. area. I normally repair her car but because of the distance and her need to have her car for work I could not do it.

Anyways the resonator pipe required replacing. She went to a Meineke shop and the following is the cost breakdown:

resonator pipe $220
2 gaskets @ $18.95 each
2 Spring nut kits @ $18.95 each
labor $97 (about 1/2 hr., actual time to do the job)
with tax about $420

Seems kind of steep to me but then I buy my parts directly from local auto parts stores and provide the labor for free. I'm out of touch with costs when a car is brought to a shop for repair.

I just want to make sure they did not take advantage of a young women in this situation.

Thanks.

TwoFacedCustoms

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

420?!

You can get a pretty good aftermarket exhaust for that...gaskets bolts and all.......or even a custom exhaust with a muffler of your choice depending on where you go.

Those gaskets and springs come with a test pipe/resonator...including the resonator/test pipe itself they're about 20 bucks shipped on ebay.

If she wanted to stay stock I think you can order the whole pipe from header to muffler for like 100 dollars...and labor? If you can use a wrench...and work the rubber hangers a little bit with a screwdriver or cut them off and replace them....it's easy as hell.

Adamvanxxx

They are raping her. You could probably have a dealership to do the whole thing for that much.

shawn_crx

*420 for a resonator pipe replacement*
Price of a shop.
You could get a new set aftermarket from header back cheaper than that.

Try Craigslist, ebay, etc.
Plus 200 miles would only be 20 dollar gas... you could fix.

CarlyRae00Z

I had this same problem with my own Civic. the exhaust rusted away and was trailing on the ground for a while.

I was able to fix it myself for about 50 bucks as I am a mechanic. 420 does seem a little much though.

Depending on the shape of the rest of the pipe this shop should be able to cut a replacement piece of exhaust pipe. Or go to your local auto wrecker and ask them to cut out a resonator and see if the shop will weld it in instead of replacing the intire pipe which is expensive. Wreckers usually cut the price in half.

Libertariat

I got a resonator put on my current exhaust piping for $40 including parts.

That's extortion what they're doing. Why do they need gaskets? Just cut it and weld it.

lp20th

Thanks for all the responses; those were all the same thoughts I had as well. Unfortunately she panicked, did not know what was wrong with the car and knew she had to have it fixed so she could travel to work. So it’s a done deal, $420 out the door.
I've replaced resonators in the past on Hondas and I could get all the parts for no more than $150. So if you figure in some labor I would think $250 would be more reasonable for a shop job.

Recourse? I doubt there is anything that can be done to recover back any money. Meineke's corporate web site even has a disclaimer indicating the shops are independently owned and operated franchises and they have no control on pricing.
It’s a shame though, I don't know if this was truly their price, which is just plain high, or they took advantage of the situation.

I would hope that Meineke would not want their corporation represented in this manner and requires some pricing guidelines as a minimum.

Libertariat

I got a 16" resonator put on my Honda for $40 with parts and labor a few years ago >.>

Red_Army

rape. my full custom exhaust only cost 80 bucks more then that.
you could just weld up pipe too its not that much louder.


but to keep it OE it should have cost like 60 tops part included.

EL Vap133

That is why they call it the Stealership, ouch!

TwoFacedCustoms

Would the bbb be able to help with something like that?

HondaPartsHero

Same thing happened to my 96 a couple of months ago. I knew it only needed a bead around the resonator so I took it to a Meineke expecting them to just to tack it up. They quoted me 280. I was like "I need my keys now". I went home took of the exhaust put it in the trunk of my other car and took it to a Midas. They tacked it up for free. I gave the guy a $20 tip. BTW the Honda parts are about $130 from Majestic Honda. Even with stealership labor costs it wouldn't been half that, just for comparison. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

NOFX

IIRC all '96-'00 US Civics use interchangeable b-pipes anyway. So if you found the part from a different body style even you could still use it.

lp20th

Thanks to everyone for all the responses. Here is an update.

When my daughter came back home for a visit I had the opportunity to view the handy work from Meineke Muffler in Randolph Ma. The parts were installed fairly well however what caught my eye was the spring bolt kits that couple the muffler to the mid pipe. They did not use new kits they took the old springs and used new bolts and washers. Not a terrible thing but on the invoice they charged $18.95 each for spring bolt kits they did not even use plus tacked on another $19.24 for what they call shop hardware, which I assume is a charge for the nuts and bolts.

I complained to Mieneke cooperate, initially they appeared interested in helping with the situation but passed it off back to the shop. I called the shop they would not do anything except offer a complimentary oil change, not even a refund for parts charged for but not used. What really rips me is that they not only gouged the price but they also charged for parts that they didn't even use! I took pictures and sent them to Mineke corporate they said they would pass them along to the shop. I heard nothing back from either. More E-mails to Mieneke resulted in no response at all.

What a shame that there are people out there that take advantage of others and also a corporation who does not want to deal with their unscrupulous franchises. As I said if my daughter lived near by I would have done this repair myself. I know what the prices for these parts typically are. I do understand that a shop needs to make a profit, but to take advantage of someone in a particular situation is shameful. I don't know how these people can live with themselves.

Here are the details.

Shop labor $95.00
Resonator pipe $213.89
2 gaskets $37.90
2 spring bolt kits $37.90 (they never installed these!)
Shop Supplies $19.24
Tax $19.31
Total $423.24

I warn people to stay away from this place.