Is this a fair Bobcat service invoice?

[laurencen]

Im still curious what they had given for a estimate, can you share, the cost to travel 10 miles is crazy but many service suppliers have a minimum cost, as for a zone charge, I would assume thats one of those added charges to make money.

what I suspect they have standard times for all work they do, several times they charge the full time for each stage even if they overlap, this way the total time increases above actual time it takes.

our local dealer is a great resource when it comes to doing my own work and trouble shooting, saved me lots over the years, when I purchased my last machines I had them as a service include the first service to the machine and they did but at was at the dealer location.

never done a call out but if they estimated it at over 400US and Im 20 miles out I would get trailer it there or rent a trailer for a few hours

 

[foton]

I know everything price wise has gone stupid ,but it seems to me that when bobcat was sold to doosan things got really stupid on their price list and labor. A buddy of mine took his s185 in for changing out the loader hoses and topping off oil . that was right at 1200 bucks. no thanks to bobcat for me.

 

[dkmc]

There's always the question if all the work was actually done. When you do it yourself, you know what ya got. Buddy's wife had a Cadillac CTS, always serviced at the dealer. Around 100K miles it started running like shit, and using a quart of oil in 300 miles. Turns out after some head scratching, another garage found the air filter......never changed...ever. Totally plugged solid. Engine was sucking air thru the PCV hose for combustion air. It ended up running out of oil. Sold the car for parts.

 

[haymaker]

I don't know what my closest Bobcat dealer charges to come to the site. I can say my New Holland dealer charges $90.00 US for first 20 miles 1 way, then shop rate (approx. $140.00 HR). They are more reasonable then the 2 other dealers in my area.
If it was me I'd be asking why the quote was substantially lower!! I think the charge for the service call is way out of line and if not listed in the quote an adjustment should be made. JMHO

 

[sunnyboy]

One consideration - the hidden on-site tax. What I mean is - they really don't want to go to a customer's site as it's extra hassle, your shop person is unavailable while they at your site, and if anything is forgotten it's an extra trip. So to DISCOURAGE on-site business, many shops will simply jack up the price of the visit to keep all but the most determined from booking on-site service.

In other words, they want shop service. They want you to bring the unit in to their shop for service. If you want on-site, YOU WILL PAY FOR IT.

Just my opinion, but based on many years dealing with shops and knowing more than a few shop owners. Sending your people out of the shop costs them enough they they must recoup the loss.

 

[River Fluid Power]

Most dealerships charge a lot of money for parts and service. I would think it's fair to say that they need a ton of income to keep the doors open and the lights on. It's the price you pay when doing business with dealerships, which is why I do as much maintenance and repair that I can for myself. I realize not everyone can fix their own equipment, but it really helps to minimize cost.

High dealership prices is what has helped my business grow. We don't have everything, but what parts and units we do offer are genuine parts for less, sometimes a lot less, than the dealerships.

 

[ward]

We recently had our Bobcat (S650) serviced (500 hours) on-site about 10 miles from the service center as our trailer is down. The quote was well under the final bill. Is this normal?

Parts:

• Hydraulic Cartridge Filter: $64.51
• Hydraulic Cap: $34.82
• Multi-purpose Grease: $7.98
• Oil Filter Assembly: $96.24
• Air Inner Filter: $57.43
• Air Outer Filter: $86.68
• Fuel Filter: $93.98
• 15W40 Oil: $61.77
• Other filters: $47.56, $33.37
• Hydraulic Oil (VG68, 1 gal): $33.93
• Freight-in: $12.13
• Filter Cap: $30.71

Labor:

• $696.15
• $390.00 (Driving to site)

Work Order Summary:

• Parts: $661.11
• Labor: $1,086.15
• Environmental Charge: $13.22
• Shop Supplies: $75.07
• Zone 1 Charge: $80.00
• Subtotal: $1,915.55

Taxes:

• City: $28.73
• County: $9.58
• State: $119.74

Total: $2,073.60

I would price all parts through NAPA, and I expect that you will find that they are about 1/2 the cost of OEM, last I knew road service was a minimum of 1 hrs shop labor, wether it was 1 block or 25 miles, have someone else call and ask what their shop labor is per hour, I also agree that a service with the parts billed for is an 1 hour job, I really think they don't need your business, I worked as a equipment mechanic on loaders dozers, skid steers, large and small excavators, areal lifts and cranes for about 20 years. I also did billing.

