While driving in town (Tucson) today I saw something very odd, a large independant garage that advertised “Bring your own parts” never saw this before, I wonder how he makes any money? (besides the obvious jacking up the labor) does anyone like this idea?
Other than the monetary factor based on parts, I could see a few problems with this.
Wonder how many people will bring in a part, the car gets torn down, and it’s discovered the part will not fit. The shop space is then tied up until this is resolved.
Another common problem is that someone may bring in a used part (GUARANTEED to be good by the salvage yard), the part is installed, and it’s known now the guaranteed good part is from the junk category. The shop is in a bad spot because labor has been performed to install a worthless part and since the salvage yard does not guarantee labor the customer may get mad at the shop or expect the shop to install the same part 6 times for the same price when the yard repeatedly dishes out bad parts. Same as the first, shop space is tied up during this rat race.
Maybe he doesn’t want to pay his tab at the various parts suppliers…
Maybe he is just fed up with his parts suppliers…
I saw something recently that I’d never seen before either. While getting tires at a quick lube type place, they had a sign in the lobby the said to consult your owner’s manual for maintenance requirements. That’s something I thought I’d NEVER see.
This has interesting ramifications. If the owner brings the part in, he/she obviously knows what is wrong with the vehicle. If the indy shop installs the part and the part does not fix the problem, the continued diagnosis falls back on the owner. The indy shop does not have to even consider that the part might be bad – that is on the owner. Unless the labor of installation caused problems, the indy shop does not eat the additonal labor. The indy shop can recharge the same labor fee if the owner brings in a second replacement part. This would be a money making strategy without having to invest in inventory or diagnostic tools.
I wonder if this is a ‘tongue in cheek’ approach.
That got to be it
The indy owner gets them in the door witn the “Bring your own parts tag”
Then explains what happens if the customer diag. is wrong,Bingo he has a job.
I did not see this as a customer based diagnosis, but…
I see this as a somewhat normal repair with the exception of, if the part goes bad then the customer has to pay the labor, again.