I had the dreaded water pump leak in my 2016 Ford Explorer XLT 3.5L. I crawled under the car, could see the coolant dripping down from somewhere behind the alternator and a/c compressor, but no coolant hose in sight. Do the google thing and everything points towards a designed weep hole for when your water pump or gasket fails.
In my younger days I once replaced the head on a 4.6 Triton engine in my garage and took my sweet time doing it, but I needed this car back on the road quickly and didn’t have the time to do it myself. It’s a new enough car to me and a complicated enough job that I figured I’d bite the bullet and have the dealership do it. I phoned them. told them exactly what I thought it was but that could they bring it in, confirm and then replace it.
Dropped it off at 8am and had a phone call by 9am that yes my waterpump needed replacement. The parts would take a few days to get in and they would replace the following week. They charged $187 taxes in just to confirm what I told them. They quoted me $3000 to do the repair, replacing the timing chain and tensioner while they were in there.
Dropped it off the following week at 8am, picked it up at 5pm having to wait a few minutes on the mechanic to finish his test drive. Bill came to $3300 taxes in, labor being about $2100. They charged 13 hrs of labor despite the vehicle only being there 9 and assuming the tech had lunch break he probably worked on it for 8.5. At first I thought maybe book rate for the water pump was 6.5 and for a standalone timing chain replacement another 6.5, but they said the water pump book rate is 13 hrs and they charge that regardless of how long it takes.
This reinforces why I try not to use the dealer very often, but is this normal practice for all dealers and brands? I understand for Warranty work, that Ford Canada would pay the dealer book rate regardless of how long the job takes, but I guess I didn’t expect the policy to be the same for non warranty work between the dealer and the customer. I ended up paying for substantially more labor than was actually done to my car.
Is this fishy at all or relatively common dealership practice?
This is the flat rate system, the tech was obviously experienced and beat the book. This isn’t just a dealer thing and no you weren’t screwed over. I’m assuming You’d complain if it went the other way and took 18 hours and got billed for actual time. It’s how the system is and how lots of us get paid and how jobs are estimated/billed. If we beat book time we’re ahead of the game, if it takes us longer, we’re behind. Not saying I like it or it’s always fair but it is what it is. Warranty repair is even worse for the tech, usually about 1/2 of normal book time, so it takes experience and repetition to get good at it.
Sounds to me like you got the convenience of having a good mechanic fix it quick enough for you to pick it up a day early. Congrats!
If it took 16 hours and they only charged you 13 you wouldn’t be complaining.
Customer pay was (book*1.5 + diag if applicable). Electrical was 2 hours diag, plus straight time. Location of the repair could add time, too. I really hated having to call customers about fixing their shit. The tech job was much better.
Edit - worked at a GM dealer years ago
13 seems about right. It’s a rather complicated and in depth job, especially in an explorer due to less room. It sucks that just doing a water pump is that involved, but you get new tensioners which is good.
Just because the mechanic can do it faster, does not mean you get a deal. No matter where you go, dealer or independent shop, it’s going to be the same thing. Not to mention you authorized the repair.
Almost all shops bill by the flat rate guide, not just dealers. In your case the tech finished early. In other cases where things don’t go right, the tech is the one that eats the extra labor. If you can find a shop that bills on straight time, go for it, but be aware that you might get stung if the job goes poorly. Bottom line, there are no technicians that are filthy stinking rich because they consistently beat the flat rate. They all have good days and bad days and it all balances out. Nobody got screwed here.
The service writer f up by calling you to soon should of waited to call that’s the only thing wrong here