Is $170 for hooking up wiring to trailer okay?

[teachndad]

Hi,

I got an estimate to have the trailer wiring done in my 2000 Sienna from a local UHaul place. The guy over the phone seemed to be familiar with the Sienna. His estimate was about 2 hours of work at $60 per hour and then @50 for parts. Total = @ $170. Thats for mounting the brake controller, wiring, and setting up the 7 pin connector on the hitch.

Does that seem appropriate? I am in Southern California. I was going to go to an Ekhart's hitch place, but a review on a Yahoo yellow pages webpage gave it a poor review. It referenced poor pricing and rumors of bad service that left cars damaged. Then called the Uhaul store.

BTW, I have the Prodigy Controller already in a box on my workbench and a hitch is on the way. Got a good deal from autoaccessories4less.com for the hitch at $108 including shipping and tax. Got a Putnam hitch that is WDH compatible if necessary - 2". FYI, they have all the left over stock from Putnam after they couldn't make it in this tough economy. Great prices on the hitches and the hitches are shipped in a box, unlike some other online hitch shops.


Cheers

Rod

[sienna]

Sounds expensive. I'd be questioning what parts are needed to install a brake controller if your supplying the controller. Maybe they're supplying two wires to route between your rear harness and the actual controller unit.

You might want to shop around at other places before deciding with uhaul. I think of u-haul as not a legit shop to have installs. look at what they have on the lot and the condition it's in. A decent rental place would maintain their rental fleet better.

[scubajoe]

That actually is probably not unreasonable if they have to buy the wiring kit for the hitch, run power directly from the battery, install the resettable fuse, run the brake wire to the back of the van, and then make it all look pretty. I did mine myself, but it's not a 10 minute job. Obviously it's not gonna be real cheap at a shop. They gotta pay the bills.

[jsm]

Sounds about right. Had brake controller and 7-pin put in, and it probably took them longer than 3 hours. Glad they charged a set price, instead of by the hour!

[teachndad]

Sounds expensive. I'd be questioning what parts are needed to install a brake controller if your supplying the controller. Maybe they're supplying two wires to route between your rear harness and the actual controller unit.

You might want to shop around at other places before deciding with uhaul. I think of u-haul as not a legit shop to have installs. look at what they have on the lot and the condition it's in. A decent rental place would maintain their rental fleet better.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I decided to call around a little more. The Uhaul place was the first place a had called.

One place was $400 - $500 this was an independent hitch shop
another $250 - this was a shop that specializes in RV trailer issues
I called another Uhaul shop and got a more specific estimate. It was $373.81

I called back the first Uhaul shop to verify the estimate included wiring the lights and the brake controller and they said yes. I did get a name for reference. JSM posted that his bid included a flat fee for the installation. I will call back the U Haul later and ask what happens if the install goes longer than 2 hours. Perhaps, I can nail them down to a flat fee.

Pretty wide range. I was surprised,especially at how high the estimates went.

Rod

[sienna]

Wow. I didn't know it cost that much, a local shop quoted me $200 and I did my own trailer hitch installation in 2 parts, first I installed the hitch and that was about 1 hr. It took me 1.5 hrs to wire up my prodigy brake controller including testing it with a trailer in tow for a few minutes around the neighborhood. It's not that hard to lift the siennas plastic trim work, just have the right tools and service manual.

Seeing your in LA, I'm suprised theres no amigos in san fernando that would be willing to do a install for $100.

[jsm]

Controller from 2003 Chevy Venture was: $300.00 installed plus taxes 2003, removed myself 2007

Installed Toyota hitch myself.

To install my controller, trailer wiring and 7-pin connecter, early 2008:

Connector assy $ 33.15
Mounting bracket $ 10.60
7/4 way harness $ 39.95
30 amp circuit breaker $ 4.17
Labour $111.00
GST $ 9.94
PST $ 15.91
Total $224.72 Canadian in Toronto area

[jsm]

Also, installed Airlift 1000 bags myself. Took longer to run air lines than doing the bags. Drilled small hole in mounting bracket for 7-pin at lower right corner to mount air valve. Faces out same as 7-pin, and very convenient for pressure checks. Not noticeable either. Didn't have to drill any holes in my new van that way.

[ThePair]

On etrailer.com, the wiring alone is almost $90.

$170 seems reasonable to me for the whole deal if you didn't want to do it yourself. I'm going to make the attempt--hopefully I won't damage any of the plastic.

