Man fools kid

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Man fools kid

February 25, 2012, 10:32:54 AM

My neighbor is a great kid, but is clueless about cars. This is OK though as he is a computer whiz. However, he came over yesterday to ask my opinion on his brakes. Seems the local garage has been preying on him. They wanted over $300 to swap front rotors(pads were good). They already soaked him for $700 with such classics as changing power steering fluid, and some other useless stuff, but the kicker was when they pulled the plugs, put a q-tip in and OMG your engine is filthy, for $70 we will clean it out.
He didnt have the money and asked what he should do. I told him to go to Autozone and get the rotors(they were bad to my surprise). I showed him what to do and we had them both done in 45 minutes. Total cost= $45, and Dude was beside himself for doing something mechanical. He didnt even know which way the wheel went back on, and had the lug nuts on backwards....LOL. Reminded me of myself looooong ago.

Man fools kid

Reply #1 – February 25, 2012, 10:48:01 AM

I've been teaching my girlfriend and sister about cars over the last year. We've done all kinds of maintenance and performance stuff and they are loving it. This year they will both be accompanying me to the track :) It is a good feeling to teach others.

Man fools kid

Reply #2 – February 25, 2012, 11:08:15 AM

My co-worker got hosed at Midas this month.. They charged him $1300 for front brakes and rotors, oil change, inspection, and motor mount, not oem parts either. I called the local Honda dealer for an estimate they quoted $1050 out the door. I went to autozone.com and the parts totaled $140. Midas charged him $349 for a $25 motor mount and the dealer cost on the mount was $125!! I told him next time call me

Its sad but people are getting robbed everyday

Man fools kid

Reply #3 – February 25, 2012, 11:29:39 AM

It's up to people like us to try save someone else from getting ass-raped by the mechanics that charge prices like that. C'mon...it isn't like it's a ed Ferrari.

Besides, letting someone help, AND learn something about a mechanical object is a big thing, to both myself and them.

Here's an example: late last summer, some friends of mine had a Buick park Avenue...the AC compressor locked up, and all they could afford was the eliminator pulley kit for it.
So they bring the car over, and we block it up, and I show him what various parts are, their functions, etc, as I'm changing the AC out for the pulley eliminator kit.
Dude was so grateful, he asked what I needed for the labor. I replied that I didn't need money, but I would take a soda.
He comes back an hour later with a case each of mountain dew and dr pepper....
I told him and his woman friend that if they ever needed stuff like brakes, oil changes, new belt, etc, to come to me.

I changed a starter for a co-worker on her F series one night after work in Wal mart's parking lot, she asked me what I wanted for doing the swap...told her to pay me whatever she thought it was worth...made 40 bucks.
I just can't stand to someone pay a lot of hard earned money for outrageous labor, let alone parts that have been marked up 45% or more.
Flat me off.

But...shops, dealerships and the like, I imagine they have a good bit of liability insurance to carry....what if they f*ck up on a job, and have to buy a feller a new engine?
So, it's the flip side of the coin.

Man fools kid

Reply #4 – February 25, 2012, 01:15:34 PM

Quote from: Bob;381833

MMidas charged him $349 for a $25 motor mount and the dealer cost on the mount was $125!! I told him next time call me

Its sad but people are getting robbed everyday

HOLY !!!! i'd put midas out of business if i went back to OEM repair.. i don't mark up ANY prices on parts.. (except junkyard parts, but only by a small ammount to cover gas, $2 it costs to get in the gate and about $5 extra for my time).. but midas? $349?! your co-worker should go to the press with that garbage.. midas would be singing a new tune REAL quick, once it gets out that they're literally robbing people

Man fools kid

Reply #5 – February 25, 2012, 08:24:30 PM

exactly, I was happy to help a neighbor out. I get that garages need to make a buck, but some stuff is just criminal.

