can it really take that long

Sometimes owning a Saab really is a problem. I have been trying to get the transmission replaced on mine since I got the car. I have a good trans, new clutch, new clutch cable, and new fluid.. but have had no luck in finding somebody to do the work. Out of the almost dozen places I have talked to, only one has even considered doing the job.. and they quoted me almost $1300 in labor.

Considering most shops do not charge $100 an hour.. can a transmission on an NG 900, which is a standard transverse setup, really take two days?

Is the clutch a standard one or the hydraulic clutch? The hydraulic clutch may take more work than the standard clutch.

I live near a Saab-specialist mechanic. I've been meaning to schedule an appointment with him to have my Subaru's timing belt replaced and engine seals checked and replaced if need be. If I can get to his shop sometime this weekend or next week, I'll ask him just how involved replacing a Saab transmission is.

he said clutch cable, so i'd figure its a non-hydraulic clutch

You're probably getting no credit for the parts your bringing in....they want to get their pound of flesh one way or the other. Sounds like they're also scared of the word, "Saab."

And while most shops don't "CHARGE" $100.00 per hour, once you add the "Shop supplies" line into the mathe you do pay $100.00 per.

When doing quick estimates we figure part + ($100.00 per hour X time) and it is usually about 3% high. Works pretty well.

IIRC the Saab is @ a 9 hour transmission, the cable will add another hour, add another 10% of time for the loss of parts markup (shops do it, we don't) You SHOULD be around 11 hours/$1100.00.

One problem we have run into in the past: if someone supplies their own parts and for some reason it doesn't go smoothly, we have a dead stall while the customer is arguing with the salvage yard or whoever their supplier is. We just can't afford to have a stall down. Also, if the part supplied is bad for whatever reason, the customer has to pay the labor over again, even if it never made it out of the building under its own power. People don't like that. So we discourage the customer supplying their own parts unless they are willing to agree to certain terms up front in writing.

• ELEVENTYBILLION.2

Shop probably works on flat rate. If you look at their labor manual or whatever they call it, it probably books 13s hours. Now, they may get it done in 6 hours or something, but the mechanics are still getting paid for 13.

This issue right here is why i will NEVER own a Celica AllTrac.

Clutch replacement books for over 22 hours. Have to drop the drivetrain.

Nah, you just gotta heat up the pan before you put the meat in.

Jensenman wrote: One problem we have run into in the past: if someone supplies their own parts and for some reason it doesn't go smoothly, we have a dead stall while the customer is arguing with the salvage yard or whoever their supplier is. We just can't afford to have a stall down. Also, if the part supplied is bad for whatever reason, the customer has to pay the labor over again, even if it never made it out of the building under its own power. People don't like that. So we discourage the customer supplying their own parts unless they are willing to agree to certain terms up front in writing.

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^That is the head of a nail, and Jensenman just hit it.

If you don't like the price, there's always the DIY option. If you think the price is too high, you'll find out exactly just how bad it is after doing it yourself, so next time you'll be able to better gauge if you should do it yourself or not.

Bryce

Its too bad most shops put a 100% markup on parts, or I'd buy the parts from them as well.

But when you tell me a tie rod for my E30 cost $119, after having purchased both and having them shipped for less than that, I have a hard time dealing with that kind of markup. 10-20% would be acceptable since you are providing a warranty, but 80-100%? I can't live with that.

The dealership I used to deal with charged more for the part through the shop than walking up and buying the part to DIY. Could never figure that one out. The same dealer charged me full retail prices and I had done with them for over 20 years. Yet the Nissan dealership in Greenville sold to me at wholesale or close to it.

And most repair jobs I've had done were usually done in 1/2 the book time or less.

spitfirebill wrote: The dealership I used to deal with charged more for the part through the shop than walking up and buying the part to DIY. Could never figure that one out. The same dealer charged me full retail prices and I had done with them for over 20 years. Yet the Nissan dealership in Greenville sold to me at wholesale or close to it. And most repair jobs I've had done were usually done in 1/2 the book time or less.

