jasone36

For comparison's sake, I asked a local Lexus dealer for pricing on a "Labor Only" service, assuming I bring to them all the parts (OEM). Here is the breakdown:

Replacement of all four 4 shocks - $1,196 + tax
Replacement of sparkplugs - $125 + tax
Replacement of two door speakers - $253 + tax
Replacement of both foglight bulbs - $126 + tax

A non-Lexus private garage took the above work at $600 out-the-door. Sure, the private garage has no waiting room and they're not Lexus/Toyota certified, but the difference in price is profound. I'm sure the workmanship isn't quite the same, but I am hoping the difference in price is worth it.

JerryB

Hi janone36,

Why do you think the workmanship is not quite the same? In my experience these techs move from company to company all of the time.

The owner of my local indie shop spent many years working for Toyota until he decided to go on his own.

IMO I get a lot more honesty out of the private shops.

Jerry Baumchen

Yes

If you can find a reputable independent shop, there's no reason not to use them. Those are pretty basic repairs. Personally, I'd check Yelp and google maps for any reviews on the shop you found. See if anyone has posted any horror stories.

KA8

iTrader: (1)

You can save that $600 if you have basic tools and DIY. Well installing shocks a little more involved but you get the idea.

VVTiBob

Time, a little patience and proper tools is all that's necessary for the four jobs list. But you're right you're not paying for a nice waiting area, a loaner car, snacks, coffee, overhead, insurance and labor billed at $125+ per hour. I believe three of the jobs even have DIYs here on CL.

jasone36

If I had the expertise I would certainly do the work myself, but unfortunately I do not... so I end up paying repair shops. As enticing as the DIY's are, I am very concerned about trying to do work on a car which is this complex.

MrVancey

All maintenance &/or repairs on my SC430 are done by a local repair shop less than 4 miles from me. The closest Lexus dealer is over 25 miles from me and their prices are horribly expensive.

The local shop was highly recommended by more than a couple of my friends and neighbors. There is the owner and one mechanic, both with over 20 years of experience together. His motto is "First Time, On Time, Every Time" and I have found that to be the truth! He will not replace or repair anything that does not need replaced or repaired.

And his prices are excellent, usually less than half the Lexus dealer. And if there is something he doesn't do at his shop (for example, he does not do Front End Alignments) he refers you to another local shop (for FEAs it's the shop that actually does the FEA on his personal cars.)

I recently had my tires rotated and the car drove horribly. I had him rotate the tires back, which corrected the problem (one of the tires is almost worn down to the treat wear indicators, the 3 others are almost brand new). He refused to charge me for the 2nd rotation (but I finally got him to accept payment).

As a side note this is the FIRST auto shop I have ever used in over 45 years of vehicle ownership that uses ONLY a torque wrench for tightening wheel lug nuts. Not sure about the local Lexus dealer, but every other car dealer I have ever gone to, including tire dealers, use impact wrenches.

If you can find such an independent shop near you, use them.

Jabberwock

You have to realize they are used to people just coming in and handing them the keys and paying whatever is quoted with almost no questions. That's where they make the big margin profits but they also have customers like me that make them work a little harder for their money. I have consistent positive results getting a discount on quoted labor by calling 2 or 3 of the local Lexus dealers in DFW and asking them for their best price on a job, letting them know that I am shopping the other Lexus dealers. Once they know they are in a competitive situation they will usually provide a better estimate (if they want the work). Of course, this works only if you have more than one local dealer.

Yes

You can also get them to compete with Toyota dealerships, which charge quite a bit less for labor. I got Lexus within $20 of Toyota on a timing belt replacement. They came down on price over $200. All other things being equal, it was worth $20 for the convenience of the loaner.