Man fools kid

Reply #6 – February 25, 2012, 09:21:33 PM

they probably do that because midas needs such a huge overhead.. but that's still ridiculous

Man fools kid

Reply #7 – February 25, 2012, 09:47:29 PM

Labor rates have doubled over the past 10 years. Mechanics pay has stayed the same. Mechanics are encouraged to upsell useless services. The shops are the ones to blame. They hike up the prices on parts to make even more. This is part of the reason I am not in the buisness anymore. I can not do this to people. A buddy of mine is still in the buisness, and has started to do work on the side. He charges reasonable rates and only nessesary repairs. Makes more money on the side than he does at work.

Man fools kid

Reply #8 – February 25, 2012, 10:08:10 PM

Quote from: Chrome;381939

A buddy of mine is still in the buisness, and has started to do work on the side. He charges reasonable rates and only nessesary repairs. Makes more money on the side than he does at work.

that's how i got started.. eventually it gets to the point where you have less going on at work, more going on at home and it only makes sense to quit and do your own thing

Man fools kid

Reply #9 – February 25, 2012, 10:21:44 PM

I know what you mean but as a shop i have a HUGE OVERHEAD

Insurance Electric salaries local taxes personal property taxes equipment leases so on and so forth. We have a set hour rate and my techs make good money. We can add to the cost of parts by 30% as is normal in the business. With that we are fair and dont sell product the customer does not need. Anyone in business will know this instantly. As a business owner we are allowed to make MONEY. But on the other hand we dont CHEAT CUSTOMERS. Our taxes and utility's including insurance has tripled in the last ten years. We have no choice in the matter to charge higher rates. We beat the dealers hands down. But we also have compassion for people that are hurting or lost their jobs. We do some community work for my church for people that have hard times. Dont judge a business for charging fair prices and dont compare a person that moonlights without insurance and liability insurance to cover his work. But helping out a kid that clearly was ripped off is great. I would do the same thing. I saw a bill the other day from my SNAP ON GUY. They replaced his starter and charged him 1300 BUCKS. I guess the shop got some pay back!!!!! That was a rip off but he paid the bill and was happy. So who can figure!!!

Man fools kid

Reply #10 – February 25, 2012, 10:26:44 PM

JESUS.. $1300?! they must have really had it out for the snap-on guy LOL

Man fools kid

Reply #11 – February 25, 2012, 10:33:59 PM

Shadow i read the bill. It was outrageous

14 Dollars for 2 brown wizzer discs
450 for a reman starter (diesel)
300 labor to swap it out
200 for rewiring ( they changed the terminal on the crank lead
and 30 bucks for hazmat
And a few other goodies.

By the way the starter was not the trouble. 4 hours later he called us and was stuck on the road. His ignition switch was messed up. He explained to me the truck had an intermittent no start. Turned out to be a bad ignition switch.

And a few other goodies. But i guess they figured paying 150 bucks for a 3/8 ratchet is a rip off as well. So their is the issue at hand i guess.

Man fools kid

Reply #12 – February 25, 2012, 10:38:37 PM

Ive seen some of this first hand in the last couple weeks. One of my buddys runs his own shop, had an S10 come in with no heat and the owner had it diagnosed at another shop that had done the brake job, right before the heat quit. The owner bought a heater core and hired my buddy to install it, so he did. Put everything back together and still no heat. So he looked deeper, pulled the obvious thermostat to find it had been cut with a side cutters. Put the replacement stat in and he had heat and no over heating. To us it was obvious who did it and why.

Man fools kid

Reply #13 – February 25, 2012, 10:42:46 PM

Rule number one

NEVER EVER TRUST ANOTHER MECHANICS DIAGNOSIS. I learned that when i was a young man,People lie and cheat like HELL.

Man fools kid

Reply #14 – February 25, 2012, 10:52:37 PM

Yep and that pic I posted is proof why not to trust another one. Problem here is we grew up dealing with that shop and never heard or seen anything like that done there. Thats the only reason he trusted thier diagnosis.