I’m 52, not that age has anything to do with this discussion. And like any other family with 2 teenagers, we watch our expenses closely. But I also realize that services cost money, and there’s nothing unusual about that. The yard service wanted $60/week to mow my lawn, I can do it myself in half an hour. The painter wanted $800 to paint my daughter’s room green. I did it myself on a Saturday for $100. Everything is cheaper if you do it yourself.
I save money where I can, and spend money on things I can’t or don’t want to do myself.
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I expect shops run into the economy of scale problem for small jobs that don’t take much time doing, but take more time just dealing with the paperwork, looking up the necessary repair data, locating the inventory & the like. One technique the frugal car owner might try is to ask a discount on replacing the in-cabin filter while the shop is doing a bigger job; e.g. a job that includes rotating the tires, replacing the coolant, & changing the engine oil & filter. The shop owner may be more receptive to a discount for the cabin filter then.
When I worked in high-tech I charged quite a bit more for things I didn’t want to do. Like for work that required travel. Could have something to do with that too.
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$40 isn’t a terrible labor charge for cabin air filter considering the whole scenario of running a workshop & having car in for service.
As for the actual act of changing it - as shown in the video above, a 2019 Honda takes about 45 seconds from opening the car door, to closing it again.
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