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 JASONSAUTO

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.

Then that's how you do business, god bless you, but I do a better job, more thorough, with better mechanics than you do. I know how to run a successful business, I've ran two back to back in the same field while pursuing various degrees and certifications as I've explained to you before.

Trust me when I say this, your good natured, "deals with a handshake" attitude of never marking anything up, will run you out of business.

You might be busy, but you won't be able to pay the bills due to rent and expenses. You'll either have to raise costs, or cut corners. If you raise costs, you're talking about marking up labor hours or raising hourly rate, if you don't, you have to cut costs, which means running a 1 or 2 man show, or not covering insurance.

All of which put you in jeopardy.

You can guarantee me anything you want Sauto, but I've owned and operated two extremely successful business in the KC Metro personally, you have not.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by chiefforlife

In case anyone wants to know, an 02 Audi Allroad door mirror's official book time is 1 hour.

you are a guy whose opinion i trust in this situation.


do you mark up your book times by a percentage on every job?

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

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.

You completely missed the joke in its entirety.

I asked you first, Sauto. Just like I did in the last pissing match of a thread between you and I.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

So if you book for 8.....but your mechanic is slow and takes 12......the customer doesn't get charged those extra 4 hours.....correct?

not at my shop

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Then that's how you do business, god bless you, but I do a better job, more thorough, with better mechanics than you do. I know how to run a successful business, .

Oh shit.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Then that's how you do business, god bless you, but I do a better job, more thorough, with better mechanics than you do. I know how to run a successful business, I've ran two back to back in the same field while pursuing various degrees and certifications as I've explained to you before.

Trust me when I say this, your good natured, "deals with a handshake" attitude of never marking anything up, will run you out of business.

You might be busy, but you won't be able to pay the bills due to rent and expenses. You'll either have to raise costs, or cut corners. If you raise costs, you're talking about marking up labor hours or raising hourly rate, if you don't, you have to cut costs, which means running a 1 or 2 man show, or not covering insurance.

All of which put you in jeopardy.

You can guarantee me anything you want Sauto, but I've owned and operated two extremely successful business in the KC Metro personally, you have not.

Think the guy has been in business long enough to know what he's doing.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

He's not charging for anything not on the quote, but he is putting things on the quote that aren't actually happening. He is intentionally quoting the job to take longer than it will and should require.

He can put blinker fluid and muffler bearings in the quote in hopes that the customer won't know any better, and it's the same thing.

so? You obviously have never performed a labor-intensive estimate for a business. I do similar in construction. I may know that installing a door takes my carpenters 24 minutes on average. But I can damn sure tell you I'm bidding it at 30 minutes because there are unknowns and unforeseen circumstances on every installation. They may find that the door is damaged or mis-prepped. This takes additional time to get addressed. They may find that the hardware set is missing screws, that takes time.

If you bid EXACTLY what a task "should" take, you will lose money, because there is no line item for "mistakes, errors, miscalculations, making phone calls, guys taking a shit, the power going out, etc.". There is no line item for "installing the cabinets took 7.5hrs but there was no way the carpenters were going home half an hour early, so they stood around and told jokes".

That is in no way unethical, screwing the customer, illegal, or anything of the sort. That is accommodating the nature of the business in an effective, manageable manner.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

I don't think you understand the process.

Similarly in construction, there are Cost Books which give contractors industry averages for performing various types of work. Some bid straight off them, some adjust, and some (like me) only use them when dealing with something we don't have a grasp on. I DO THIS TOO

If the cost book tells me it will take 43 hours to install wood trim in a fancy conference room, and it only takes me 30, that's my windfall. It helps even out the next job when it takes us 70 hours instead of 43.

And again, as I understand it, he is using the "book" to quote repairs, then billing what he quoted. Nothing wrong with that.

but he is adding 10 to 20 % hours ON TOP OF THE BOOK TIME.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

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.


No shit, its what I am expecting lol.

I get my math from your post.

$80 per hour times 2.2 hours is $176.

176 / three quarters of an hour is $235.


Your math teacher must have also taught business ethics.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

that makes zero sense.

you have yet to show where he has billed a customer MORE than what they were quoted.

you usually seem to have a pretty good head on your shoulders, but you're being obtuse here or just ignorant.

he didnt.


but he charged them for more hours than the book called for. that is unethical in my book and in everyone's book i ever worked for. (even the big shops in kc)

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Frosty

The thing that is annoying about this to me is that there are mechanics out there that treat "the book" like gospel and now I find out that the numbers are likely pulled out of their ass.

For example, when I had my '05 Silverado, I had an issue with the intermediate steering shaft clunking. GM used a shitty part in the '99 - '06 Pickups that would run dry of grease and make clunking noises at low speed turns. It's a known issue and GM put out an updated replacement part.

Anyway, I took it to the local dealer and they insisted that they had to charge me for labor and that "the book" said 2 hours. So it was around $150 labor plus parts to fix GMs screw-up.

I ended up hiring a Mexican to do it.

Actually, I didn't. I bought a replacement shaft from NAPA and did it myself. Despite being an all-thumbs mechanic, I did it in less than a half hour. I don't mind paying a fair price and I care more for the bottom line price than the number of hours or whatever, but hiding behind the book to justify exorbitant prices is uncool.

i charge 30 bucks to put those intermediate shafts on a PU

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

If you raise costs, you're talking about marking up labor hours or raising hourly rate, if you don't, you have to cut costs, which means running a 1 or 2 man show, or not covering insurance.

This is what I am talking about. Raising the hourly rate it an above the board way to do is as the customer can see up front what you charge and can make comparisons. However, artificially raising the book hours and keeping the shop rates lower is unethical, imo. Customers don't have access to those books and may be getting charged more than they think compared to other shops.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Then that's how you do business, god bless you, but I do a better job, more thorough, with better mechanics than you do. I know how to run a successful business, I've ran two back to back in the same field while pursuing various degrees and certifications as I've explained to you before.

Trust me when I say this, your good natured, "deals with a handshake" attitude of never marking anything up, will run you out of business.

You might be busy, but you won't be able to pay the bills due to rent and expenses. You'll either have to raise costs, or cut corners. If you raise costs, you're talking about marking up labor hours or raising hourly rate, if you don't, you have to cut costs, which means running a 1 or 2 man show, or not covering insurance.

All of which put you in jeopardy.

You can guarantee me anything you want Sauto, but I've owned and operated two extremely successful business in the KC Metro personally, you have not.

What a stud. You must be the mechanic for every celebrity in Olathe, KS.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

So as a shop owner....would you be pissed if I sat there and timed you working on my car?

no. but you would have to understand that the price agreed to is the price paid no matter how long it took me.


i've never took longer than the book says unless i wasnt trying

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Honestly, check the service bulletins on your car anytime you have a weird problem with it like that, a lot of times there will be a recall or an extended warranty replacement on an issue, and it will be fixed free of charge.

However, unless you specifically walk up to the service writer and tell him about the TSB you found, they aren't going to offer it unless it falls under an emergency recall, in which case you should have received a letter in the mail about it at some point. Dealerships do not like to do work for free, so they generally won't tell you about it unless it is a serious emergency. If it falls under a non emergency category, they might just charge you to replace it if you don't know better.

what pisses me off are TSBs that expire. My Mercury had a TSB issued for a buzzing issue related to the speedo. I didn't know that until after the period for claims against the TSB expired.