What did your hitch cost? saga of a hitch rack...

[colorisnt]

So a week and a half ago, I went to a place that was recommended to me by EVERYONE to put a hitch on. My family has used them and they are good and affordable, so I went there. I paid the money to ship the hitch fast and get it on my car on Thursday of this week. I also put down a deposit of 25%. They estimated it would be about $200.00 with tax for the hitch and installation on my 2010 Kia Soul.

Excited, I called to ask about when to bring the car in. I was told whenever before 1 PM yesterday. Great, I thought, I will do in the morning because it is going to be too hot and I will be riding my bike home.

So, I drop the car off. The girl at the desk was unprofessional and looked annoyed that I was interrupting her makeup application (which is odd because I have gone in here before and they were always helpful). I rode the bike home and get a call at 12:30 telling me to call.

No one picks up for 2 HOURS and then they tell me they forgot to order the hitch and they will refund my shipping, overnight it, and do it tomorrow.

Disappointed, but no so important, as I would be at work the next day and don't need a car as I commute by bike. I say, fine, I'll leave the car.

An hour later they call me back and tell me it will cost $115.00 to overnight it and want ME to cover the excess. WTF?! NO. So, they say they can do it Monday. Tough cookies. The reason I wanted it done NOW is because my friend is coming in from the UK and we are going up to Traverse City on Thursday and hoping to bring the bikes to commute to/from town for food and shopping. I have to pick her up at O'Hare on Monday and I won't be back until later.

Oye.

So we schedule it for Tuesday and I want some money off the bill. Fair, they say they can do that.

My Dad tells me to call his mechanic and I do. They get me in today. I drop it off. They tell me they also need to order it an quote me $430!!! They are using the same hitch with (with shipping) is $120.00!


So I guess I am stuck if I want to bring them to Michigan. And I don't think it will be okay to pay that much. My boss's husband who does this sort of thing told me it is a simple install and would take about 45 minutes to do since the holes are already on my frame. If I had a lift, I could honestly do it myself, but I don't.

What did you pay?

This is a simple install. They DO have to drop the exhaust, but there will be no drilling, no welding, etc. All you need is a wrench and a life. I'm serious!

And it's a class I hitch. Do you think the $430.00 is outrageous?

[Cataboo]

Look at jcwhitney.com - there's a few other companies that sell hitches and have free shipping. I know there was another site, but just google the name of the hitch once you find one on jcwhitney. Check retailmenot.com or fatwallet.com for coupon codes.

It's probably too late for when you need to get it done for something like that.

When I was looking for a hitch for my subaru outback shortly after getting it, I think the hitch was something like $200-250 online with free shipping. I was being cheap, and for whatever reason, I noticed that someone on craigslist was selling an uninstalled subaru trailer hitch on craigslist for $125. So... I went to go pick it up.

I think I was in the first 500 miles of the car, so I had to give it an oil change, so I bought it an oil filter... and went to my Mom's for the weekends so I could use my dad's tools. When dad had built the driveway, he'd put a concrete ramp on one side of it, so you could drive the car up the ramp on the one side and then crawl underneath it... So I did that. It probably took me about 2 hours to install it. If that. I was like lying under the car with my legs holding the hitch up in place while screwing in the bolts. That was 4 years ago and I never had a problem since.

Someone on craigslist was selling a yakima bike rack with the ski/snowboard adapter and with the 1 1/4" hitch size - and I guess because it was the smaller hitch size it stayed up longer and I was able to buy it off her "cheap"


But after putting the hitch on, it was dark, so I hurriedly did the oil change - I used a flash light, drained the oil pan, and removed the oil filter which said "oil filter" on the side...

So the next morning, I'm driving back to school... I put the car in gear and try to drive off the ramp... and absolutely nothing happens.

I'm freaked that I've killed my brand new subaru, but for whatever reason I go check the oil that I drained out of Sooobie and realize that... Oh, that's transmission fluid.

So I borrow my mom's car, go to about 4 local auto parts stores who don't sell the new subaru's transmission fluid filter and don't sell ATF-J transmission fluid.

So finally I drive about 20 miles up the highway to the closest subaru dealer, ask for a new transmission filter, new oil filter, and buy however many bottles of ATF-J. Cost - about $125. The parts guy is just laughing his head off at me for draining the transmission fluid. I pull out the tramission fluid filter, and point out that on the side of it clearly says "oil filter" and he cracks up and says "yeah, it probably shouldn't say that, but they use the same housing for those filters - they used to be different colors, but no longer"

Now, some people do recommend that you change the transmission fluid in a new car, and the car did shift better afterwards.

[Crankin]

We paid $225 for the hitch for my BMW small sedan; ordered it on-line from something like etrailer.com. DH installed it himself.
This was about 4 years ago though.

[uforgot]

I think I paid around $175 for the hitch for the dodge neon. I just ordered it though our local car parts store and my mechanic charged me $25 to put it on. Small town, he does all my work, but I did have to put up with laughter and jokes about putting a hitch on a Neon. (I'm in big truck country). I think what they are charging you is outrageous. They told me that it just had to be attached, holes and everything were already there. Not a big deal.

[pumpkinpony]

I got mine from U-Haul. Ordered and installed for $225, and that did involve drilling holes in the frame. ugh. Apparently they ordered the wrong hitch, but instead of sending it back they decided to make it fit. I'm still not real happy about that.

[Pyannyplayer]

I ordered one for my Prius online for $150. It took us about 20 minutes to install, without a ramp or anything - just under the car on the garage floor. It used the holes already there; the instructions with it were pretty clear and easy to follow. I think they're taking you for a ride, so to speak. That's a lot of money they're trying to charge you.

[divingbiker]

I got mine from U-Haul. Ordered and installed for $225.

Ditto.

[colorisnt]

Thanks for all the replies! Now I feel my turning down their offer was completely legitimate. The funny part was they offered to let me make payments ON A HITCH INSTALL. Haha. I totally would install it if I had a driveway to do so in. However, we live in the city and I park on the street. We have an alley to park on but it is gravel.

I honestly just didn't have time to far around with it. And I Was just expecting to drop it off an pick it up a couple of hours later. Guess I was wrong.

[Irulan]

Are we talking bomber hitches for towing anything, or bolting on a little reciever for a 1-1/8 hitch bike rack?

It has been some years, but it was around $250 to have a 2" hitch put on the frame of our SUV. We haul a 1-ton flat bed trailer a lot, so do it yourself wasn't really an option as we needed wiring for lights, etc.

[Blue_Fedora]

DH has a Ford Escort... he bought his hitch on the internet for $159 and installed it himself. He said it was an hour's worth of work for someone who knows what they're doing.

[colorisnt]

Irulan,

It's just for a bike rack (no hauling). I don't need wiring and it is a 1 and 1/4'' hitch.

[KnottedYet]

Had U-Haul install a hitch and wiring on my Subie. I needed the full-meal-deal as I was planning to tow a trailer across the continent. It was about $300, and I sat in the waiting room for about 45 min.

They had the hitch assembly in stock, all I had to do was call and make the appointment.

(the Subaru dealer would have charged a great deal more)

[azfiddle]

We bought a Curt hitch for our new Honda Fit. It was about $130. We are not handy people and called around for prices on installation.

I had the idea to call the U-Haul people, and that turned out to be a great idea. They only charged $55 for the installation. It turned out to be a place that does a lot of hitch installations for car dealers, so it went quite smoothly.