Guy quoted almost $400 to put Intakes on a G37 at Forged Performance.. thoughts?
 

This was given to me by a friend asking if it was a fair price and for shop price comparisons.

Summary: Some parts have reasonable prices. Others.. well not really at all. 3.5 hours to install Stillen intakes. 2.5 hours for a catback. $2350 for a $1900 exhaust.

Prices speak for themselves.

Information of the quoted person has been blinded although I am sure it will be dug up by Forged. All logos are property of Forged and are only shown as referenced on the quote provided to my friend.

I fully anticipate people trying to make me look bad for posting about this quote but the facts are facts and quotes are quotes.

Is your friend a girl? No mercy at all. LoL

5K? Pretty close to just getting a GTM supercharger with DIY install.

My friend is a guy, really nice guy actually, new to the scene and went to Forged with questions, resulting in this quote.

$109/hr. Seems kind of steep to me. 'course I'm a tightwad when it comes to paying someone else to do the work. :rolleyes:

That's high. Taking that the whole thing is steep out of the equation. A shop should never sell you a product then charge you shipping on something thats not being shipped to you, it's flat out ridiculous. Their shipping cost should be taken out of the profit.

I've paid 100 buck an hour there years ago. That's the going rate if you ask me. I do most of my own work. I even installed my own turbo kit and had them tune it along with some other stuff. So $100 an hour I didn't mind paying. I saved thousands doing things myself. That's just what it is. But you should be hooked up when it comes to multiple installs at once. I could see the exhaust taking that long if you have to relocate the EVAP on the rear. They really shouldn't charge as much for the cats being installed since they are already under there removing the exhaust. IMHO. But I don't run a shop, so I can't say what I would do if I had bills to pay to run a shop. That is a quote. So it might be less than that when they get done. Never know. Everything is negotiable. But for the intakes, not sure. You do have to take the front clip off and trim some pieces. But they should know how to do this inside and out.

Does your buddy live here in GA? Maybe I could help. My dad and I both own a lift.

Aside from the HFC's which are kind of tough, the rest could have been installed easily by your friend and you. Waste of money.

HFC's really are not that bad also. Couple of bolts hard to reach but I'm used to it. The exhaust is about as easy as it gets.

i got quoted for an hour install for a cat back exhaust. 2.5 .... .wtf?

Keep in mind some exhaust require to relocate the EVAP. Takes more time to do right. But I'm sure they would charge less.

high flow cats price is reasonable but everything else is bs man.

2350 + shipping for the hks exhaust? WHATTTT?!!

Lets see.

I can do HFC's, and a catback in 1.5 hours my-self. It's not that hard. Intakes another 1.0 maybe.
Seems way out of the ballpark if you ask me.

This kills me. The shop makes a profit on the retail price of the parts then over charges for installation.

Also getting azz raped for install of cat back exhaust. The highest I have ever see is $125.00. Shame on Forged for charging that muck .. What a scam !!!!!

Damn.. I didnt see they also charged for the shipping and handling seperate from the price of the exhaust. This is a joke .. Not only do they trash your vehicle . They charge a pretty penny to do it as well....

Wow. You should get a free Vaseline for that.

2.5 hours for a bolt on exhaust seems pretty extreme. It's less than 1 hour if you take your sweet time and includes unpacking the shipping box.

HFC time is fair. Can be a lot shorter if things go well. They are removing the stock airboxes anyway for the intake so that does make things easier.

Intake time is too high as well, especially if they've done one before. It takes 2 hours if you've never done it and have to figure out where everything goes.

it would take me 2.5 hours if the car was on jacks but using a lift.... no time at all. Theres a member that posted on here about him having a lift and you can use it for free. Just take care of him. Its not hard just a little bit of time. WIth the money you save you can buy a headunit, speakers, sub, amp or other mods.

Some friend.

Did he at least buy you a drink before he tried to fvck you?

Good point.

I find it interesting that the customer himself didn't post this. Instead it's a member of the forum has a long standing agenda to disparage Forged Performance, and promote his favorite local shop. We are always happy to discuss our prices, but I hope everyone recognizes the OP's motivation for this post.

That said, lets start with several points that need clarification.

