Repair cost question... Starter

1. How much should a Starter replacement cost at the dealership?

My car would not turn over after stopping to run into the post office... so I had to have it towed to the local VW dealer. It is now fixed & I will pick it up tomorrow- and they are saying the price is $1150. (Does this seem high?)

Just the diagnostic charge was around $350 (a little over 2 hours @ $160/hour)... Should it take over 2 hours to diagnose a bad starter... on a car that won't start??


2. Separate Question (in case anyone happens to also know the answer)- How does a bad starter cause/ relate to ... not being able to read any codes (the code machine would not communicate- no codes came up)?

You probably paid the tech through his lunch hour

Have you ever had to crank the engine a lot to start it? I'm thinking corroded connections, burned solenoid contact or worn out motor brushes if it was actually a bad starter.

A bad engine ground or power connection may the cause starting issues. I have solved a couple of issues like that by cleaning the starter connections. I don't expect that the VW dealer would take that approach. It is all about the bottom line for them.



A faulty starter alone would not cause a fault code. A faulty engine/ECU ground might.

A starter is a 20min job on these cars. Just diy it. Save yourself 900 bucks.

Original poster below their username says they have a "2008 Jetta" and are in the USA. If that's correct, it isn't a TDI. If the car in fact is a TDI, their signature is wrong.

This might not be a TDI that we are talking about here.

And, a starter motor that does not operate indeed does not trip any fault codes. It's a "dumb" hard-wired circuit - no on-board diagnostics are involved.

Yeah I love how people ask a question, and provide no context.

A starter on a V8 Phaeton is a HUGE job. 14.2 hours labor, about $700 list price for the part.

A starter on a Jetta could be all over the place, as there have been about 15 different engines bolted to about 8 different transmissions in cars bearing the "Jetta" badge over the years.

So do we get to guess?