Labor cost spark plugs s70

miles · Post by **miles** » 03 Nov 2009, 12:18

Hello Volvo Forum- I'm new to this site and really like it. I own a 2000 s70 glt and am curious to know what the average labor cost is for a shop to install spark plugs.....
Thank you,
miles

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 03 Nov 2009, 12:22

Probably pretty cheap, but why not do it yourself and save the money? There are good write-ups on this site on how to do it. For your first time I still wouldn't expect you to spend much more than 30 minutes.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/2009/1 ... -xc70-c70/

miles · Post by **miles** » 03 Nov 2009, 12:30

Thank you for the response...I should have done it myself-first time or not. I was getting a new MAF installed and thought-hey, I'll just have them install the new plugs while they're at it- then I find out they charged me $218.00 for labor alone. I knew they were going to charge 72.00 for the MAF but $126 for installing spark plugs! I watched a youtube for the maf installation and that took less than 5 minutes but b/c I didn't have the equipment to test the readings I left it to the shop-

Post by **matthew1** » 03 Nov 2009, 12:42

$126 is fair -- when bread is $8 and gasoline $15/gallon (in the US).

Where do shops get off charging so much these days?

Was that "book time" or just an arbitrary shop price?

miles · Post by **miles** » 03 Nov 2009, 13:11

I completely got jacked. I don't know if it was book time or arb-how do I find out? I moved (temporarily) to an area where I have no choices either. My car has only 54,000 miles so I haven't had to deal w/ much.

Post by **matthew1** » 03 Nov 2009, 17:32

If you don't know, don't worry about finding out for my sake. I'm just mildly curious.

If you wanted to know you could call them up and ask how they came to $126.

Don't feel bad. We aren't born knowing how much car stuff should cost (in fact I can think of a great deal of other things I'd rather use that brain storage space for). These things come with ownership.

9394volvo850s · Post by **9394volvo850s** » 03 Nov 2009, 18:02

$40 would have been fair for 30 minutes labor on the plugs. maybe 40 minutes if its a turbo S70.

miles · Post by **miles** » 03 Nov 2009, 18:46

Hello 9394volvo850s- Thank you for the response. That sounds much more reasonable. I actually figured, knowing the MAF takes much less than an entire hour to install, he would simply install the plugs w/n the paid timeframe.

matthew1- I am going to call him tomorrow and find out for my sake and I'll let you know b/c after you brought it up a few more people I spoke to today asked the same thing- how he came up w/ $126? At this point I don't think he can come up w/ anything justifiable. Maybe he mixed my car up w/ some rusted heap buried in some cement block in Peru.

jrpursell · Post by **jrpursell** » 03 Nov 2009, 19:56

Where do you live in the midwest? Perhaps some of us can recommend more reasonable/reputable shops.

Post by **jtp** » 03 Nov 2009, 20:50

I think a lot of shops have a minimum charge, whether or not they'll admit it. Just stick around this site and you'll save that much money within the next 6months easy.