Do these repair charges make sense to you? Tensioner and belt replacement.

banana_bread

Reputable
Oct 5, 2015
18
1
4,510
I've been having a lot of problems with my serpentine belt coming off.

I went to this repair place and they told me the belt and the tensioner needed to be replaced. They gave me a quote that included the price of a new belt, a new tensioner, the labor for putting on the belt, and the labor for putting on the tensioner. 4 separate items.

But...shouldn't the labor for adding/removing the belt be included in the labor for replacing the tensioner? I don't know much about cars but I'm sure you would have to remove and reinstall the belt to replace the tensioner anyway. It seems like they want to charge me for that labor twice. I don't know if this is oversight on their part, standard procedure or overcharge or what. Only been driving for about a year so I wanted some outside input.
 
Solution
Unfortunately I don't still have access to the labor guide I used to use. Shops typically go by standardized/generalized labor times (called book time) in an attempt to be more fair in their pricing. If you have a really slow tech and a really skilled tech, one might take 2 hours while the other takes 30min and it shouldn't cost you more for the repair tech who is less skilled. If book time calls for 1hr for the job and the tech can get it done in 30min you get charged an hour and the tech makes pretty good money. (Skilled techs can achieve 14-15 labor hours in a 9-10hr day). If they take 2hrs, you still get charged an hour and the tech loses money.

In regards to the tensioner, it depends on the way it's written in the labor book. It...

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Auto shops use standardized repair time for a specific repair. Replacing a belt has a defined time. Replacing the tensioner also has a defined time. The shop takes that time and multiplies it times their hourly rate to get the cost to you.
 
agreed, repair times are often known so are multiplied by the shop rate (shop rate can be upwards of $60-70+ an hour).

depending on the type of car it can either be a very simple affair to take off and replace the belt or very involved depending on if motor mounts and other junk in the way needs to be removed to access the belt.
 
Unfortunately I don't still have access to the labor guide I used to use. Shops typically go by standardized/generalized labor times (called book time) in an attempt to be more fair in their pricing. If you have a really slow tech and a really skilled tech, one might take 2 hours while the other takes 30min and it shouldn't cost you more for the repair tech who is less skilled. If book time calls for 1hr for the job and the tech can get it done in 30min you get charged an hour and the tech makes pretty good money. (Skilled techs can achieve 14-15 labor hours in a 9-10hr day). If they take 2hrs, you still get charged an hour and the tech loses money.

In regards to the tensioner, it depends on the way it's written in the labor book. It may call for .2 hour (tenths) to remove the belt and .6 hours to replace the tensioner. Unless it specifies under the tensioner assembly removal/installation that belt replacement is included, the times are added together for a total of .8 hours x the labor rate (my local labor rate on general repairs was $90/hr at the shop I worked for and still well below dealerships).

If the book called for a ridiculous amount of time like 1.2hrs to replace the tensioner and it only took 20min often times the small time charge for belt removal would be knocked off. Also if getting multiple repairs done the shop would many times knock a few of the smaller labor charges off to get the price down some and be more 'fair' and to get the overall bigger job. The book labor is more or less a guideline and it's based on the average of how long it takes a number of qualified techs to do the job proficiently using hand tools (ratchets, sockets, wrenches - not air ratchets or other air tools which may speed up the time quite a bit).

Depending on the vehicle, belt replacement prices along with tensioner can vary quite a bit. Some are simple, some not so much. Without knowing the specifics it would be really hard to tell. Price of parts, make/model of the vehicle, prices for your area etc. If you're unsure you can try calling around to other shops and ask for a quote on belt/tensioner replacement for your vehicle and see what they say. Then at least you'll have an idea, if the shop you're at is within $10-20 or so of everyone else they're probably giving you an accurate quote. If it's a lot different, say $40 or more it would be worth questioning. It also depends on the parts, a lower price could be an inexpensive lower quality aftermarket part vs the higher priced shop using better brands of parts or oem (factory) equipment.
 
Solution