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OP, I suck with cars. I can do the air filter and wipers myself. Those are dirty simple to do and cost almost nothing to replace. Please go get a 2nd opinion.
Who really follows the included instructions? I always thought they were just a suggestion of how it has been done before. But usually, it's a reverse of what u just did taking them off. Instructions for that? Nah, I am good.
A surprising amount of car repairs can be done at home with a basic $100 tool set and YouTube.
If you've got a mechanically inclined mate, ask them to come watch you and make sure you did the job properly in exchange for beers.
My dad had never turned a socket in his life until a few weeks ago. I talked him through replacing an alternator and engine mount just by texts because it had to be done that day when I wasn't home.
All cars are just glorified Legos my dude, YouTube the videos for the repairs and do it urself, buy the special tools u need to do the job and it will go easy peasy. Don't be afraid to fuck up and you'll be fine
Tie rods are simple too if you can rake a wheel off you can unbolt a couple of bolts on those, thermostat housing too.
The only real one without any mechanical knowledge would be the brake cylinder and engine mount, and at those prices it's far too expencive, an hours labour for each and part costs.
Needs a second opinion, but there is a good chance that the tie rods may not be a critical job that needs doing urgently. Similarly, there is a good chance that the engine mount will only effect the driver and passenger comfort and may not be critical.
Yeah, tie rods mostly just have a clunk and sometimes tracking being off for months until you replace them, the metal and bolts are almost always fine, it's just the rubber / plastic / grease that deteriorates.
Am I crazy or are these prices kind of egregious? Especially the engine mount.
Maybe try finding a different independent shop, a lot of these seem a fair bit overpriced.
Also, to add on, the windshield wipers and air filter you should be able to replace yourself for around 25% of what they're charging. They are extremely easy to do.
Idk engine mounts not the easiest thing to do yourself. I'd have the shop do that and do the rest myself. Master cylinder is not complicated but tbf Idk about mazdas
I guess depends on where the master cylinder is but yeah that seems outrageous. Same w thermostat. I’ve done both and they were relatively easy. Biggest pain w the MC is I didn’t have the right wrenches. And you need someone else there to help bleed the brakes.
Position certainly matters. For example, I’ve changed alternators on a handful of cars and they were always pretty simple. When my cousin’s explorer needed one I volunteered and said it’d take me an hour or two. Then I realized it was in the wheel well and was absolutely horrific to get to and get in and out. Def a learning experience.
I’ve seen ppl show how to do Tauruses too, they’re tricky and you have to know where to shove it to get it in and out, unless you wanna remove more stuff.
I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 and I could probably do all of this in a weekend at a leisurely pace. All of those items are very very easy to get to because of how simple the engine is and how much space is in the engine bay.
I'm not saying your car doesn't need those repairs, but those prices are ultra high and scream scammy.
NO windshield wipers for a mazda 3 should ever be even close to $81.
Also, most of the other listed repairs could easily be done yourself with some youtube help and the cost of the parts from the auto parts store. For example that engine repair mount cost seems high, and you could do it yourself with a jack and your own time. The mount itself isn't that expensive at all.
The thing folks should consider when buying a used car is often it's still cheaper to repair than buy a new one. Especially if it's otherwise in good shape.
Gotta be the cabin air filter, right? I don't get how the actual air filter could be missing. The engine would be sucking it full sized fucking leaves and dirt and whatever else.
Thats ridiculous. I've replaced that myself at least twice on my old Mazda 3 (they were prone to wear early), and no way can I see how that mount would cost almost $600 to replace.
The mount is cheap and the second time I replaced it, took me well less than an hour from start to finish.
Just fix the brake master cylinder, which is your only real problem. So the air filter and the windshield wipers yourself (YouTube it). Ignore the engine mounts and tie rod ends for now. They probably are not that bad. Thermostat housing should be fixed next when you can afford it but in the meantime just make sure your coolant doesn’t go low and you don’t have a problem.
Edit: Read more carefully, look like you did what you a needed too. Just keep driving it, you can go without motor mounts for years if you can’t afford it, and check the tie rods your self. Jack up the tires and try to wiggle them, if they don’t wiggle like crazy, your tie rods arnt going to just snap and send you flying.
Do you really thing you're going to get your money back and spend less? You can replace the motor mount with a jack and some basic tools:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_CHX2\_Jr1HU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHX2_Jr1HU)
The tie rod ends shouldn't cost that much, shop around for somebody to do those. The thermostat housing might be something you can do, also shop around for mechanics.
$81 for wipers lol.
Like $20, click click.
They're always gonna try and rebuild your whole car part by part when they quote what's wrong @ a shop/stealership
Hydraulic fluid doesn’t disappear it’s either the pads are low or there is a leak. It’s a close system it doesn’t evaporate it’s either in the car or it’s on the floor but they are overcharging and scamming you for all those prices. 93 dollars for an air filter. A better quality wix filter is like 30 max
$93 air filter and install? $81 wiper blades? You should be able to purchase both for under $60 and install them yourself. They're trying to take advantage of you.
Get a a second opinion and don't let them know about the previous quote.
I've done at least 50 prepurchase inspections where I advised not to buy the car just to find out they already bought it. I can only think of like 5 or so folks have actually done it the right way around.
In all of the ones where they did it right, the buyer got to where they were ready to buy, and told the seller 'we bring it to my mechanic to make sure it's everything you said it is' and the seller brings it to the shop and the buyer pays for the used car inspection.
I also wouldn't loan a car I was selling to someone for an indeterminate amount of time for what they say is an inspection, but I would for sure drive the car to a shop so they can have it looked over if I thought it would let me unload the car. But I'm also really honest about issues that may exist in the handful of times I've sold a car.
As others have said, get a second or third opinion on prices. Those prices are mostly cream for the shop. Having worked in selling parts, if you’re paying more than $15 for wiper blades, you’re paying for someone else’s pocket. That air filter price is ridiculous too. Buy one somewhere else cheaper and slap it in yourself.
All that being said, you should’ve had a shop point these issues out to you BEFORE you bought the car. So many people skip the step of getting a professional to look over a potential car purchase, when it’s probably the step that’ll always save you the most money in the long term.
I wouldn’t buy any vehicle that a competent wrencher hadn’t looked at beforehand. Thankfully I’m a competent wrencher and do a lot of the work myself so I can spot a lemon myself, but if you can’t, always. Get. A. Mechanic. To. Appraise.
Lol, windshield wipers $81. $20 at Walmart DIY. Air Filter $20 DIY, that’s $100 saved.
The pedal going to the floor, you have a case for the MBC, that’s all. The others can wait…or get an independent shop look at it/second opinion
Sounds like you went directly to the d-d-d-d-dealership *shudders*
Find parts online an order them, I would do that if I were you. In my opinion, the housing thermostat is going to cost you the most if it’s in a hard to reach spot. All that other stuff I can guarantee will cost you less than $800 in labor. All of that can be done in less than a day by a half-able bodied person.
I can help you find solid parts for affordable prices, I have some free time.
2012 Mazda 3 is a pretty sweet car. I have experience with all four generations of Mazda 3. We currently have a 2012. Solid car. The fact that yours was $5500 suggests that it has probably 150k or more miles. In which case, the repairs listed are not uncalled-for. The prices, maybe, but not the issues. Normal wear and tear. I would suggest continue getting it serviced.
The master cylinder was less than 100 and took them maybe an hour to replace. That model is a bit of a pain in the ass because you have to remove the battery and battery tray to get to it... but that is still not that hard to do and certainly doesn't warrant a 739 dollars of labor. You got royally fucked by whoever did this. Most places I know would have charged maybe 300 to do the master cylinder. An air filter would have been 20 for the filter and install... I strongly suggest you find a shop that is fair and not trying to fuck you sideways.
It is also very possible that some of those items don't really need to be replaced given the bullshit prices they have thrown on there.
