Is my mechanic ripping me off?

Crazycaver will soon be looking for an apprentice if you want to get your hands dirty!!! I can just see a complete lifestyle change for you from marketing data guru to grease monkey!

 

i would say that was a reasonable price. most of the stuff was bolt on which you could of done yourself. the strap on the glove box is a pain to do, i found,
so as peeps have said ask for a estimate, and as for a service i would not trust a modern day garage to change my oil. as they cant even manage to seal one drain nut in my modern day car :

 

I got stiffed on some MOT work done on my car recently.
I questioned the bill and got a long story about carrying out a repair, taking it to the MOT station, wasnt good enough, having to do it again and so on. Basically openly admitting to being incompetent and charging me the hours for it. He did it in such a jovial way.
I know things like fitting bumpers can throw up gotchas and it can be a pain unseizing bolts on your back in the rain but that;s why you pay a mechanic with the tools (air chisels etc) to do the job efficiently and to price.

I try to get prices in advance but i've found that even when i do some mechanics are not shy in bumping up the bill with a tale off woe.

As others have advised i try and do as much as possible myself and pass work onto mechanics that needs kit and a dry space.. Wish I had a garage, or a garage share.

I wonder if there's a business in hiring a business unit and splitting it into leasable work bays for classic motor enthusiasts?

Like this:

http://www.twistngo.com/news/london-s-first-self-service-workshop

Cheers
s