My g/f has a '98 Cavalier and it's been stuttering/stalling while driving. Turns out it only needs a new tps. Well she took it to a shop to get fixed, and they want $700 to replace it. I called a Chevy dealer and the part only costs $46. I called them and they said oh, well yeah labor and some other things make up the other $650... I'm like explain to me in detail the "other things".. and they're like "oh well it's pretty technical, we're digging into the engine for other things. We'll let you know when you come in to pick it up." I said again, explain the "other things". "Hang on I'll get you to a manager." I was on hold for a good 10 minutes, then *click*.

My brother's g/f just took her V6 Mazda 626 in for some problems, and it needed new belts and plugs. They're charging $120 to replace the serpentine belts which is somewhat reasonable, and $107 for new plugs/labor, and that she has to change the plug wires every time you change plugs, which cost $180. I told her to call them asap and tell them not to change any of the plug crap, and how they only cost like $40 for all that and I'd do it myself.

I swear to god, if you're a girl [most] mechanics make everything sound so technical and expensive... :banghead:

thats mad dick i hate that when people are shady like that. you win more customers when you are fair my mechanics are good guys and i steer everyone i know to them cause they earn it.

thats why its so im portant that you take your ride/gf ride to a mechanic that you trust. ive seen this happen to guys too...granted dipshit guys who had no idea what the shop was going to do, but it happens on the other sid eof the table to uninformed people also...

lol... my mom once had her whole wiper arm fall off of her car. she took it to a chevy dealership to get a new one put on and they said they were going to charge her a 1/4 labor charge to do it. so she was like forget that just give it to me and I will do it myself! then the guy was like oh don't worry about it I will go out there and do it for you... he snapped it on and she left

not long ago I took my car to an oil change place and the moron under the car cross threaded my drain plug when he put it back in and it stripped. so not only did I have to sit and wait while the retapped the hole for a bigger plug but also they had added it to the cost of my oil change and were going to charge ME for it. I was like I just sat right here in this waiting room and watched that guy screw it up... I'll be damned if I am going to pay for your mistake! the guy gave me the money back, I thanked him and left

its always nice to know they are wanting to screw people that they don't think will know any better any chance they get

those are normal labor rates now adays labor is now 60 and hour and better so what are you complaining about. labor rates are so high due to the fact that the economy is shit and diagnostic equipment prices are astronomical i mean the new snap on modis cost's 7900 dollars so i wouldnt complain if you think its too much do it yourself but dont bitch

those are normal labor rates now adays labor is now 60 and hour and better so what are you complaining about
Yeah $107 to take 5 minutes and change $8 worth of spark plugs sure sounds fair :rolleyes: You're a fuckin idiot.

There are still good mechanics out there though.

My girlfriend took her Trans Am in to get an estimate (rear ended a guy who pulled out in front of her, tore off right lid, cracked fender, guy was gonna pay for it, but body shop guy didn't know)

He hooked her up with a functional ram air and all that other good stuff for cheaper than it would normally be.

Of course... he was also a Trans Am racer, but I'm sure that had nothin to do with it ;)

No doubt there are great mechanics out there who are still human, but these are just some experiences I've had in the past few weeks. I gauruntee if I take my car in to get the plugs changed they'll charge me $20 for plugs and labor.

i feel kind of lucky...i found a guy that is a mechanic at a honda dealership and he gets me discounts on parts and charges very little labor.

No doubt there are great mechanics out there who are still human, but these are just some experiences I've had in the past few weeks. I gauruntee if I take my car in to get the plugs changed they'll charge me $20 for plugs and labor.

This is why I do everything to my car MYSELF. Great learning experience, I've saved more than I can imagine on labor costs, and it's just a good feeling when you know you did it yourself and how easy most things are to do actually.

