A good mechanic is worth his weight in gold. Hard not to charge $150.00 plus per hr labor. What I don't like is the double dipping and very high markup for parts they put on the customer. Last week my daughter had a new throttle body installed on her car. You can purchase the oem part for $140.00 plus tax. They charged her $640.00 for the part. At least their labor was in line.
Poor quality work when brake work done; Nasty surprise last night
- Thread starter WylieCoyote
- Start date
Parts are usually market up to 2 to 2 1/2 times cost. You can't pay the bills in a shop on labor alone.
Another fallacy perpetrated on this forum.
Matrix pricing is an interesting topic in the auto parts business
I would expect @bdcardinal to have expert insight for us
To do brakes with any sort of accuracy and efficiency you’re going to be around $1000. Floor jack, jack stands, impact wrench, multiple torque wrenches, and all the basic wrenches/sockets…
Um... Torque wrench $100. Harbor freight impact sockets $25. Harbor freight wrenches $9 brake pads and grease $20 if you get the cheap ones from rockauto.
For the average DIYer who only does the work periodically, no.
Not always true….. All in my home county of Gloucester. I have seen several shops that charge a bit higher percentage than what the part costs. Not 200, 300, 400 etc percent more… Those places have been in business for decades.
I have had one shop charge 200 percentage of what the part cost… For a whooptyfied reman alternator…. I wasn’t impressed.
Never went back there.
My other place here in Williamsburg where I take my car charges a bit higher percentage for what the actual parts costs. No where near 200, 300, 400 percent more…
I don’t think it’s that complicated, it’s corporate tactics/business models that used to work, but don’t anymore.
Dealerships and large chains all but killed small independent repairer shops by luring people in with their loss leader jobs, free coffee, TV, luxurious waiting rooms etc.
Now they are pricing themselves out of the market for many of the simple jobs and since people cannot turn to the indy shops, they are learning to DIY. I also noticed there is an increase of mobile mechanics advertising on social media.
The market is starting to correct itself hopefully.
It is? Not sure if I’d agree. If you took a poll on my street, most folks use the dealership.
I think it largely depends on the socioeconomic status of the area.
We're starting to turn into a nation of those that have and those that have not, and a shrinking middle class. If you live in an affluent area you will likely see the opposite. More people driving newer, more luxurious, more expensive vehicles and servicing them at the dealerships. Where else would one service their $60-70k vehicle?
The last four years have been good to a lot of people, including me, but I'm not going to say there was no crisis and that it didn't have any negative socioeconomic impact since me, many of my friends and the people that live around me weren't impacted.
A large portion did become much poorer over the last four years and they are the ones seeking other options to keep their vehicles running.
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Perhaps being in business for years gives them less overhead. As I mentioned before-the Ford Dealer here in Draper, Utah charges $250.00/hour for labor. But 2 to 2 1/2 times the cost of parts is not unusual.
Yep. I have used a local body shop for the past 30 years. They had an excellent reputation and always did quality work for me. The last time I used them I found out after I had the car towed there that they were bought out by a corporate chain without changing the name on the door. What they did change was the quality of the workmanship. That will be last time using them.
And gets customers into the showroom around the shiny new cars...
My guess is, many owners assume if they sell the car they must be the best mechanics. A rich lady friend took her beautiful MBZ in for new Michelins because, "they must be better; it's Mercedes."
Oftentimes customers purchase a service package with the car.
The high end customers never really went anywhere except their dealerships for service, unless they had an indy that specialized in their brand and was exceptionally regarded by the community.
I was referring to the economy buyers being lured in by the dealerships. They went in for the $20 oil change specials or coupons in their hand. Post Covid the prices went up and these people are finding themselves not being able to afford these services anymore.
What gets me is the oftentimes horrible quality of work. I used to service my friend's Jeep GC after her husband passed early from cancer. Pulling the drain plug, cleaning it and reinstalling it ain't that hard. Break torque and then fingers only. She had the dealer service it once during a recall; during the next service I had to use a wrench to remove the plug the length of the threads. I thought it was cross threaded, but I only needed to clean the threads.
I hate to tell everyone in this thread, but the big chain bodyshops do two things:
1) look for shops that are cheap to acquire because they aren’t being operated intelligently and usually haven’t invested in modern equipment
2) quickly bring in training and equipment that the techs need to start fixing modern cars without getting someone killed.
Now the business model has lots of problems, including the fact that these big consolidators are the main collaborators of sheisty insurance companies. But I’m sorry, Billy Bob’s Bump Shop didn’t have the $30k squeeze-type resistance spot welder that’s required to replace the outer panels of modern cars without overheating and destroying the inner structural layers. I know Billy Bob was a nice guy when you dropped your car off. I know that his detailers polished your car nicely, because that’s the part you get to see. I know that you didn’t have any problems. But the average mom and pop bodyshop is a widowmaker factory.
1) look for shops that are cheap to acquire because they aren’t being operated intelligently and usually haven’t invested in modern equipment
2) quickly bring in training and equipment that the techs need to start fixing modern cars without getting someone killed.
Now the business model has lots of problems, including the fact that these big consolidators are the main collaborators of sheisty insurance companies. But I’m sorry, Billy Bob’s Bump Shop didn’t have the $30k squeeze-type resistance spot welder that’s required to replace the outer panels of modern cars without overheating and destroying the inner structural layers. I know Billy Bob was a nice guy when you dropped your car off. I know that his detailers polished your car nicely, because that’s the part you get to see. I know that you didn’t have any problems. But the average mom and pop bodyshop is a widowmaker factory.
While I agree that the small mom and pop body shops cannot keep up with modern equipment and new ways of repairing body panels, you calling them “widowmaker factories” is pure hyperbole and ignorance.
Having expensive machinery does not guarantee quality work. That’s a fallacy many fall for these days.
Ok, cool. Explain to me how to weld UHSS or boron alloy with a GMAW, without ruining the crystalline structure of the steel. I’ll wait…
