Dealer Price Gouging

[bigblue9]

I usually take my '09 Aveo to the dealer for service to the tune of about $100 / year, but when the driver's door handle snapped off, I figured I could do it myself. I was right.

I found a replacement on line for about $14.00 & studied three videos on Youtube. It took me about 15 minutes to pry off the decorative part, remove the broken part then install the new one.

Just for giggles, I called the dealer and asked about a new handle. I was quoted $170 labor & $65 for the part. At their standard hourly rate, that's 1.6 hours to do what took me 15 minutes. Their total parts & labor was $235.00! Another dealer was much cheaper -- only $140 parts & labor!

Looking back on past repairs, I'm not sure if they've ripped me off or not. Does Chilton still publish a flat rate manual and can anybody check -- just for giggles.

Thanks

[LateOutDrsMn]

Yep, had to replace mine last fall. Tore the handle off when getting back into the car at a gas station. found set of 4 New unpainted for $20 on Ebay. had a friend paint them for another $25. Now I got all new door handles, freshly painted, and install time for all 4 was less then the dealers 1.6 hr for 1. First took the longest, figuring out how it worked without breaking any parts, but once the first was done, the other three were very quick. Dealer is always going to be the most expensive choice.