Basically your broke down & your taking your car to somebody to fix it cause you can’t or don’t know how or want to thus this is the price you pay when your in the mercy of a mechanic,don’t complain about the price just pay it learn from it & go about your day,& just remember you paying for what the mechanic knows & putting you back on the road so don’t just look at the price of work think about the knowledge that guy has taken the time to learn over the years to get your ungreatful self back on the road ,peace
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The owner is ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees. As a customer I wouldn’t go back to a business that ripped me off in the HOPE I get the honest mechanic.
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I think $100,000 for a Tesla is too high, but if I want a new Tesla, that’s what I’ve got to pay. I don’t know how to build one myself, so I’m at the mercy of the people who do.
If you don’t know how to diagnose and fix your car yourself, then you are at the mercy of the people who have learned how. They are going to charge you for it. And remember, the mechanic isn’t pocketing that $600 all for himself. That goes to building payments, insurance, tools, staff wages and benefits, etc. And all of those things cost the mechanic money that he has to pay even if he thinks they cost too much.
So, your mechanics were idiots, but they were probably honest idiots.
Now, one area of the car repair industry that I do think needs to be reformed is that there are no consequences when a mechanic is wrong. If I take my car in to a mechanic, and he diagnoses my problem as a bad distributor and then replaces it and I still have the problem, he doesn’t owe me any money back. Not even for the diagnostic fee, despite the fact that he didn’t diagnose it.
I think if the mechanics had money on the line when they made bad calls, you’d see a lot of those honest-but-incompetent mechanics forced to find a different line of work because they would be losing too much money.
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Too often, the work done by mechanics, plumbers, and electricians is regarded as lower echelon labor. My brother has a Ph.D in English, and served on the faculty at a state university. He has a law degree and practiced law with a prestigious law firm. He owned a technical writing business. He and a friend bought a plumbing company and he became a plumber.
I was with him when he received a telephone call. The person on the other end asked his rates. My brother gave him the charge for a service call and the labor rate per hour beyond the first hour. The caller was indignant. He said, “I have an MBA degree and am a supervisor at Corporation X and I don’t make that kind of money”.
My brother replaced, “I have a Ph.D. and have been a professor. I have a law degree and have practiced law. I am now a plumber. You have three choices: 1) you can pay my rates; 2) you can find a plumber with lower rates; 3) you can do the job yourself. You have 30 seconds to decide if you want me to do the job as I have another call coming in”.
I also heard my brother tell a caller that if the caller wanted to save money, the caller could repair his dripping faucet. My brother then told him what part to get at Home Depot and how to fix the faucet. He told the caller that his Delta faucets were easy to repair. After that call, I joked with my brother that he passed up an opportunity to make some money. My brother responded that really helping someone save money was a good investment for future business.
To me, my time is valuable. The time of trades people is also valuable. I try to establish a good working relationship with them.
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You can buy a Tesla today for under $40,000.
1st of all I may not be rich at all but not exactly broke. I could have paid that but everyone said not to because They were asking for too much. And I’m ungrateful because I feel like $500 for a thermostat replace is too much and it didn’t even fix my car? And then he wanted to charge me even more just so he can look and see what the problem is even though he already assured me that the problem was fixed?
Or I’m ungrateful because the a guy another shop quoted me $1,600 dollars just for a radiator replacement and water pump replacement. Which was a lie btw because I don’t need a water pump. But obviously I’m ungrateful because I felt that was overpriced and shady business. I mean $1,600 is a down payment for a newer car. You must be a mechanic that overcharges people for a job that takes less than a day.
Is the owner of a service business myself, I kinda get a feeling for what might have happened. I service IT equipment and not cars but what I am about to say applies to cars as it did with the plumbing example above.
As I was reading through this, someone called me on the phone and wanted a diagnosis. They didn’t want me to replace the part and would do that themselves. They wanted it diagnosed today and onsite where I charge premium rates. I told them my minimum charge for onsite and that sent them on their way. This was like the guy who gets a code read at Autozone and then attempts the part replacement himself.
I often get calls about “My computer is broken. What will it cost to fix?” I can’t make this stuff up but I frequently serve other service businesses and I hear them get the same exact calls. “My car won’t start this morning. How much will it cost to fix?” “My air conditioner won’t run. What will this cost to fix?” It could be a minor problem such as an electrical relay or something major like the engine in the car or compressor in the AC system. How in the world can someone tell a person what is wrong and how much it will cost over the phone?
