Funniest thing I’ve seen all day. YourMechanic wants $127.64 to replace an engine air filter on a Chevy Impala.

Out of all car repair and maintenance procedures, replacing an air filter is one of the easiest, if not the easiest, things to do.

YourMechanic quoted me at $127.64 on a 2003 Chevy Impala. That’s $105.99 for labor and $19.95 for parts.

I recently did the job myself for $8.47. That was for a FRAM air filter I bought on Amazon.

The job took me (not a mechanic) about 6 or 7 minutes, and that’s only because this particular model requires you to disconnect the air hose from the air filter box first, and then reconnect it when you’re done, although I also checked the quote for a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria where the job takes two minutes and doesn’t even need a screwdriver, and YourMechanic still wanted $127.64.

Never to be outdone, YourMechanic claims a dealership would charge $134.

Just for the hell of it, I called around to local shops, and most of them said they would charge about $20-25.

Still too much for something you can do on a nice day in a few minutes.

Why did I go looking for air filters? Well, the car started to make a popping noise recently when it was fully warmed up and you pressed the gas pedal and when I googled “engine popping noise”, the most likely (and by far cheapest) possibility was a clogged air filter.

Sure enough, the one I took out looked pretty gross and the car has been running better since then.

YourMechanic posts recent reviews for each job type, and it seems most of the ones leaving reviews for “air filter replacement” are women. I wonder how many of them know they just got charged 15 times what an air filter costs at the store or 5 times what the garage down the street would have set them back at their normal oil change appointment.