As predicted by of couple friends, here is a post about auto repairs.
I have owned several cars in my life, some great, some not so great. I am currently the owner of a 2003 Saturn Vue, and a 2005 Scion. Both cars are actually good cars. I can't complain about either of them, except for the fact that the Saturn seems to cost me more in repairs than any other car I have ever owned.
Since we have owned the Saturn, we have replaced the passenger wheel bearing, breaks, tires, serpentine belt, the check engine light has been on for about a year and now the driver side bearing needs replaced. That has cost a bunch of money! I realize that tires, belts and brakes are going to wear and need replaced. Happens on all cars. Wheel bearings, I have never replaced on any car I have ever owned. Until now.
I learned a little bit about our auto repair industry in the past two years with this car. Garages mark up the price of a part about 200%. Labor can run you anywhere between 60 and 80 bucks an hour. How can these places not be booming? I took my Saturn to a shop to have the bearing replaced. They told me the part was $299.99 and that it was an hour and a half for labor at $70 an hour for a total of $105.00. Then there were "shop" charges of $35 and taxes of course on the parts. Total $457.98. I paid that amount for the passenger side. The bearing was fused so tight they couldn't get it off. They called me and said they couldn't fix it. I'm guessing that it would take them longer that the hour and a half they were charging me to fix it and they didn't want to to do it. When I went to pick up the car, they charged me a $56 inspection fee. I was none to happy about that. This got me thinking. I got on the Internet and found the part for $99. I could get a lifetime warranty part for $150. I was shocked. The garage has to get the part at a better price than I can. What is up with the huge mark up? It's called gouging.
I work in retail. I understand that in order to make money, you have to sell the products at a markup. I wonder if I could get away with not only marking up my product, but also charging customers a rate for every question they ask? Or for my time? Probably not. However a repair facility can! Here is the kicker. Its not even actual time. It's "book" time. It may only take 10 minutes to do the job, but the "book" says that it takes 2 hours. You get charged for 2 hours! How is that legal? Not to mention the outrageous markup on the parts!
Where is the outcry from activist groups about this? Why no congressional hearings? I'm outraged, why isn't anyone else? How did this practice get started and why is it allowed to go on? Ill tell you why, the have us by the short hairs! Not many of us have the ability or the tools to complete repairs ourselves. We have to take it somewhere. They know it, so why not charge out the wazoo to do it. While they have your car, guess what? They have just found 100 other things wrong and have prepared an itemized list for you and started with the fear mongering that if you do not get these repairs done right away, your car will blow up!
So, I bought the bearing, $99, and asked around if anyone knew how to fix my issue. My old next door neighbor said he could do it. Off to his house I went in hopes of a much cheaper fix. After 2 hours of banging, pulling, huffing, puffing, calling the car names and even invoking prayer at one point, the bearing wouldn't budge. Now I am stuck with a part and still a bad bearing. I called around to a couple garages and was told that they would do it, but not use my part. I was back to being screwed. I called one last garage and was greeted with a friendly, "We love a good challenge, bring it in Monday 8am. We will charge you 2 hours at $80 an hour. I'm sure we can fix it. I don't mind you bringing your own part, we just appreciate the business." Do my ears deceive me? Is this a joke? I read several positive reviews about this garage, so I am hopeful that Monday morning I will have a fixed car and only be out $260.
The only way these garages will ever change is if we all become mechanics and do our own repairs. That's not going to happen. I encourage all of you to find a place that lets you supply your own part and just charges you labor. It will save you money and let you feel like you were not so taken advantage of.
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I am offering a counterpoint to your point on auto repairs. It surprises me that someone who has spent a lifetime in retail and retail management has not figured out that there is a huge difference in quality between a part that costs 99$ on the internet and 300$ at a repair facility. Markup at an upstatnding and honest repair facility is usually around 40%. This is far from gouging. Now the part that you were quoted for 300$ was probably a factory part. This part was built by the manufacturer of your car specifically to fit your car. The cheaper part will still probably work, but will more than likely not last as long or be to the strict government and factory standards for that part. These are usually Chinese companies that basically buy a part and build that same part using much cheaper materials. No engineering and no R&D costs to recover.
