ES300 . Does front control arms take 13 hours to replace ?
 

Hi All,

I have a 2002 Lexus ES300 with around 230K miles.

I got a labor quote with following hours ,let me know if its reasonable.

Front Control Arms both left and right front.
13 hours to replace. $760

Front both Struts assembly both $200

Front both bearings $240


Is the hours and price reasonable ?
They said its a 2 days job.

Thanks
Chicago IL

I think there is a mistake somewhere... I don't know any shop that is only charging $58 an hour....($760/13)

How about the time, does it take 12 to 13 hours to change both control arms on the front ?

Book time will likely be 4-5 hours, labour is $200+ per hour.

https://repairpal.com/estimator/lexu...placement-cost

^^ that comes out to ~4 hours labour. Dealers near me charge $320/hour. The job itself is quite simple, potential hardest part is if the ball joint doesn't want to come out.

I have a background in automotive going back to 1974 when I had my first job as a mechanic and yes I was under 18 yo at the time. One of the things shops do when they quote work is to compound work on quotes.

For example: I had this happen at my local Lexus dealer - Lexus of Westminster. They quoted the price of a water pump replacement at $1100. Then the service advisor call me and said to do the timing belt at the same time to save labor since it was physically right there. Well, that job was also $1100 stand alone. So then it was $2200 for the whole job - right? That's what they tried to charge me. When I asked why they would charge the same labor to do much of this work twice, they denied it and said I should go in so he could show me why. So I cancelled the work and asked to have my car ready for morning pickup.

So the next morning - early, the service manager called me to ask why I had cancelled. I explained that most of the labor for the second part of the work was covered by the first part but they had wanted to charge for two, individual jobs. He said would I let him quote the work again and I agreed. So it was $1200 for his quote. Imagine my surprise to get what I expected in the first place! A thousand less!

When I asked him why I was quoted $2200 for the same work the first time around, he claimed to not know what the advisor had in mind but he was sure it was OK. NOT!

Typical of these shops so always get a second or maybe a third quote.

Sorry for the rant but it still happens this same way all the time.