I'm tired of being screwed over by mechanics

[KudoZ]

How can a common man find a reputable shop where the mechanic's salary doesn't depend on his sales? I am constantly being bombarded with things they say I need done when I only want to car to keep the car running. I am not rich. Most places charge 80 bucks an hour for labor. They want 80 bucks just to check an engine light on the dash and that does not include fixing it. I know I'm getting screwed because I go from place to place and every prognosis is different.

 

[uscitizen]

Do like I did all my life and fix my own vehicles.

 

[BecauseIKnow]

Go to Pontiac, MI.

 

[Zoom]

How can a common man find a reputable shop where the mechanic's salary doesn't depend on his sales? I am constantly being bombarded with things they say I need done when I only want to car to keep the car running. I am not rich. Most places charge 80 bucks an hour for labor. They want 80 bucks just to check an engine light on the dash and that does not include fixing it. I know I'm getting screwed because I go from place to place and every prognosis is differeint.

When you get a check engine light, go to auto zone or a place like that. They can tea the cose.for.you. then research and get the parts you need and go to a mech and tell him what us wrong.

 

[Toronado3800]

Far as things I own, my car ranks third in expense behind my house and my new ACL. And my 98 MarkVIII came to me quite used and fairly cheap.

As it was a large purchase and is important to me functioning as an adult I try to keep up on it. I belong to a real MarkVIII message board or two and own some tools. That way when I do give up trying to fix a problem myself whatever mechanic I deal with can't screw me readily. Pretty much the same with the house.

 

[Noomi]

How can a common man find a reputable shop where the mechanic's salary doesn't depend on his sales? I am constantly being bombarded with things they say I need done when I only want to car to keep the car running. I am not rich. Most places charge 80 bucks an hour for labor. They want 80 bucks just to check an engine light on the dash and that does not include fixing it. I know I'm getting screwed because I go from place to place and every prognosis is different.

Are you a female? Statistics show (if you believe them) that women get screwed over by mechanics because its believed that they don't have enough mechanical knowledge to know they are being ripped off.

 

[zakdavis]

Do like I did all my life and fix my own vehicles.

Do this. At the very least, learn about your car, such as common problems with the model and year.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Do like I did all my life and fix my own vehicles.

Do this. At the very least, learn about your car, such as common problems with the model and year.

Mechanics are no different than any other criminal. They size you up before they attack.

 

[Sunni Man]

Go to one of the small local auto parts stores where you live and buy a quart of oil or something.

While checking out ask the person if they know a good mechanic that's fair and with decent prices?

Usually they know who is good and who is bad.

 

[longknife]

Do what I've done for the past 30 years - find a Hispanic auto shop and take it there! They know what they're doing and want your repeat business.

I had a car that kept wearing out tires. I took it to ten different mechanics and had it aligned at least six times. Took it to a Mexican mechanic. He looked it over, got a sledge hammer, and straightened out the bent tie rod that was causing the problem. Cost? About $20!!!

 

[Katzndogz]

My mechanic is very good and very honest. He has to be. Years ago he decided to discriminate and stopped fixing the cars of various people he chose not to do business with. Rather than expose himself to the endless discrimination lawsuits, he went out of business, on paper, he fixes the cars of people he knows and those who are recommended by people he knows. Being good and being honest is what he sells.

Ask around. Someone knows someone who fixes cars.

 

[Katzndogz]

Do what I've done for the past 30 years - find a Hispanic auto shop and take it there! They know what they're doing and want your repeat business.

I had a car that kept wearing out tires. I took it to ten different mechanics and had it aligned at least six times. Took it to a Mexican mechanic. He looked it over, got a sledge hammer, and straightened out the bent tie rod that was causing the problem. Cost? About $20!!!

That COULD work, then again it could not work. Take it to a hispanic auto repair shop and you have even odds that your car is stripped of its parts and the unusable carcass dumped half way to mexico.

 

[zakdavis]

I started to learn how to work on cars after a mechanic put new brake pads on upside down, ended up breaking a caliper.

 

[Missourian]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_sl_66fl5pt3yg_b?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Achilton+manuals&keywords=chilton+manuals&ie=UTF8&psrk=chilton+manuals]Amazon.com: chilton manuals: Books[/ame]

 

[Sunni Man]

I started to learn how to work on cars after a mechanic put new brake pads on upside down, ended up breaking a caliper.

Sorry, but I have to call you on this.

I have replaced my own disc brake pads on my personal cars for years.

And it's physically impossible to install brake pads upside down/backwards/or sideways.

Just saying..........

