Mechanic crazy fees
 

I have a few Land Rovers. I can do most of the work myself but at times need to take it to the mechanic, a Land Rover only independent shop. For example, my 2001 Range Rover front axle seals were leaking following ball joint replacements. It takes a specialist tool that runs around $2k IIRC and it isn't readily available. They adjust a collet at the bottom of spindle and get the half-shaft properly aligned top to bottom.

While it was there, I also asked them to look at the Y-Pipe as to O2 sensors were stuck. They got them out but threads were damaged. Claimed they couldn't find a bung to weld in place. The Y-Pipe with two cats is $699 retail. They quoted me around $950 for the part and informed me that they are 40% markup on parts. They didn't even have a wholesale agreement with the place that carries the part (I use that company as well). I ended up getting it shipped to me for $750 and will do it in my garage. Actually, I ordered it from Company B, which got it wholesale from Company A and had it dropped shipped from Co A. Genius, since Co B made a quick $100 for just taking an order.

The fee that really puzzles me is their credit card fee. My bill for the axle work was a bit over $1,200. They charged $43 as a credit card fee. I asked the kid at the desk why I was paying credit card fee since the card was a debit card. Logic in my mind. He said that any time the card reader is used there is a fee.

Isn't the credit card fee just a cost of them doing business and shouldn't they just roll it up in their hourly rate? BTW, hourly is $195 now. I'm sure if I had walked in with $1,300 in cash they wouldn't have been able to make change and likely wouldn't have accepted, ditto for a check. It just seems a bit over the top to charge a fee just for making payment.

Don't get me started on shop supplies fee, which seems to be everywhere. Honestly.

I pay 4% in credit card fees and my policy is to charge the 4% if a credit card is used on an order over $250. I usually don't charge it, but it is on their invoice so hopefully they ready it and pay another way. The reason I do this is because I got tired of people bragging about the bonus points they get on their personal card and their business will reimburse them. It's me paying for your bonus points!
You got scammed on the debit card. I pay I think 10 cents when a debit card is used for any amount.

CC company charges them a fee, they charge you a fee. Depending on where you are, it is illegal for them to charge you more than the CC company charges them.

Vehicle service costs have gotten out of hand and often the quality isn't what it used to be.

I do all my own work now and I'll limit future car purchases to used cars that facilitate my working on them.

Credit card fees are a bad look for a buisness IMHO. It is somewhat better to have a cash discount, but still cost of business as you say.

I had an upholstery shop knock like 30% off a bill for cash. My assumption is they don't want to report the income. I don't like doing business with places that are don't value honesty.

Shop work is expensive in general though so none of your numbers suprise me.

Around here a seller has to disclose if they charge a cc fee or maybe offer a discount for cash. I've heard some debit cards charge the vendor as much as a cc card. I usually use a cc if there's no surcharge or discount, as it's nice to get a discount when I buy something on Amazon.

What does it cost for things like Apple of Google pay to the vendor? I picked up a computer today from the shop and paid $9 in fees. I asked what are the alt payments accepted? Cash. What world is he living in?

I'm old and even I'm carrying a lot less cash around. I went to a walk-up out side bar in a food court that sold beer. They took no cash. For 7 bucks they don't take cash? WTF in both situations.

Oh, but the beer place had a tip jar. Fooking stupid. That's where a large % of tips come from, change. Really fooking stupid.

Any muffler shop should have the O2 bungs in stock. I think they charge about $20 to weld one in.

195/ hr is cheap too by the way, there's dealers in jacksonville charging 270+ and I've heard some in south florida over 300.

Just paid $942 to have a 5” scratch repaired in the gel coat of our boat. Took my breath away.

My wife took her Panamera in for service recently. They said it was due for an oil change, brake fluid flush and cabin air filter. I told them I'd do brake and cabin filter, you do the oil change. Oil change was $629.99!!! Then while it's there they said it's due for the 40K mile transmission flush even though it only has 28K miles because it's 4 years old. I said no. So what did they want for brake fluid flush, cabin air filter, engine air filter replacement, oil change, flat tire repair fluid, and transmission fluid exchange? $4,957.62!!! I love Porsche's but I think I'm done with new ones.

How is any of this sustainable?

Wow, my local shop is $130/hr but there are some repairs they aren't equipped to handle.

It's not. This the is result of kids being told to put on a suit and tie and get an office job rather than learn a trade though. Now your skilled trades cost an eye watering amount.

