I was told my PT needed FRONT lower control arm bushings. Five hours labor (21/2 hours each side).I had the job done. They started on it no sooner than 8:30 a.m. and called meat 11:40 a.m. saying it was done.Bushings-$40 each, labor-$288.00. Hmmm, 5 hours at $57.50 an hour would be$288. But they only had it for 2 hours and 40 minutes. This would translate to$107.87 per hour. I asked a friend who had worked at the garage what their labor rate was. Hedidn't know, but he checked with a friend of his at a MOPAR parts counter, wastold that you CAN'T replace the front bushings, you have to replace the entirecontrol arm @ $160 each. I have the old parts, they are in the bag that the newones came in. Part # 04656012AC. When put into the parts computer at theChrysler garage, this number went right back to the REAR control arm bushingswhich can be replaced @ $40 each which is what I paid. But the labor listed todo this is three hours total ( 1 1/2 hours each side). I've been dealing withthe place that did the work for over 30 years. I'm trying to come up with everyimaginable way that an error was made, but I can't. I was told that FRONTBUSHINGS were needed, the bill states PARTS-Lower FRONT Control Arm Bushings,LABOR-Replace Lower Front Bushings.

Why not have a polite be just confusion caused by a noisy shop.Hopefully the right thing was fixed and just the service writermis-understood what was going on.

Was I ripped off?

Apr 23, 2004 21 Replies

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robs440 21 years ago

sounds like they charged you flat rate

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David Allen 21 years ago

When they quote you the number of hours for a job, it's the "book" hours. That's the number of hours it takes the average tech using the published procedure. How long it *actually* takes for *your* tech to do the job is what you're seeing. Some techs are faster than others in reality and some have found shortcuts. Your still charged for the number of hours published in the book.

I saw this when I repaired the heads on my old '88 3.0L. I got the timing wrong and towed it down to the dealer so they could do it. The book said it was about a 2 1/2 hour job or so. The tech had a short cut method and took about an hour to do the job. I still paid for 2 1/2 hours.

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