A Rant: $106 to Change a Thermostat??!

[mweiss]

My wife's been complaining about the lack of heat output from our 2006 Ford Explorer lately. Actually, we noticed it didn't provide as much heat as our 1998 Explorer last year, but winter was nearly over and it was a mild one so we moved on to other matters.

This winter has been colder than normal and the lack of heat really became an issue. Even after a 30-minute drive, the temp gauge was still just barely above cold.

When we bought the truck, we paid thousands extra for an extended warranty. And the last time we brought it in for service, it didn't cost a penny (one year ago).

So this morning, I bring it in to have the heat problem looked at. The inform me there is a $100 deductable on the extended coverage. I asked them why they didn't charge me a penny last time I had the truck in for service. They said it was because it was under the 'initial coverage' which ran out in April of this year. Okay, so I figure, how much can it cost to replace a thermostat? I had brought $40 with me, anticipating the slight possibility that it might not be covered under the warranty.

So they test it and find it IS the thermostat. They replace it and a gasket and top off the antifreeze. I get a bill for $106. I said "for what?" She said the parts were almost $50 and labor is $95/hr. Holy smokes! I could get a thermostat for $15 and a gasket for fifty cents! Only problem is it's 8°F outside and I don't have a garage to work in and my hands have frostbite from 35 years ago working on a radio tower in an ice storm and I lose the use of them below 50°F. The wife was complaining and we have a child in the household, so the truck heater has to work.

Well to conclude, I ended up having to put it on a credit card, as I didn't earn enough cash this month to pay for the repair with earnings. These extended warranties are a joke, when they price nickel and dime items at tens of dollars to make it cost you the full deductable plus sales tax.

My wife's going to be pissed, because she said to just turn around and come home if they are going to charge for the repair, since she paid a couple thousand extra for the extended warranty. I made a judgement call, considering sub-zero temps are coming in the next week, and decided to get it done anyway. But at what great cost!

Lesson learned: If something doesn't seem quite right when you buy a vehicle, get it checked out RIGHT AWAY before the initial warranty runs out. Extended warranties are a waste when it comes to small items.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Well, at the risk of being flamed- I don't think it's unreasonable. The warranty had a deductible when it was signed, or it would have been more expensive with no deductible.

Like you said- it was freezing outside. If it was warmer, you would have done it, but as it was, you're paying for the convenience of not having to do it.

Does it suck that there was a warranty deductible that probably cost as much as the part? Sure. Was the cost for what they did justified? I think so. I understand the frustration, but the impact would be a lot less if it was a $4,000 transmission that went out...

 

[TowingExplorer]

Extended warranties are a waste when it comes to small items.

Truer words have never been spoken.

It's $100 (in your case) per visit. So yes, for little things, let a couple/few build up before bringing it in for the repair.

Did the thermostat fix your issue? On most cars, thermostats fail closed causing the vehicle to overheat. I suppose they could stick open though under the right condition.

Lastly, $106 to change a thermostat with diagnosis at a dealer sounds cheap to me.

 

[Carguy3J]

Although the labor rate ($95) is one I would laugh at, and NEVER pay. Overall, the price is about right for having a shop do it, especially a dealer. Don't forget, it's not just the t-stat and gasket. Most likely they used silicone sealant. Yes, maybe they used 1/30th of a $6 tube, but it still has to accounted for. Anti-freeze isn't free. I don't know what it costs in bulk to a dealer, but it's $9-$15 a gallon in the store. They most likely used a can or two of brake cleaner, or similar. Even by the case, a shop is going to pay about $2 per can. Shop rags/paper towels were most likely used. Any old anti-freeze has to be disposed of, and that costs money. Then, of course, there is the shop overhead (lights, insurance,etc...) and the mechanics salary. Don't get me wrong, I would have hated to pay it too, but it's not an unreasonable amount.

As someone else pointed out above, you knew the terms (or should have) when you bought/signed the warranty. Yes, you are right, it's useless for "small" things. That's on purpose. It's not there for that, or it would have cost a lot more than it did. It would have to for the warranty company to stay in business. Just like any other insurance, including auto and health insurance, it isn't meant to, and can't cover every little "speed bump". It's there to protect you from major catastrophes. The point of the deductible is to discourage people from abusing the coverage for every little squeak, rattle,etc... Not that that was what you were doing, but some people would. As someone else said, you would not be unhappy if that warranty paid for a new transmission.

