austinDevi

this is for a 2004 SC430 and would be at an independent shop using Lexus parts replacing front & rear struts and bumpers. online at parts.lexus.com it appears that this set of parts runs about $1150 MSRP. what would be a reasonable labor charge for a good quality independent shop? I'm not looking for the cheapest price I just want a fair price. any thoughts or experiences you can share? thanks.

Raven01750

Lexus parts? I think you are looking at about $2600.00. No one here I know of uses OEM struts. Do a forum search. This subject is OLD!

PAUL

DJWLDW

austinDevi

Back in Mar of 2020 A independent in Richmond, VA charged my son $402.50 in labor to replace the rear Shocks/Struts and in 2021 he paid a different shop in Richmond, VA I believe $325 to replace the front struts on his 2005 SC.

Dennis

austinDevi

thank you for the answers. my independent shop is roughly in the ball park. not the cheapest and not the most expensive so I am comfortable. thanks

i went with the OEM struts. maybe that is not the best or smartest choice, but for someone like myself who knows no better it seemed like a reasonably safe path.

DJWLDW

We went back with the OEM front and rear on my sons 2005 SC 430 and OEM rear on my 2006 SC 430. I have not needed to change out the fronts on the 06 but I will go back with the OEM when the time comes. I went back and looked and my shop here in NWA charged me $336.60 in labor to replace my rear struts on the 06.

Dennis

austinDevi

just in case it becomes relevant for someone else, here is how the actual pricing went (independent shop Austin TX):

I went with OEM parts and for all four shocks and bump stops the parts cost was $530 for the front and $700 for the rear (a total of $1,230). I looked these parts up at parts.lexus.com and this was the MSRP plus about $40 (presumably a shipping or delivery charge). it is possible the shop gets a discount over MSRP, but I do not begrudge them that.

for labor the cost was $210 per side for the front and $280 per side for the back (total of $980). while I would have loved to pay less, given the cost of rent, utilities, labor, margin to cover warranty, plus a profit I didn't think this was unreasonable.

so my total, not counting sales tax was $2,200. I'm thinking that if you do the work yourself and shop more carefully for parts maybe you could do the job for $800-ish

DJWLDW

I pulled the invoice from Megazip.net which is where I ordered the new rear shock for my 2006 SC back on July 4 2020. The breakl down is as follows.

A: Absorber Assy, Shock Rear: $127.09 x 2 = $254.18
B: Cushion Rear Shock Absorber No.1 $4.44 x 2 = $8.88
C: Cushion Rear Shock Absorber No 2 $12.81 x 2 = $25.62
D: Collar (for Rear Support to Shock $3.92 x 2 = $7.84
E: Bumper Rear Spring No 1 $29.54 x 2 = $59.08

Total $355.60
Shipping Delivered to my Front Door in $110.59
in 5 days
$466.19

Installation $336.60


Total Installed $802.79

Dennis

austinDevi

thanks. your installed cost for rear shocks was about 60% of what i paid 2 years later. well done.

for further info for the group, i looked up the parts prices from three sources: parts.lexus.com; lexuspartsnow.com; megazip.net . For the parts I ordered (front and rear shocks and bumpers) here is the cost at each source for the identical part numbers:

parts.lexus.com - $1,289 total = $1,162 parts + $35 shipping + $93 tax
lexuspartsnow.com: $1.025 total = $908 parts + $42 shipping + $75 tax
megazip.net: $704 total = $555 parts + $149 shipping

quite the spread

DJWLDW

If I can get it from Megazip.net I will always order from them. I have ordered a ton of stuff from them for both my 2006 SC and my sons 2005 SC as well as my 2010 LS 460L. They have always been great to work with. I was not able to get the rear struts themselves from Megizip for my sons 2005 because they were out of stock. I ordered all the other parts that I had replaced on my 2006 from Megazip but the rear struts I ordered from Monster Lexus Parts and paid over twice the amount for them. There is a break down in an older thread about the costs.

Dennis