I hate leaving my car at a shop!

steven, i've run across many customers like that thru the years. i liked your response to him. every shop has run into people who think you should lose money working on their cars. my response is "do you work for free? well, neither do i". another rule we go by is, THE CUSTOMERS DON'T RUN THE SHOP. WE DO. having loyal customers who come to your shop for everthing they need is like gold. this is what we strive for.

 

Hi J-Pop, I have taken your advice of 9-8 at 9:37 PM. My Dodge will be at the dealer on Monday AM. He has one chance - fix the problem or my next new car will be purchased somewhere else. A couple of random comments:
I would question the business strategy of a shop owner who spent $25-50,000 for the best alignment equipment available, then sells alignments as a $79.95 "loss leader".
The customer should realize that setting up and operating a modern, well-equipped auto repair shop is extremely expensive, and should be prepared to pay for services rendered accordingly.
The shop owner should realize that having a vehicle repaired by an auto repair shop is extremely stressful for the customer. The vehicle owner seldom has any idea how the vehicle works, and is totally at the mercy of the shop. In most cases he does not really undestand what he is paying for. No one likes to be out of control. It's a tough business.

 

john, can i ask what your dealer is trying to fix?

 

Please don't be so defensive. He has a valid point...:TU:

Mark, ya ever gave thought to relocating????????:beer

I've been guilty of that. The service mgr. expplained the situation to me and understood that weird things happen. Like I have 2 huge issues, not one little thing.ou: ou:

I hope you guys truly appreciate a GOOd customer, considering people are all the same- idiots at one point or the other and may have just been in a argument with the wife,work ,etc.

I'm curious how it's handled John. Good luck!
I just blew out the 9 yr. old oil sending unit with a WOT for the first time in forever cause of all the Imps "issues".:shock: Dropped it off at the place which couldn't diagnose the "issues" (dealership found bad ICM-PCM wire) and they charged me $40 labor instead of the $80 he quoted me. Why? Guess they know me as I used to deliver parts to them from Advance and bring them work and referrals. Of course they also think I'm crazy (in a good way) Are they perfect? No. Any mech that says he has never had a come back is lying. The mech who admits his error will get my $$$$$$. We're all human and if one step out of 55 is forgotten and "oh, jeez, I' forgot to put the ground wire back-my bad" is the response, then all's well.

Don't forget guys, EVERY job has the same problem-customers.:laugh: I'd love my job, if it weren't for the people. And I just deliver pizza!!!!!!!! :idea2: :idea2: :idea2: :idea2: :idea2: :idea2: :moonu: :moonu: :moonu:

 

I'll take this one :grin: .

You can't recover your expenditures all at once. A properly run alignment bay will also sell many parts, as steering and suspension components wear out. Brakes and tires too. The idea is to make sure that your customer comes to you for all of his needs.

When you figure in expensive alignment equipment, tire balancer (a GSP9700 is approaching 20K), tire machine, a half-dozen (at least) scan tools and their respective software updates, lifts, tens of thousands of dollars in hand tools, garage keepers insurance, workman's comp, health insurance, business software, technical information systems, rent/mortgage, heat/a-c, lights, phones, cable, uniform/laundry service, payroll service, building upkeep and improvements, etc (I could go on here), it's amazing we are able to hide all that in a $70-$100 labor rate.

So the next time you "offer" to bring your own parts or to pick a shop owner's brain on what could be wrong with your car (try that with a lawyer or doctor), you'll know why many times you will be greeted with a scowl.

 

You think that is bad, a new top of th line crankshaft grinder can cost well over $50,000. Some places grind a crank for as little as $150.00. Automotive machine shop owners feel some pain too.

 

No way! RFV via a loaded roller is da nuts! :3gears:

Don't worry though. I'm sure I've spent over 100k with Snappy over the years. I just don't understand their scan tool philosophy. We need software to access systems just like the OE stuff does. Modis, Virus and now Verdict have no better vehicle software than the Slo-us. Without a doubt, however, Snap-On has hit a home run with the old Vantage and now the Vantage Pro. Vantage has been my right hand man for almost 2 decades!

 

bob, we also get some customers that want us to install their parts. we're willing to do it, but they're told the labor rate goes up 50 percent, and there's no warranty.