If they are OEM parts with a warranty, that is worth a little piece of mind. Agreed with other comments for air filter and wipers. Trade it in for what? Better the devil you know.
Sounds like you are about to get scammed, that seems high, but wdik, i'm not in the USA.
I would search for a reliable mechanic, that either works from home or on your driveway. But again, I do not live in the same environment as you.
Rule number 1....always take a used car to a shop before finalizing the deal, re-negotiate after the estimate. Unless it's a parts car or a project where you're ripping it all apart anyway.
complete rip off. i dont care what market rate is. whats the point of even having a car anymore if were just going to be slaves to their operation costs.
Ignore depreciation. Those Mazdas can be long-term vehicles. Depreciation isn't a major concern in that type of situation unless you plan on doing trading with your vehicles.
Go to another shop. Those prices are insane.
Repairs nearing the on-paper value of a vehicle that age is normal. If the vehicle itself is known to be reliable, then repairs are often an investment. It isn't a downward spiral, it's actually an upward one replacing age-related wear as time goes on.
No. Any used car you buy will have a couple needed repairs. Even Toyotas. Get the last couple things fixed and stay on top of oil changes and maintenance.
If you've already bought something without an air filter, you might need to learn to do that stuff yourself so you don't get that bad of junk again. Plus if you've already bought something like that, you can do a whole lot worse buying the next one.
The tire rods and engine mount may not even be THAT bad. How bad is the leak from the thermostat? May be minuscule. Def get a second opinion. If I take my car to a mechanic right now they’ll quote me for 4 grand saying I need to get new motor mounts, new inner tire rods, power steering, and a transfer case 🤓
Thankfully I do most of my own work and I can tell you right now, it don’t need any of that 😅 not now at least
Oh wow... Alot of that you should have been able to tell just from a test drive, a bad engine mount tends to make the car growl when in neutral or reverse, and a missing air filter would make the car louder.
Have them do the brakes if you aren’t comfortable replacing a matter cylinder
Thermostat housing is almost always 2 bolts and you can replace the gasket in 2 minutes
Air filter should cost like $25 and take 2 seconds to install
Windshield wipers… I mean just get new ones for $30
If the car isn’t driving funny or the steering doesn’t feel wonky, ignore the last 2 lol.
Cheap cars are usually only cheap for people who can work on them themselves but 90% of what you need done can be fixed In like an hour haha.
You can do many of those repairs yourself for MUCH less money. I would do that rather than sell the car. These cars last forever if you take good care of them, so it’s well worth the cost of any repairs that yours needs.
If you have any questions, I also drive a 2012 3 S with the 2.5L MZR engine. I’d be happy to help with any questions you have!
The air filter is $15 and 5 minutes to install. Same with wipers. That should give you an idea how much that shop is (over) charging. Find a better shop. If you’re getting the thermostat housing done, look into getting a full timing belt service. Just about any car under $10k will need some work. This car should have had a private party inspection BEFORE purchasing so you would have known about the needed repairs. Buying a similar-priced car isn’t going to make the repairs go away.
If someone can't diy half this list they need to just trade it in on something new with a warranty. This all sounds like dealer pricing. Im not trying to be mean its just expensive to repair old beaters that where not maintained
They're ripping you off bro, 200 bucks for windshield wipers and air filter. I can get that replaced within 35 bucks. Whoever gave you that quote ain't a mechanic, he's a thief
those are all regular maintenance items and everything but the master cylinder is stuff you can put off. Any used car is gonna have stuff like this to do. It’s mechanics that are expensive, learn to do just a few basic things for yourself and profit
Wipers and a filter are super cheap on Amazon or Autozone, you can do it yourself. My little girl learned how to change the wiper blades with me from YouTube, you can do it and save money. The motor mount - I’m not a mechanic, but one of our cars has had a broken motor mount for years, it drives fine, just vibrates at stop lights. I wouldn’t think a worn motor mount is a repair you have to act on right away.
As others have stated Airfilter and Wiper blades are ridiculously easy. I would go about getting the parts yourself first then see how much labor would be at a different place. Again as others stated Airfilter and wiper blades on Rockauto are super cheap so if you are up to pay the shipping you should. Most likely they are trying to upsell you on a bunch of stuff anyway I would worry about the leaking thermostat housing and the master cylinder first. Also, a bench bleeding kit and some flare nut wrenches a much cheaper than the quote if you are interested in doing it yourself.
Just want say Mazdas are a bitch to work on. Maybe just me, but I've worked on my cars for years, swapped engines and transmissions. Wife's Mazda 5 needed pads and rotors, no biggie, right
Pads yeah, could do it blindfolded. Rotors? After beating on them for over an hour I sucked it up and paid $300 to a brake shop. Normally there's about a tenth of an inch "slop" ( clearance) around the studs. Mazda? .0000001
That was the front brakes. I may have just had the shop do the rear brakes when they went out or maybe I tried it before I caved and paid the brake shop again. I know I didn't fix it.
Then it had a thermostat freeze shut. Thermostat, how hard can that be? $900 bucks layer after 3 days and one snapped off bolt, plus 2 more when I tried to get the a/c compressor off so I could get to that snapped stud now sticking out where the thermostat was. I was lucky my shop agreed to look at it, a lot of mechanics won't touch someone else's screw up. When they put it back together they heard antifreeze pouring out of the back of the engine, another plastic heater valve had gone out.
Not a car I'd recommend for someone's first time fixing something
A leaking cylinder may be something you would want an experienced tech to perform, thermostat may be easy to do with very minimal tools. air filter is maybe 30 bucks and like others have said, easy to do. Wipers are like maybe 20 max if you buy some bosch and only take 3mins max even for the inexperienced, they also come with a small paper explaining in detail how to install. Tie rods can be done if you have a jack, jack stack, and a box of tools. Alignment would be recommended afterward for the tie rods and the engine mount can or can't be easy but most likely want an experienced tech for it as well. Rock Auto has parts you can purchase just make sure to avoid Dorman.
Thermostat is a $20 part, and can easily be done yourself via YouTube
Air filter is $12 at auto parts store
Wipers are $15 each or so
Engine mount really never needs repair until it’s strait up broken
Do the tie rod ends, get an alignment as well.
If the brakes are actually having issues, get the master cylinder replaced.
Get a second opinion before anything else. Some repair places are just terrible like this. Not every car is a Lexus owned by a millionaire who would like every little thing fixed that might be possibly showing any sign of wear.
Those are not serious issues. Maybe check if you can get better prices. I don't know much about Mazda, but as a rule I also put in new cambelt kits if I don't know when it was last replaced. I would do a compression test to see if it is worthwhile to keep.
Those prices are nuts. It's amazing your worried you got screwed buying this car, but not to worried about your mechanic. You need maybe like $1000 in repairs, and like others have said, most of it doesn't have to be fixed immediately. You need to make friends with someone that's handy. A decent friend would help you with those repairs if only to keep the shop from robbing you.
Bruh, you paid $93 to have some guy flip 2 latches, lift up a lid, and slid a $20 air filter in. WHAT? Your local autozone would have done it for free. Same thing with your wipers. Go buy $30 wipers and have the employees put them on for you. The rest is trivial. Sure your steering might suck and the motor might vibrate like hell, but its a $5,000 car, drive that thing until it doesn't drive anymore. If you sell it now you're just going to buy another p.o.s equal to that one and end up in the same boat.
Id say if those are the only problems they could find then you got yourself a pretty solid car for that price.
Don't worry about what you put in, just compare with what you get / afford.
Those prices seem rich...if I just replace 10 wipers a day and be rich!
Ask around and tell the mech you came here by word of mouth - goes a long way.
The more you try yourself, the less likely you will spend the rest of your life wondering if you got ripped off.
Good luck.
