Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.
unless I'm mistaked the book is not binding, only a guide. There is nothing unethical IMHO about padding book times. If history has shown a given shop cannot complete the work in the "book time" then they need to bill whatever the actual time is.
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You are not mistaken, book times are just rough guides on how long it should take a mechanic without breaks, without other cars, to finish the job. I adjust it by 10% to account for phone calls, working on multiple cars at a time, and making sure the work is done right, so that my mechanics don't have to rush.
I don't bill you more or less than what our contract states.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saul Good
What a great guy. All you're really doing is checking a book to see how long a job should take (knowing full well that it won't even take you as long as the book estimates), upping the number of hours by 10-25%, billing the customer accordingly, and calling yourself thorough.
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No, that is not how it works at all.
When I pull up the book and add all of the services in it, it already has the scaling factor included.
More often than not, it takes every bit of the book time, if not more, to complete the task, and that is almost always due to my mechanics being thorough, making sure they don't rush, triple check their work, and even do a "check out" report that most shops do not do.
our "Check out" report is simply an inspect of the vehicle inside and out, to make sure we did or did not damage the vehicle in any way while we were working on it. We also do a "check in" report that most shops do not do, because it takes time.
I am incredibly thorough, and I like to cover my ass. In all honesty, when all is said and done, you might pay me for 2.2 hours on an estimated 2 hour job, but I probably had a mechanic working 3.5 hours on your vehicle.