Glenn

$70 an hour is not too much if the market will support it. People who don't like it can search for a cheaper place. I don't know what my local shop charges per hour, and I am not gonna search all over the place to find a place that is cheaper by $5 or $10 or $20 an hour cheaper. It's not the deciding factor for me. I put honesty pretty high.

Adam F

Very true. But from what I've seen, it's hard to make money being an honest mechanic.

Years ago when I got my 88 CRX I found a mechanic that specialized in Imports. He was the most honest mechanic you will ever find. I took all my cars there, as did my whole family. He many many thousands of dollars off my family. I had complete trust in him. For example, my brother took his 4Runner in to him because his truck was ticking in reverse. He test drove it, topped off the trans fluid, and told my brother not to worry about it, it should last for many more years, and just keep an eye on the fluid level and deal with the problem when it becomes a real problem. And didnt charge him a dime. Now that is honesty. He also was the only one who would replace alternator brushes and starter contacts instead of replacing the entire unit. Everyone else said it couldn't be done or it was not a good idea. He has customers lined up for weeks at a time. I usually had to wait a few days before he could get to my cars. But I always waited.


He was in business for about 3 years. He eventually had to close up shop, he said he just couldn't make enough money to run the shop and pay his employees. He had to go back to working at the Honda dealership.


I figure if he would have occasionally ripped off customers, overcharged, and did unnecessary work, he might still be in business.

ebelen1

Everything the mechanics above have stated is true, the cost of running a shop is tremendous. Not to mention paying bills to keep the business going but the bills at home as well.

What I don't like is that during good times, my buddy is honest and does what most of the honest mechanics above have claimed to do. When it's close to the end of the month and rent is due, his attitude changes and he gets into his "hustler" mode. Either way, he does a great job and is extremely thorough but I can't see charging an hourly rate and saying that the dealer allows three hours so that's what I charge even if it only took one.

hektikwon

I agree that mechanics must charge the rate they do to stay business. I work on office equipment and we charge about $90 an hour to fix big copiers if it's not under contract with us. I just did a complete overhaul of a copier and it came to $1150 for 2hrs 20mins of labor and parts. But that's the going rate and we replace some broken parts and supplies for free. The thing we don't do is be dishonest to people.

I got a transmission put in my wifes car a few years ago from Mr.Transmission. It cost $2600 to put a low mileage tranny in with a warranty. I wasn't driving the car but my wife would take it to work almost everyday. To make a long story short, the car had another problem and sat about a year. I finally fixed it and started driving it. The thing has no Overdrive!!!! My wife said it was like that when she first got it back but she thought it was normal. That means the mechanics at the shop didn't test the vehicle out ( something I should have done) and it was out of warranty when I took it back. This is what they said, " We're under new management. The other guys didn't do some things right." But they checked it and wanted to charge me $2000 to put in a new torque converter and check for broken parts of the converter in the tranny. Ha. Not again.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Personally, I take my Toyotas to the dealership and let one ASE Master Tech work on them for things I am not qualified nor experienced enough to do, especially on my 01 Sienna.

Just this week I had some minor work done on my 87 4Runner. When I went to pick it up, I talked w/ the mechanic, he found me, about what he had done. He is very personable and always does a great job...THAT is why I keep going back! I expect to know what they've done, so now it just happens.

In my opinion, you are going to get treated like you expect to be treated. If you expect to just be another head of cattle getting herded through, then that is what you'll be. If you expect them to know your name, your vehicles and to talk to the mechanic who works on your vehicle, then that is what you will get. Sure, many would think I'm a pest, but it is my vehicle and my money and I expect excellence and that is what I get at Tuscaloosa Toyota.

I agree w/ the statement in the original post, that if you don't trust the people who work on your vehicles, stop going there and go somewhere else! :pat:

Lt. Dan

The main problem is people in general are suspicious to start with. You hear so many horrer stories on TV, in the news and from other people about getting ripped off by a mechanic, that it has become a cliche'. The word 'Stealership' is recognised by just about everybody who owns a car.
It' not your fault, and there is nothing really you could do about it. I meet up with people who think EVERYONE is lying to them all the time. There is NO pleasing those people. Those are usually the same people who take their car to someone else just to save 50 - 60 bucks.
Most people on this board are trying to find ways to save $$ while learning to do the work themselves. (many times making the poblem worse, then STILL having to take it to a professional!) But for the most part, you are dealing with shade tree mechanics tring to save a buck here and there.

We have a shop we take all our toyotas to when the job is out of my range of experience. I will search here first, but if I can't do it myself, its off to our guys to be done right the first time, every time.
But it took us a coupla tries to find these guys, with disapointing results at least one time.

He is correct, peopls are suspisious of what they don't understand. The state of the industry not your fault, but you do get the pleasure of dealing with the direct results of human nature reacting to the state of the car industry. (does that make sense?..I tend to ramble sometimes..sorry)


Good. keep up the good work and word will get around.

maxpower_hd

A friend of mine has been a mechanic for many years and he is nothing but honest. However, at least where I live, there are plenty of dishonest ones as well. Sometimes it's tough to find a good trustworthy mechanic. I've heard lots of horror stories.

I do all my own work as a result with my friend just a phone call away if things go horribly wrong, which has become less and less often as the years have gone by. We have a trade off. He helps me wrench and I help him bang nails.