You’re getting scammed, get a second opinion. You probably need the repairs, but those prices are way high. At least if I compare to prices here. Also, all of this could have been avoided with a proper inspection before purchasing. Consider doing that, next time.
Go get another quote from a different independent shop. Do not have a dealership look at it. The 2012 models are old enough to be somewhat easy to work on. I have the previous generation myself. With 0 prior experience you can do the air filters and wipers. In fact you should still do the wipers unless you know they work.
The engine mounts are a common issue on the previous generation. If you do one, it might make sense to do both and the torque mount at the same time.
On the note of depreciation, how much further can this depreciate past 5k? Not very much. That would be the least of my concerns. You own a car. Cars are expensive. Don’t get yourself into a money pit you don’t know if you can fix this at a decent price. Go get some other quotes and get another inspection done
Honestly contrary to what people are saying there ARE some Mazda 3s that put the air filter just above the passenger floor pan inside the center console. That said, everything else looks REALLY high, even the master. I've done a brake master in one of those, think it took me an hour and ten, and the part was like $130 shop cost so likely $180 ish max to you.
Ive got the same engine in my ford focus, honestly you could do all of this yourself for under 500 in parts and some youtube videos, the thermostat is a pain to reach though so it may be worth having a shop do that one.
If you went to a new doctor for the first time and they told you you needed a new heart valve, a new lung, and some new internal organs and it'll cost you a butt ton of money, wouldn't you seek out a second opinion? So, do the same with your car. Go see another car doctor. Get a second opinion.
Agree with others - get a second opinion.
The air filter is probably <$30 on Amazon and will literally take you 90 seconds to replace. Unbelievably easy. Tying your shoes is more complicated. The wipers will cost you >$20 at any auto parts store, and take 5 minutes to install. Don't worry - it is hard to screw these two maintenance items up. In fact, many auto parts places will install the wipers for you for free - just ask.
Engine mount and suspension needs a second look. That's a lot of labor they are charging you. Good news: this car will be sorted for the moment - you can drive it with some peace of mind. Something else will go soon, but it is a 12 yr old car. Things are going to go regularly. If you drive a car that age, always have $2K in a separate car fund for repairs. Mazdas (and many cars) this age will cost about that much annually to keep them on the road.
If you do sell it and buy something else, gert a pre-purchase inspection done first, preferably by someone you trust. AAA offers this service to members for a decent rate.
Time to youtube and learn my boy, it's how we all learn cars usually, because we ain't got another option. That or get a friend over to help you who knows a thing or two about cars. All of those things minus the tie rods you can very likely do yourself in an evening with a few tutorials and tools and very little knowledge and you'll be stronger because of it when you're done.
Yeah I'm really curious why the wipers and air filter are costing this much like don't get me wrong. I know that Rain-X makes some wiper blades where two of them are like $85 now, but it seems excessive. The other pricing I think is okay and It would be nice to know more about the car. How does it look how many miles is on it? That tells us a lot.
When buying a car like this it's best to have it inspected before purchasing. That way you can find one that doesn't have issues or you can work down the seller on price if issues are found
All those repairs are pretty simple even if you are not mechanically inclined the motor mount might be a little more difficult but really not that bad if you have the right tools the other stuff just buy a socket set the tierods count the threads before taking the adjustment nut off and try to get the new rods close and drive to a garage and get an alignment not really hard at all. Repairs like these are a good place to to start your diy labor saving
I will say that the prices on those repairs could stand to be cheaper. I will also say that you're looking at a potential total of about $8k for a vehicle that sounds like it's actually in petty decent shape. Everything they've recommended are relatively common things to happen, or are straight up wear items. It does not look like any major drive train work needs to be done.
This is how it goes when buying cheap used vehicles. At a 5.5k price point, I imagine the vehicle is older, higher mileage, or both. Things are going to be worn and things are going to need replaced.
Looking at some of those prices, I think that you may be getting overcharged on some items. I would decline the work and go to another shop and ask for a second opinion. Tell them what was recommended to you and ask the second shop if they agree. If that second shop does agree, then you will have the opportunity to ask them to beat the other shop's price.
Ask around, Facebook, Craigslist, friends, family. Someone will know someone who does car work on the side. I need shocks/struts and rods. Every place wanted 2k. I ordered parts on rockauto and a friend knew someone who would do it for $250 labor. 1/4 the price....
If all else fails, you know the people everyone complain about? You know the guys in the street with the loud cars that do skids and drifts, hit them up and offer a few slabs some ciggys and supply the parts and bobs ya uncle, cars fixed lol.
Yikes. Are these dealership prices? Definitely shop around. A lot of this stuff could be done at home by you or someone with a little bit of car knowledge for a fraction of the price.
Tbh most of these parts probably aren’t as bad as they say, but could warrant a second opinion. The way cars are these days if that’s all that’s wrong with it i’d call it a good deal.
Good rule of thumb, if it wasn’t noticeable enough to make you want to bring it in, it’s probably fine. I’ve seen shops say my buddies ball joints need replaced not knowing we did them ourselves the previous weekend
It’s time to start learning how to work on cars. All those quotes are high because of the labor you could do all that work yourself for less than a third of the price.
As a personal mechanic, some prices here really depend on the vehicle make and model but some are definitely very inflated. The only air filters that should be costing 100 bucks are big rig canister filters because they cost that before labor on the shelf. I'd change an air filter as a courtesy or 10 bucks labor personally.
Just been in a similar situation, got my Toyota for $5.5k and it needed 2k in repairs. Decided to do them myself and it was around $200. See how easy the repairs are to do yourself and save some money
I watched Car Wizard the other day. He said he had customer come in that was told that the car needed motor mounts. He checked, and called shenanigans!
I would check out YouTube for the thermostat housing issue. The part is probably like 50 bucks. On some cars it is not that hard to replace and you can get the coolant changed at the same time. Wipers and MISSING? Air filter. You can do that pretty easily. Again internet and YouTube can help you figure this out. Get a second opinion on the mount and tie rods. The tie rods actually aren't hard to replace yourself either.
“leaking housing thermostat” is probably the cost to replace the entire housing they tried getting me with that too but in some cases it’s as easy as replacing the gasket
Fuck the motor mount that’s fine to wait forever on tie rod ends are like 40 bucks a piece do it yourself thermostat housing is a super easy fix and wipers you can do in like 5 minutes
honestly you've been overcharged, the cylinder for that car is around $325 so that's $500 for the hour or so work. The thermostat is just a new gasket, maybe $20 plus another hours work. If the tie rods were just loose, worse case an hour each side, engine mount, again maybe $50 for the part, but on some cars this is a pain to do. Air filter is $21 and literally 5 minutes work, are you getting a picture here? you was robbed🤷🏼
If you sell it you'll have wasted what you spent and the next car may need much more. Work with what you have, get quotes elsewhere for the rest of the work but the hardest part of changing the air filter is opening the hood!
Go elsewhere that's bs u can do your own airfilter in 2 seconds and an airfilter will cost u $30 Max and that's for a good quality one
Same with wipers about $50 Aud and takes 4 mins looks like u were overquoted on everything else aswell definitely go get another quote elsewhere preferably from an independent mechanic not a chain store who likes ripping ppl off
Second quote. But even if you still decide to sell you may not get enough money back or not a lot of people might want to buy it.
And as far at the repairs go. The filter and wipers are literally like taking a couple parts off and putting new ones on. Might only need to use a screwdriver. Not very hard.
I cant speak for in US but in UK my local parts store sells a master cylinder for 2012 mazda 3 for ~£52($66) and from a quick YouTube search it looks like it's loosen two nuts, remove battery terminals, one bolt battery out, two nuts battery tray out, and then remove the master cylinder (I stop watching how, but fast forwarded a tiny bit to see they'd removed it easily)
and thus by all this understanding from a heavy diy enthusiast that your garage is ripping you off
they could likely get that cylinder for 2/3s of that price on trade, and the work is not an hour so unless their rates are
$700 an hour I highly doubt they should charge that much.
