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How much does it cost to have the fan belt replaced?

Z

Zee

Diamond Member
I think business has been bad lately and during my oil change he recommended that i replace my fan belt because it was cracking and charged me 60 bucks for it. It took him less than 5 min to do it.

It seemed reasonable at the time but now im feeling suspicious.

Anyone know how much it costs to replace the fan belt? (1989 Buick Park Ave)
 
The belt was probably about 10$.

But that doesen't mean you got ripped off. He's doing you a service, and you paid for it. There's much more to the cost of his service than simply the cost of the part.
 
Serpentine belts DO take about 5 mins to change and can be quite costly if they are big enough. Sounds like a reasonable cost to me.

Mark
 
From what he said and showed me, it was the fan belt. It was on the right hand side, along the outside of the motor. Im still searching google right now
 
Depends on how hard it is to get to, but if it took him 5 minutes, I'd say too much. The part isn't going to be more than $10 at the most...$80/hr is probably average for labor around here.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
The belt was probably about 10$.

But that doesen't mean you got ripped off. He's doing you a service, and you paid for it. There's much more to the cost of his service than simply the cost of the part.
Click to expand...

Definitely, I just want to make sure i paid a fair price so i just wanted to see if anyone else knew the general price of the job+belt


If the belt is 10 bucks, and the job is 5 min at 85 an hour, then i should have paid 20 bucks instead.
 
Its a Serp. belt. Belt will cost around $20 retail. So add in another $40 for labor and it is not to far off.

Easy to do if you have some hand tools and a littel time to learn.


Oh and labor rate is not by the minute. I, and most auto techs, round up by the half hour.
 
Call up the dealer tomorrow and ask how much a belt costs. Its going to be nowhere close to 10 dollars.

Mark
 
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Its a Serp. belt. Belt will cost around $20 retail. So add in another $40 for labor and it is not to far off.

Easy to do if you have some hand tools and a littel time to learn.


Oh and labor rate is not by the minute. I, and most auto techs, round up by the half hour.
Click to expand...

cool, thanks marlin
 
Originally posted by: Zee
Originally posted by: Eli
The belt was probably about 10$.

But that doesen't mean you got ripped off. He's doing you a service, and you paid for it. There's much more to the cost of his service than simply the cost of the part.
Click to expand...

Definitely, I just want to make sure i paid a fair price so i just wanted to see if anyone else knew the general price of the job+belt


If the belt is 10 bucks, and the job is 5 min at 85 an hour, then i should have paid 20 bucks instead.
Click to expand...

He's not gonna charge you for a part of an hour, he'll charge you for a full hour.
 
If the belt was really a serpentine belt, and it really costs $35 for a new one, then $60 isn't so bad. I wouldn't expect the guy to get paid less than $20-25 for a job like that... consider that if he DIDN'T know what he was doing, it could have taken 30-45 mins...
 
if he charges flat-rate labor(my the book) thats reasonable. especially with you haveing an unusually expensive belt.

mine goes $25-30 and peole say thats high. although i take a 87 inch beltmaybe yours is even longer
 
Yeah, I remember the serpentine belt for my 1987 Chevy S10 (2.8L V6) cost somewhere in the mid-$30 range at AutoZone.

The first time I changed it, it took me about 30 minutes. Years later I was able to do it in about 10 minutes. The fit was tight as I was getting a tool in to pull on the tensioner, and I had to move the blades of the radiator fan as I took tension off/on the belt.

A few cuts and dirty arms got the job done.
 
If the car is a front wheel drive, then your engine will be placed 90-degrees off from a normal engine. Replacing belts on such cars is a pain in the arse.

For rear and all-wheel drive cars, its not quite as hard because the belt in facing you. Some cars, like my Audi A4, are a tight fit and you have to drop the radiator and front bumper into "maintenance mode" to easily reach the belt.

The biggest issue may deal with belt tension. On some cars, there is a spring loaded tensioner that if built like junk, can unload its tension if not belt is installed.

Its a bit steep, but $60 is not uncalled for.
 
Base rate for labour is like 45-80$/hr. depending on the shop. So they charged ya 1 hour plus the cost of the belt which is usual.
 
$60 is pretty much reasonable for that job. Sometimes it's $100 + , where I work, but it depends on the make and model of the car.
 
Your mechanic probably paid $15 for the belt. Mechanics always get things cheaper than you can. So you got charged the standard $540 per hour for labor.
 
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