I do my own general maintenance on my cars & motorcycle fleet however sometimes it's too much.

I just paid a $4,300 repair bill on my Rubicon... plus an additional $1,000 for all fluids changed.
At the last second I saw the little sign taped to the desktop.. We charge a 3% credit card fee. That was a little more than $150 on top...

Oh well... As Frank Sinatra sang "That's life"

IMHO shops should be adding $10/hour to their rate vs charging a fee for CC use.

I'm all for charging $200/hour for quality work, the fee seems like a gotcha more than covering their overhead costs.

Anything approaching 200/hr here would not last long unless they were very efficient and charging actual time vs. book time. it seems this is where dealers get the bad rep. They have a book time listed for almost every job. They bill the manufacturer book time. I'm not sure what the payment arrangement between the factory and the dealer is and we may never know the whole story.

But you go in after the warranty is past and pay that rate. At 8K to rebuild or replace a Macan front differential is why I did not buy another Porsche brand vehicle. Where I go now I saw a model 992 glass Targa roof being repaired. The glass panel was out. The shop appears to charge 130/hr and estimated 8 hours for the job plus parts. I can't imagine what a dealer would get for that. The complete top ass'y is somewhere over 15K but I think they were doing a motor and seals. Still, a dealer would be too expensive for the value of this 992. I read that total R an R for that roof was booked at 15 hours.

Note, a quick perusing of a Rennlist thread told of dealer rates from mid 200's to over 400/hr. IDT an indie would last long at those rates. I could be wrong.

When I was a dealer, the shoe was on the manufacturer's foot to get us paid for warranty work. They had their own times for work that was done and it was roughly 2/3 of the published times for customer pay work that all dealers used. Companies like Mitchell determined how long a particular job should take and good mechanics often beat those times. Not so for the warranty times. My best mechanics could approach those times after doing a particular job maybe ten times but the lesser ones never got there. And, that didn't allow for pulling the car in, figuring out the work needed, getting approval and getting parts and then testing the car after it was finished. You could sometimes get a little diagnosis time and things like that but you really had to know all the ins and outs of the manufacturers system to find a few tenths here and there. We actually had a guy come around weekly to process our warranty claims for us. It's all he did, one dealer after another.

Everybody hated warranty work.

+1
 

I've had a used Rotary twinpost, asymetric lift for about 10 years - best tool I ever bought, ($1000), installed myself, stole the power from the hot tub circuit.

Part of the repair cost is the need for special tools, training, stocking parts, insurance and dealing with the growing complexity of bells and whistles, (radar proximity/warning, back up cameras,built in gps, infotainment.......................)

Attorneys are charging $400/hr.

74 911 hot rod, 77 ferrari 308, 95MB E320, (worst car we have ever owned), two toyota 2001 pick ups, 2wd and 4wd.

cheers,
chris

Remember folks, if you pull out 3 grand or more from your banking account and/or purchase money orders within the same day, the bank sends a report with your info to federales for suspected money laundering.

200 a hr is the new normal. I know a place that charges 90$ in a small town, but they scratch my wheels every time I take them in.

So far, the Porsche indie shops I work with are still pretty reasonable. They charge full retail for parts and hourly rate is around $150 with discount for cash.

Local Porsche dealer, not so much. $250/hr, 2x full retail counter for parts, and their diagnostic skill is weak. I spent $5k two years ago chasing an emissions CEL. I told the shop it was due for plugs/coil paks which may have fouled the cats. They replaced O2 sensors, replaced the oil pan which had a slight leak, ignored the plugs and cleared the codes. CEL came back in 2 weeks and they said oops, sorry. We can replace the plugs for another $5k. No thanks.

Why should I, as a shop owner, eat the cost of your method of payment? The CC companies charge a fee whether it’s a debit or credit card. Cash is king but no one wants to go to the banks and get cash and carry it, so you use a convenient card. To get the money processed off that card costs me money. Again, why should I or anyone else pay for your convenience when there are other options out there? Don’t want to pay the 3percent or so, then pay cash. And calling it a cash discount is the exact same thing as saying 3% mark up for card processing. I don’t make a dime off that CC processing charge. It’s also funny that people complain about the cost of going to a shop now - soon with the way things are going you won’t be able to because they will all be gone. No one wants to be a mechanic anymore. Massive shortage. Then you’ll be begging to pay any amount to get something fixed and complaining about the current state of affairs. Oh wait- that’s what you’re doing now lol. Carry on

People hate getting nickel and dimed to death. It is the current reason Las Vegas is emptying out.

