Brake light replaced free by neighbor

General Discussion
1

After almost ten years of use since buying my 2014 Camry new, one of the brake light bulbs burned out. A kind neighbor who is a young mechanic replaced it for me free of charge. It took him about two and a half minutes from start to finish.

What I found interesting was that he said for me to have bought the bulb at either a dealer parts department or retail store would have cost an average of around $30 but that the cost to a mechanic shop is around $2. Big markup.

Of course, had I taken the car to a service mechanic to replace the bulb I’d have paid a hefty labor cost also, seemingly out of proportion to the total time required.

But mechanic service shops have expensive overhead costs to cover. And the customer is paying not only for the proverbial screw to be turned but also for the mechanic’s knowledge of which screw to turn how far.

The several You Tube videos I watched made the bulb change procedure far more complex to access than what I observed my neighbor do. Hey, it’s all part of my education! :slightly_smiling_face:

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2

Had a spare key made for my car, don’t recall the price but the locksmith programmed it,said it only takes a couple minutes, did it for free,said a dealer charge to do it would be $75!

3

Kudos to your neighbor for helping you out, but I really doubt his shopping skills. This is from my local AutoZone, 2 bulbs for under $10.

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IMG_16712048Ă—1536 283 KB

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4

Your neighbor is correct about the wholesale price of the bulb, I can get it for about $2.06 each when buying a card of 10 (I think I saw a really cheap line for about $1.39 each)… And yes but at a shop the mark up could easily be 3-5X the list price, but $30 is a little high at least in my little part of the world…

On the Labor side of it, some shops will do a basic small bulb fee if not to involved, cause most, NOT ALL are pretty easy to replace, but the labor rate is as shown…

BRAKE LIGHT BULB - R&R

Application Labor Wty Skill
Operation
Both 0.6 0.0 D
One Side 0.4 0.0 D
5

This is one of the best aspects of being a mechanic - you can help neighbors and friends and they’re generally not afraid to ask for help. I was an accountant for many years and, believe me, no friends or neighbors want your help with their accounting/finances. :laughing:

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The skill level assessment got me thinking-

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:grinning:

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Now that is funny… :laughing:

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Why do you assume that another shop would screw you over for a 3 min bulb replacement? Where ur Xmas spirit?

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That is also one of the worst aspects of being a mechanic. :grinning:

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10

I suggest a tip. Had a shop hoist my car to verify nonexistant oil leak. No charge. Wouldn’t take anything so I scheduled a tune up.

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Good for your neighbor for lending a helping hand gratis. Glad it went smoothly. If there’s any corrosion inside the socket it might turn into a considerably longer job. And the problem might not even be the bulb, meaning further shop time. It’s also possible the replacement bulb is faulty, again more shop time. The car owner’s sole objective is to get the light working again, for a fee close to the estimate , so shops have to set their fees for small jobs like this higher than might be expected to cover the cost of all the common possibilities they encounter.

I’ve discovered there’s a wide retail price range for the same bulb. I buy the 194 bulb pretty frequently , and one place sold them for $6 each, and another for $1 each. I later learned I can by them from an online vendor for 50 cents each, in a pack of ten. Try googling “194 automobile bulb”, you’ll see what I mean.

The solution for the frugal car owner not having a mechanic neighbor of course is to learn how to do these small jobs themselves. I’m not sure why the utube vdos seemed to make the job look more complex. Maybe for a different model year or some other difference.

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12

My left turn signal flashed rapidly so I knew I had a bad bulb. I called the phone number on my windshield sticker and the man said to bring it right in and I paid about ten dollars for them to immediately change it. That included the cost of the bulb.
If I had gone to Wal-Mart, the gasoline would have cost five dollars and I would have had to change it myself. I might have had to pay for two of the bulbs. I’ll send a Christmas card to my tool box and apologize for not paying a visit.

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A $10 parts and labor shop fee to replace a bulb seems like a pretty good value. I’m guessing not many car owners would complain, provided the repair took and they didn’t need to return for a re-fix, and they didn’t need to wait several hours at the shop. All the bulb replacements were cheerfully done under warranty for my Corolla. The problem I encountered is they had a stock of faulty replacement interior light bulbs and all burned out again within 6 months. After a couple time of having to return, I bought my own bulbs at a different vendor and did the job myself

14

I’d like to clarify something. I was not, am not complaining about the fact that shops charge what may seem to the average customer to be a high cost for replacing a brake light, or any other such type work. I merely am grateful to my young neighbor for the help which, by the way, he offered rather than my asking.

I am very much aware that there are considerable costs to operating any business. And in years of reading here on the forum I’ve learned about some of those costs specific to operating a car repair facility.

Had I taken my car to a shop to have the bulb replaced, a service writer would take time to write up a work ticket, a mechanic would take time to pull the car into the work stall, get the needed bulb from the parts department, do the work, document the work, move the car out of the work stall, etc., then the service writer deal again with me as a customer, additional time taken to process my payment, etc. etc. etc. All this involves labor costs to the shop, cost to have adequate parts on hand, cost to have the building, supplies, equipment, overhead of utilities, lease or mortgage of the premises, business insurance, Workman’s Comp insurance, cost of providing credit/debit card processing, tools, accounting, inventory control, payroll processing, etc. etc. etc. in large $$$$$$.

So although for me as a customer, “it’s just a simple little light bulb!” for the shop it’s one of those services which needs to have the price they charge the customer factor in alllllll their various costs PLUS reasonable profit.

I was, however, blessed to have a kind neighbor who simply walked across the street, light bulb and one simple tool in hand, did the entire job in a couple of minutes, pleasantly chatted for a couple minutes more, then walked back home across the street.

So there you have it, short story made long.

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15

When I worked at the Benz dealership, if a customer came in ONLY for a quick item, such as wiper blades or a light bulb, they would have the customer go buy the item and then have one of the porters . . . or even the service advisor himself . . . quickly install it

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20+ years ago when I was a flat-rate tech at an indy shop, it was a common occurrence for the boss to come out and say “Customer has a burned out headlamp, anyone have a minute?” Three of us would all answer sorry, busy, etc.

A few minutes later he would come out waving a repair order saying “headlamp .3 hours” and three of us would jump up at it.

Later, as a shop owner or manager I always made sure I had someone hourly available to handle customer courtesy items like that. Last shop.I managed, we didn’t charge for bulbs at all. With car designs such that you may have to remove a grille to change a headlamp, I’ll give you the bulb that cost me $3.00 if you’re paying $100 labor.

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17

I remember a ridiculous design where the suspension air compressor was directly behind the the tail light

So changing a brake bulb was no easy task :face_exhaling:

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18

My equinox has ugly headlights. And dumb tiny marker lights above headlight bulb. And both sides are burned out. Annoying.

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On the + side, they’re symmetrical … lol …

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Had an 03 trailblazer in for oil change. Thought it was a good time to replace fuel filter. 2 ez on ez off clips, 10 minute job, had done it myself. $65 as charge if driven in, put on the lift etc. I complained, got a free oil change promised.