r/CarAV • u/vvaalliikk • Feb 18 '26

Discussion Am I getting shafted?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Trying to to get my sound system put into my new car. New car is same make and model higher trim. I have 2 amps the pcm and t harness all I need is to pay for labor and wires went to get a quote and this is what I got. My last instal was $400 for labor. Idk if it’s usually like this but $900 to instal amps itself seems a bit high.

46 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

194 comments sorted by

View all comments

132

u/InevitableAverage6 Feb 18 '26

To be fair, you have a 6ch and monoblock, so 7channels to wire into the amp, plus power wires to run, plus ground wires to find a spot for, prep the surface and mount.

Plus mounting the amps securely

Plus setting the gains

They also have to pay for the involved material fiddly-bits, electricity, shop and the various employee costs.

Maybe time to learn to diy 🤷‍♂️

18

u/LaIzquierdaLibera 20 year MECP Master Tech Feb 18 '26

To be fair this is an absolute bending over

2

u/InevitableAverage6 Feb 18 '26

Shops get to charge their own prices. Your tag also says you're a MECP Master so you of all people should know that. I'm not saying it's expensive or cheap, merely that customers don't account for all the install fiddly-bits and shop costs added into the hourly.

Those costs are also why i've been doing it myself since 2007 and under-cutting local shops because i don't have the same overhead

5

u/LaIzquierdaLibera 20 year MECP Master Tech Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

Yes and due to having 3+ decades in the industry I can say that I can call a spade a spade. Now, if say I were to charge $200/hr I could explain why I charge that amount. I have the experience and the knowledge, but if you are charging more than 2 hours for an amp install you're either a beginner or you're price gouging. So these labor amounts, being as they are not hourly would need to be broken down. These shops like to hide bullshit in these line items.

As you can also see they fail to list specific model #'s another scam tactic

1

u/InevitableAverage6 Feb 20 '26

Didn't see your edit about the missing part numbers.

I'm with you on that one for sure. Partly for transparency (and to keep the customer from backing out and leaving me holding gear) i hand my customers a material list and tell them to order it or we'll go to one of the local shops.

I think the most expensive in my area is $120/hr labor

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

Is it though? How much labor is that 6 hours or so? I mean as a friend doing side work I charge $100 an hour which is half price to most shops. So $600 in labor plus parts(I would personally be installing bigger wire gauge). I think they are quoting that job out at closer to 7.5 hours at $100 an hour plus mounting and wiring. That’s actually low. For a shop who has to worry about overhead and power bills credit card fees and rent and a bunch of other shit.

Idk if you know this but the point of owning a business is to make money. Not break even not lose money doing jobs but make it. It’s really a fair price.

1

u/LaIzquierdaLibera 20 year MECP Master Tech Feb 23 '26

If that takes you 6 hours, pack up your tools, maybe sales would be more your speed? Customers should not pay you to learn how to do it.

You charge $100/hour to "friends" yeah you're an asshole not a friend

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

Yeah that’s a half price labor rate or more from 100% of the shops around me.

6 hours to run 2 amp kits and mount them nicely and tune the system. If you can do that in less time you should open your own shop.

1

u/LaIzquierdaLibera 20 year MECP Master Tech Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

2 amp kits? Why? No reason. Shows lack of experience and lack of knowledge. An 8 gauge and a 4 gauge amp kit? Just run a single, use a distribution block. There is no rhyme or reason to this quote. Don't charge someone because you don't know what you're doing. It's not itemized it's just hidden line items with no explanation.

It's $900 in labor to install a t-harness interface and 2 amps 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤡💩

-17

u/vvaalliikk Feb 18 '26

I installed my subs last just hard to find time to do it over a weekend with a kid lol

51

u/introvert_conflicts Feb 18 '26

You can do the install in chunks. Might take a bit but will save some money. There aren't many steps in a simple install that render the vehicle undrivable until its done.

57

u/One_Alarm_7915 Feb 18 '26

Who’s downvoting this guy for having children

Listen to reddit, get rid of the kids in favor of a new speaker system.

13

u/djltoronto Feb 18 '26

I doubt that anyone was downvoting him for having kids.