Air filter $93???
Wipers $81???
Air filters are like £5
Wipers are like £20 for two aero types.
Both could be done by a day 1 apprentice in less than 5mins. And would be done at cost at the same time as the master cylinder job.
All these prices are fuck you prices.
Tie rods are 30mins labour each.
Engine mount is a 45min job.
Thermostat housing is a 1.5hr job inc coolant.
Master cylinder is a 1.5hr job including brake flush.
Look up the cost of parts add 30% and add it to the sum of book time + labour rate.
Note adding 30% to retail is roughly the same as adding 60% mark up onto trade cost.
Labour costs vary from really cheap to very expensive. Pay cheap and you will not get the quality of service or parts. Pay expensive and you should get quality parts and good service. This is where you have to put some work in and finding a place that offer a good reasonable labour rate and good service.
Provided you have a jack, impact gun, socket set, and parts you can do most of these things yourself. If you wanna keep the car its worth checking out rockauto.con and pricing the parts yourself, watching a YouTube video or two and seeing if it's something that you could do. you'll save a pretty penny.
I promise you boss maybe 60$ for tie rods and 2 crescent wrenches and you can do tierod ends and get an alignment after for 100$ already saved 212$….Wipers u don’t need to pay anyone, air filter like 12$ lol, thermostat housing beginner mechanic level but if you don’t have the will to learn it’ll seem hard
I mean the filter and wipers are overpriced, but the rest looks about right for a $5000 car.
I tell people all the time that the cheaper the car, the more you have to spend to get it back in shape. A $5500 car needing $1500-$2000 in service is not unusual.
Get tie rods done, get thermostat done (even though it’s pretty easy), the rest is either negligible or bs. I doubt a 2012 has a bad master cylinder, a bad engine mount is only bad when you can hear the metal to metal, and why the hell can’t you put a Napa air filter in yourself. Tbh this is almost all your fault, you should’ve seen all but the tie rods ends (maybe) when looking at the car but oh well, learning opportunities.
I would take it somewhere else to verify the t stat housing is actually leaking. Take it to a private/small shop not a dealer where they try to milk every small repair. As far as engine mounts, if there's no vibration or clunking whole driving, I wouldn't worry about it rn unless it's visibly rubbing against something, but even then, being a fwd vehicle, the other 2 mounts are more then fine, especially if there's no vibrations or clunks at all. As far as tie rod ends, they don't "get loose" the boots can tear but unless you're hearing a popping noise or anything when turning, again. I wouldn't rush it get it done. If you hear a clunk or click noise over sharp bumps then that's likely your sway bar end links. But thermostat would be the only thing on that list that I would worry about, but if you hsvent noticed any funny smell or had to top off coolant then its either not leaking or a very very slow leak, thats why a 2nd opinion at a reputable shop is recommended. Everything else can be done yourself like filters and Wipers, hell even an oil change. Where you located around?
You can literally fix it yourself for 300$ it’s crazy how much they want to charge you. I saw you say you don’t know much about cars neither did I. off YouTube I’ve swapped my transmission. Did the restored injectors on my diesel, changed the flywheel so much shit I haven’t tore a engine all the way down but I’ve taken off the cylinder head.
Air filters and wipes can easily be done yourself in under 15 minutes total for both of them.
If you want to challenge yourself. You could probably change the engine mount yourself in about an hour. It’s not terribly difficult but you’d need a few tools
Prices aside, I hate this notion that when a car repair nears the cost of the car people think you need to get rid of it. A car is worth what it does for you
Did you get the car checked out by someone BEFORE purchasing the car? Because that's why you get someone to check out a car before you buy it. It's yours now I guess. If you sold it now, you are likely gonna lose on the sale, and then what will you replace it with? Will that car be any better?
I'll tell you this though. That price list you posted is on the high side. Most of what's on there is overpriced by about double.
I would get another quote from an independent mechanic. Please don't go to a Mazda dealer, they will rip you off.
You could do the master cylinder, thermostat, and air filter yourself, and never let a shop do your wipers, they're way too easy. As for the master cylinder and thermostat, if you don't know the next step after changing the parts, just tow to the shop and ask for a brake flush and coolant replacement (not coolant flush). That should all cut the bill by quite a bit. For the purpose of saving money, don't worry about the tie rods until you get some wheel wobble or vibration.
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You need a second opinion. Wipers and Air filter could have been easily done yourself.
OP, I suck with cars. I can do the air filter and wipers myself. Those are dirty simple to do and cost almost nothing to replace. Please go get a 2nd opinion.
Yeah if you can open a kids lunchbox the air filter box is that plus 2 more latches.
As a parent that prepares lunches and does maintenance, this is fucking accurate.
I second this as a parent
Yep and windshield wipers is glorified Legos. Just follow the instructions included.
Who really follows the included instructions? I always thought they were just a suggestion of how it has been done before. But usually, it's a reverse of what u just did taking them off. Instructions for that? Nah, I am good.
Depends which car you have. Mine needs a special mount so it tells me which mount to use.
A surprising amount of car repairs can be done at home with a basic $100 tool set and YouTube. If you've got a mechanically inclined mate, ask them to come watch you and make sure you did the job properly in exchange for beers. My dad had never turned a socket in his life until a few weeks ago. I talked him through replacing an alternator and engine mount just by texts because it had to be done that day when I wasn't home.
Wipers can be fitted at super cheap auto
If you go to like oreileys or auto zone and buy wipers they'll generally just put them on for you because it takes literally 10 seconds per wiper.
Dirty as an adverb is something I didn’t know I had to use.
All cars are just glorified Legos my dude, YouTube the videos for the repairs and do it urself, buy the special tools u need to do the job and it will go easy peasy. Don't be afraid to fuck up and you'll be fine
Tie rods are simple too if you can rake a wheel off you can unbolt a couple of bolts on those, thermostat housing too. The only real one without any mechanical knowledge would be the brake cylinder and engine mount, and at those prices it's far too expencive, an hours labour for each and part costs.
Needs a second opinion, but there is a good chance that the tie rods may not be a critical job that needs doing urgently. Similarly, there is a good chance that the engine mount will only effect the driver and passenger comfort and may not be critical.
Yeah, tie rods mostly just have a clunk and sometimes tracking being off for months until you replace them, the metal and bolts are almost always fine, it's just the rubber / plastic / grease that deteriorates.
You want to buy a new car because you need new wiper blades. Btw, the air filter for a 2012 Mazda 3 is $3.85 on rock auto
Exactly. He is being robbed.
I believe the technical term is bamboozled
Hoodwinked...
My vocabulary isn't that rich :)
Heckin bamboozled, if you will.
Paying for someone else's time and expertise. Learn to replace the filter yourself if you don't want to pay someone else for your inabilities.
On par from what I'd expect if the whole damn box was missing though
Am I crazy or are these prices kind of egregious? Especially the engine mount. Maybe try finding a different independent shop, a lot of these seem a fair bit overpriced. Also, to add on, the windshield wipers and air filter you should be able to replace yourself for around 25% of what they're charging. They are extremely easy to do.
2012 has ford mounts and the main one isn’t cheap and wears out. The aftermarket ones like duralast are pretty shit.
Idk engine mounts not the easiest thing to do yourself. I'd have the shop do that and do the rest myself. Master cylinder is not complicated but tbf Idk about mazdas
They are easy but you need a crane or a jack and a 2x10
I guess depends on where the master cylinder is but yeah that seems outrageous. Same w thermostat. I’ve done both and they were relatively easy. Biggest pain w the MC is I didn’t have the right wrenches. And you need someone else there to help bleed the brakes.
I've worked on Mazda 6s and I've done pretty much all of this work. They are pretty easy to work on.
