Was I charged a fair price for welding exhaust?

Last year I needed a 3 bolt flange welded on a stainless pipe, one shop $250, another $75 and he bolted the new muffler I bought on.
 
Originally Posted by P10crew
Originally Posted by atikovi
This was on a Silverado PU so there is plenty of access to the pipes. Someone tried unsuccessfully to steal the catalytic converter. Looks like they used a chain cutter so the two cuts were clean but they didn't get all the way through on one side. Took it to a performance exhaust shop and the guy wanted to charge $150 to repair. I declined. Then $130. I told him $100 would be more than reasonable for two welds, so after talking to the boss he agreed. I thought even that was a bit much for 20-30 minutes of work, but what do you think?


Never heard of that one. Where the heck was it parked?
Crack heads


Have you not seen this on the news? Converter theft is rampant right now. I've done 6 Prius' and a dozen other replacements in the past couple months, all thefts. Maybe more. Just last week I had to replace a stolen cat and DPF on a 2011 F-550 6 4. Over $7k to repair. They cut wires to all 3 temp sensors, the DPF pressure sensor, and stole the whole lot.
 
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From my recollection it was around the 2008 when cat conv theft became rampant. Coincides with the precious metal boom from the great recession and the cordless sawzall.
 
The cats were cut off about a dozen new vehicles at a Caddy-GMC dealer near me. Evidently there is some good money in OEM cats.
 
local shop rates are 60-65 dollars and hour...I know I could find someone with a welder that would do it for far less
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
You do know cats have platinum and other precious metals? I got $682 for the cat off my $100 Escort parts car last month.

The guy who gave you that $682 is part of the problem why these bottom feeders are cutting cats off cars. Stop the money and you stop the crime.
 
Not a buck over 75 dollars in the usa. Agreed the op has a cloud over his head
crazy2.gif
 
I was very lucky to find a solution at a very reasonable cost 2 years ago. I added a hitch to my car at a U-Haul shop and then put a platform type bike rack on it.
They did the install by the book as per factory manual as far as I can tell but within a few months, bumpy dirt roads etc.... the platform rack was less than flat or 'level'. It was not hurting anything but I didn't know if it would get worse or something would break so U-Haul went back in there to check it out. Nothing was going to get worse or break but the bracket under the car or the flange (part of the car) was titled. The gave me the name of a local welder in case there were some options or needs to pursue.

I went to his shop and together, we decided the 2" to 1.25 adapter / riser could be cut and re welded to correct the angle of the receiver making the rack flat and looking normal. He did it once and wasn't quite happy with the angle so he re-did it again before calling me. I went back to pick it up and see the results, it looked and worked great and the agreed price of $50 was a good deal I my view, I added another $10 just for good measure. Found out he is a top secret certified FAA , USAF airplane fixer - upper and welder, etc.... Super nice guy too.
 
Originally Posted by Lubener
Originally Posted by atikovi
You do know cats have platinum and other precious metals? I got $682 for the cat off my $100 Escort parts car last month.

The guy who gave you that $682 is part of the problem why these bottom feeders are cutting cats off cars. Stop the money and you stop the crime.


It wasn't a "guy" that gave me $682, it was a metals salvage yard that only buys from established businesses and requires all kinds of documents before they will buy from you.
 
The final agreed price was "high reasonable" given you have to factor in their expenses and paying for their skills. I would think $50-60 would have been optimum, I would charge about that.
 
There's very few non-chain type exhaust shops left in my area. I would imagine Midas, Cole, Monroe, etc. would be much more than $100 these days.
 
Depends on the level of difficultly IMO. Welding something that is easy to get to is completely different than a pipe with all kinds of bends tucked way up next to a frame.

You often get what you pay for in these situations. I made the mistake of going with the cheaper price on a 1990 Cherokee I had and the chain store guy did a bunch of booger welds on the pipe which rusted and eventually broke loose about 2 winters later. Had another exhaust welded for not too much more by a local exhaust shop and they had nice welds and even spray painted them all with high heat paint to protect them. The extra cost was worth the end result.
 
Originally Posted by JLawrence08648
Last year I needed a 3 bolt flange welded on a stainless pipe, one shop $250, another $75 and he bolted the new muffler I bought on.


I wonder if some shops spit out outrageous prices so they don't have to mess with small jobs.
 
That's rather fair pricing for services rendered, as long as it was done right

But then I'm used to $150+ an hour labor, that's on the lower end of average for NYC

Body shops and exhaust/tire shops run on slightly different pricing than dealers and a full service shop
 
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