Again, as has been suggested previously, if you have a small issue that can be safely ignored/lived with (not that "no heat" would fall into that category), it would be best to wait to take it in until you have several things to be addressed at once, so there is only one deductible.

As for the cold, I certainly understand. When I finish typing this, I'm heading outside to put a radiator/hoses/belt/etc... in a Cavalier. .....it's about 20deg out. I did a complete brake job over the last few days/nights, including when it was in the teens and gusting 30-40mph winds. It's not fun!

 

[TowingExplorer]

As for the cold, I certainly understand. When I finish typing this, I'm heading outside to put a radiator/hoses/belt/etc... in a Cavalier. .....it's about 20deg out. I did a complete brake job over the last few days/nights, including when it was in the teens and gusting 30-40mph winds. It's not fun!

Not to side track the conversation, but it's stuff like this that caused me to make having a garage (no specifics other than it will fit a full size pickup) an absolute requirement when I bought my first house a few years ago. Spent way too many years outside on my back on the pavement in the middle of the winter.

 

[mweiss]

$50 for a $9 thermostat is 'reasonable'? And they charged me $18/gallon for antifreeze that costs $9/gallon at Wal-Mart (full strength, not the dilluted premixed kind).

I can understand the $95/hr, but it takes ten minutes to change a Tstat, especially in a well equipped shop that does it routinely. The 500% markup on parts is just greedy.

She bought the extended warranty for $3K on top of the price of the vehicle (we got the Explorer for $10K last year when they had a lot full of SUVs that nobody wanted, so it was $6K less than a Toyota sedan we looked at a week earlier and seemed like more of a value, given the 4WD capability is needed where we live on an unmaintained road that doesn't get plowed in winter and where we've been on the receiving end of five rear-end collisions since 2003. My 98 X has been hit four times, the last time at cruising speed by another SUV driven by a lady who was texting and not looking at traffic stopped at the red light ahead. Naturally, I convinced my wife to go with another X instead of a compact sedan for these reasons, and the market forces were timed just right that we got a creampuff SUV dirt cheap. In that sense, I can't really complain, but right now, I'm feeling pain because between her salary cut 10% this year and my videography business falling off by 90%, and the fact that we had to forego having heat in the house this year as it's a choice between paying the December taxes or paying for heating oil, we just don't have enough $$ to cover even basic necessities now.

When I was a young man, I was used to driving and old VW microbus and VWs are notorious for having no heat, especially when the exhaust heat exchangers rust out and start pumping raw exhaust into the cab. I lived with ice on the windshield, being unable to see while driving and ended up with frozen fingers and toes when driving to work. But I'm old now, and the body just won't tolerate that kind of abuse like it used to. My wife is from the Philippines and she needs the heat when its in the negative numbers outside. Our daughter's been getting sick a lot lately and the wife is blaming having no heat in the truck when I drive her to the bus stop. She was getting quite abrasive about fixing the heater for the past two weeks until I finally couldn't take it anymore and made an appointment. Then I missed yesterday's appointment and she nearly chopped off my head! So I called and made a new appointment. The shop was deserted and they took me in right away this morning, so business must be a bit slow lately.

Garage? My first house had a garage. Then city sewer came in and the sewer assessment tax forced us into foreclosure, so we had to move. The place we're living in now has no garage at all. I was pondering adding one, but we can't afford the taxes as they stand now--letalone where they would be with a higher assessment for a garage.

 

[TowingExplorer]

Well Mark, you're only about 120 miles away from me. You can come up sometime and work your X (no long term projects though, I need the garage too!) so you can save the cost of the dealer!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Supply and demand. You needed it, they fixed it...

Most shops double prices on parts (which is what they did- and some go higher), especially on lower priced parts. I really don't think you can expect them to charge $24 for parts and $16 for 10 minutes of labor, can you?

 

[Stic-o]

a thermostat is no different the brake shoes, wiper blades, shocks and tires. Not a warrenty type thing. It just a ware and tare thing.