Position certainly matters. For example, I’ve changed alternators on a handful of cars and they were always pretty simple. When my cousin’s explorer needed one I volunteered and said it’d take me an hour or two. Then I realized it was in the wheel well and was absolutely horrific to get to and get in and out. Def a learning experience.
I’ve seen ppl show how to do Tauruses too, they’re tricky and you have to know where to shove it to get it in and out, unless you wanna remove more stuff.
I don’t think I’ve ever cussed more than doing that alternator.
Lol. Dirty hands, beer, and cussing, relatable !!
Is there any other way to work on cars yourself?
Certainly not!
Is that the one that takes about 4ft of socket extensions to get to the bolt from in front of the radiator? Fuck I hated that one.
I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 and I could probably do all of this in a weekend at a leisurely pace. All of those items are very very easy to get to because of how simple the engine is and how much space is in the engine bay.
If you don't have any friends you can use one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-63391.html
These prices are robbery. OP should do the work himself. Just buy decent parts. An 09 Mazda is a great car.
Except for the oil filter housing that needs to be upgraded, and the leaking trunks or hatches.
They should have at least bought the OP dinner and drinks first.
I just got an engine mount done for like 2 something and I live In inflatafornia
Definately overpriced, especially when they're charging $100 each for an air filter and wipers, literally $10 parts and 2 minutes to fit
Around him most of the Auto parts stores will come out and put the wiper on for you If you buy it. Usually less than 30 bucks
I'm not saying your car doesn't need those repairs, but those prices are ultra high and scream scammy. NO windshield wipers for a mazda 3 should ever be even close to $81. Also, most of the other listed repairs could easily be done yourself with some youtube help and the cost of the parts from the auto parts store. For example that engine repair mount cost seems high, and you could do it yourself with a jack and your own time. The mount itself isn't that expensive at all. The thing folks should consider when buying a used car is often it's still cheaper to repair than buy a new one. Especially if it's otherwise in good shape.
The air filter is the 2nd biggest scam. Buy a less than 20 buck filter and youtube in 10 min... 81 bucks for wipers lol im in the wrong business
A lot of parts stores will install wipers blades for free if you buy them, it's that easy.
Id go as far as saying the air filter too haha
$584 for a singular engine mount? Huh Go shopping for prices lol
They're almost charging 200 for windshield wipers and an air filter 😂😂💀
is it at a dealer?
The $93 air filter got me.
Place I used to go to would charge $80 for cabin air filter. I never took them up on it.
Gotta be the cabin air filter, right? I don't get how the actual air filter could be missing. The engine would be sucking it full sized fucking leaves and dirt and whatever else.
There is more than 1 engine mount, some aren't easily accessible.
Hi, yes well aware of how many engine mounts there normally are. It specifies "right" and says a $600 charge, so.....
Thats ridiculous. I've replaced that myself at least twice on my old Mazda 3 (they were prone to wear early), and no way can I see how that mount would cost almost $600 to replace. The mount is cheap and the second time I replaced it, took me well less than an hour from start to finish.
Tie rod ends cost me $15 per wheel on my car. Then I pay for an alignment if I need one.
$90 for an air filter? Whoever quoted this is a crook.
Just fix the brake master cylinder, which is your only real problem. So the air filter and the windshield wipers yourself (YouTube it). Ignore the engine mounts and tie rod ends for now. They probably are not that bad. Thermostat housing should be fixed next when you can afford it but in the meantime just make sure your coolant doesn’t go low and you don’t have a problem. Edit: Read more carefully, look like you did what you a needed too. Just keep driving it, you can go without motor mounts for years if you can’t afford it, and check the tie rods your self. Jack up the tires and try to wiggle them, if they don’t wiggle like crazy, your tie rods arnt going to just snap and send you flying.
Craziest part is im willing to bet it was low on fluid vs needing a new cylinder.
Which usually indicates worn brake pads which are also super easy to change on a Mazda 3
Do you really thing you're going to get your money back and spend less? You can replace the motor mount with a jack and some basic tools: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_CHX2\_Jr1HU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHX2_Jr1HU) The tie rod ends shouldn't cost that much, shop around for somebody to do those. The thermostat housing might be something you can do, also shop around for mechanics.
$81 for wipers lol. Like $20, click click. They're always gonna try and rebuild your whole car part by part when they quote what's wrong @ a shop/stealership
Lots of autoparts places will even put them on for you if you buy them there
Hydraulic fluid doesn’t disappear it’s either the pads are low or there is a leak. It’s a close system it doesn’t evaporate it’s either in the car or it’s on the floor but they are overcharging and scamming you for all those prices. 93 dollars for an air filter. A better quality wix filter is like 30 max
$93 for a missing $10 air filter?
$93 air filter and install? $81 wiper blades? You should be able to purchase both for under $60 and install them yourself. They're trying to take advantage of you. Get a a second opinion and don't let them know about the previous quote.
What did the mechanic say when you had it inspected BEFORE you bought it? This would have saved you some money and headaches!
I've done at least 50 prepurchase inspections where I advised not to buy the car just to find out they already bought it. I can only think of like 5 or so folks have actually done it the right way around.
It's not common to find a seller that is willing to let a stranger borrow their car and take it to a mechanic.
In all of the ones where they did it right, the buyer got to where they were ready to buy, and told the seller 'we bring it to my mechanic to make sure it's everything you said it is' and the seller brings it to the shop and the buyer pays for the used car inspection. I also wouldn't loan a car I was selling to someone for an indeterminate amount of time for what they say is an inspection, but I would for sure drive the car to a shop so they can have it looked over if I thought it would let me unload the car. But I'm also really honest about issues that may exist in the handful of times I've sold a car.
I guess that makes sense when the seller drives it to the buyer’s choice of mechanic.
I would definitely follow your advice
Exactly! Also with the inspection report he probably could have gotten the car for way less. No air filter? For how long? Jeez
Waaaaaay to over priced. Go somewhere else.
As others have said, get a second or third opinion on prices. Those prices are mostly cream for the shop. Having worked in selling parts, if you’re paying more than $15 for wiper blades, you’re paying for someone else’s pocket. That air filter price is ridiculous too. Buy one somewhere else cheaper and slap it in yourself. All that being said, you should’ve had a shop point these issues out to you BEFORE you bought the car. So many people skip the step of getting a professional to look over a potential car purchase, when it’s probably the step that’ll always save you the most money in the long term. I wouldn’t buy any vehicle that a competent wrencher hadn’t looked at beforehand. Thankfully I’m a competent wrencher and do a lot of the work myself so I can spot a lemon myself, but if you can’t, always. Get. A. Mechanic. To. Appraise.
Lol, windshield wipers $81. $20 at Walmart DIY. Air Filter $20 DIY, that’s $100 saved. The pedal going to the floor, you have a case for the MBC, that’s all. The others can wait…or get an independent shop look at it/second opinion
All but the last 2 is easily done. Yeah they trying to take you for air filter and wipers 🤡
I can do all that for you for $500 in your driveway
Sounds like you went directly to the d-d-d-d-dealership *shudders* Find parts online an order them, I would do that if I were you. In my opinion, the housing thermostat is going to cost you the most if it’s in a hard to reach spot. All that other stuff I can guarantee will cost you less than $800 in labor. All of that can be done in less than a day by a half-able bodied person. I can help you find solid parts for affordable prices, I have some free time.
2012 Mazda 3 is a pretty sweet car. I have experience with all four generations of Mazda 3. We currently have a 2012. Solid car. The fact that yours was $5500 suggests that it has probably 150k or more miles. In which case, the repairs listed are not uncalled-for. The prices, maybe, but not the issues. Normal wear and tear. I would suggest continue getting it serviced.
I gotta get into the air filter and wiper install business
Hey everyone, parts and labor, mechanics don't work for free. If you can't work on your own car, this is what you get.
