Need your input on whether or not this is a fair price for maintenance

I have a MY 1999 996.1 with 82K miles. I took her in to my non dealer European mechanic for an oil change and other misc. stuff and I got a report back that the front end had some issues. One of the struts was leaking and generally the other components in the steering area were due for an over haul. I trust this guy. He worked on my Mercedes and he always did good work, but it was expensive. But maybe these cars are just getting more expensive these days. Anyway, here is a listing of the prices. I was wondering what you folks think. PS, I want to keep everything stock. I don't track it. 2X front struts $932 2X Strut Bearings $100 2X Strut Boots $54 2X strut bump stops $52 SX strut mounts $268 ___________ 2,136 + shop supplys and tax _____________________________________ Right front inner tie rod $116 labor $460 Alignment $155 _______ $731 Alignment not needed if performed at the same time as front struts. 2X front sway bar links $204 Labor $172 ___________ $376 + shop supplies and tax Total for all 3 areas $3,138 + tax Thanks for our help

I think you can do a little better but are these for stock parts?

Yes

That doesn’t seem too be to far off genuine parts prices. Prices seem fairly in line with what I see in my local market for similar suspension related items. Certain Non oe components may be cheaper especially if you cross shop your parts, from different sources online. But we now also have the headache and production nightmare our country is facing, so all things to consider. One thing you might want to consider in the near future is rear strut replacement too. At the mileage and age, you’d get the most out of the car and keep it tight and sharp, replacing all 4 as a set. (Gives a fresh starting point which you shouldnt have to address for another 50-70k miles, strut wise)- just my opinion. DIY on these cars certainly can save some money. Don’t know how comfortable you are with some of the items, but these forms and some YouTube channels have a variety of excellent threads and videos, which can allow you to tackle quite a bit of work on your own vehicle. Certainly worth giving some of that a look. I find it rewarding and sometimes relaxing doing some of my own wrenching on my 911. Welcome to the forms also!

Maybe ask about labor for sway bar links and inner tie rod. I just did most of this and the sway bay link replacement is at the most removing 2 more nuts when doing struts, and that’s if you don’t take off anyway to get them out of the way. Inner tie rod might be 15 minutes of extra labor with strut out. Seems like charging you full time for those jobs although most of the work is already done doing the struts.

$460 to swap an inner tie rod is the biggest load of **** I've ever seen. Thats a $30 min job. The parts are expensive and based on the labor #s, they are hosing you. I'd go elsewhere

Is the $460 labor listed with the tie-rod just for the tie-rod or also for all of the rest of the suspension listed above it? If just for the tie-rod, that is nuts. I am doing my neighbor's on Sunday, and if I have more than half a beer consumed, I'll be upset with myself. Are the parts Porsche parts? If not they are stupidly priced. If they are, there is no need to go Porsche. In short, seems very pricey all around, unless you are stating numbers that are a currency other than the US.

Good points Kris. I do not know if the parts are all Porsche. I'll ask. Also it appears from the quote he gave me that indeed the labor on the inner tie rod is $460, because he also has a labor category for all the strut work. I cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate you commenting and also the forum in general. I am learning a lot.

Those must be p-car prices. I just bought tie rods from fcpeuro. They r TRW which is oem and fcp gives u a lifetime warrente, $55. Bump stops r $15. shop around its your money. they r chargjng u straight book time and doubling up on hours for the sway and tie rod. An honest estimate should be 6hrs for all the work but there is no shop that works this way any more. I could do that job other then the alignmeng in 4hrs, unless u live in the salt belt. If u do i would pad the bill for stuck bolts.

Also, in my opinion if you are doing all that work the lower control arms should be replaced too. The parts are not expensive and labor should not add much, as it's all apart anyway. Although the prices you listed seem to be quite high and the labor seems to be rather generously estimated.

The parts prices aren�t cost - they�re all marked up� which is certainly fair, but you can probably do better price wise (especially if they�re not specified as Porsche branded parts). It looks like the labor is all based on �book time�� I wouldn�t say the guy is �hosing� you per se�, but he isn�t cutting you much slack either� Eh, if you�re not comfortable diy�ing it, and you�re comfortable with the shop go for it. If not, take the spec sheet delete the prices and shop it around a little - this should give you an idea of the median price range for the parts & work specified� good luck

A lot of the confusion a high cost I see on Estimates is due to the "overlapping of labor"... The shop/estimator gets asked/or decides to estimate several related repair scenarios .. They have no idea if you will approve 1,2 or all the repairs, so the labor is figured into the separate 3 repairs, . The 3 separate repairs have "overlapping of labor" IF all done at the same time, but there is not a estimate for the "three as one repair scenario". And if all is approved, many times the discount for overlapping labor isn't given "after the labor is approved".. That said, the estimate looks very high to me, but they always look high to me. As the guy who actually pulls the wrench, usually only gets 20-25% of the labor before taxes..lol

Overlapping labor or book time or not, no one can tell me that it costs 460 to change an inner tie rod. Even with an extremely generous 90 min of repair time, you are talking a $300 per hour labor rate. That is a full on hosing. Then you add in all the overlap and whatnot and basically **** this shop

Quotes source post: 17953160

So I jinxed myself with this post. The first tie-rod was done 30 minutes. The second one (which did not need to be replaced) was seized. In cutting it off, I cut into the knuckle. Fortunately, I have a side business of parting out 996s, so we ran to the shop, where I took the knuckle off of the current car we are parting and swapped in on. Even with all of that, I think it still would have been less than $460 in labor quoted (including the drive to go get the part).