After seeing what "regular" people pay for repairs, glad I can fix my own car

[Johnny Mullet]

That is strange. Our shop get parts at a vendor discount and are then marked up and the cost turns out similar. Here is an example.............

We get a part at a discounted rate of $50.00
Normally, the part would cost $75.00
After our markup, the part is $75.00 to the customer.

We do this because many people will get parts prices from the local stores and compare those prices to ours. When they see the parts price is similar or within a few dollars, they let us install the parts we get from the vendor and also they get our guarantee and we secure the job.

Even with a $60.00 per hour labor rate, repairs can get very expensive! A simple front brake job is an easy $200.00 anymore with replacement pads and rotors. Of course I used to work at a dealership where the average brake job was double that. And it pisses me off when you charge your brother in law $50.00 to do his brakes at home on your own time and he still complains.

[TestDrive]

Parts counter guy to potential new customer: $250.

Incredulous, potential new customer: $250???? For an alternator???

Parts counter guy: Yeah, that does sound a little steep. Let me double check on that. (pseudo double check & bogus explanation goes here). I can let you have it for $145 (the customer's got a clue price.)

[blueflame]

Someone said to me people get what they deserve.

At the time I thought that was really mean, as I see people as as product of society and government.

My old friends laugh behind my back at my **** box thats doing 65mpg and is so reliable it costs me nothing to maintain.

[metroschultz]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

That is strange. Our shop get parts at a vendor discount and are then marked up and the cost turns out similar. Here is an example.............

We get a part at a discounted rate of $50.00
Normally, the part would cost $75.00
After our markup, the part is $75.00 to the customer.(point #1)

We do this because many people will get parts prices from the local stores and compare those prices to ours. When they see the parts price is similar or within a few dollars, they let us install the parts we get from the vendor and also they get our guarantee and we secure the job.

Even with a $60.00 per hour labor rate, repairs can get very expensive! A simple front brake job is an easy $200.00 anymore with replacement pads and rotors. Of course I used to work at a dealership where the average brake job was double that. And it pisses me off when you charge your brother in law $50.00 to do his brakes at home on your own time and he still complains.(point # 2)

As per #1,
Every where I have worked the markup was x2,
some of the national chains here markup is x3.
And there is noone in Tidewater that charges less than $67.50 per hour.
Most average $100, some high end shops charge $149.99.
And my mom still wants to live here.

Per #2,
I do freinds and family for free. No complaints allowed. You want to complain you go pay someone for that priviledge.
Referals I charge $25 per hour, but they get no garantees.
I am not spending the money for a biz license and insurance etc. for a couple hundred dollars a year in side work.

[roflwaffle]

Some of the chains aren't too bad. For instance redoing all the rotors/pads on the Camryaro was ~$200-300 more in labor compared to getting all the parts myself and doing it, which IMO is worthwhile considering the liability involved in screwing up a brake job and interval needed (~150k miles).

[Ford Man]

I am always seeing people laugh at my '88 Escort with 486K miles on it, but what they don't understand is I do most of my own work and about half the parts on it are lifetime warranty. It's alright with me if they want to pay $30K for a new car and go to the dealer for repairs everytime some little something goes wrong or to get it serviced and pay $125. an hour. I'll keep going and getting new parts for free whenever the old ones wear out, put them on and drive some more. My '88 will probably still be running when lots of their cars will be rusting in the junk yard.

[MetroMPG]

One reason I was "surprised" by the price is because other than regular maintenance, I haven't had to do any repairs to a car I own for about 3 years (and never to the Blackfly - it's still a baby). So I was out of the loop.

[blueflame]

Yeah, and when the rare moment comes that I need to do some work or maintenance I KNOW its done PROPERLY.

How many times do you hear of motor repairs not being carried out properly?

The amount of blown headgaskets I have come across and the coolant has not been changed in ages, its chocolate brown. Even people who have had the same workshop for years looking after their car...what a waste of what was a good car...all that money spent keeping it on the road only to have the gasket go for lack of clean coolant.

Coolant not being changed is widespread here in NZ.

[wagonman76]

I could never afford a car if I had to pay others to maintain it. So I learned it all myself. 12 years ago I did not know how to change my own oil. Now I can do pretty much anything. My moms boyfriend introduced me to the junkyard back in the late 90s too. Now I go there for lots of things. Like with Michigan roads, theres no sense spending $100 apiece on new wheel bearings when theyre just going to get beat up in a couple years. So I just put on used ones for a tiny fraction of the price, since theyre easy enough to change. One thing about GM cars of this era is they used almost every part over many different lines, so parts are really easy to find.

The diesel seals made me think of when I was redoing my exhaust on the old 6k wagon. I wanted all stainless, since there are quite a few other vehicles with stainless exhaust and I got tired of dicking with it every year or two. I like working on cars, but I just hate exhaust work. I went to all the shops around here, and NOBODY would do it. I know they can bend pipe. I guess they figured I wouldnt keep coming back for exhausts. So I laid out the pipe and bought all the bends, a length of straight pipe, and a stretcher from JC Whitney. I also bought a stainless high flow cat and stainless turbo muffler elsewhere online. And about 20 clamps and some hangers. That was about 2001 and Ive not had to touch it since. So I did the same thing to the Celeb in 2004. So they did lose my future business on each car, but also lost the initial pipe work too.

[tasdrouille]

I just had to change the starter on my TDI. In the summer I would have taken it off myself and sent to be rebuilt for $100-$150. But with the temps now I was sol and had to shell out $350 for a reman bosch, labor and taxes. Those TDI starters are pretty expensive, junkers with >100k miles on them go for over $125.