Book time vs. actual cost

[Peter Serwe]

Ray's right, mechanics who pad the crap out of their bill DO suck.

No offense, but it's a well known fact that book times are padded.

And _real_ mechanics, who actually know what the're doing
don't pad.  Why exactly should a mechanic get rich off you?

It's things like that, that force people to just go and buy new cars,
when all they need is someone to not take them for a ride.  There
is a strong belief in the auto repair sector that it's okay to rip people
off constantly.  It's not the people's fault for being ignorant, it's the
mechanics' fault for being a rip off artist.

Case in point, JGY down in VA does a turbo motor swap for a flat
rate of $1000.  Take your vehicle to a most performance shops
and suggest that it's not worth much more than that, see how they
react - people do NOT like being called on their dishonesty.

As Ray said, and I'll paraphrase slightly, by FAR the vast majority
of automotive repair shops are ignorant.  They want to change oil,
and bleed coolant, and be able to bill $X an hour for it.  Dishonesty
in that industry is not the exception, it's the rule.

The only way people can keep themselves from being
screwed is education, but the vast majority of people
neither have the time, nor the inclination to educate themselves
about their cars.  The Dinan shop who's name I won't mention
in northern New Jersey screwed me for $12k on my 750iL, not
fixing things they claimed they fixed, and charging me for it.

Live and learn, but it's still no excuse.  It's how they pay for their
own SCCA road racing - they rip people off right and left.

It's mechanics like that, that have made me swear off taking my car
to _anyone_.  I run a computer business up here, I charge a high
(for the area) hourly rate.  If I billed 'book time' like that, fairly
quickly, nobody would do business with me.  People who don't
know what's what, get screwed constantly by many of the local
shops, but as soon as someone knows what's up, they take their
business elsewhere.

As with most of the capitalistic buggery in this country,
BUYER BEWARE!

Just because you can talk the poor schmuck into paying it, doesn't
mean your entitled to rip him off.

Sorry to continue this somewhat OT thread, but I felt really strongly
about it, and I'll try not to say more about it :)

--
Peter Serwe <peter@easytree.net>
Cheaper, Faster, Better, pick any two.
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