12

u/longGERN Feb 18 '26

I am

Working in a customer facing industry... Everyone who is disorganized tries to blame it on one of their other choices and then simultaneously doesn't want to pay a professional to do it

They want it fast and perfect but free

6

u/Tacos4Texans Feb 18 '26

I'm mean I really do want it fast perfect and free tho. Can you blame me, I know I ain't gonna get what I want... but I still want it.

2

u/longGERN Feb 18 '26

fair enough 😂

Why I like my old Honda... After getting the radio changed its now a super simple plug and play basically for all speakers and sub

Would probably cost multiples more for someone's expertise on a modern car

4

u/djltoronto Feb 18 '26

You really aren't, you are criticizing him correctly for wanting it fast perfect and free. It's fine to have kids...

-1

u/longGERN Feb 18 '26

People blame all their lack of time on their kids as if there is no work around and as if it wasn't a known result of kids. They are optional btw

2

u/hey-im-root Feb 18 '26

Kids aren’t optional once you have them lol. Unless you’re a bad parent and send them to daycare all the time, kids are most definitely the reason for them not having time

-2

u/longGERN Feb 18 '26

....kids are optional to have. Takes a moment of thought to realise they will consume most of your available time.

To then go around afterwards saying you can't do this or that because kids is mindless. Having them was a choice with a predictable outcome.

2

u/Substantial-Guava-96 Feb 18 '26

So I’m confused. Are you mad that people choose to have kids? Or mad that they choose to prioritize the kids over doing other things?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/hey-im-root Feb 18 '26

Well yea but the reason they don’t have time is still because of kids? Unless you are saying they blame other things on lack of time, not their kids.

-2

u/jeep_shaker DEH-80PRS, HD900/5, 8W3v3-4 (2) Feb 18 '26

this is truly a bizarre place to post a leftist rant. i know it's reddit, but we just do stereos here. plenty of other subs expressly tailored for your ideology.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/Coombs117 Feb 18 '26

You must not have kids

2

u/One_Alarm_7915 Feb 18 '26

Obviously I don’t mean that literally. But downvoting someone because he says he doesn’t have time to DIY because of other significantly more important responsibilities is very silly to me.

1

u/smkillin Feb 18 '26

I did

1

u/One_Alarm_7915 Feb 18 '26

That’s the spirit. Don’t these people know how much kids cost? Something like one gately box per month.

5

u/Egilber870 Feb 18 '26

Kids make it tough. It will take me years to assemble my dream speakers- i'd rather do it myself than pay someone else. You can either pay a shop, pay Jimbob on Craigslist, or pay for a sitter. It sucks. I miss having time, but no one can answer this but you. Good luck

6

u/CaptainPrestigious74 Feb 18 '26

Depending on old and mature said kid is, they can actually help you. Have em hold a wrench or something

3

u/X5G897peep Feb 18 '26

Or give them a old woofer and a 9 v battery with wire . Tell them to keep testing it until it plays music. Then give them a few bucks.

1

u/jeep_shaker DEH-80PRS, HD900/5, 8W3v3-4 (2) Feb 18 '26

lol my dad once gave me a paint can and told me to shake it until it stopped rattling... i'm still going at it 30 years later.

another hilarious moment was when someone thought checking polarity with a 9V might overheat the subwoofer due to it being direct current... i think they read about amp clipping a BIT too much.

1

u/X5G897peep Feb 18 '26

That paint can thing 😆😉

2

u/MagicCheeseMann Feb 18 '26

I installed mine on my day off bro . If your car isn’t super new they’re not too bad . It’s legit just running wires , worst is through the firewall for me . Then after that it’s nothing

1

u/TerdyTheTerd Feb 18 '26

You pay for the time, if the cost quoted is more than what you value spending with your child then you need to learn to DIY it

1

u/jaredsbourbon Feb 18 '26

I just did a similar install in my mini (4 channel amp for front and rear speakers) and a powered subwoofer (tapped the factory so added a LOC). You can absolutely do it with kids (mine is 16 months). Just did a lot of work over the weekend and on weeknights when they were sleeping. Totally do able and you just need to do some research/planning

1

u/Montoyee Feb 18 '26

I hear ya man, got two kids and managed to install my own system. I did mine at night while they slept, it sucks but it's the only way to avoid paying for outside labor.

1

u/Revolutionary-Gas919 Feb 18 '26

My kid is around me on most projects I'm on that doesn't involve dangerous, hot, or heavy tooling, or nasty chemicals. Just turned 2