For Old Guys Only

[Buzzard]

Whatever happened to the flat rate manual? Every repair job had a flat rate. A good mechanic that could beat the flat rate was just more money in his pocket. If you bring your car into a dealer and its out of warranty they're gonna make you pay through the nose.
A few years ago some of the dealers lost their franchises, to keep the business afloat they had nothing to work on but whatever came in the door. There's where your high prices came from.
buzzard

 

[Otero]

That was an outrageous crew right enough. Low brow stuff, but still
funnier than Big Bang.

 

[2door]

Larry,
The 'flat rate manual probably went the way of $1.00 gasoline. If you ever worked at a dealership you'd have seen how they abused that published price sheet. The manual gave a guideline as to how long it would take to do a specific job, and the customer was charged accordingly. The problem came when the mechanic found and fixed a problem then charged for another procedure that took a lot longer.

Example: The manual gave you so many hours or tenths of hours to do a job. Let's say a customer came in, said his dome light didn't work. The mechanic got the work order, brought the car into his stall and all he did was replace the dome light bulb. But, he charged for R&R, remove and replace, the head liner, front seat, carpet and then the dome light wiring harness. He would write up the repair order as, "Found short in dome light wiring harness. Replaced harness, R&R headliner, front seat and carpet. 4 hours.

Instead of the customer getting a bill for .1 hours and a light bulb, he got charged for four hous labor, a wiring harness he didn't get or need, and he had to sit in the waiting room while the mechanic was already working on another job.

The folks who ran the repair shops/dealerships finally got wise to the theft and the 'Flat Rate Manual' got pitched. Now they just make up the highest price they think they can get and that's how you get charged for car repairs.

Tom

 

[Theon]

Going rate for a replacement timing belt seems to be $500.
It generally takes me about 2 hrs.
And the timing belt kit is usually less than $150.
so that's at least $175 an hr!
I don't charge this, but others do.
However if a Vet (Animal Doctor), Lawyer, Dentist, ect. was to bring me a car I would be tempted.

 

[2door]

On top of the labor rates they charge is the way things are designed today. I have Ford Ranger pickup. The light behind the gas gauge is out. Ford wants $1200.00 to replace the light bulbs in the instrument cluster. Why? Because you haver to remove the dash from the truck, disassemble the dash to get to the instrument cluster. Then you have to disassemble the cluster to get to the light bulbs. And they call that, progress?

I remember when all you had to do was lay down in the drivers side floor, reach up under the dash, pull out a plug and replace the light bulb. It took less than two minutes.
So why make the darn things so hard to work on? Not only difficult, but impossible in some cases if the problem is computer or electronic controlled and you don't have access to the proper diagnostic equipment.

The days of the backyard mechanic are about gone. Now you are at the mercy of 'specialist' and their labor rates reflect it.

Tom

 

[Theon]

Yep, you can all have your shiny new cars!
I drive a 1985 Toyota Diesel Landcruiser.
My wife drives a 95 Toyota Camry.
I don't want anything newer, Parts are cheap, wrecks are easy to find.
And you can stick your Power windows you know were.

 

[Mike B]

People gotta eat and shops gotta make money.

Shop rate at our shop was $90/hr. If I had to make a service call it was $125/hr.

I didn't make that much. Not even close.

You got rent, workers comp, with holding (shop pays 1/2 SS tax), medical & dental, 401K & profit sharing. All adds up.

My Co. paid no income tax, it was a break even deal. It's still in business though because you have to make a buck.

 

[Theon]

Don't ya hate when your paying $90 an hour and they give it to the apprentice!
And while shops charge $90 an hour for an apprentice there will always be a place for a skilled back yarder.

 

[Otero]

In my naive youth I watched as guy replaced the alternator in my
girl friend's car in a "service" station. It took an hour and a half of
which the actual labor was 15 minutes. The rest of the time was
spent out on the drive or working on two other cars. The SOB had
the nerve to charge her for 2 hrs. labor.. Then ensued some loud
heated words to no avail. He threatened to call his state trooper
brother-in-law. We could only afford half of what he was asking.
After finally convincing him that was all he was gonna get, he took
the money and we left.
These days I do all my own repairs & some ain't easy.

 

[xseler]

I also get ticked about the 'shop supplies and fees'. Maybe I should charge 'merchandising fees' on top of the product price in my store. Yeah, I realize shops use cleaning chemicals and pay disposal fees ---- but my store does also, but we don't add a surcharge.

End rant. Wished it made me feel better.

 

[Theon]

I charge a little more for working on greasy uncared for trucks , but in my opinion Diesel mechanics are amongst the biggest rip offs!
When I ran a Small Tip truck as a Maintenance contractor I got a couple of quotes from truck mechanics just to get an idea of what I was saving my self, OMG!
I pity those that cannot repair there own machinery, and buy crappy new cars that they can not work on them selves, All right if your also earning $90 an hour.

