I've seen so many people advertise their used cars increasing the bottom dollar value by adding in parts, and labor. I've had many friends purchase cars, and get ripped off because the owner had shown them a receipt from a shop that included labor.
The bottom line is this: labor will always be a lost expense in the value of a car. If a person puts a new transmission in the vehicle, and that transmission cost $700, and the labor another $700, that person has only invested $700 in the vehicle, and even at that, the cars price does not increase by that full $700.
If you find yourself needing to sink money into a vehicle at a shop that you plan on selling, always consider if it will be cheaper to sell the vehicle broken, or lose money on labor. Those are your two variables. If you are purchasing a used car, and the owner insists on showing receipts with cost of labor plus parts, kindly but firmly inform them the labor adds nothing to the value.
Happy shopping/selling!
Apparently everyone has completely missed the point, and it is quite impossible to combat all the negative comments.
Here it is in simple terms: Labor costs do not equate to a 1:1 on the value of the car. If you paid someone $500 to install $60 worth of parts, the vehicle is not worth an extra $560.
I apologize for trying to give the novice and inexperienced buyers the advise to focus on PARTS and the cost of the actual PART when buying a car that has recently been worked on.
When you find vehicles that have outrageous labor costs to replace inexpensive parts, those are vehicles to stay away from - their design is costly.