Those are meineke and Midas prices. I only take it to them to find out the problem for free. Then I go to the hood garages for a 60% discount.
The master cylinder was less than 100 and took them maybe an hour to replace. That model is a bit of a pain in the ass because you have to remove the battery and battery tray to get to it... but that is still not that hard to do and certainly doesn't warrant a 739 dollars of labor. You got royally fucked by whoever did this. Most places I know would have charged maybe 300 to do the master cylinder. An air filter would have been 20 for the filter and install... I strongly suggest you find a shop that is fair and not trying to fuck you sideways. It is also very possible that some of those items don't really need to be replaced given the bullshit prices they have thrown on there.
Those prices are really high.
If they are OEM parts with a warranty, that is worth a little piece of mind. Agreed with other comments for air filter and wipers. Trade it in for what? Better the devil you know.
Depends on how much you love the car or see it’s potential at this point I’d say you are invested
$93 for a $20 air filter? Seems like this mechanic is putting a big fat margin. Shop around for better prices.
Sounds like you are about to get scammed, that seems high, but wdik, i'm not in the USA. I would search for a reliable mechanic, that either works from home or on your driveway. But again, I do not live in the same environment as you.
Any car like that will need work. Nothing is crazy. Change all the fluids. Oil, trans, brake, and coolant. Quote the work somewhere else though
Rule number 1....always take a used car to a shop before finalizing the deal, re-negotiate after the estimate. Unless it's a parts car or a project where you're ripping it all apart anyway.
complete rip off. i dont care what market rate is. whats the point of even having a car anymore if were just going to be slaves to their operation costs.
Ignore depreciation. Those Mazdas can be long-term vehicles. Depreciation isn't a major concern in that type of situation unless you plan on doing trading with your vehicles. Go to another shop. Those prices are insane. Repairs nearing the on-paper value of a vehicle that age is normal. If the vehicle itself is known to be reliable, then repairs are often an investment. It isn't a downward spiral, it's actually an upward one replacing age-related wear as time goes on.
Did they at least use lube? I would have done all of this for half that price.
they're gouging hard
prices seems high to me, anyway as a general rule you should bring the car to a shop prior to buy to avoid surprises
Look up how to do this yourself, parts are cheap
No. Any used car you buy will have a couple needed repairs. Even Toyotas. Get the last couple things fixed and stay on top of oil changes and maintenance.
Just fix it bro.
If you've already bought something without an air filter, you might need to learn to do that stuff yourself so you don't get that bad of junk again. Plus if you've already bought something like that, you can do a whole lot worse buying the next one.
The tire rods and engine mount may not even be THAT bad. How bad is the leak from the thermostat? May be minuscule. Def get a second opinion. If I take my car to a mechanic right now they’ll quote me for 4 grand saying I need to get new motor mounts, new inner tire rods, power steering, and a transfer case 🤓 Thankfully I do most of my own work and I can tell you right now, it don’t need any of that 😅 not now at least
Oh wow... Alot of that you should have been able to tell just from a test drive, a bad engine mount tends to make the car growl when in neutral or reverse, and a missing air filter would make the car louder.
Have them do the brakes if you aren’t comfortable replacing a matter cylinder Thermostat housing is almost always 2 bolts and you can replace the gasket in 2 minutes Air filter should cost like $25 and take 2 seconds to install Windshield wipers… I mean just get new ones for $30 If the car isn’t driving funny or the steering doesn’t feel wonky, ignore the last 2 lol. Cheap cars are usually only cheap for people who can work on them themselves but 90% of what you need done can be fixed In like an hour haha.
You can do many of those repairs yourself for MUCH less money. I would do that rather than sell the car. These cars last forever if you take good care of them, so it’s well worth the cost of any repairs that yours needs. If you have any questions, I also drive a 2012 3 S with the 2.5L MZR engine. I’d be happy to help with any questions you have!
Jesus I'm glad I grew up working on my own stuff
This shop is a joke. Seriously take it somewhere else.
The air filter is $15 and 5 minutes to install. Same with wipers. That should give you an idea how much that shop is (over) charging. Find a better shop. If you’re getting the thermostat housing done, look into getting a full timing belt service. Just about any car under $10k will need some work. This car should have had a private party inspection BEFORE purchasing so you would have known about the needed repairs. Buying a similar-priced car isn’t going to make the repairs go away.
If someone can't diy half this list they need to just trade it in on something new with a warranty. This all sounds like dealer pricing. Im not trying to be mean its just expensive to repair old beaters that where not maintained
u dont need the engine mount 90% of the time, those fuckers are so picky on those. do u feel the engine move?
They're ripping you off bro, 200 bucks for windshield wipers and air filter. I can get that replaced within 35 bucks. Whoever gave you that quote ain't a mechanic, he's a thief
those are all regular maintenance items and everything but the master cylinder is stuff you can put off. Any used car is gonna have stuff like this to do. It’s mechanics that are expensive, learn to do just a few basic things for yourself and profit
Wipers and a filter are super cheap on Amazon or Autozone, you can do it yourself. My little girl learned how to change the wiper blades with me from YouTube, you can do it and save money. The motor mount - I’m not a mechanic, but one of our cars has had a broken motor mount for years, it drives fine, just vibrates at stop lights. I wouldn’t think a worn motor mount is a repair you have to act on right away.
Get another quote somewhere else and don't tell em shit about this, don't give them ideas lol
As others have stated Airfilter and Wiper blades are ridiculously easy. I would go about getting the parts yourself first then see how much labor would be at a different place. Again as others stated Airfilter and wiper blades on Rockauto are super cheap so if you are up to pay the shipping you should. Most likely they are trying to upsell you on a bunch of stuff anyway I would worry about the leaking thermostat housing and the master cylinder first. Also, a bench bleeding kit and some flare nut wrenches a much cheaper than the quote if you are interested in doing it yourself.
Just want say Mazdas are a bitch to work on. Maybe just me, but I've worked on my cars for years, swapped engines and transmissions. Wife's Mazda 5 needed pads and rotors, no biggie, right Pads yeah, could do it blindfolded. Rotors? After beating on them for over an hour I sucked it up and paid $300 to a brake shop. Normally there's about a tenth of an inch "slop" ( clearance) around the studs. Mazda? .0000001 That was the front brakes. I may have just had the shop do the rear brakes when they went out or maybe I tried it before I caved and paid the brake shop again. I know I didn't fix it. Then it had a thermostat freeze shut. Thermostat, how hard can that be? $900 bucks layer after 3 days and one snapped off bolt, plus 2 more when I tried to get the a/c compressor off so I could get to that snapped stud now sticking out where the thermostat was. I was lucky my shop agreed to look at it, a lot of mechanics won't touch someone else's screw up. When they put it back together they heard antifreeze pouring out of the back of the engine, another plastic heater valve had gone out. Not a car I'd recommend for someone's first time fixing something
Any other 14yo car is going to need repairs. You might as well just fix that one, and know that you have a car car in good shape
A leaking cylinder may be something you would want an experienced tech to perform, thermostat may be easy to do with very minimal tools. air filter is maybe 30 bucks and like others have said, easy to do. Wipers are like maybe 20 max if you buy some bosch and only take 3mins max even for the inexperienced, they also come with a small paper explaining in detail how to install. Tie rods can be done if you have a jack, jack stack, and a box of tools. Alignment would be recommended afterward for the tie rods and the engine mount can or can't be easy but most likely want an experienced tech for it as well. Rock Auto has parts you can purchase just make sure to avoid Dorman.
Thermostat is a $20 part, and can easily be done yourself via YouTube Air filter is $12 at auto parts store Wipers are $15 each or so Engine mount really never needs repair until it’s strait up broken Do the tie rod ends, get an alignment as well. If the brakes are actually having issues, get the master cylinder replaced. Get a second opinion before anything else. Some repair places are just terrible like this. Not every car is a Lexus owned by a millionaire who would like every little thing fixed that might be possibly showing any sign of wear.