 

[Koios]

How can a common man find a reputable shop where the mechanic's salary doesn't depend on his sales? I am constantly being bombarded with things they say I need done when I only want to car to keep the car running. I am not rich. Most places charge 80 bucks an hour for labor. They want 80 bucks just to check an engine light on the dash and that does not include fixing it. I know I'm getting screwed because I go from place to place and every prognosis is different.

Walk.

 

[zakdavis]

I started to learn how to work on cars after a mechanic put new brake pads on upside down, ended up breaking a caliper.

Sorry, but I have to call you on this.

I have replaced my own disc brake pads on my personal cars for years.

And it's physically impossible to install brake pads upside down/backwards/or sideways.

Just saying..........

Either way, broken caliper.

 

[Sunni Man]

Yes, the mechanic could have over tightened the caliper when installing the pads.

Which caused it to crack and eventually break.

 

[JustTheFacts]

How can a common man find a reputable shop where the mechanic's salary doesn't depend on his sales? I am constantly being bombarded with things they say I need done when I only want to car to keep the car running. I am not rich. Most places charge 80 bucks an hour for labor. They want 80 bucks just to check an engine light on the dash and that does not include fixing it. I know I'm getting screwed because I go from place to place and every prognosis is different.

Hello

ASE certified Master Tech here. Let me address a few things . Oh, and I own my own business, so I work for commission, sort of.

Let's start there , why are mechanics on commission? And by the way the correct term is auto technician, but we'll let that slide .

Technicians aren't on commission in some sort of ploy to rip off customers, although I admit that there is a lot of that going on in our industry, sadly.

Instead technicians are on commission because it works out better for everyone involved, as in I'm not paying a tech a full wage when we're not busy, and the tech can make more money than his wage when we our swamped.

It really is that simple

Now to the question of why does your "mechanic" give you a list of every little thing when you take your car in? Simple, liability. If you come in to my shop for a front end alignment and I notice your muffler is about to fall off and I say nothing to you, then 3 days later your muffler falls off and causes an accident, suddenly your suing me because I didn't advise you of the issue?

As a general rule I don't nitpick a vehicle, and I know most of my customers so I know which ones are picky and which ones aren't, but in a situation where I don't know the customer, damn right, I document everything I might see wrong with the vehicle.

Next on the charge for computer diagnostics. Why don't we do this for free? Simple reason, I'm not in business to work for free. Too many people bring in it for a diagnostics and then go somewhere else to get it fixed, or don't fix it at all.

Also, on that point,the people telling you "oh just go to AutoZone or whatever and have them read the code for free then you'll know what parts to buy to have it fixed"

Let me tell you, that is the most ignorant automotive advice you could ever receive. Autozone and other stores use a $30 code reader to pull a code , that code means nothing if you can't access the datastream to see what the engine and other component are actually doing. That takes a specialized piece of equipment, the one I use cost $5000 . We also utilize an online service which further helps in diagnosing , this service costs us $200 a month.

Oh, and it's not always a parts replacement,sometimes the car just needs reprogrammed, Autozones $30 device won't do that. My $5000 one will, but I have to pay a subscription fee to each manufacture to have access to that data. Costs about $50 each time I use it from most manufactures.

Oh, and 9 out of 10 times what I see when a check engine light comes on, is that is an EVAP leak, and there's only way to run that down, use a $2000 smoke machine to find out where the leak is.

So, I know people expect us to work for free, but that's impossible. I did my end of year inventory the other day,I spent $10K on tools this year, most of them do one job on one vehicle, but you have to have them if you are going to work on cars.

It costs me $1500 just to open for the day. That's whether I do any business or not. So no, I can't afford to spend an hour on your vehicle figuring out what is wrong with it for free.

I do however discount the price of the repair should you choose to have it repaired,but that's just me and by no means is a shop who doesn't ripping you off.

I don't get it at all. When you to the doctor do you bitch when they charge you for running tests on their expensive equipment?

That being said, yes there are lots of crooks out there and they suck for all of us. One tip, AutoZone has a pretty decent referral system, and they are pretty good about removing techs who they receive complaints about. If you go to their website and find the referral section and punch in your zipcode some reputable techs should show up..

 

[JustTheFacts]

I started to learn how to work on cars after a mechanic put new brake pads on upside down, ended up breaking a caliper.

Sorry, but I have to call you on this.

I have replaced my own disc brake pads on my personal cars for years.

And it's physically impossible to install brake pads upside down/backwards/or sideways.

Just saying..........

Either way, broken caliper.

Its not possible to break a caliper. Although sunny man is wrong. On certain vehicles the brake pads can be inatalled backwards so that the backing is facing the rotor rather thannthenfriction material. Doing so would not break the caliper.