Marc

[scubajoe]

On etrailer.com, the wiring alone is almost $90.

$170 seems reasonable to me for the whole deal if you didn't want to do it yourself. I'm going to make the attempt--hopefully I won't damage any of the plastic.

Marc

Just be gentle on it! It's not hard at all. Just takes some time, if you want it nice and neat.

[jroden]

I paid about that today for an install, I get home and the trailer lights are all flukey. I did not feel like tying up the car, so I went out tonight and tore everything apart and re-did this guys work for him. He had the wires to the tail lights reversed, then I had to splice in some lober ground wires so I could store the plug where I wanted it in the back and finally buttoned it down all nice and neat.

I clearly could have done it myself and after seeing what this guy did I can say even as a hack mechanic my work was of better quality.

If you buy the kit from e-trailer it's an easy install.

So, I'm all wired up and ready to go, I'm storing my wire in the little cubby on the left side, I'm still undecided about the brake control. I went with the hidden hitch, which is harly hidden but hopefully will do the job. I have a trans cooler I'll do when time permits.

[sienna]

Glad to hear you were able to make it work for yourself. Sucks to pay good money and it doesn't work. Not sure which state/country your in but you might have been able to raise a stink to get some money back.

[jroden]

Glad to hear you were able to make it work for yourself. Sucks to pay good money and it doesn't work. Not sure which state/country your in but you might have been able to raise a stink to get some money back.

I don't even care, if I had brought the car back he would have fixed it, but I wanted it done my way. I put a small hole in the back side of the little cubby and put the 7 wire socket in there, then I ordered a 7 foot extension cord for trailer hookup. Not exactly how I would have wanted it but clean enough.

I'm still unsure about the controller unit, I'm thinking cupholder in the center console.

My hidden hitch is anything but, it hangs as low as all the others I have seen. Hopefully next week, I'll hook up for a test tow with my hybrid.

[jsm]

Glad to hear you were able to make it work for yourself. Sucks to pay good money and it doesn't work. Not sure which state/country your in but you might have been able to raise a stink to get some money back.

I don't even care, if I had brought the car back he would have fixed it, but I wanted it done my way. I put a small hole in the back side of the little cubby and put the 7 wire socket in there, then I ordered a 7 foot extension cord for trailer hookup. Not exactly how I would have wanted it but clean enough.

I'm still unsure about the controller unit, I'm thinking cupholder in the center console.

My hidden hitch is anything but, it hangs as low as all the others I have seen. Hopefully next week, I'll hook up for a test tow with my hybrid.

I mounted my controller on the kick panel of lower dash just to the LEFT of the steering column where I can see it when driving, in order to make adjustments, or to operate it manually. Hitch place told me they usually mount it to the right of the column; but I found that not as convenient. It looks like your knee would hit it, but it doesn't, unless you are short in the legs, and have the seat moved way forward. Since it's only 2 small holes in the plastic, it can always be moved somewhere else. Just leave your self some slack in the harness, and tuck it up under the dash when your done. ( ie. not cut to exact length) That way you have some wiggle room for future changes, if any, and you look like a genius a la Wiley Coyote.

[jroden]

Glad to hear you were able to make it work for yourself. Sucks to pay good money and it doesn't work. Not sure which state/country your in but you might have been able to raise a stink to get some money back.

I don't even care, if I had brought the car back he would have fixed it, but I wanted it done my way. I put a small hole in the back side of the little cubby and put the 7 wire socket in there, then I ordered a 7 foot extension cord for trailer hookup. Not exactly how I would have wanted it but clean enough.

I'm still unsure about the controller unit, I'm thinking cupholder in the center console.

My hidden hitch is anything but, it hangs as low as all the others I have seen. Hopefully next week, I'll hook up for a test tow with my hybrid.

I mounted my controller on the kick panel of lower dash just to the LEFT of the steering column where I can see it when driving, in order to make adjustments, or to operate it manually. Hitch place told me they usually mount it to the right of the column; but I found that not as convenient. It looks like your knee would hit it, but it doesn't, unless you are short in the legs, and have the seat moved way forward. Since it's only 2 small holes in the plastic, it can always be moved somewhere else. Just leave your self some slack in the harness, and tuck it up under the dash when your done. ( ie. not cut to exact length) That way you have some wiggle room for future changes, if any, and you look like a genius a la Wiley Coyote.

Do you mean kind of near the lever you pull to pop the hood, or lower than that?