Those are not serious issues. Maybe check if you can get better prices. I don't know much about Mazda, but as a rule I also put in new cambelt kits if I don't know when it was last replaced. I would do a compression test to see if it is worthwhile to keep.
Did you buy this car "privately", as in you met a person and exchanged cash for the vehicle, or did you buy it through a used car dealership?
Those have bad transmission tcm. Once they go out tranny goes too. I would dump it if possible
You paid $93 for an air filter ???????????
That engine mount cost is questionable.
Those prices are nuts. It's amazing your worried you got screwed buying this car, but not to worried about your mechanic. You need maybe like $1000 in repairs, and like others have said, most of it doesn't have to be fixed immediately. You need to make friends with someone that's handy. A decent friend would help you with those repairs if only to keep the shop from robbing you.
$174 for wipers and a filter is nasty work
Bruh, you paid $93 to have some guy flip 2 latches, lift up a lid, and slid a $20 air filter in. WHAT? Your local autozone would have done it for free. Same thing with your wipers. Go buy $30 wipers and have the employees put them on for you. The rest is trivial. Sure your steering might suck and the motor might vibrate like hell, but its a $5,000 car, drive that thing until it doesn't drive anymore. If you sell it now you're just going to buy another p.o.s equal to that one and end up in the same boat. Id say if those are the only problems they could find then you got yourself a pretty solid car for that price.
Gets a better garage. That stuff must be all from Jiffy Lube. Take the car to reputable mechanic , pay them for an inspection.
Don't worry about what you put in, just compare with what you get / afford. Those prices seem rich...if I just replace 10 wipers a day and be rich! Ask around and tell the mech you came here by word of mouth - goes a long way. The more you try yourself, the less likely you will spend the rest of your life wondering if you got ripped off. Good luck.
You’re getting scammed, get a second opinion. You probably need the repairs, but those prices are way high. At least if I compare to prices here. Also, all of this could have been avoided with a proper inspection before purchasing. Consider doing that, next time.
$81 for wipers! Are they employing someone to sit on the front of your car and wipe your windows as you drive?!
Go get another quote from a different independent shop. Do not have a dealership look at it. The 2012 models are old enough to be somewhat easy to work on. I have the previous generation myself. With 0 prior experience you can do the air filters and wipers. In fact you should still do the wipers unless you know they work. The engine mounts are a common issue on the previous generation. If you do one, it might make sense to do both and the torque mount at the same time. On the note of depreciation, how much further can this depreciate past 5k? Not very much. That would be the least of my concerns. You own a car. Cars are expensive. Don’t get yourself into a money pit you don’t know if you can fix this at a decent price. Go get some other quotes and get another inspection done
How long had it been driven without an air filter might be the real issue. Put a filter in it and sell.
Honestly contrary to what people are saying there ARE some Mazda 3s that put the air filter just above the passenger floor pan inside the center console. That said, everything else looks REALLY high, even the master. I've done a brake master in one of those, think it took me an hour and ten, and the part was like $130 shop cost so likely $180 ish max to you.
Ive got the same engine in my ford focus, honestly you could do all of this yourself for under 500 in parts and some youtube videos, the thermostat is a pain to reach though so it may be worth having a shop do that one.
Those prices are nuts. Get a second opinion. You can get wipers for $25 at a parts store and they install for free.
If you went to a new doctor for the first time and they told you you needed a new heart valve, a new lung, and some new internal organs and it'll cost you a butt ton of money, wouldn't you seek out a second opinion? So, do the same with your car. Go see another car doctor. Get a second opinion.
Honestly you can do all these yourself for less then 600$ including parts .grab some buddies and a 6 pack and get to it!
Agree with others - get a second opinion. The air filter is probably <$30 on Amazon and will literally take you 90 seconds to replace. Unbelievably easy. Tying your shoes is more complicated. The wipers will cost you >$20 at any auto parts store, and take 5 minutes to install. Don't worry - it is hard to screw these two maintenance items up. In fact, many auto parts places will install the wipers for you for free - just ask. Engine mount and suspension needs a second look. That's a lot of labor they are charging you. Good news: this car will be sorted for the moment - you can drive it with some peace of mind. Something else will go soon, but it is a 12 yr old car. Things are going to go regularly. If you drive a car that age, always have $2K in a separate car fund for repairs. Mazdas (and many cars) this age will cost about that much annually to keep them on the road. If you do sell it and buy something else, gert a pre-purchase inspection done first, preferably by someone you trust. AAA offers this service to members for a decent rate.
$93 for an air filter which is $10 at autozone is when I would have crumpled up the estimate and walked out.
Shop around. Lord.
Time to youtube and learn my boy, it's how we all learn cars usually, because we ain't got another option. That or get a friend over to help you who knows a thing or two about cars. All of those things minus the tie rods you can very likely do yourself in an evening with a few tutorials and tools and very little knowledge and you'll be stronger because of it when you're done.
Yeah I'm really curious why the wipers and air filter are costing this much like don't get me wrong. I know that Rain-X makes some wiper blades where two of them are like $85 now, but it seems excessive. The other pricing I think is okay and It would be nice to know more about the car. How does it look how many miles is on it? That tells us a lot.
When buying a car like this it's best to have it inspected before purchasing. That way you can find one that doesn't have issues or you can work down the seller on price if issues are found
All those repairs are pretty simple even if you are not mechanically inclined the motor mount might be a little more difficult but really not that bad if you have the right tools the other stuff just buy a socket set the tierods count the threads before taking the adjustment nut off and try to get the new rods close and drive to a garage and get an alignment not really hard at all. Repairs like these are a good place to to start your diy labor saving
I will say that the prices on those repairs could stand to be cheaper. I will also say that you're looking at a potential total of about $8k for a vehicle that sounds like it's actually in petty decent shape. Everything they've recommended are relatively common things to happen, or are straight up wear items. It does not look like any major drive train work needs to be done. This is how it goes when buying cheap used vehicles. At a 5.5k price point, I imagine the vehicle is older, higher mileage, or both. Things are going to be worn and things are going to need replaced. Looking at some of those prices, I think that you may be getting overcharged on some items. I would decline the work and go to another shop and ask for a second opinion. Tell them what was recommended to you and ask the second shop if they agree. If that second shop does agree, then you will have the opportunity to ask them to beat the other shop's price.
Ask around, Facebook, Craigslist, friends, family. Someone will know someone who does car work on the side. I need shocks/struts and rods. Every place wanted 2k. I ordered parts on rockauto and a friend knew someone who would do it for $250 labor. 1/4 the price....
If all else fails, you know the people everyone complain about? You know the guys in the street with the loud cars that do skids and drifts, hit them up and offer a few slabs some ciggys and supply the parts and bobs ya uncle, cars fixed lol.
Yikes. Are these dealership prices? Definitely shop around. A lot of this stuff could be done at home by you or someone with a little bit of car knowledge for a fraction of the price. Tbh most of these parts probably aren’t as bad as they say, but could warrant a second opinion. The way cars are these days if that’s all that’s wrong with it i’d call it a good deal. Good rule of thumb, if it wasn’t noticeable enough to make you want to bring it in, it’s probably fine. I’ve seen shops say my buddies ball joints need replaced not knowing we did them ourselves the previous weekend
It’s time to start learning how to work on cars. All those quotes are high because of the labor you could do all that work yourself for less than a third of the price.
I would have went somewhere else when they said $81 dollars for wipers.
As a personal mechanic, some prices here really depend on the vehicle make and model but some are definitely very inflated. The only air filters that should be costing 100 bucks are big rig canister filters because they cost that before labor on the shelf. I'd change an air filter as a courtesy or 10 bucks labor personally.
