Well if your getting some body work done at a body shop, I think it would probably be in your best interest to do as much work as possible by yourself, as minimal as it may sound.

Heres a receipt from some work I got done from my car getting hit in a parking lot. The other guy's insurance paid for it all, so I dont mind but I was pretty shocked to see how expensive things were! (Sorry for sideways pic)



non-sideways link here

$32.50 to remove the nitrous bottle?? lolwut?

Its two wingnuts and two strips of velcro

Pic for reference:


Ridiculous

 

Yes it is but it is also reasonable at the same time. They had to disconnect the lines as well (assuming). Most body shops charge 80-100 per hour of labor. So that 30 dollars is only getting about 15-20 minutes of labor. If they didn't disconnect the lines than they are overcharging.

 

See this all the time. I work at a collision center.

 

...You got out of that very very well. I'd of charged you much more for R&R of the top assembly and the charge for removing the nitrous bottle is perfectly acceptable. They are not farmilliar with the car as you are so they must approach the labor rate as if it's the first time they've ever done the task when it's something the customer has added to the vehicle.

 

Agree. Ultra reasonable if you ask me. Insurance company made out on this repair.

 

I am shocked at how little they are getting on labor.

 

i dont know a single shop that would do the top r&r for $220

most places charge (and should) over 400% of that.

 

And you probably think they made a killing of you.... oh how little people know about business.

 

theres one line to diconnect, the wires to the heater come off with velcro, or a trailer hitch plug in if you want to just leave it on. The remote valve opener comes off with a single alan wrench.

It takes maybe 2-3 minutes to take out the bottle (considering you have to refill it all the time, it'd be silly to make it any harder than that)

These guys are known for being an awesome shop around here, judging by everyones reactions, it seems like other stuff is a good price, which is awesome to hear. Total bill was $4300, 800 for parts, 500 for paint and $3,200 for labor. This involved replacing the rear bumper, cutting rear quarter panel off the frame, welding a new one onto the frame, installing LED panels in both tail lights + paint (which required removal of the soft top apparently) I assumed the total price was pretty fair.

Either way, the nitrous uninstall still blew my mind, considering they charged $44 to R&R my J's rear diffuser which is a huge pita

 

I think most shops use a repair manual that has total time /r/r estimated in hours or parts of hours. Total actual time may have been much more or much less. I'm also guessing that the $3400 labor charge could have been one of the first things added to the bill based on the manual. If labor is $100 an hour, their estimate was that the total job for an average mechanic would take 34 hours. If the real time was more than 34 hours, your insurance company was the beneficery.