Diagnosed with starter problem on my Honda CRV 2002 i.e. after a year of intermittent problems starting the car will now not start at all. 85,000 miles. Honda dealer is charging me $600+ for replacing starter including labor. Is this a rip off, or not? Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Half of that is the price of the starter. ( Auto Zone and O-Reilly’s retail 300…Honda parts ? buying direct yourself will save and I see some ebay for even less ),
On my end , I don’t know the labor time listing no do we know your dealer’s labor rate.
Usually at a dealer you’re paying the premuim price , not necessarilly a rip of , just the higher side of potential pricing compared to an independent shop.
The dealership is probably installling a new Honda OEM starter, and that’s going to be a costly part. Plus you’re paying a high hourly rate at the dealer.
If you went to an independent shop you could probably get a $200 rebuilt starter installed for maybe $150 labor. So you’re paying the dealer extra for a (probably) new Honda part and their higher labor rate.
My labor guide shows 2.4 hours of labor to replace the starter on that car. Figuring a conservative $100/hr, that’s $240. List price for an afternarket starter is $274.90. So you’re at $515 plus tax, add some diag time and you’ll hit $600 easy.
Sounds fair to me.
Other than agreeing with the others about the price of the repair and so on, I will just add that I hope the diagnosis is correct about a failing starter motor.
There are other reasons why a starter motor may not engage and hopefully the starter motor replacement will cure the problem.
I had to replace the starter on my 99 Accord when I was on the road about 7 years ago. I was at a Honda dealer since I was unfamiliar with the garages in the area and the cost for the Honda starter and installation was $550. Frankly, unless you can get a quote from a reliable mechanic locally for much less I would bite the bullet and put in the Honda starter.
Almost certainly, the Honda dealer will also install a remanufactured starter
The difference is that it meets Honda’s criteria, and will come in a Honda box and have the appropriate part number