 

[Greg58]

I don't mind paying a fair price for repairs, I just don't like it when someone trys to over charge for something. The 1997 Malibu water pump was an example, the car was probably 5 years old and my daughter needed it to go back and forth to college so I got prices from a couple of local shops. The big shop wanted $650 to do the job, a friend that runs a shop did it for $321 . the friend said he found an easier way than the online guides show and did in half the time the online guide shown. Treating people fair makes repeat customers.

 

[2door]

We had brakes put on our Jeep Cherokee. Two weeks later we took the car into a local, big name service center for an oil change and "a free vehicle inspection". They told us we needed brakes and quoted $800.00 for front and rear. When I looked I saw no evidence that the wheels had been removed. The lug nuts were still dirty, no finger prints in the dirt on the rims. I asked how they determined we needed brakes without removing the wheels and that the brakes were only two weeks old.
No answer except, "That's what we found. Take it or leave it" We paid for the oil change and will never go back. And I tell all my frinds what happened. Word of mouth works both ways.

Tom

 

[fredric3144]

Years ago I owned an appliance repair shop . I cut the rate of all the other companies in the area and added a few quirks of my own . Such as if I don't repair it no charge . Little things like showing the customer how to get their oven back to manual after using timed bake no charge . Washing machine not working due to frozen water lines no charge . The service charge covered the first hours labor (most machines took less than 30 min.) . My company did great but I was working 12 or more hours a day 6 days a week . I closed my shop about 15 or more years ago now but I still get old customers that wont take I'm retired for an answer . My company grew by word of mouth no advertising treat people right and you will get treated right in return .

 

[Mike B]

I've been lucky I guess, never ran into a "screw job" shop.

Last service I got was new pads and rotors for my 2003 Taurus. Also cleaned the rear brakes, changed the brake fluid and I got a transmission service. The bill was $600. I feel that was a fair price.

My wife had a car that was leaking tranny fluid from the rear seal. You know, when the thing needs a little gas to engage, ya have to put some fluid in. So she stopped at AAMCO and they advised that she would need a complete rebuild, the cost would be $2500 and no warranty. I have heard nothing good re AAMCO and this conformed it. They didn't even offer to top off the fluid for the ride home. Screw job shop.

I had a car with 200,000 miles on it that one day wouldn't shift out of first gear. Took it to a little shop and I told the guy that this car had a lot of miles and I'm not replacing the tranny, if it can't be fixed cheap I'll drive it (slowly) to the junkyard. Next day he calls me and says that he can make it shift, but no warranty for $500. He just removes and cleans the valve body, replaces a few parts and I'm down the road. I sold that car running good with 260,000 miles on it.

Yup, there are dishonest shops out there as well as some real jewels -

 

[Otero]

Okay, end rant. Otherwise I could spend the next 2 hrs on the scams
some mechanics have pulled on me. They surely can't all be that way,
but I'll put those who are just half a notch up from the lawyers that
are that way.

 

[KCvale]

I don't mind paying a fair price for repairs, I just don't like it when someone trys to over charge for something.
The 1997 Malibu water pump was an example

Had a really bad experience with my Malibu around the same year for the same reason.

 

[gphil]

Talking with a shop about some work on my pickup and noticed a BMW on a lift dripping oil. I said looks like someone left a cap off or something. Nope was the reply a valve cover gasket. Now this BMW was a sedan and did not have the straight 6 in it and the right bank was leaking. I said other than the mess and getting to it not too much cost. 600.00 Liked to have fallen down. Just to remove all the hoses plastic etc to get to the gasket was 300.00 then the gasket itself was 300.00 I can't imagine. Showed me on the computer the labor and cost. OMG I would have cut one out of a large box. lol. Times have changed Gone are the days Tom and I had on our rods. Ever change a tranny in a sand box. Try South Ga in the sand back yard. gphil

 

[fasteddy]

Friend of my sister in laws and her husband bought a used BMW. Just a little more used than the seller admitted to. Off to the dealer to get a repair cost and that certainly didn't end well so it was back home to reconsider selling it.

Neighbour tells them about their friend who is a BMW mechanic and they should go and see him. They knock on the door and there is the guy who gave them the price at the BMW dealership, with a big smile on his face. Odd that almost $6,000 in repairs at the dealership became $2,600 in his garage and the turn around time was the same.

Steve.

 

[Mike B]

Nothing odd about it at all. The dealer is the highest cost service station you will ever see. They also have the highest overhead. But they are licensed and insured.

You take your chances.

I got a $20,000 roof installed for $7,000. By a professional roofer. I bought the materials and he and some guys he knew ripped off the old shingles and put on the new. I rented the dumpster. It all went very well, the roof still looks great 10 years later.

If one of those guys fell off the roof and hurt himself bad I would have been financially liable and things could have gotten real ugly real fast. But it didn't and all is well. By the way, it wasn't some guy that dropped by and said your roof needs fixing, it was the neighbor down the street who did a few houses on the block and I approached him -