Sounds like you've had pretty competent mechanics. I've worked with mechanics who could barely make book time and I've worked with mechanics that averaged under 50% of book time. If I had to pick one guy to do the job, it's almost always going to the guy who is faster, as they knew the job in and out...that's why they were faster (not because they half-assed it). I feel like many people have a misconception that they're getting ripped off if they get charged for more hours than it took the mechanic to do the job in, while I feel like that's usually the opposite. If I have three guys quote my chimney repair within 10% of each other, but one guy can do the same (or better) quality job in half the time, wouldn't that be the best value? If the job is done for the same price and is done better and faster, I feel like I got a good deal, I'd much rather be paying the well informed and skilled guy a bit more to know the job in and out than a new guy half the price to learn how to do stuff on my chimney (or car, as it may be).

I've never understood shops marking up prices on parts more than Joe Stranger can buy them for at the counter, I agree that's just blatant profit markup. I agree they should make a profit on parts, but that should be built in on the backend of the deal since they usually get wholesale pricing about 10-40% lower than walk-up street prices.

Bryce

I would also argue that in additionb to everything mentioned above, Saab trannys are a PITA. Aren;t they also the oil pan for the car?

You got the parts, you do it. Who cares if it takes you a month.

Part of what happens at a dealership: the manufacturer sets the warranty time for a repair. I'll be the first to tell you reality has nothing to do with warranty time. Take repalcing a radio, for instance. The time to replace is generally 1 to 3 tenths of an hour. There's no additional time allowed to find the problem. Let's take an average .2 repair time; that's 12 minutes. In that time span the tech is expected to: pull the repair order, get the car and pull it inside, diagnose the problem, get the part ordered if not in stock. He doesn't get paid on the first visit if the radio is not in stock.

So when the car comes back for the repair, he has to: pull the repair order, get the car and pull it into the shop, remove and reinstall the radio, test the replacement unit for proper operation, return the old unit to the parts department and complete the paperwork. I won't even get into the manufacturers who require time clock punches for different parts of the repair: diagnosis, repair, quality control. that's six time card punches for a .2 repair. He is also expected to fix the problem for free if it comes back, unless it's a defective part.

If he's got less than half an hour in this, he's lucky. so he is now 18 minutes (or 3 tenths of an hour) behind. Since he has a family to feed, he's got to make it up somewhere.

Don't think the manufacturers aren't aware of this, either. They know EXACTLY what they are doing; shortchanging the techs to protect their warranty bottom line and the cost gets passed on to the other customers.

On the parts side of things, it varies somewhat from manufacturer to manufacturer, but as a general rule things like radios and instrument clusters are supplied as exchange units at no cost to the dealership. This means there's no markup or profit, either. Some mfgs. even do that with major assemblies like engines, etc.

Both the parts and service end of things are expected to turn a profit. Otherwise, the managers and staff get replaced with those who will make a profit. That's the way of the world, folks; it happens in the aftermarket as well.

The only good thing about being in the aftermarket: they can shove the tough no profit work off onto us after doing all the easy high profit parts swapping. I can't count the times someone has shown up at my door with a crappy running car with new plugs/wires/cap/rotor/filters/brake pads/ yada yada and they say 'So and so tried to fix my car and couldn't, he says there's a recall on this kind of thing and you'd fix it for free'. So you paid him $500 to try a bunch of crap and now I'm supposed to fix it for free, huh?

$1300 sounds like a normal price to replace the transmission. I dont pay to have things fixed unless its not something i can do myself. In my opinion, if someone can do a job that I cant, or do it better than i can, its worth paying them to do it. If someone wants to charge more than the work is worth to me, then that just means I should do it myself. lol I dont think most places will be willing to install a used transmission that you give them though, so it may be something you should do yourself.