My car is at about 104,965 miles and the timing belt is due to be replaced at 105,000. As I mentioned, my shop gave me expensive estimates for the power steering hose, AC hose, knock sensor, and timing belt, and then charged me $150 more than they had estimated to fix my driver's door lock.
Then I moved. That shop is half a mile from somewhere I no longer live, so obviously I need a new shop. I just felt obligated to do all of these repairs and the maintenance (timing belt and water pump) myself to save tons of money (if I cannot afford the shop, then they never get repaired, and eventually it costs more).
I planned on starting at Autozone at 6am and hoping to to finish before good old Sol murdered me. However, it will be 109°F, so I figured that I would go with
U Fix It Automotive - Do It Yourself, and Do It Right! and pay to use one of their bays.
I had hoped to order everything through Autozone, pick it up in the morning, and have one long and exhausting, but productive day.
It says that I need to order in-store.
I guess that I should have planned this in advance.
I ended up on automd.com. My old shop estimated $800-850 to change the timing belt, but the one repair I approved cost 40% more than they had quoted. AutoMD estimated $725.50 from a dealer and $631.90 from a shop, so I put in everything else:
Dealer Costs
$1,424.82 Time 8.3 hrs
Rate $103.00
Labor $710.70
Parts $584.13
Other $129.99
Shop Costs
$1,260.62 Time 8.3 hrs
Rate $85.00
Labor $586.50
Parts $584.13
Other $89.99
DIY Costs
$584.13 Time 10.6 hrs
Rate NA
Labor NA
Parts $584.13
So, $840.69 over a dealer and $676.49 over a shop, but I would pay at least $240 for the bay and tools, so $600.69 and $436.49 respectively.
Well, it cannot hurt to get estimates...