 

[jupiterak]

To be honest, I'd more pissed paying $3K for an extended warranty than an dealer's overpriced stat and labor. Like the other guy said, stats sometime fail in the closed position and cause the engine to overheat and breakdown. You can be in the middle of nowhere and could happen -20 below. Also, I've seen stats fail at 10K miles and even last 100K miles. You never know when it'll happen. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but you could've gotten a 6/100K premium warranty for about $1300 online. There's alot of dealers online that sell it alittle over cost.

 

[NORDFORD]

Find another mechanic

I have another mechanic do things like that. I'm pretty sure a thermostat is not going to be covered under any extended warranty.......any trip to the dealer for anything is going to run $100.

 

[Burns]

Try and do it yourself next time. If you need to. Its cheap and easy.

Even if you have never done it before its not a hard job.

 

[mweiss]

Guys, I've been maintaining my own cars since I bought my 1939 Pontiac and right on up to now. The problem is I don't have a garage at my current home and it's been in the single digits outside.

I still think that charging $50 for a $7.98 thermostat is excessive. Yes, I realize dealers have overhead. But if I walked out, their profit would have been $0, instead of $16 + $7 and whatever gasket cement, antifreeze, etc.

Had I not driven 45 minutes to get to the dealership, it would have been an easy decision to leave and go elsewhere, but I'd already spent the fuel getting there and I knew the wife would raise heck if I DIDN'T get it fixed, considering sub zero temps are forecast for the end of the week, so I made a command decision, early in the morning and I'm not used to making decisions before my brain is fully warmed up. I didn't want to disappoint my wife when she drives it to work tonight.

I'm thankful the last few thermostat failures have been stuck open failures and not stuck closed. My 68 Caddy overheated badly one winter and that later wrecked the head gasket seal, causing untold other problems with that engine. My 78 Saab turbo overheated once in traffic because a fan thermostat failed to kick on, and that engine had innumerable service visits with the problem unresolved until it got bad enough that I could smell antifreeze in the exhaust. My 98 X thermostat failed 'open' and I just didn't get much heat four years ago. Now this one must have failed before we bought the vehicle, because the heat never worked well (in fact I mentioned it a year ago on this forum and the concensus was that the 2006 has lousy heat vs the 1998 so I didn't give it much thought, plus last winter was mild and in the 30-40° range, not the single digits, so the lack of heat wasn't really felt. But this year, it's REALLY felt.

Had I been thinking straight, I would have called Gil's Citgo, where I have a lot of my more difficult service done on all my vehicles and got a quote. I really should have queried them over the phone before driving all the way up there nearly to the MA border.

Oh well. And now I'm consuming MORE energy and time discussing it online!

 

[egrylls]

Certainly sounds like a bad situation. I agree that 50 for a t-stat is too high. They should have just said min 1 hr labor at $95 bucks. So what if it is a 10 minute job. I think at the end the cost was reasonable. I also agree it was likely not a warranty item.
As for the 06 having poor heat, I disagree. I bake like a darn potato in the oven whenever the wife fires it up and we've been in single digit and sub zero for about a week. We fight because I roll the window down from the darn heat. I do agree you probably had a bad tstat to begin with.

I'm sorry that you've fallen on hard times, but you did what you needed to do and that was make sure your family had reliable transportation. I hope that things start looking up for you and your family.

 

[Mirge]

Yeah, it stinks you got taken advantage of at the stealership... lesson learned.

But on the bright side, and I'm assuming it did fix your problem, you now have heat in the truck and your wife will be happy again.. and your daughter will be far more comfortable. $100 or so is a small price to pay to take care of family. It does stink, but it is what it is... and I think you did the right thing.

 

[cattleshow]

Not to side track the conversation, but it's stuff like this that caused me to make having a garage (no specifics other than it will fit a full size pickup) an absolute requirement when I bought my first house a few years ago. Spent way too many years outside on my back on the pavement in the middle of the winter.

I could really identify with your post,as I spent many years in western MA. My least favorite was the time I had to remove a transmission in a ford pickup in January.Laying on the hard packed snow to remove it and bringing it into the heated kitchen to work on it.
And many other freezing my hands off stories. I have a great garage now anyway.