Need help with pricing

Sarinha25

Member
I bought a 2002 Protege5 last year, used, from a friend (who bought it used from the dealership), and, while it's caused me no problems (I love this car!), t's time for some tuning up. Without having looked at the car, a mechanic I called thinks I need new struts (possibly new suspension), timing belt, alternator belt, power-steering belt, and fan belts- which is just for starters. I know I need a new timing belt since I'm a little over 65,000 miles, but I need some help figuring out what the prices should be. He said Struts would be about $388, all the belts would be about $377, and an alignment is $68.

I also need help figuring out if all of those things should even be replaced at all. Being a girl in her 20s, my experience with mechanics telling me the truth has been so-so. I take pretty good care of the car, but live in Boston and the winters are brutal on the roads, so the suspension has taken a bit of a beating from all the potholes (I've heard I need new struts before). If anyone can help me out, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!
 
usually the chain shops like "mavis discount tire" which is around where I live give the best prices because they deal in large quantities. a small mom and pop garage will charge you more obviously, but the larger chain places are from my experience alot cheaper and they can be haggled with...i'd start with the struts...changing out the spark plugs is real easy and they are about $1.75 a plug. a dealer would probobly charge $200 to do it. Good Luck.
 
The timing belt isnt due for replacement until 80 or 100k. Its only due for an inspection.

Other belts definetly warrent an inspection, but not necessarily a replacement.

If the car is still handling fine, you could almost certainly wait on the struts. If you do decide to do struts, I would say its not a bad idea to upgrade to tokico HP struts (they can be gotten for about $350 on ebay).

Those prices arent bad per-se, but I think the mechanic is trying to sell you more than is really necessary.
 
He's going a bit overboard for just 65k miles - I could see suggesting those things if you were approaching 100k
 
Back