1) HKS HiPower for the G37/370 is $2595 plus shipping MSRP NOT $1900 MSRP as the OP States. We quoted $2395 +$45 shipped to our shop, and it's a huge massive oversized box. TO ship this product from HKS in California costs us $110. Our gross profit margin on this sale product is 15% after shipping and CC fee. Everyone in this industry knows there is next to nothing in profit on the parts side of the business. If the customer can find the product cheaper elsewhere, they are welcome to have it shipped to our shop, or bring it in with them for install. We have no problem installing parts purchased elsewhere.

2) Installing a cat back on the 370Z is not a 1 hr job. On a Honda, Evo, or Subaru..yes it's a 1 or 1.5 hr job. Our time includes inspecting the vehicle, carefully putting it on the lift, and relocating/rerouting the Evap canister as needed. Then we bring the car up to operating check and double check for leaks or potential rubbing. Some exhausts take more time that others.

3) Installing a long tube intake requires bumper removal and replacement and lower belly tray. We tape up the fender and headlight to avoid potential scratching as the bumper is put back on. We think 2.5 to 3.5hrs is fair for this type of job. We charge 1.5 hrs for intakes that don't require bumper removal and replacement.

Please recognize, that our labor rate is not $80 or $90/hr like many shops located in more remote areas of the country which have lower overhead. If our labor rate was $80/hr that "$400 intake install" would have been $280. We are located in the heart of metro Atlanta, which is very convenient verses driving considerably further out of the area through traffic. Our labor rate is $109/hr, and we compensate our staff very well in hopes of finding and retaining the best people. I know we aren't the least expensive shop in the country, but we are among the best in the industry...and customers can decided for themselves if they'd like to do business with us. That said, I feel we have the best group of sales and technical guys here currently, and there are 11 of us working nearly 6 days a week getting things done. We are very easy to get a hold of, and respond quickly.

In the real world here, it's amazing how a 2hr job ends up taking 3 hours. Rusty seized bolts, stubborn fasteners, very low cars that are tricky to rack... you name it we've seen it all. Most people that do bolt-on jobs with us wait around for their vehicles, and they all know they are getting exactly what they paid for in terms of time.

Lastly, if you get a lower installed written price elsewhere, 90% of the time, we can match or beat it. Thanks for the feedback.

1) I did not disparage you, just posted your quote. It is funny that the quote you gave has a consensus of overcharging customers which in of itself disparages you on its own terms.

2) See picture for several offerings of this exhaust at the $1900-$2000 quote if you do not believe me. Nobody sells for MSRP when the profit margin is large enough unless they are trying to oust big money from new customers.

3) Overcharging customers is not a good way to pay your workers well, although the 2nd part is a good idea. Try courting the business with good deals and you can have the best of both worlds when your customers tell others about your ethical business practices and rates. This is not a reference to another shop but a business strategy in general (take notes?).

4) I helped put a set of intakes on with full protection myself (amongst others who have done the same in similar timeframes) at 2 hours flat taking my time, WITHOUT a lift. So the best workers cant do this in less than that, with a lift and professional tools and help, with full attention to protecting a customer's car? The bumper on the 370Z unlike the 350 is EASY to take off, takes 10 min max. Other shops also do this in the same amount of time, often installing powdercoated versions which require even more attention to detail to avoid scratches.

Who cares who he is or "what his motivation for this post" is? If its the truth and the Quote is authentic why does it matter?

Maybe the Potential Customer didn't want to have to deal with the drama that goes along with negitive posts towards you, like having lawyers call demanding the post be removed. :eek2:

The quote was not marked or stated as confidential and personal/business details were blinded. Consent was obtained from the original owner of the quote, who acquired rights of ownership upon provision from Forged. Logos for Forged were also given proper credit in the OP. If the quote was marked as confidential it would not have been posted. The post is not disparaging either, its just an apparent consensus from the responses on the forum that your own quote disparages you per the knowledge of market prices that members of this forum have.