Then there is the sob story about having no money or whatever. There is also the complaining about every one of your competitors in town and you know you are next. There is one place in town that deserves this rep. They are cheap and that is why people go there. They are the equivalent of buying a $600 car from a fly by night used car dealer with sawdust in the oil to plug the leaks and a loan at the maximum legal interest rate. I find computers held together with duct tape, super glue, and non-matching parts from this place all the time. Usually they are just junk but the customer acts like they paid good money for this and want it fixed. Otherwise, when the complain about other reputable shops, you know they are likely trouble.
The insistence to know a price over the phone, etc. without anyone ever having looked at the problem is a big red flag in any service business. I often quote the highest possible price in hope they will go somewhere else. Sometimes I tell them go go buy a lottery ticket and add up all the numbers as that will be just as accurate as any estimate over the phone.
I once quoted someone a price over the phone based on them telling me the problem was a “virus”. It was not a virus but a major hardware problem. They had taken it to several shops before me which told me it wasn’t a virus right off the bat. Anyway, he paid me the price after it was fixed and proceeded to take me to small claims court, file a complaint with the BBB which just a gray area scam if you ask me, and plaster all the review sites with negative reviews of my business. Of course he is a quack and that is readily apparent to anyone reading these reviews. The judge threw out his complaint and then he got snarky with the judge. I was hoping he would keep it up and be held in contempt but he wasn’t quite that bad. So, after taking it to 4-5 other shops and them telling you it can’t be repaired, this is the thanks I get when I actually fixed it for him. I wasted all kinds of time dealing with this and then sitting through other similar court proceedings for an entire afternoon while I had jobs backing up. I felt like I was on the set of the Jerry Springer show or something in that courtroom!
I looked the guy up. He lives with his family and they basically scam the system to make a living. They are all on disability and welfare of some form or another and seem to get off on filing small claims cases against a lot of businesses. They live along a main road in town and their cars are ALWAYS at home when I happen to drive past their apartment. They do not work a normal job but pull this nonsense instead. Additional red flags for a service business include customer comments about being on a fixed income, disability, government check, etc.
Cheap and outdated equipment is also a red flag. I charge a higher diagnostic fee if it is over 5 years old and doesn’t meet certain technical specifications. This is to weed out the Wal-Mart demographic which has proven to be a thorn in my side 9 out of 10 times. These are also the units that are usually packed with general filth such as bugs/roaches, urine, and cigarette smoke. I would much rather deal with other businesses as well as more educated and affluent consumers.
Basically my business is to the point where I have good paying customers waiting for my services much of the time. Pushing aside the nonsense only makes it so I can better serve them. Less stress and more money is a winning combo if you ask me.
I instituted the higher diagnostic fee after some woman brought me a Wal-Mart computer. She wasted a ton of my time and then backed out of the job. I am then left with a piece of junk that isn’t worth anything and certainly wouldn’t be worth completing the job and trying to resell. I wouldn’t have made a ton of money on this anyway but if it had gone smooth, it would have been an OK deal. The problem is that most of these never go smoothly.
As for the Dodge, I have changed thermostats on some cars that take less time than changing the oil. I have changed a couple on Chrysler products and they were a nightmare. I didn’t have all the proper tools with me for the job because I was basically stranded with a buddy and that was probably part of the deal but it took me 8 hours. This would have been a 15 minute job on many other cars with the tools available. It was a Sunday in the middle of nowhere so we didn’t have a lot of options.
Keeping time wasting bad customers away is just as important as attracting good customers. I have structured my business to avoid these troublesome customers while advertise in media targeting more educated and affluent people. Talk radio has been a great place for me to advertise.
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Thank you. I know I was lucky my dad remembered him in a clutch and I’m very thankful he fixed the problem for 10x than the mechanics were going to charge me. They made me feel like my car had no hope unless I spent over $3000 and I was ready to buy a new car if that was the case.
Seems to me, the thermostat replacement ought to run about half of that $500. $250 for a couple hours labor, a cheap part, and coolant sounds reasonable. Plus it didn’t solve the issue, so I’d skip that shop next time.
The other guy who quoted $1600 for radiator and water pump…well, he was right in replacing the radiator, correct? The water pump replacement might not be a bad idea with a high mileage vehicle, although maybe not 100% necessary in your case. So he may be on the up and up. No idea if the $1600 is fair, as I don’t know how many hours it would take to change the rad and water pump on that vehicle. Assuming it takes an 8 hour day for the water pump and radiator (it shouldn’t) and he charges $100/hr for labor (no idea), labor would still only be $800. Assume $200 for parts, and you’re up to $1000. So, yeah, $1600 sounds a little steep. I know he mentioned “head gasket”, but he only mentioned it as a possibility if it were to still overheat.
