Transmission Cooler Lines Leaking

[SilverOLDS]

Apparantly I need BOTH cooler lines replaced on my 2000 Silhouette (big pool of redish oil on driveway) and the dealer has quoted $400.00 CAD to do the job(hoses @ $44.80 each). I'm kind of stuck as I don't really want to drive it around in fear of damaging the transmission. Does this quote sound fair?

[MagicRat]

Is the dealer just replacing the lines, or are they proposing to do anything else?

That sounds like WAY too much money for 2 lines.

Find an independent mechanic. These lines are steel and only about 2 ft long each. Mechanics can get universal-fit steel lines (about $7 each) that are designed to be bent and formed to match the originals.
A good mechanic should be able to form and replace 2 lines in about an hour, easily. Your charge should be about $150 Cdn, (incl. taxes) tops.

If you do not have an independent mechanic, send me a PM. I know a couple of good ones in Brampton.

[SilverOLDS]

Well, as it turns out I went ahead with stealership. The quote was ONLY to re & re the hoses, nothing else. When the van was in to get checked out it was leaking pretty good and I didn't want to risk driving home (about 26km) with that leak. They had the job done in less than hours, more like an hour and a bit.

What I would like to know is: who is the "AUTHORITY" that determines that it takes 3.2 hours to replace these lines when a good mechanic can do it in about an hour? Isn't the dealership "supposed to be" the most qualified and equipped to fix my vehicle? They would be the ones to get it done the quickest and at a reasonable rate. The hourly rate works out to be about $294.00!

Thats the last chance I gave this dealership. I've actually done signage work for them for the past 7 years, so I guess they wanted to get back some of what I made.

[rockwood84]

they go by the g.m. shop hour labor manual to get the book hours it's supposed to take to do a specific job. as i understand there are two sets of hours ,one is average hours,then they have an extreme set of hours .usually they look up the extreme hours as it allows more time to do the job. and then the tech takes every minute to do the job allowed by the labor manual even if he could do it in half the time. and at $80 to $90 an hour.but they all use the same hour manual to figure up the shop hours.