ok i started getting lazy and took my car to a few shops for some estimates to do my lower ball joints and my inner tie rods, winter sucks you know...

so i get a big range of quotes from $245 - $400 not counting hardware cause i have all that

i was a little miffed at the cost cause given their tools and experience it should be like a 2hr job tops it would probably take me half the day but i don't have a lift or impact tools...

so i get my hands on a copy of ALLDATA, the most popular mechanics estimating software around... it says the replace the ball joints BOTH SIDES takes .8 hours and to replace tie rod, tie rod end, and/or boot BOTH SIDES is 1.4 hours

total 2.4 hours
that sounds reasonable

so where the hell do these prices i'm given come from
$400 = $166/hour... my **** better be dipped in gold when it comes back to me

$245 = $102/hour... i'm by no means a mechanic but this still seem unreasonable

so what are good rates for mechanics?

 

Repair shops make a lot of profit from parts. They pretty much charge you double what the parts cost them. So when someone comes in and says they have the parts and they just want them installed, they aren't just going to charge you for labor. They are going to screw you to make up for the profit they lose on parts. Auto shops hate it when people bring in their own parts.