€350 for 2 rear shock absorbers?

lightspeed · 24-04-2012 7:15pm #1

Hi all

Well i failed the NCT today cause one of the shock absorbers is leaking and apparently the other is not good shape either. Its a 01 Bmw e46. I got a price of €350 from a local garage. Is that a decent price including labour?

George Dalton · 24-04-2012 7:18pm

Far too expensive. €250 should easily cover the job using good quality parts.

lightspeed · 24-04-2012 8:06pm

thanks im waiting for a friend of mine to get back to me tomorrow to see if he can do it any cheaper. The friend of mine that recommended the garage i went to thought €350 was a good price and he used to have the same model car and knows quite a bit about cars which was why i just assumed that it was probaly a decent price. After doing a bit more research on it, it does seem a bit more than i should be paying though.

hanloj1 · 24-04-2012 8:30pm

Is it back or front? As far as I know it costs more in labour to remove and fit the front.

joeperry · 24-04-2012 8:42pm

Sounds alright by me. Alot more stripping the interior out than the fronts.

rebel.ranter · 24-04-2012 8:56pm

Have a look at www.mister-auto.ie for an idea on the price of the parts, various levels of quality available.

George Dalton · 24-04-2012 8:59pm

joeperry wrote: »

Sounds alright by me. Alot more stripping the interior out than the fronts.

Nonsense. Book time for replacing the rear shock absorbers is 0.85 hours which is less than half the book time for replacing the fronts.

I would like to see the breakdown of parts and labour to arrive at a figure of €350.

Dealing in facts for the moment and going into specifics:

Lets allow 1 hour at an average labour rate of €50 per hour ex VAT which should easily cover this job.

OEM Boge shocks are readily available for €85 each ex VAT x 2 = €170

€170 + €50 = €220 + 13.5% VAT = €250 approx.

The parts can probably be gotten cheaper online than I have quoted if you are flexible on brand.

Voodoomelon · 24-04-2012 9:34pm

Replace 2 shocks in 50 minutes? Sounds like superman stuff to me!

jk536 · 24-04-2012 9:42pm

if its the back shocks its not a big job.I had to do this for my e46 last year. Im an average amateur mechanic and did the both myself in about an hour. very little to the back shocks

pred racer · 24-04-2012 9:45pm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Replace 2 shocks in 50 minutes? Sounds like superman stuff to me!

Back shocks....no bother.
To a competent mechanic!
last time i did it it took me about 1.5 hrs (bloody seized bolt) and im no mechanic;)

Voodoomelon · 24-04-2012 9:54pm

Thats kinda what I meant, you always run into trouble with old suspension components, but I guess an hour isn't too far off the mark so.

Idbatterim · 24-04-2012 10:59pm

get parts on ebay from uk and if you in dublin and need a mechanic recommendation, give me a shout, i know a guy who does work for half the price of other independents....

Onwardandupwar · 24-04-2012 11:14pm

We change shocks daily in bms and the back will take no more the 40 minutes to fitt two shocks and I'm sure of that the front would take maybe 2 hours as its abit more messy but I would say 150e for top quality parts and. 80e labour that would be my quote don't get ripped off who ever quoted you 350 run a mile. It's a simple job. Even a first year apprentice would have two rear shocks done in a hour

€350 for 2 rear shock absorbers?

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