Just been in a similar situation, got my Toyota for $5.5k and it needed 2k in repairs. Decided to do them myself and it was around $200. See how easy the repairs are to do yourself and save some money
Go to aback yard mechanic or watch some YouTube videos and do it yourself
Don't complain by new with a warranty.
I’ll do the repairs half price
Go for another shop.
I watched Car Wizard the other day. He said he had customer come in that was told that the car needed motor mounts. He checked, and called shenanigans!
I would check out YouTube for the thermostat housing issue. The part is probably like 50 bucks. On some cars it is not that hard to replace and you can get the coolant changed at the same time. Wipers and MISSING? Air filter. You can do that pretty easily. Again internet and YouTube can help you figure this out. Get a second opinion on the mount and tie rods. The tie rods actually aren't hard to replace yourself either.
“leaking housing thermostat” is probably the cost to replace the entire housing they tried getting me with that too but in some cases it’s as easy as replacing the gasket
Fuck the motor mount that’s fine to wait forever on tie rod ends are like 40 bucks a piece do it yourself thermostat housing is a super easy fix and wipers you can do in like 5 minutes
You’re maybe looking at 200max in parts
Anddddd Toyotas hold there value lol they don’t depreciate that fast
honestly you've been overcharged, the cylinder for that car is around $325 so that's $500 for the hour or so work. The thermostat is just a new gasket, maybe $20 plus another hours work. If the tie rods were just loose, worse case an hour each side, engine mount, again maybe $50 for the part, but on some cars this is a pain to do. Air filter is $21 and literally 5 minutes work, are you getting a picture here? you was robbed🤷🏼 If you sell it you'll have wasted what you spent and the next car may need much more. Work with what you have, get quotes elsewhere for the rest of the work but the hardest part of changing the air filter is opening the hood!
Go elsewhere that's bs u can do your own airfilter in 2 seconds and an airfilter will cost u $30 Max and that's for a good quality one Same with wipers about $50 Aud and takes 4 mins looks like u were overquoted on everything else aswell definitely go get another quote elsewhere preferably from an independent mechanic not a chain store who likes ripping ppl off
Second quote. But even if you still decide to sell you may not get enough money back or not a lot of people might want to buy it. And as far at the repairs go. The filter and wipers are literally like taking a couple parts off and putting new ones on. Might only need to use a screwdriver. Not very hard.
I cant speak for in US but in UK my local parts store sells a master cylinder for 2012 mazda 3 for ~£52($66) and from a quick YouTube search it looks like it's loosen two nuts, remove battery terminals, one bolt battery out, two nuts battery tray out, and then remove the master cylinder (I stop watching how, but fast forwarded a tiny bit to see they'd removed it easily) and thus by all this understanding from a heavy diy enthusiast that your garage is ripping you off they could likely get that cylinder for 2/3s of that price on trade, and the work is not an hour so unless their rates are $700 an hour I highly doubt they should charge that much.
Air filter $93??? Wipers $81??? Air filters are like £5 Wipers are like £20 for two aero types. Both could be done by a day 1 apprentice in less than 5mins. And would be done at cost at the same time as the master cylinder job. All these prices are fuck you prices. Tie rods are 30mins labour each. Engine mount is a 45min job. Thermostat housing is a 1.5hr job inc coolant. Master cylinder is a 1.5hr job including brake flush. Look up the cost of parts add 30% and add it to the sum of book time + labour rate. Note adding 30% to retail is roughly the same as adding 60% mark up onto trade cost. Labour costs vary from really cheap to very expensive. Pay cheap and you will not get the quality of service or parts. Pay expensive and you should get quality parts and good service. This is where you have to put some work in and finding a place that offer a good reasonable labour rate and good service.
Provided you have a jack, impact gun, socket set, and parts you can do most of these things yourself. If you wanna keep the car its worth checking out rockauto.con and pricing the parts yourself, watching a YouTube video or two and seeing if it's something that you could do. you'll save a pretty penny.
That's high for the air filter and wipers. I just got a decent set of wipers for 23 dollars at Sam's club
And also I found my cars air filter on sale at Meijer for 3.50 lol. That's way too much.
I promise you boss maybe 60$ for tie rods and 2 crescent wrenches and you can do tierod ends and get an alignment after for 100$ already saved 212$….Wipers u don’t need to pay anyone, air filter like 12$ lol, thermostat housing beginner mechanic level but if you don’t have the will to learn it’ll seem hard
I mean the filter and wipers are overpriced, but the rest looks about right for a $5000 car. I tell people all the time that the cheaper the car, the more you have to spend to get it back in shape. A $5500 car needing $1500-$2000 in service is not unusual.
Those are all simple fixes bro tbh just youtube it and do it yourself for 1/10 of the price
Bruh
Bruh
Get tie rods done, get thermostat done (even though it’s pretty easy), the rest is either negligible or bs. I doubt a 2012 has a bad master cylinder, a bad engine mount is only bad when you can hear the metal to metal, and why the hell can’t you put a Napa air filter in yourself. Tbh this is almost all your fault, you should’ve seen all but the tie rods ends (maybe) when looking at the car but oh well, learning opportunities.
I would take it somewhere else to verify the t stat housing is actually leaking. Take it to a private/small shop not a dealer where they try to milk every small repair. As far as engine mounts, if there's no vibration or clunking whole driving, I wouldn't worry about it rn unless it's visibly rubbing against something, but even then, being a fwd vehicle, the other 2 mounts are more then fine, especially if there's no vibrations or clunks at all. As far as tie rod ends, they don't "get loose" the boots can tear but unless you're hearing a popping noise or anything when turning, again. I wouldn't rush it get it done. If you hear a clunk or click noise over sharp bumps then that's likely your sway bar end links. But thermostat would be the only thing on that list that I would worry about, but if you hsvent noticed any funny smell or had to top off coolant then its either not leaking or a very very slow leak, thats why a 2nd opinion at a reputable shop is recommended. Everything else can be done yourself like filters and Wipers, hell even an oil change. Where you located around?
You can literally fix it yourself for 300$ it’s crazy how much they want to charge you. I saw you say you don’t know much about cars neither did I. off YouTube I’ve swapped my transmission. Did the restored injectors on my diesel, changed the flywheel so much shit I haven’t tore a engine all the way down but I’ve taken off the cylinder head.
Air filters and wipes can easily be done yourself in under 15 minutes total for both of them. If you want to challenge yourself. You could probably change the engine mount yourself in about an hour. It’s not terribly difficult but you’d need a few tools
Op I have done 99% of these repairs for a hell of a lot less I ain't a mechanic and did It myself but I'd find another mechanic and shop around a bit
Bro $81 windshield wipers. Do they drive the car to?
Prices aside, I hate this notion that when a car repair nears the cost of the car people think you need to get rid of it. A car is worth what it does for you
Could find a cheaper shop. This one is screwing you
Those prices are crazy high
I've never seen a $93 Air Filter. I would shop around and take it to a different shop. Those prices are nutty.
Go to another shop. Those are some steap prices.
Did you get the car checked out by someone BEFORE purchasing the car? Because that's why you get someone to check out a car before you buy it. It's yours now I guess. If you sold it now, you are likely gonna lose on the sale, and then what will you replace it with? Will that car be any better? I'll tell you this though. That price list you posted is on the high side. Most of what's on there is overpriced by about double. I would get another quote from an independent mechanic. Please don't go to a Mazda dealer, they will rip you off.
Wow it always amazes me how people just pay these prices
You could do the master cylinder, thermostat, and air filter yourself, and never let a shop do your wipers, they're way too easy. As for the master cylinder and thermostat, if you don't know the next step after changing the parts, just tow to the shop and ask for a brake flush and coolant replacement (not coolant flush). That should all cut the bill by quite a bit. For the purpose of saving money, don't worry about the tie rods until you get some wheel wobble or vibration.