Ricochet, you shoulda gone down to that dealership about the $700 TPS and demanded a good answer for that, or else you're report them to the BBB. I would have LOVED to hear and know what $650 worth of "other things" really is. Next to politicians, auto mechanics are some of the shadyest and scrupulous people out there. Not all, but many! I almost want to pull my intake air temp sensor, let it throw my CEl and see what it would cost to "fix" it, hahaha!

hehehe... they did something like that a while ago on 20/20 or something. They took a problem-free car in saying there were problems, and the mechanic sprayed oil all over the bottom of the engine. They caught him because of a hidden camera under the car, then questioned later. They had no comment lol..

hehehe... they did something like that a while ago on 20/20 or something. They took a problem-free car in saying there were problems, and the mechanic sprayed oil all over the bottom of the engine. They caught him because of a hidden camera under the car, then questioned later. They had no comment lol..

LOL, that's where I was thinking of that from. But I'd like to do it just to make the mechanics feel like an ass. Though they probably wouldn't care. :rolleyes:

i feel kind of lucky...i found a guy that is a mechanic at a honda dealership and he gets me discounts on parts and charges very little labor.
kinda just had the same experience...went into dealership for some lame recall work (free, of course), and the guy changes my oil/filter, new plugs, rotor, dist. cap, even plug wires...all free...im sitting there in awe after the guys runs down the list of stuff theyve done for yes free...then i walk out to my car and unexpectedly, its spotlessly washed.
also on the way out, i have a nice half hour convo with the mechanic that worked on my ride and he offers to 'hook me up' with some decent prices on some stuff...whatever thats good for, i dont know, well see if he comes through, but either way, nice guy, nice experience. if youre in the c-bus, ohio area and you want a good dealership: john hinderer.

you callin me a fuckin idiot? i have a raisin dick and i have to be called an idiot also?
listen up shithead lifes not fair sure it take 10 minutes but if you call any dealer/repair shop you wont find anyone who will do it for under 75$ and thats the lowest you will find. if you know how to do it good for you but if you dont oh well pay the damn money and dont bitch i dont go to the store buy a peice of steak for 8$ and yell at the cashier because it costs about a dollar to get that steak to my plate so eat shit assgrabber

kinda just had the same experience...went into dealership for some lame recall work (free, of course), and the guy changes my oil/filter, new plugs, rotor, dist. cap, even plug wires...all free...im sitting there in awe after the guys runs down the list of stuff theyve done for yes free...then i walk out to my car and unexpectedly, its spotlessly washed.
also on the way out, i have a nice half hour convo with the mechanic that worked on my ride and he offers to 'hook me up' with some decent prices on some stuff...whatever thats good for, i dont know, well see if he comes through, but either way, nice guy, nice experience. if youre in the c-bus, ohio area and you want a good dealership: john hinderer.
hey john hinderer is where i got my car...they do have really good service. glad they gave you the same great service.
-josh

2 winners banned in one thread... lol

its seems like if you mess with ricochet you get banned you a mod now? lol

Yeah, but I've chosen to not let anybody know :)
j/k

Not picking on you by again wtf is this topic in lets get technical? Here is my Technical answer:

SR. Technicians (Mechanics) get paid ~20-25 and hour depending on they type of job.

70-80 Dollar shop rate, where does the money go?End of technical answer....
Coustomer reps, managers, and the big three for all that damn diagnositcs crap that makes the little shops unable to work on you car, which in turn is gauranteed to make dealerships more money. Politics my friends!!! Damn democrats lol. Create more jobs and more government to cover it up, more committies and boom: Look at California.

Serice centers/dealerships have the hours required to complete a task. They make their estimates off of that. Say 6 hours for a clutch in a 2000 accord. Spelled right out so they know how much to charge you.
Now ask to see all of you old parts when the job is completed, ask for a detailed list of what was done or will be done. Do all of this before you car is worked on so you wont bitch afterwards.
I do love the fact that Ricochet busted on the dealership. There are a$#@%@#%@#Q$% out there that try to make more money, but rememeber it isnt the mechanics that see the money. They only get payed by the books on hours to complete. The damn managers and upper end guys get your money for being stupid so don't lean on the mechanics, kick the shit out of the managers and customer reps!!! I say this because I'm pretty sure a tech didn't give you the prices rather a service rep or manager...can you see now or is the water still muddy?

