Cost to repair a transmission

Not so much a question but a comment…I’ve been poking around on here for a while and I notice the prices charged to fix auto transmissions. I went to high school with a guy who now has his own shop for 20 years or so, he just fixed my sons pontiac g6 trans that wouldn’t go into overdrive. He charged $650. I know I’m getting a discount but I know others get charged $1000 or less. He lives in a nice house on a lake in the country, has all the toys a country boy usually has and gives a great warranty on his work. He has all the business he can stand and has a great reputation for his work. Amazing what some people charge.

Can you comment on what is being repaired at those prices? If you could list the diagnosis, the parts that were replaced/rebuilt, and the labor, it would help us to understand the deal you got.

Chilton “regular” labor times remove, reinstall transaxle

4T-45E 6.8 hrs
4T-65E 8hrs
6T40 10.8hrs
6T70 9.4hrs

Chilton “regular” labor times, remove, recondition, reinstall transaxle

4T-45E 14.6hrs
4T-65E 17.7hrs
6T70 18hrs

Most of the ones I’ve had done were in the $1500-$2000 neighborhood for a full rebuild and a new converter. I think the old 350’s used to run about $800 and the new ones now are approaching $3000. Its just a lot of work I guess.

There’s a huge difference between a transmission repair and an overhaul.

There’s also a huge difference between a “minor” transmission overhaul and a “major” one.

A facility in a large metro area near me runs ads for rebuilt RWD automatics at 395 exchange and 495 for a FWD.
Do you think that someone is going to get a major rebuild at those prices?

In the past 10 yrs or so we (my 3 sons) have sent 5 cars to the trans shop; 97 trans am 99 trans am 01 envoy 02 s10 and now the 06 g6. All have been mech failures except the envoy which was electrical in nature. The s10 made a loud pop and wouldn’t go forward, only reverse (I think), trans ams and g6 all lost overdrive. None of the cars were being driven by me at the time of failure so I cant go into great detail. I just get the call to help out with the expense. I know for sure that the trans am and s10 trans were removed and rebuilt. I don’t know all the details on what goes back in. I just know they get towed in and they drive home. My buddy did tell me once that he didn’t like to work on foreign cars, not sure why. He also joked that the GM 700 R4 is what put the kids thru college. And to clarify if my post came across wrong, I’m not bragging that I get a good deal on rebuilds. I just saw a post that someone was quoted 5k for replacing a trans in a honda and it just sounds too high.

@kennedy I would fully expect a Honda transmission replacement to cost significantly more than a GM transmission replacement

Local shop wants 950 to replace flex plate on fwd car. Am sure a rear main seal would cost about the same. It’s a lot of labor just to get trans out. You need to drop subframe on all new fwd cars to pull trans.