Installing a passenger side mirror?

[Hootie]

some dipshit kicked/punched my side mirror off and I had to go to ebay to buy a replacement...

I am not savvy enough (I'm a dipshit) to install it myself and I am getting a little bit of work done tomorrow at an auto shop and I'm going to bring the mirror with me and ask them to install it for me...

how much should I be expecting them to charge me for that labor since I have already bought the part?

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by notorious

Damn, all of us business owners must be having a slow day (or sick as ****, like myself).

I wouldn't know, I'm in my PJ's today making phone calls to other business owners as I prepare another business venture!

Originally Posted by Frosty

Yeah, really. What are all of you slackers doing on the Internet instead of fixing my car? No wonder your rates are so high.

Right?

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

You're always allowed to question a bill.

However, if I quote you 4 hours to fix something, and you sign off on that, and it takes me 2 and a half to do it? You are legally bound to pay for the 4 hours. Cases like these rarely come up when you're talking about being billed nearly twice as much as a job will take, but sometimes a mechanic is just on fire that day and he gets it done fast. And I'm going to explain to you just that. I'm also not the type to have my mechanic "wait" so it looks like it took that much time. I want you in and out as much as you do, if we have a disagreement, I'm going to try try and make things right by you, but understand that I owe you NOTHING for my expedience in this business.

That would be your answer if you quoted someone 4 hours....took 2 to do the work and then questioned about it? Your mechanic must have been on fire that day?

That excuse wouldn't earn you a repeat customer.

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

no i actually charge book time OR LESS.

sometimes i even charge less if its its a job that i know i can kick its ass.

and i can say that with a straight face.


i never mark up labor times, i never charge MORE than the book calls for.

Then you fall under the category mentioned about a dozen pages back of A. guys that NEED the work, or B. mom and pop shop in the middle of nowhere.

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

LOL, i worked in a couple of the busiest shops in KC.

now i own my own business in the country, right by a lake.


i do that BECAUSE I CHOOSE that way of living.


but i dont rip my customer off either

You don't have the opportunity to "rip" them off, you lose one customer, you lose the whole town.

Also, which of these "busiest shops in kc" are you referring to?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Then every mechanic you know, including Sauto is a crook.


Also, it shows to me that you know nothing about the business.

let me give you a hypothetical of how this works.

My labor hour is $80 an hour
My labor hour markup is 10%
You Car is booking at 2.2 Hours to fix (2.0 standard)
It takes me 45 minutes to fix.

Every business is going to charge you that 2.2 Hours to fix, unless they are the 1% of business out there that don't mark their labor hour up. In which case you get charged for 2.0 hours.

It still took us 45 minutes to fix, and you get charged 2 hours.

Are we crooks then?

If you say yes, then it appears to me that you haven't read a god damned thing in this thread, and are only trying to troll at this point, because your lack of business sense or reading comprehension are low or non existent.

Best post of the thread right here.

Job should take 2 hours.
Actual labor is 45 minutes.
Bill for labor is $176

Now, he claims to charge $80 an hour for labor, but $80 an hour would come to $60. In reality, he's charging $235 an hour.

He defends this by talking about how thorough he is. Doing a job that should take 2 hours in 45 minutes doesn't scream thorough to me, but what the **** do I know?

Maybe he's so ****ing good that he can do in 45 minutes what a mere mortal requires two hours to complete. If so, great. Charge $235 bucks an hour and explain that you will get the work done in half the time as the guy down the road and for the same price overall. Don't pad your hours (ie outright lie to the customers) and pretend you're not a shyster.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Also, which of these "busiest shops in kc" are you referring to?

WalMart service center, of course.

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

That would be your answer if you quoted someone 4 hours....took 2 to do the work and then questioned about it? Your mechanic must have been on fire that day?

That excuse wouldn't earn you a repeat customer.

No, that wouldn't be my answer, but you didn't pose me a question.

I said I would allow you to question the bill, and I told you why I would allow it, and that I'd try to make it right by you, but that I had zero obligation to you.

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Best post of the thread right here.

