Just wondering what you guys think it would cost and is a reasonable price to install a new headlight unit for my front left headlight. I bought the unit offline for a pretty good price and now have to have it installed. I know the dealerships rip you off but since I was just getting an oil change today I asked them if they couple pop the unit it for me as well. They said around 210 dollars. Do you think that's a fair price since they have to take the front bumper off to install it?

 

Deleted. Wrong post. Silly me

 

It's really very easy to remove the front bumper, especially on a lift. Do you not have the tools/desire to swap it out yourself? 210$ to change a plug and play headlamp assembly seems outrageous to me.

 

Have not done it myself so take it for what's it worth, but a quick Google shows a pretty straightforward fyi for this. That's seems high to me unless there charging $200 dollars an hour for labor..... ouch

 

Also my two front control arms need to be replaced. How much would you say those cost replacing plus labor? They showed me in the shop how there is play in both arms of the veichale

 

Control arms are also a DIY project with basic hand tools if you've got a driveway and some jack stands. Would definitely be more convenient to have a dealership do it, but substantially more expensive. That would be a few hours on the lift, so I would imagine not a cheap job if they are asking $210 for a headlight.

 

I don't have the tools or really know what I'm doing honestly. I just don't want to get screwed by the dealership but need this done pretty quickly for multiple reasons. I called my local shop and was quoted around 1300 for both control arms and back break pads to go along as well. I got the dealership down to 1600 and I know it' still high. For 300 dollars more and convenience I said ok. They are also telling me my belts need replacement but didn't give the ok. I have really done nothing to this car besides replacing the front wheel berings from lots of rust up here in New England. I have an 09 g37xs with 95k on it and other than oil changes new tires and wheel bearings nothing has really been replaced.

 

I'm a tech at a dealership so I can see things from both sides.

For $215 in labor to install your headlight they are most likely charging you 1.5 hours labor, which seems about right. I wouldn't replace a headlight assembly that required dropping the front bumper for less than 1 hour of labor. Not worth my time.

For Toyotas we typically charge 5 hours labor to replace both front lower control arms and alignment cost on top. I would assume Infiniti is within the 5 hour labor ball park.

What did they do to demonstrate to you that your lower control arms have excessive play? If it's really bad you can feel and see the wheels shifting when hard braking forward or backwards at low speeds <5mph

The drive belt is something you should replace as well as spark plugs. Those 2 should be main priority (along with your rear brakes) since you are nearing 100k miles. It wouldn't hurt to change all your fluids in the future when you have money set aside. Coolant, brake, power steering, transmission, differential fluids.

My 2011 has 72k miles right now and my drive belt shredded apart on me while driving at 50k miles.

I've read that the service interval for drive belts for our cars are every 50-60k miles which is crazy. However after having my belt break with only 50k miles I would be worried exceeding that again. This is from my own experience. If you have 95k miles and you're on the original belt I would change it ASAP.

The belt itself is about $30 if you buy Gates brand from O'reilly auto parts. OEM dealership part may be ~$100 (Dealership prices are crazy). Expect to be charged 1 to 1.5 hours labor for this. So a rough estimate $100 (OEM belt) + $150-$225 (labor) = $250-$325 + tax + equipment/shop/disposal fees = $300-$375.

You can save yourself a lot of money by buying a good quality aftermarket belt for $30 like Gates and paying a REPUTABLE independent shop to install it for you. They may only charge you $80-$150 to install it.

Most independent shops charge $60-$100/hr whereas most dealerships are $125-$150/hr.

 

Seems a little expensive to me.
Maybe try the nissan dealer or another shop.

 

@Qmantran. Thank you for an accurate response as a technician. I went ahead and replaced both control arms, back brakes and belts. I may of paid a little more but at least it's done and what needed to get replaced did. I have one more question for you. Since I bought the after market headlight assembly unit I've noticed the top of the headlight doesn' fit quit as snug as the OEM one. Honestly I'm not woried cause it fits well enough and the light projection is perfect just like the OEM once displayed. Just want to make sure if that will or would ever be a problem with to much water or whatever getting into the small open space on the top since it doesn't sit perfectly flush. Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

How about having it done by a bodyshop? They do it all the time and labor hours are much less. Last time I was around one, it was around $30 an hour. Probably more like $40-$50 an hour. I don't see why they would refuse work.

 

I paid close to $4000 Canadian to have my headlight replace at the infiniti dealership.

 

damn guys. replace the lights urself if theyre gonna charge that much. jesus $4k? its not rocket science. just follow the diy here and ur good to go.

 

Please tell me you accidentally added a extra "0".

Or do you mean you bought 2 brand new headlight assemblies + labor to install them?

$4,000 CAD is $3,100 USD which is still ****ING EXPENSIVE

 

oh Sorry guys, I meant to say that I bought the headlight and they've installed and it came to a total close to $4000. The headlight were $1200 each