 

[kroog]

Dealer labor prices have increased RAPIDLY in the past 4 years. Around St Louis Field rate is 170 - 185/hr. If you had a full service completed-engine oil and filter, hydraulic oil and filter, chain case oil, air filters and a/c filters in a typical 8 hour day, the price is about on par. If you feel the price is high, ask the dealer for quote to bring your machine to the shop for the same. You could have rented a trailer for $100/day and saved about $350.

 

[ward]

We recently had our Bobcat (S650) serviced (500 hours) on-site about 10 miles from the service center as our trailer is down. The quote was well under the final bill. Is this normal?

Parts:

• Hydraulic Cartridge Filter: $64.51
• Hydraulic Cap: $34.82
• Multi-purpose Grease: $7.98
• Oil Filter Assembly: $96.24
• Air Inner Filter: $57.43
• Air Outer Filter: $86.68
• Fuel Filter: $93.98
• 15W40 Oil: $61.77
• Other filters: $47.56, $33.37
• Hydraulic Oil (VG68, 1 gal): $33.93
• Freight-in: $12.13
• Filter Cap: $30.71

Labor:

• $696.15
• $390.00 (Driving to site)

Work Order Summary:

• Parts: $661.11
• Labor: $1,086.15
• Environmental Charge: $13.22
• Shop Supplies: $75.07
• Zone 1 Charge: $80.00
• Subtotal: $1,915.55

Taxes:

• City: $28.73
• County: $9.58
• State: $119.74

Total: $2,073.60

I also had another thought, it says that it was a 500 hour service, I worked for a rental company and first service was 50 hours, then 125 hours then 250 hours, of course we had machines that did go longer due to being on job sites and some were run on 2nd shifts, if we knew we would go to the site and service them, I once ended up on a site where a 20k generator had 1200 hours which is really bad as it only served the job site office and they would really get sooted up due to not enough load, when they came in and we put them on a load bank they would only handle about 12k we would leave them running for about 15 minutes then kick them up to 15k watching the temperature after a while they would shoot out little black or over heat , if they over heated we would drop the load down to 10k until they got backed normal then re up the load until they would handle 20k, it was the mufflers clogging up and they would get it all blowed out. Long story short oil is cheap. Check out Lake Speed Jr the oil geek on YouTube and you will never run long mileage or hours of service ideas as they are sold as that will get 99% of cars trucks and equipment out past warranty after that the manufacturer does not care. One more thing to note locomotive engines only change oil during a rebuild but filter changes are done like clock work, most locomotives hold 400 gallons of engine oil.

 

[jrrodder]

We recently had our Bobcat (S650) serviced (500 hours) on-site about 10 miles from the service center as our trailer is down. The quote was well under the final bill. Is this normal?

Parts:

• Hydraulic Cartridge Filter: $64.51
• Hydraulic Cap: $34.82
• Multi-purpose Grease: $7.98
• Oil Filter Assembly: $96.24
• Air Inner Filter: $57.43
• Air Outer Filter: $86.68
• Fuel Filter: $93.98
• 15W40 Oil: $61.77
• Other filters: $47.56, $33.37
• Hydraulic Oil (VG68, 1 gal): $33.93
• Freight-in: $12.13
• Filter Cap: $30.71

Labor:

• $696.15
• $390.00 (Driving to site)

Work Order Summary:

• Parts: $661.11
• Labor: $1,086.15
• Environmental Charge: $13.22
• Shop Supplies: $75.07
• Zone 1 Charge: $80.00
• Subtotal: $1,915.55

Taxes:

• City: $28.73
• County: $9.58
• State: $119.74

Total: $2,073.60

My experience is 10 percent over quote is the most, except if there are more parts or services required, at that point they need to discuss with you to get approval.

