Short answer
Same rate card on every visit: $75 call-out, $150/hour with a one-hour minimum. If you approve the repair, that $150 hour is applied toward the job. If you stop at the diagnosis, you owe the $75 plus the hour. Pre-purchase inspections are a flat $350. Parts are quoted before we install them.
What you are actually paying for
You are paying for a trained tech, a van full of tools, parts that are not the cheapest online pad, and a warranty you can call. You are not paying for a waiting room, a service writer’s spiff, or a 3-hour ‘we will call you.’
Trip fees are where some mobile shops hide margin. Inside our Clear Lake / Webster / Nassau Bay / El Lago core we do not add a trip fee on top of the approved quote.
When a shop is cheaper
Alignments, machine work, transmission rebuilds, and anything that needs a lift plus two techs for six hours. We will tell you that before you pay a diagnostic. A good mobile mechanic saves you money by declining the wrong jobs.
How to compare quotes without getting played
Ask: is the diagnostic credited? Are pads and rotors both sides of the axle? Is the battery tested or assumed? Is travel included? Is the warranty in writing (ours is 12 months / 12,000 miles)? If a quote is hundreds cheaper, read the pad brand.