Did I get ripped off or overcharged?

[Illnasty]

Starter went on my 2002 Yukon Denali. As much as I would have loved to get my hands dirty and work on my truck, I can't as I don't have a garage or a place to work on her. So I took it to the mechanic and it cost me $308.32 for a starter motor w/1 year warranty and the labor. Does that sound right or excessive? Part was $179.

 

[mizzouguy]

Sounds about right, with my account at oreilly a reman starter is 160.31, buyer gets a LIFETIME warranty, and a new starter is 169.91 with a LIFETIME warranty. So unless another store is that much cheaper i'd say he charged you 2 hrs @ 65 an hour? Seems fair. Most shops will only give you a 1 year warranty on their parts/labor anyway, regardless of what they may received. When I worked there I used to get starters/alternators back all the time with shops wanting warranty credit 2 or 3 years later, and they would charge the customer for the new one and the labor all over again. Pure profit. Unless you do it yourself you'll never get that lifetime warranty.

 

[Illnasty]

Thanks man! I felt a little uneasy after I left cause it seemed like a lot but I'm thinking you're right

 

[mizzouguy]

It's too bad he didn't give you the option of the new vs rebuilt, for $10 difference. The brand we carried it really didnt seem to matter though as far as how long they lasted. Some of the rebuilt ones lasted longer than new ones. I can't remember the difference exactly. They were the same brand, something about new was 100% new, rebuilt was all new internals and a cleaned case or something. I never took two apart side by side.

 

[W8TVI]

I have changed the starter on several GM "S-10" sized trucks and one on a '91 Suburban (square body), and taking about two hour to change the starter sounds about right.

You some times need to shim the new starter to get it to engage properly. I got lucky and never needed to do that, and it still took me over an hour to change the starter myself with the knowledge from doing it before.

The starters for the 4x4 IFS trucks OBS/NBS/NNBS (I'm not sure about the 2WD IFS trucks) are a lot more expensive than the one used on the old square body trucks.

At the time that I had to replace the starter on my Suburban (In the middle of winter, in a parking lot. Not recommended ), they were $35. If I needed the one for the IFS truck, it was about $150.

The flange and everything were the same, but the one for the IFS truck is a lot shorter and smaller around than the cheap one. You need the smaller starter to fit between the bell housing and the front differential. I think at the time, if you had a 2WD S-10 (at least with the 4.3L V6) they used the full size starter.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Here in Denver most shops run $80 - $100/hr for labor so I'd say that looks like a pretty good price.