ReplyDeleteAs for labor, you are waaaay off. 1st of all auto repair labor is the only labor that is strictly monitored and regulated by the state government. Nobody monitors electricians, carpenters, masons, or anyone else for that matter. Auto repairs ARE however regulated by federal and state governments, and this is to protect YOU. You state that a repair facility can charge you 2 hours of labor even if they get the job done in 10 minutes. This is true, but they also charge you 2 hours of labor if they get your job done in 5 hours. By the way, that "book time" comes from time studies done by the manufacturer to determine WARRANTY TIME on that same repair when the vehicle is newer and under warranty. Essentially the manufacturer pays its own employee to get a repair done as fast as he can when the car is brand new, with no rust or wear on any parts. This determines what that job will pay for the rest of its life. So typically it is the repair facility that is getting screwed by doing a job on an old rustbucket for the same time that it payed to do that job when the car was new and shiny. This is why technicians (not mechanics) spend thousands of dollars on special tools and training to try and make time on what a job pays. That is why these men make upwards of $30.00 an hour. You yourself point out that you found a guy that could fix it and 2 hours later had not even removed the part. Now a repair facility can only charge you what the book says no matter how long it takes....GET IT. As far as a facility not wanting to use parts purchased off of the internet, WOULD YOU? They have to warranty any part they put on and you wonder why they don't want to use your $99 chinese bearing. Now if they do use your $99 chinese bearing and your wheel falls off who are you going to blame? Which brings me to my last point. You admittedly know nothing about cars or how to fix them, so why would it upset you to recieve a free estimate on things that a technician noticed wrong with your car while it is being worked on for a bearing. I wouldn't consider this a scare tactic or fear mongering but a favor to let you know the shape your car is in. Yes the shop is trying to make money but so what, you just got free information.
I'll tell you what, I won't question what my desk chair costs next time if you don't talk about things you don't understand.
-Anonymous-
Great counterpoint. I love spirited debate. However "anonymous", yes I know who you are, I must point out some errors with your post. First of all, let me clear up the internet thing. I went to the NAPA auto parts website. That would be the same place that the repair facility called to get the part while I was standing at the counter. So spare me the factory crap! You work for a dealership, you might actually get factory parts. They may cost more, I dont know. The point I was making was valid.
ReplyDeleteAs for labor, I am curious. How often does it take longer than the book time? Ill bet less than 10% of the time. Where did I come up with that number? I talked to a few "technicians". On a side note, they don't care what you call them as long as they are making upwards of $30 bucks an hour! The exact quote from one was, "If it took any longer than the book time, I wouldn't make any money." By the way, the guy who tried to fix my bearing was doing it in his garage with no special tools. Thats why we were working on it for two hours.
I got my car fixed yesterday. I was charged 2 hours labor. It was one of the most difficult bearing replacements they have had they told me. It took them 45 minutes. Net profit, 1 hour 15 minutes. Here is the kicker. I mentioned that my check engine light had been on for a while. They checked it, found out it was a simple fix. No more light!! Guess what? No charge for that either.
To your last point, I dont care if they want to give me a list of items my car may need. It isn't free. I just paid you X amount of dollars for a repair. You didnt just walk up to me and say, "hey let me look at your car for free!!" The fear mongering I refered to comes from the fact that I have been told that my car will die If I don't do these items right away! Now, some places start the conversation with "this is nothing serious, just sometimg you may want to get done" Thats cool, not intimidating. And by the way, I'm sure that "free" inspection is what the $35 "shop fee" was!
I would not use the "state and federal regulated" defense either. We all know how intelligent state and federal regulators are. To your point about the manufacturer paying its own employee to do warranty repair. Aren't dealerships seperate from the manufacturer? So the dealer makes money from selling the car and repairing it under warranty from the manufacturer? How are you getting screwed? No wonder the auto industry needs federal bailout money? Oh, wait. Is that the same federal that set the "book time?" Probably not the same part of "federal", but I bet they work down the hall from each other.
Look, don't take this so personal. You work in an imperfect system. You benefit from it. Good for you. I am happy for you. I have always thought of you of a person of high morals and integrity and I always will. I think you have questionable taste in women, but that is a different story. I don't think you are personally screwing anyone. Nor do I think you ever would. Its the system that ticks me off. By the way, if you want to know about that desk chair, Ill tell you. If you buy it at full price and it goes on sale, Ill refund the difference. Would you do the same for me on labor? Oh, wait. Labor never goes on sale, does it! Snap, Snap, Snap!!! Picture me doing that in a Z pattern at you. Isn't that what people do after they just burned someone? I don't know, I saw it in a movie once, it seems appropriate here. Is it 3 snaps or 4? Hmm, Well you get the point!