Not picking on you by again wtf is this topic in lets get technical?
Has to do with fixing cars, and how it's better to get [knowledgeable] answers in here than take the car to a shop. That was kind of the text in between the lines.

ricochet is turning into a punching bag here...
regardless, i got your point ricochet and bbyz but look at it in another respect: who gets the money when you take your car to say, a small shop. i go this route most of the time, and to say that upper management gets the money in this case is off base, because well with the shop that i go to there is no upper management, the owner works in the shop. prices are also still compairable to that of a dealership...i realize that these same owners have to pay for costs of running a business, but that comes nowhere close to justifying a $107 charge to install plugs. all that im saying is that this whole 'labor' thing is a cop-out.
at my work, i wait tables/serve food. when i give poor service, or hey, lie about food/prices, the customer has the option of not tipping well (or not at all). i still make good bank for what i do and i dont have to scam people in the process. shouldnt this ring true across the board without someone going, well, thats life and thats the cost of things?!?!?!

I as well have been in the service industry. Good ole country club bartender for the majority so I feel ya there, but the whole shop money thing is just a way to scam people in some regards. I was just covering all my buds by saying its not always the mechanic.
Not only that I was saying you should have the shop give you a detailed list of what is going to be done or was done depending on your situation. If you see any #@$@# stuff on the estimate/recipet. say hey what's that. If the spark plugs are hard to get to I'd charge 100 bucks too!!! But all in all I see the light in the post of how to take someone knowledgable w/ you or become knowledgable yourself. Just remember not to get cocky or they might really vasaline you a good one.

or maybe they won't even vasoline it to oyu...maybe they just make you take it...hard...with NO vasoline *T!mmy shivers*

Yeah $107 to take 5 minutes and change $8 worth of spark plugs sure sounds fair :rolleyes: You're a fuckin idiot.

I work for a ford dealership and depending on the car we usally chage more then that. prices go by if the parts lady is having a good day or not, then we are $70 a hour on top of that. we usally charge around 50$ or so for a set of plugs, sometimes more.

I did a brake job on a Explorer tonight, $1150 for new front rotors, pads, rear rotors and pads then labor and diag. i think the rotors were like 180 or something each and like 150 for the pads.

thats what they charge, you could get all the parts at autozone for probably 100-200$ and save yourself alot, doesnt matter if your a girl or guy its gonna be alot AND if we break something while working on your car that wasnt what we were fixing 99% of the time it will get chaged out to you

I seriously need to open my own shop... $$

ricochet...
ill go into business with you...heres the plan:
-figure out how to fix something...anything, i dont care. and then ill go around and break that on peoples cars. then ill act all surprised that its broken and ill send them to you. ohh yeah, i want 75%

"yeah can you install this cold air intake for me?"
"sure kid bring her around back"

2 days later after we drive the shit out of it for beer runs

"yeah looks like your transmission is about gone, for $800 we can make it like new"

haha

sorry i have to take exception to some of your comments. i'm a tech at the local dealer, and have been for the last 13 years. I have to take pride i doing honest work. if i see some thing you need i'll tell you, if it will need work soon, i'll tell you. i don't really mind if you don't have the work done (hey its your car) it dont affect my paycheck one little bit. i dont make any extra by being dishonest any ripping you off. most of all its not in my nature to work that way. it is simple business sense to treat the customer honestly and fairly, they'll respect that and return for service.if you operate dishonestly then word of mouth gets around (this case is a good example) soon there won't be any more customers. dont be mistaken that all tecnicians are crooks, i've been fighting that stereotype for all of my career, and then some people still lump us all together. i'm tired of this crap

Read the other posts above, we're not lumping you together. I know there are decent human beings under my hood at the shop sometimes, but the guys behind the desk at the door and the suits counting bills in the back room are crooks.