 

Yeah, had a guy like that that owned his own restaurant in town. Would come in to fill up with gas & have us do all the normal things like we used to do sooo many years ago. If he needed oil he would hand the trunk key to you & we would do what he wanted. After many months of this my boss said one morning, "have breakfast this morning", me "no". He grabbed a cooler & we went to this restaurant & my boss opened the cooler. He handed him eggs, bacon, ham & some bread & asked if he would cook them up & toast. We DID buy HIS coffee. He gave a strange look & did what we wanted, but he never did come back in for gas again. Forward almost 30 years & his younger son is now running the restaurant. I told him the story about his father, who just happened to be the cook that day. He started to laugh & I knew his father heard us talking. He asked dad if it was true. All dad could do was hmmmm & scrooge his shoulders. We both started laughing again, loudly. Dad wasn't so happy. Son asked dad again. Dad said go home. They were Greek's & dad would get pretty moody many times. Son told me he asked dad again at home & dad was ready to beat his butt. He came to my shop the next week & he knew what I said was right because dad never gave him an answer & got so mad when he did.

 

The saga continues: The 2008 Dodge Magnum R/T is in the shop today to fix the brake pulsation that wasn't there until they removed the RF wheel to replace the tire pressure monitor. I was expecting and recieved "the call." They decided that the brake pads needed to be "cleaned and lubricated" for $240 per axle. $480! I called the salesman who sold us the car and dumped the whole mess in his lap. Every time I bring the car in for service it needs $200+ of something. I told the salesman that if he wants to sell us the next car to fix the problem. Our other Magnum R/T has 84,000 miles on it and the brakes have never been touched. It pulls a 4,400 lb. horse trailer; the 2008 Magnum doesn't. I hate leaving my car at a shop!! :af:

 

Just last week I took my car to the shop because my axle was knocking and i had a slight missfire...I knew what the problem was. I had no issue taking it to the shop because it's still covered under the 100,000 mile warranty. Well they said that they had to do a "diagnostic" What they found was that one of my spark plugs was bad. They called me and told me that they would charge me $150.00 to change 1 sparkplug. My response was, "Dont worry about that...I'll change the plug myself; just fix my axle." Their resposnse was that they will charge me $100.00 for the diagnostic anyway so I may as well just pay to have them change it. I griped and moaned so they "did me a favor" and only charged me the $100.00 diagnostic fee to change the plug. $150.00 to change a spark plug....c'mon! They shouldn't charge anymore than $30.00-$40.00 for that! And that's being generous...

 

If I had not whined about the price they would have charged me $150.00. If I chose to not allow them to execute the service...they would have charged me $100.00 anyway for the diagnostic. I see your point in your last post...the machines are quite pricey...but regardless no matter how you look at it...they were changing 1 plug for $150.00 (riduculous)...however, I should have taken the car to Autozone and they would have done the diagnostic for $0.00- and I could have bought a new spark plug for $4.99 and changed the plug myself, then brought the care to the dealership to get the axle fixed. Oh well lesson learned...Only taking my car to the shop again if I absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt that I cannot fix it myself.

Last year they quoted me $700.00 to change front rotors and pads. I bought the parts for >$200.00 and it took me 1 hr to complete the job. That's $500.00 an hr in labor.

I'm not knocking the craft. There are some things I have no clue on and I need an expert to complete the job...but in many cases I think people are just simply being taken advantage of.

 

Or you could have gone to Ryan's and had as much steak as you wanted for $7.99:laugh:

 

Due to unforseen downturn in my finances I will offer my services to replace spark plugs for anyone at 50.00 each. Now to make room for all the new clients I will have to buy some land and build a building Oh yeah I did that already) Next I need to buy a scan tool oh yeah I got one of those too. Then I need new tools as my old Snap On box of tools I bought years ago will not be enough.
come to think of it with the building and tools my investment in the scan tool. I will need another 100.00 per plug because of the overhead you know. Then theres the cost of my health insurance its going up again. I need a new truck that I can tow with so crap I need to refigure my prices.
New price list

Tune up 1000.00 and up
Brakes 1000.00 and up
suspension work whatever I decide


Just in case you don't get this I am joking.
That is until I get the bill from my professional mechanic who has been working on a low vaccum problem for 4 weeks at 85.00 per hour. Cam is out of phase ( they did the engine assembly and machining)
Looks like I will have to sell the car to pay for the repair
160 hours at 85 per
Why thats only 13,600 for labor.
Anyone want a 60 percent restored Suncoupe Stage 1 project?

 

speaking of mechanics and doctors, it says a lot that doctors are the ones with the stereotyped story of never being left alone at parties. But it is the mechanic that has the men sidling up at parties to get the free advice and diagnosis. A relative of mine is hyper-trained in all the latest GM courses, and I don't have the heart to talk to him about work at the family reunions, so I end up never talking to him about it at all.