Like others have said, these home shop guys probably don’t have all the overhead that larger shops have. thus why some are probably willing to do the jobs for less.
Overhead for sure, they also don’t have a warranty which to me you would have to save a lot of money to trust a vehicle repair that might lead to an accident to some dude in his garage. I understand the guy you were talking about did not work at a shop but regardless cutting a hole to save time is shady at best.
Pulling a dash out isn’t that hard 
IMG_3624-scaled.jpeg
Wow !! Even the seats !!! 
Stanley you opened pandoras box! These commoners are not supposed to see behind that curtain, every rattle in the dash now is our fault. 
This was for an air bag deployment on both sides so had to do seat belt stuff which required removing the seats.
Also since we are talking about fixing vehicles. I found a gun in the center counsel on this job as well as other jobs. If your going to leave them in your vehicle please remember to take them out if you need service work done.
Would you rather hear the hourly rate and no idea of how long it’s going to take to complete? Flat rate has been around as long as people have been asking how much is it going to cost. More so know because consumer’s can’t handle being told the hourly rate it takes to run a business. I’m guessing $300 an hour isn’t even a break even rate gor a lot of shops
Cutting holes in dash boards and cutting holes in a pickup bed to get to a fuel pump is what i do in the beater trucks I use for ice fishing or farm crap, if a real mechanic said it was a good idea i would never use that guy ever.
Pulling a dash out isn’t that hard
Nope it’s not. Putting it back in is the hard part! 
If you have a heart problem you pay a heart surgeon, otherwise just go to a vet.
well took the car and had the tire pressure sensors replaced.. 1 and maybe 2 were bad so did them all.. 279.99 for parts alone.. $418. out the door.. could be worse…
well took the car and had the tire pressure sensors replaced.. 1 and maybe 2 were bad so did them all.. 279.99 for parts alone.. $418. out the door.. could be worse…
I hate tire pressure sensors. They always seem to be going bad on some auto’s.
Side ? for you. How’s is the ice looking on the Head of the Lakes end of Osakis ?? I saw a facebook post a few days ago with someone posting crappie pic’s.
there was a spear shack out there the other day… so folks are walking out there..
I read 3-6″ in that area yesterday… so more today !
Pulling a dash out isn’t that hard
My neighbor had to have her’s pulled to replace an actuator for her Heating system since it wouldnt blow out the drivers side. Repair was $2000. Not something I would want to do in my garage.
My neighbor had to have her’s pulled to replace an actuator for her Heating system since it wouldnt blow out the drivers side. Repair was $2000. Not something I would want to do in my garage.
That was the exact problem my family member had. He had both Actuators replaced and calibrated. Including parts and labor the cost ended up right around 400.00
had to replace one in my Impala a while back, $170 I think
Part of the reason for flat rate is to benefit the technician. If he can do a job in 5 hours and the flat rate manual says 8 hours, he gets paid for 8 hours. It is incentive to work faster. Also the tech is not garanteed 40 hours if the shop is not busy. That is also why they push for more work. I’m always leary of an incentive driven shop. Many, not all, push unnecessary work.
That is also why they push for more work. I’m always leary of an incentive driven shop. Many, not all, push unnecessary work.
I know this happens at some places. However most people think shops are pushing work on you when most times we are just trying to help the customer keep there vehicle in good shape. Some guys believe in taking care of there vehicle and some don’t. Some think when there being asked to do fluid services, spark plugs and other maintenance they think its being up sold. It is up to you if you chose to ignore that and possibly pay bigger money later ie not doing transmission fluid services, some people think there winning by leaving with just he oil change bill and it comes back to bite them we needing to replace expensive parts. The reason techs a payed on commission is simple human nature, we need the carrot in front of out nose to work harder.
Simply, if it is recommended in the owners manual, it is our job to let you know… the people who designed the vehicle recommend these services at these intervals. Whether you do it or not, is up to you.
There are definitely places that don’t try to upsell, it’s important to find somewhere you trust. My 2013 RAM had an insane service schedule and the place I always brought it to for non-warranty stuff didn’t even want to do some of it half the time. I’d go pick it up and they’d say “it didn’t need X” and I’d have to tell them I know but I’m trying to follow the manual because of the lifetime warranty If they actually told me I needed stuff there was no doubt in my mind that it was needed.
In other news if anybody has one of those old mopar lifetime warranties they are really trying to get people out of them. I got an additional $5k bonus for trading it in for a new one on top of what my actual trade-in was before they knew this bonus applied. Was a real good deal since it only cost $2300 when I bought it 10 years ago and had already paid for itself in warranty repairs anyways.
John that is why I said “many not all”
Some on the site are posting to follow the owners manual exactly because the car manufacturers know what’s best. The next post “is don’t follow the oil change requirements” they are too long.
So do you follow the manual or ????
The best advice I can give is find an auto shop that has been in business for several years, with low tech turnover, with good reviews and give them a chance. If your happy follow their recommendations. JMO
As a dealership, I will always refer someone to their owners manual. When they follow that, it is what the designers recommended. It also makes it much easier for me to get an out of warranty component covered, when I can show the customer did everything they were advised to. I have gotten $13,000 engines covered by warranty, because the vehicle was maintained per the book. The time to tell the customer they should have followed the maintenance schedule, is not after their breakdown… that tends to tick them off.
Good for you big_g for going to bat for the customer.
How many times were claims denied when you thought the issue should be covered?
None, that I can recall in 20+ years… my DM’s always trusted my judgement I guess. 
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