sorry i have to take exception to some of your comments. i'm a tech at the local dealer, and have been for the last 13 years. I have to take pride i doing honest work. if i see some thing you need i'll tell you, if it will need work soon, i'll tell you. i don't really mind if you don't have the work done (hey its your car) it dont affect my paycheck one little bit. i dont make any extra by being dishonest any ripping you off. most of all its not in my nature to work that way. it is simple business sense to treat the customer honestly and fairly, they'll respect that and return for service.if you operate dishonestly then word of mouth gets around (this case is a good example) soon there won't be any more customers. dont be mistaken that all tecnicians are crooks, i've been fighting that stereotype for all of my career, and then some people still lump us all together. i'm tired of this crap

and it is good to have at least a few people like you out there. too bad there aren't more of you!

If something needs to be done on my woman's car, she drops it off at the mechanics, then when they call with the diagnosis or to let us know to pick it up, they explain everything to me. She knows almost nothing about cars, except how to start it, go, stop, and turn (even then, she manages to screw them up once in a while).

We know the head mechanic at the local Firestone, and he always hooks us up with discounts because we send him all her family's cars. When my alternator died, he hooked me up with some electrical testing and an oil change, charged me half price for both. Their price for the replacement alternator was a bit high, they wanted more for a new factory alt than I could get a new high amp alt for, so I declined, but I'm sure he would have hooked me up somehow.

But there are people out there that don't know squat about how their vehicle or how it works, and I think these are the people that the dishonest mechanics try to take advantage of, especially women.

I guess it pays off to know an honest mechanic, or have some basic knowledge of your car.

Ricochet- did you (or them) ever figure out why there was oil on the spark plugs?

Ya, i got t-boned going only about 15-20, so the the only damage was a 7" diameter dent, i took it to a body shop, cuz my rents were gonna pay for it. THey said $1400, cuz they needed to replace the WHOLE DOOR. I looked at the summary, seems like they were planning on building the whole door from scratch from the looks of all the materials. I went to advance auto parts, got myself one of those heavy duty suction cups and it came right out, just gotta paint it and im not sure if i'll paint it or get a shop to do it, theres only like 3 big scratchs.

"yeah can you install this cold air intake for me?"
"sure kid bring her around back"

2 days later after we drive the #### out of it for beer runs

"yeah looks like your transmission is about gone, for $800 we can make it like new"

haha

that is exactly the type of thing that im talking about...with one exception and that is we have to carefully select out clientelle: we find the kids with rich parents, the ones who drive the brand new mustangs and camaros. theyre nice cars and hey, better burnouts in front of the carry out. anyway, it was pretty much my idea so im still taking 75%.

by the way, i cant fix or replace a transmission but i sure can break one.
(1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, R.........goodnight tranny)

60-70/hour for labor is the norm around here at dealers. If you take it to a small shop you can save 20-30/hr on labor.

I think that if we keep mechanics (fairly) well paid we won't see as many instances of, "We also found an oil leak here, and here, so these are going to have to be replaced" or, "this was warped/cracked, so I had to replace it".

There was even a time I got a break on labor at a local body shop because I had my gf take the car in...she was hot, and she gave the estimator a nice sob story (they didnt change the labor rate, just the hours that we would be charged).

The car service industry is like any other, if you go somewhere and make your ignorance plainly known, you're going to get taken advantage of. I think it has very little to do with being a woman.


i should say 50-65 on labor rates, I havent been to a dealer in a while.

Since this post is still alive I'd like to make a little metaphor about this topic. "If you're a man, don't go in to strip bars if you are lonely" It's all about the bling bling and the girl with the tight clothes on isn't going to give you a deal. She is going to take your money and as much of it as possible. Of course they are going to claim they gave you a deal, but they have to have food on their plates too. I'd say I gave you a good deal if you bring all your cars to me. I might make one deal one part and give it at cost to sell the others + labor. Its about buisiness.