I hate to bug you guys...

One of my granny’s favorite sayings was “A lesson bought is better learned than a lesson taught”
You feel like you were being screwed and I don’t disagree.
If you run the spot market do you consider how much it costs the shipper and charge a fair price or get as much as the market will allow?

 

Do ya'll remember a thread about a list of Good Repair Shops ?

 

Stockholm Syndrome?

 

I know its a pain and can be extremely frustrating

 

My shop bills out at the book rate. He got rid of 2 guys that were taking double the time to complete jobs, because he had to pay them hourly but couldn’t charge in good faith - the time they actually took.

I agree the 5 hour tail light charge should have been 1 - running a new wire would have been easier.

I probably wouldn’t go back. My guess is they’ll try to recoup what they dropped on the bill on another repair.

I’ve only ever used one shop. 6 years. I can call the guy 24/7 if I’m in need, he’s helped my friends diagnose stuff on the back of my relationship with them - can’t stress enough the importance of honest relationship building with mechanic - tire - inspection - bank - CPA etc.

I buy them Christmas presents, cook barbecue lunch - deliver pizzas to the inspection place - you know, grease the wheels of industry

 

Agree.
Coffee and donuts, a pizza etc is a CHEAP investment with a big return.

 

I give the mechanic a tip, when they’re good, next time they remember. By comparison if they’ve got a bad attitude, and give me a dirty look, like I’m bothering them, or have a know it all attitude and talk down to me. Red flag! I’m out of there.

 

I'm an independent mobile mechanic, so I have waaaay less overhead than this shop does. That being said if you called me and asked for a quote I would ball park it at $1,650 plus tax (not including the steer tire balance as I can't do that on the road) and tell you it could differ depending on parts pricing and what I find out on the electrical problem. I would take care of all the work other than the lights, spend an hour on that and call you with an update and ask if you want me to proceed. I would also be extremely embarrassed to admit that it took over an hour to find a broken wire on your exact truck. I would probably just eat any time over that hour out of principle. At that price I bill $105 an hour in labor and would make what I deem a fair profit on the parts.