 

[laurencen]

still asking what was the quoted estimate> can you post it?

 

[[email protected]]

Did you pay it? If you have a quote in hand then go back to them and ask how they came to all the other charges. What was the reason they came out? Was the machine working or is it a normal on the chart call to be serviced? This is a job that should not be costing you this much but if there are reasons for the odd item charges I would be questioning this more. However once you do that your at their mercy if you really need them. They use to say, if it aint broke don't fix it. So again was it in need of all this is my question.

 

[hoardac]

It is in line with the prices the Cat people charged for jobs at my work, they are never cheap.

 

[TexasYankee]

what exactly are "shop supplies?"
could you have rented a trailer and saved $$$??
much of the parts are very easy to replace your self

 

[Stevo3556]

I do my own maintenance to avoid problems like this. I would say that if the bill is way higher than the estimate I would be asking questions! That is where the issue is for me. Completed work cost should not be a surprise unless it is something like "it won't run." Then you have no idea what time and parts could be. Simple servicing in the field should be known. How could the dealer not know what the parts cost is and get it right on the quote?
I have a Cat. The tube of grease is in line with Cat. If the inner and outer filters are for the cab air filters, it's more than I pay for them.

 

[Making Due]

If the machine is making you money, its gonna cost you money to keep it in spec. Beats a broken down machine with way worse problems from neglected service interval's. Its a tough pill to sallow but that's the world today. Side note I do my own maintenance whenever possible but life/work can complicate things.
Hope she is making you back that money & then some!!

 

[Duke07]

Because of the scope of work that I have done, my trustworthy 743 has met the demands that I have put on her. Never have had any mobile service come out, can buy wix filters for maintenance and she's only been in the shop 1 time.
I just feel very fortunate to have a simple machine that I can still get parts for and through the help of this forum I can still work on.
I'm not of much help to you in terms dealership experience but I certainly do feel your concerns.
Before you pay at least call and get a cost breakdown of your bill

 

[Hanman34]

That is off the chart and why I learned to service my own machines

I agree 100%. It's outrageous to have a $2000 bill for someone to drive 10 miles to change the oil and grease your skid steer, but it's not out of line in America. I think this is pretty comparable to what youll pay anywhere in the states. But on the positive side, this kind of extortion forced me to learn about my own equipment and figure out how to just repair and service it all myself, saving me many thousands of dollars a year.

 

[Gearclash]

Overpriced but typical. That is why 1) I never have dealers do any kind of general work for me unless it is under warranty 2) I won't own newer motorized equipment 3) I do this type of work for other people. I can make decent money doing it and yet save them quite a bit.

Dealers are not there to make you money.

 

[RJ57]

We recently had our Bobcat (S650) serviced (500 hours) on-site about 10 miles from the service center as our trailer is down. The quote was well under the final bill. Is this normal?

Parts:

• Hydraulic Cartridge Filter: $64.51
• Hydraulic Cap: $34.82
• Multi-purpose Grease: $7.98
• Oil Filter Assembly: $96.24
• Air Inner Filter: $57.43
• Air Outer Filter: $86.68
• Fuel Filter: $93.98
• 15W40 Oil: $61.77
• Other filters: $47.56, $33.37
• Hydraulic Oil (VG68, 1 gal): $33.93
• Freight-in: $12.13
• Filter Cap: $30.71

Labor:

• $696.15
• $390.00 (Driving to site)

Work Order Summary:

• Parts: $661.11
• Labor: $1,086.15
• Environmental Charge: $13.22
• Shop Supplies: $75.07
• Zone 1 Charge: $80.00
• Subtotal: $1,915.55

Taxes:

• City: $28.73
• County: $9.58
• State: $119.74

Total: $2,073.60

Lesson learned. Just ask around and find an independent for future work or better yet dive into it yourself. Maybe you could find a young up and coming mechanic who would tackle your equipment on a side basis either in your shop or at his ?That might save you a LOT of $$$.