Help Emergency! Dealer wants to swindle my mom!

its easy...i work on toyotas for a living and can have a regulator swapped out in less than 20 minutes, the motor is also easy...everything is bolted in

my dealership charges $110/hr for labor...yeah...

factory OEM parts are ALWAYS expensive and dealerships charge alot for labor, and often will replace things as systems rather than just a single part, making the cost add up. i just did an alternator job on an 03 focus zts used car and i did the alternator, battery and serpentine belt. no sense in having the charging system apart 3 seperate times, so all were done at once. its not swindling, just trying to sell the "whole" job

And another reason for this is because you wouldn't want the customer to come a month after having the alternator replaced with another problem related to that job, like a battery or belt. Then you look like you half-assed it and the customer is mad because they have to come right back, and you and the customer both are wasting time when it could've been done right the first time, like you did.

Dealerships *usually* do great work.
 
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I found a new motor from Auto Zone up the street from me for $63. I'll swap this weekend and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

The $291 was just for the motor. They still charged her $95 to diagnose the problem (one hour of labor, personally I think they're bull****ting us on it taking an hour). I'm just going on their word that it's the motor that's dead. What's odd is that the window just stopped working one day. Don't dying motors usually start slowing down and whining before they die? To me it sounds like it could be a broken switch. If the Toyota dealer misdiagnosed the problem, I'm making sure my mother gets her $95 back.
 
I found a new motor from Auto Zone up the street from me for $63. I'll swap this weekend and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

The $291 was just for the motor. They still charged her $95 to diagnose the problem (one hour of labor, personally I think they're bull****ting us on it taking an hour). I'm just going on their word that it's the motor that's dead. What's odd is that the window just stopped working one day. Don't dying motors usually start slowing down and whining before they die? To me it sounds like it could be a broken switch. If the Toyota dealer misdiagnosed the problem, I'm making sure my mother gets her $95 back.

Almost EVERY shop regardless of whether its a dealer or private shop will charge a minimum 1/2 hour to 1 hour diagnosis time and they will usually tell you that up front.

And yes a motor can "just go bad" without slowing or whining over time.
 
Im a Lexus master tech... we have toyota parts in all of our vehicles (shhhh)....

motor should be straight up... 10mm bolts on the regulator and once its removed as an assy . 3 torx screws hold on the motor be careful not to slice your fingers off as the metal is sharp and under high tension via a coiled spring...mark where the motor is and be sure to tape up the window so it wont fall (marking the regulator isnt so critical since the window is free moving but it helps the job go back together smoother)

it should take about 30min from start to finish. Be sure to cyle the motor out of the car 4x revolutions to initialize the pinch protection.

A job like this we would charge around $110 electrical diagnosis and $275 labor and around the same for parts. Its one of those things, if you dont have the know how..you have to pay the big bucks!!
if your mechanically inclined....thats a really good way to save alot of money. Its the same way with any trade... if you wanted to hire a carpenter to build an addition it would cost you thousands more than to do it on your own. What your paying for is SOMEONE ELSES time and effort/knowledge. Its not that hard to think about, afterall, everyone needs to make a living...right!?

As far as the diag fee goes.... its mostly insurance in case the customer declines the job. In reality, it usually takes minutes to correctly diagnose, but the flat diagnosis fee gaurentees we are always getting paid for our work wether it takes us 1 min or 1hr chasing wiring problems. It could have easilly been a switch or broken wire , the diagnosis is required so that you dont waste money "throwing" parts at a car.
 
Thanks Blown5.0 for the how-to. I worked as a carpenter and am now getting better with cars so from doing a lot of my own house work and car work I guess I've been out of touch with what technical and trade services cost to have someone else do them.