Job should take 2 hours.
Actual labor is 45 minutes.
Bill for labor is $176

Now, he claims to charge $80 an hour for labor, but $80 an hour would come to $60. In reality, he's charging $235 an hour.

He defends this by talking about how thorough he is. Doing a job that should take 2 hours in 45 minutes doesn't scream thorough to me, but what the **** do I know?

Maybe he's so ****ing good that he can do in 45 minutes what a mere mortal requires two hours to complete. If so, great. Charge $176 bucks an hour and explain that you will get the work done in half the time as the guy down the road and for the same price overall. Don't pad your hours (ie outright lie to the customers) and pretend you're not a shyster.

I'm not sure where you are getting your math from, but it is wrong.

I'm not sure where these hypotheticals are coming from with the 45 minutes and 2 hours bit. Without the quotes I quoted.

Originally Posted by notorious

WalMart service center, of course.

No shit, its what I am expecting lol.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

I'm not honest? Am I not the one here telling you guys exactly how 99.9% of every business is ran except for apparently you butt buddy Sauto.

Listen, he works for a mom and pop shop in BFE, if he opened a shop in KC, he'd be out of business the next day. It doesn't matter how good his work is, or how friendly he is with customers, the sheer cost of business would drive him in the dirt, which is why most people will hire managers to oversee the business and make sure it is ran right. Simple minded folks like Sauto don't have the stomach for business, to crunch numbers night and day so that they can stay in business and provide their service to the public. I do, and I'm being honest and you are reaming me for it?

Sorry for educating the dumb-masses.



Which is why I decided to post at length about this, so people know exactly how this field of business is ran so they know what to expect.



This, somebody knows how business works. It seems like he's one of the few in this thread actively posting who knows the concept of "You get what you pay for" and knows that SPEED and turnaround factors into that.



Who are you to say that the number is already inflated?

In all honesty, unless you are a top notch mechanic, you're going to run pretty close to that book time, if you do it right and follow every step. I've seen guys cut corners and half ass it and do it in half the time, but then again, I don't PAY them to half ass things.

My work is top notch, you get nothing but the best from me, and that includes my anal retentive ways of making sure everything is perfect. You're paying for the best service in KC, and you're going to pay for it. Not because I say so, but because my service is the best, my service comes with degrees and certificates, and because it comes with a work ethic second to none. It will never hurt me to have a mexican take a job away from me, lord knows I've always got work to do anyways.

The point is, every business marks up the book time so they can get 10% here or 10% there.

I've yet to hear you bitch to me about how we markup our parts too, because we make more in the markup of parts than we do in our book times.

Yet, I don't think you'll call that unethical.

Interesting how you argue one side of the coin here, and not the other.

i've been in business quite some time.

i'm doing just fine. would be doing just fine anywhere else also buddy.

no reason to mark up the book times for a busy shop.

[notorious]

Wow, I just realized that I have never had anyone question my bill.


I guess I am doing something right.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

No shit, its what I am expecting lol.

Jason is fine in my book. I was just breaking his balls.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

You don't have the opportunity to "rip" them off, you lose one customer, you lose the whole town.

Also, which of these "busiest shops in kc" are you referring to?

i dont WANT to rip them off either.
you tell me what shops you owned and i'll tell you what shop i was the lead tech at.

[Hootie]

Exoter gave this thread full blown AIDS

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

Correct, but I don't believe anyone is arguing they should "catch a break".
What is being argued is that if I have a job that the book says should take 8 hours, is it ethical for Extorter to charge for 10. He may be able to get it done in 4, that's irrelevant. The book (be it Chilton's, AllData, or Mitchell) calls for 8.

So charging that extra 10-25% that he claimed is outright theft.

EXACTLY this.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by notorious

Wow, I just realized that I have never had anyone question my bill.


I guess I am doing something right.

I honestly don't care how many hours something is going to take. When shopping around, I go by the total estimate, the word of mouth about the shop, if the shop is clean and run by professionals, the quality of the parts, etc. However, I do find the idea that the book hours are inflated so you can keep your shop rates lower (since that is one of things some people shop around for) kind of hinky.