But yeah, the first guy…I’d avoid him for sure. The second guy seems a little steep but maybe knows what he’s doing. The third guy is great, but honestly doesn’t charge enough. Good for you for giving him more than he asked for.
Yeah, but I wouldn’t get one. There have been a number of QC issues with those cars, I suspect because of that crazy push to pump out so many cars that they were building them in tents in the parking lot. Serious stuff, including soft, thin paint and rust in places that normal cars don’t get rust even after 10 years in the salt belt.
But you CAN get a used Model S for 40-ish grand, and we’re considering it.
It’s been my experience that a crooked mechanic will not be at a shop or dealer for very long. They get sniffed out and are soon gone.
When I was the shop foreman for a multi-line dealer we hade a VW came in on the wrecker for suddenly dying. The new guy (middle aged) got the job and couldn’t sort it out. He asked me and I told him the likely cause and how to fix it. It was a pretty simple thing. Car got fixed and out the door it went.
Two weeks later we got a call it was coming in the wrecker for the same problem. I told the guy when he got the job to come and get me because I wanted to look it over. I went to lunch a few hours later and when I came back said guy and his tool box was loaded and gone. He never even came back for the rest of his paycheck.
I discovered that he had bypassed the fuel pump wiring with a piece of speaker wire. He had bared 3" of each end and just shoved it into the wire connectors. No splice, no twist, no nothing. The car hit a set of railroad tracks and the wire fell out leading to the fuel pump dying.
It took me a lot of apologizing and sucking up to keep this woman as a customer; and it was embarassing as hxxx to boot. She was irate at first and blaming us all but eventually calmed down when she realized it was a case of one bad apple in the barrel.
I mentioned that there was a bad shop in my town. That is the problem. You must first spend time cleaning up the mess they made before you can start from the beginning and fix it right. Sometimes it seems like it would be easier for them to just do it right from the start rather than fight with patchwork fixes that must take considerably more time but save on parts.
It is always frustrating when something cuts a perfectly good connector off a wire so they can twist it together with tape or whatever. Then you must remove the mess and replace a pigtail or attach a new connector before fixing it right.
I saw some guy bragging about fixing cars by drilling holes through pennies to use for a washer because it was cheaper than buying a washer to fit the part at the store. He has no clue that a copper penny might react with and corrode the steel, leading to more costly repairs. I once used some scrap copper wire on my electric fence because I didn’t have any extra galvanized steel on hand. I knew the metals were incompatible but figured it would last a year or so. Boy was I wrong! That wire was crumbling within weeks. I ended up cutting the bad sections out and replacing it when I had the time. Galvanic corrosion is a big deal and I wouldn’t want copper pennies as washers anywhere near fasteners on a car.
When cleaning up to leave one night I saw new pieces in the core pile and looking closely I recognized that when a new mechanic replaced a leaking axle seal on a truck he had left the opposite end of the axle untouched when it was obvious that everything was to be done to both wheels. I pulled the truck in and completely re did the job before leaving. There are people in all types of work who will cut every corner that they think they can get away with and then hold out their hand expecting the pay meant for doing a complete and proper job. When that mechanic left my shop he never worked as a mechanic for any shop in the area that I was aware of.
Charging for work that is unnecessary or worse not done is theft. And in a small town thieves don’t last long in service businesses. Not in independent shops around here anyway.
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There are bad apples in every profession on Earth. My late brother-in-law died at the hospital (39 years old) because of a bad apple doctor and in spite of 10 witnesses he lied about what he actually said to us all.
The only good thing to come out of it was that he was booted from the cardiac unit at the hospital and karma being what it is, the doc died a few years later of a cardiac problem. Good riddance.
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Is you?
Proper English is “I is…”
Around here I’s is acceptable. As is We’s, They’s and Us’s.
We’s. Them’s and Uaum’s, or Youum’s
I was referred to a orthopedic surgeon by the military to evaluate my bad knee. He was a marathon runner in excellent physical condition and advised me to lose at least 10lbs to help my knee problem. Three months later he died of cardiac arrest. I mourned his early death as he was a good doctor and only concerned about my health. OP reveals three different mechanics. The first was most likely incompetent. The second gave a worst case scenario. The third gave a proper diagnosis and repair. Most mechanics are not ripping us off.
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It should have been As. Sorry.