Feel free to have your lawyers call me as needed as my uncle is one, and its not like I know anything of this myself........ :tup:

I'm not going to comment on most of your post, I'll leave that up to Sharif if he decides to reply. However, I did want to point out where the pricing difference is coming from. Effective December 21, 2010 HKS implemented a large price increase. All HKS dealers were notified of this change and should have altered their pricing on their websites accordingly. Several of the online webstores who are not authorized dealers likely did not hear about this change yet as they primarily work out of their house/garage selling parts on the side, thus not moving much volume. Those are usually the lower prices you see. I even know many HKS dealers who have just not had time to change their prices. Before the price increase our listing would have been close to the $2000 range. I'm not here to debate, but I think it is important that anyone who reads this understands the reasoning for the higher price on the exhaust that we quoted compared to a quick google search. New MSRP is $2595 on this exhaust. The customer was not quoted MSRP.

so 7.5hrs @ 109an hr + tax for intake hfc and exhaust? This borderlines extortion...how sad...am sure others have paid this before too...my buddy and i did the same work on a lift at his shop in about 3hrs with a 30min pizza break...the exahust was breeze except the cats demon bolt...the majority of the time was spent on the Gen III

The exhaust is still for sale in several shops for $1900-$2000 ish, I just confirmed via phone. You might want to ask HKS then about why you are getting slammed on costs since I called some reputable shops (not naming here, check Google, keeping this out of the shop vs shop zone).

None of that explains the labor hour estimates either which, per members on here, are SERIOUSLY overextended and unrealistic.

Oh and PS - your quote was provided on to the customer on 12/07/2010, so are you overcharging prior to anticipated rate hikes by HKS or are you keeping people waiting for 24 days + for their parts until rates increase? I figure you had to order the exhaust but I know for a fact that HKS ships in less than two weeks for this one.

that might be a perfectly good excuse if the quote hadn't been give before that
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...334/Forged.jpg

Edit: i took the picture the OP used

Good catch.

Boy oh boy! I hate to see things like this. But we got to drop this. Seems as there's more personal agenda than actual experience. If you ever delt with Forged and done some amount of business with them, they ended up giving alot back to you than you could imagine. I've never known a single person or shop do this. They have given me close to if not a thousand of dollars of labor over time. I was shocked I was not charged for some things, even felt bad walking away. Then the advice and suggestions given are all priceless. There was also many times I've been up there to hang and they would buy my lunch countless times. These things say alot. They even wash my car too. Seems here people are judging from the outside. Sharif did state they will match and discuss prices with you. Nothing is set in stone. I have to state again, they do do alot behind the scene.

If I ran a shop I would charge more to customers to have great employees instead of blow joe who claims they know there stuff. Have a dealer install these these things and see what happens.

Sorry bud but if they offer other items to justify their price quotes, maybe they should advertise them on the quote.

They could add: "Free knowledge, expertise, and car washing service for those who pay our over-extended rates."

And PS to you - other shops offer the same advise PRIOR to you overpaying. It seems they do hire the best workers though since one person "via Extra Sensory Pricing Perception (also known as E.S.P.P., included in your Forged quote) detected the upcoming HKS price hike and included it in the quote 24 days prior to implementation".

The pic the op used has the date blacked out. So how do you explain that? The date looks as it is 12/7/10, which is before.

B/c we both have originals of the pic (common distaste for people being ripped off I guess, shrug). I would post the whole pic but for privacy issues but i can post the pic with the date if need be. I think we all know its true but let me know if you need further proof SPOHN.

:nutswinger:

did you not read my edit? i took that pic on my phone and sent it to OP, would you like for my to edit another to prove its the same? i figured most people could tell by the shadowing:shakes head:

Well, My thought is posting and complaining about how much one shop charges compared to another shop is crap. If someone doesn't like the quote? Simply go to another shop! End of story.

I agree, so here is the post with a Forged install quote. If you do not like it, use your discretion for shop hunting. Knowledge is power (to avoid being ripped off if you are fond of your hard earned cash).

:iagree:

Obviously some people value Forged as they remain in business. If you don't, then go find another shop.

There not really that all extended. Most shops carge very close to this. And there not specialist either. Forged in my mind know more about thses cars than the dealer does. Just knowing a peace of mind when they worked on your ride nad along with all the other insepctions they go over and probably fix without you even knowing.

PS. I don't want to get have any off feelings for no one here.