I have replaced three of these in the past all on my 2002 saturn Vue. Basically, when the water pump failed, and the alternator 2x. The belt is only about $15.

Since I did not have the tensioner tool, I just thread the new belt in (not fun) and would pull it to slip it over the last pulley.

Anyway, today I got a call from the repair shop, the serpentine belt needs replacing. It will be $540. And since it is a large amount of time it will be 10 days before they can get to it. I asked him to break down the math:
$70 for the 'belt'
$470 for 3.5 hours of labor.

I checked with Autozone, the belt is only $19. I think they are pricing a 'kit' that comes with a new tensioner that is around $70-80. Rock Auto has the belt for $3.96.

We dont have unions here in Virginia so why would they "die by what the 'the book' says?" How can they with a straight face tell me that this will take 3.5 hours? argh.

My back is out, so putting the front on jack stands and taking off the front right tire was not on my things I wanted to do tomorrow but Damn.

For the record, they did an alternator on my wifes van and put the serpentine belt back on for free ( I bought it with the alternator) since they took the belt off to replace the alternator it was just part of the service.

Sounds like it's time to shop around for a new auto service provider.

The guy quoting $540 either is behind with his bills and is trying to get back to even all at once or he's just giving you the "I don't wanna do it" price.

Either way, kick him to the curb.

Book time is the amount of time it's supposed to take a technician to do the job, and to do the job well, with some allowable margin for fuss with unexpected problems like rusty bolts.

In many shops, the technician gets paid on book time. If the tech hustles and gets through the job faster, he is more profitable for himself. If he drops a bolt into the engine and has to take apart the engine to get it out, that's on him too and he still only gets paid book time. It's the reasonable tradeoff society makes to protect ourselves from technicians who work slowly to run up the hours or from customers who want things done right but don't know how much something "should" cost.

$135/hr shop rate feels high, but isn't outrageous. I don't know if 3.5 hours by the book is legit either, but it might be depending on what's actually involved. On some cars, you have to pull the bumper to change the headlight bulb, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some dumb engineering involved on your particular car.

You’re getting ripped off, royally. That’s all I’m gonna say.

OK, just watched a vid on the tube for '02 to '07 Vue. Its like a 20 minute job. There is no special tool for its tensioner. Its typical spring loaded and you just need the correct size wrench. Bring it over. I will have you in and out in 20 minutes. Only charge you $350.00 and will give you back change of $350.00..

quote:

2002 saturn Vue

You are talking about the belt for a Vue, rated at a 3 out of 10 for difficulty, look simple, I'd say they don't want the job...or are fishing to see if you'll bite..?

I was quoted $198 for a front end alignment on my truck. It took them 4 hours to complete because they couldn't get it quite right and each time I tested it, I brought it back for them to tweak. In fairness, they're not the first shop I've been to that has issues with the alignment on a RAM truck, including the main dealer. At the end, the bill came to....$198.

I reckon they'll be getting more business from me in the future.

Plumbers here are trying that crap too.

Instead of charging by the hour, they want to charge you a Flat Rate figure, which is outrageous.

I needed the valve stem thing replaced on the cold valve for the bathtub. Took him only 12 minutes and he handed me a bill for $260 bucks, cuz you know we charge Flat Rate now.

We had quite a discussion about this. He stated they now charge $285 to replace the fill valve assembly thing, including the flapper, in the average toilet.

Outrageous!!!
.

My apologies guys, I sold off my Vue and now have a 2016 Chevy Equinox.

I watched a few Youtubes on it and it is pretty straight forward, remove wheel, thread belt, push up on tensioner with a screwdriver and slip over the largest pully (crankshaft pulley).

I mean I am glad they caught it but I just wanted an oil change and I guess I will do the belt myself. Just a pisser that they know it is an easy job. (whenever he quotes a 'book' price I know I am in for it). OH, and they cant even get to it for 10 more days.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Plumbers here are trying that crap too.

Instead of charging by the hour, they want to charge you a Flat Rate figure, which is outrageous.

I needed the valve stem thing replaced on the cold valve for the bathtub. Took him only 12 minutes and he handed me a bill for $260 bucks, cuz you know we charge Flat Rate now.

We had quite a discussion about this. He stated they now charge $285 to replace the fill valve assembly thing, including the flapper, in the average toilet.

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

Besides, replacing a toilet valve assembly is dead simple anyway, and takes like 20 minutes and some basic hand tools. The only even remotely "tricky" part is getting the tank reseated and leveled, but even that barely registers on the difficulty scale. No need to call a plumber for that. (But I also have a friend who's an electrician who routinely gets service calls to change light bulbs, so...)

Luckily, my plumber still charges by the half-hour, and at a reasonable rate too.

You should have a decal under the hood showing your belt routing. Also is nice to shoot a cell pic of the belt on its pullys before removing.

I'm not all that mechanical but I did say at a Holiday Inn Express (once).

In a quick google search it seems like the price you're getting is more in line with a timing belt rather than a serpentine belt. Might ask for clarification from the shop.

That's a good catch, SR. Worth a call.

As luck would have it, I lost my tensioner over the weekend. Belt and tensioner $800. It's OEM parts and dealer labor. If it happened at home, I would have used an indy, but I was a little far from home, and the dealer was within towing distance (for another $300). Oh well.

Odd the tensioner only lasted 20k miles.

3.5 hrs labor book time for a belt?
That must be the mutherfucker of all belts.

Even on the POS Opel-built 3.0 V6 (in 2004 they went to a Honda V6), an accessory belt on that car is at most an hour. The four-cylinder is about the same. As for the price of the belt, what you can buy it for is mostly irrelevant. They can't sell that belt for the same or less than they paid for it. Having said that, I'm as big a capitalist as anyone, but that markup is a little on the high side. If the shop I work in pays $19 for the belt, customer cost would be probably around $30. Unless you're getting a tensioner, which wouldn't be unusual on a 20-year-old car.

Foe Equinox, NAPA cost estimator says max $504 parts and labor in my area (outside Charlotte)

https://www.napaonline.com/en/...car-repair-estimator

OEM through GM that is probably about right for the belt pricing.

Labor not sure on as I no longer have access to factory labor guides.

GM like all auto manufacturers is good for doing some stupid things like 1990’s era GM “N” bodies, Pontiac Grand Am,Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile whatever the hell they carried theirs, I’ve forgotten. Any ways back to the rant, the V6 had the serpentine belt routed and the engine mounted so to replace the belt you had to remove the front motor mount to replace the belt.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

Odd the tensioner only lasted 20k miles.

Was that OEM or aftermarket tensioner?

I always remember back around 1982 I was at the parts counter getting some parts at a local GM dealer. A lady was picking up her 77 or 78 Oldsmobile after getting the water pump replaced. She was having a conniption fit with the service department nearby. The bill was slightly over $500. That would be close to $1500 in today's dollars.