Gentle business suggestion- Since 95% of customers pay with a card, build that 3% fee into your regular rates and offer a cash discount for the rare bird who saves you the 3% processing fees with cash. This is what we did as a thriving service company for the last 30 years. You get the fees covered, customer feel better about doing business with your shop. Win-win!

By your own admission you are still charging the fees - just hiding them in a higher hourly rate. It’s still a business expense. You cannot honestly say “oh we don’t charge CC fees” because you do - it’s just hidden. I’m not disguising anything- and my business has also thrived for the last 25 years. Customers like honest straight forward to the point businesses that also do a great job

Some months ago I had to take my '20 Ford van in to a local dealership. The steering unit went out & I had an icon on the insturment panel illuminated. It ended up needing a new steering unit and wiring harnesses replaced because of rodent damage to the tune of over $7K. I was blown away when I saw the labor charges of $276/hr. I hadn't taken a vehicle into a dealership for work in the past few decades. It was a real shock.

Well, CC fees are a business expense just like the electric bill, rent, insurance, shop rags, employee benefits but you are completely comfortable "hiding" those in your regular rates... And people LOVE the opportunity for a discount and HATE being nickel and dimed to death for the little things. Just the reality of human nature.

Your biz, your choice. :)

and there was a box at the bottom of the bill:

You have got to be kidding…

I have an "Ivan" and pay him cash. Everyone should have an "Ivan"! :p

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762032953.JPG

My thoughts exactly. I charge $400 to $500 per hour depending on case. If someone decides to pay with a card, I just eat it. It is my cost of doing business and I have factored it into my fees.

Someone suggested the muffler shop and getting a bung welded in. I checked with the Midas just down the street from me. They are at $225 per hour. That was a little eyewatering for Midas.

It would be one thing if CC fees were a small nominal fee like $35, but it isn't. It gets larger if the overall cost is greater.

Soooo .... is Joe a bigly tipper?

Or a CBLM .... Zero :D?

For Midas!! As mentioned earlier - this is not sustainable. It may get to the point where, for some people with even reasonably decent incomes, it doesn't make financial sense to own an automobile anymore. Cars have become way too complex and with Govt requirements now for all sorts expensive sensors and safety systems, repair may become prohibitive.

Glenn's got it right - get an old El Camino or similar and drive it into the ground.

When debit cards came on the scene ... a charge, whether $25, or $2,500 cost the "bank" around .25-35 to process. Back then, the same process via a Credit Card (with benefits for sure) was 4%.... now ... it'$ different .... becau$e they can :(.

When literally billions flow through each day, with much being via CC/Debit ... a measly 3-4% off the top ain't that much..... I$ IT?

Ye$ IT I$ .... unless yer a banker :D

I had to change out the middle section of exhaust on a daily driver. Three rusty bolts at the cat that I didn’t wanna screw with, two hangers. I already had the muffler off, so they didn’t have to screw with that. Installing the new one was the same three bolts and two hangers.

I figured I would try Midas, they ought to be cheap, right? Nope. One hour minimum, wouldn’t guarantee only the one hour, same hourly rate.

Got a price from their competitor chain, half mile away, same deal.

Found an old mom and pop place that had been in business since cars were invented, got it done for 90 bucks.

C'mon guys, it was a joke about how entitled Porsche is. It seems like they think they are doing you a favor by selling you a car or working on it. The "Porsche tax" is getting out of hand.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762040406.jpg

btw, what does CBLM stand for?

LOL ... I was getting ready to reply that CBLM don't even go to a stealership and didn't know ... just picking ;)

Cheap Bastids Like Me :D

I had my LR4 in a few years ago with same mechanic for the infotainment system not working. It is: radio, cd, dvd in cargo area, 3 tv screens, phone, and probably something I'm forgetting. At any rate, it is comprised of about 6 electronic boxes connected by fiber optic. If one of the 6 units goes down it takes out the entire system.

The mechanic traced it to the one box and told me what it was in their estimate. They also gave me the eBay link to the exact part and told me that the cost new was over $2k. No markup and it was drop shipped to them.

So it is odd to me that they would do that but now are going gangbusters on part mark up and CC fees and shop supply fees.

The cost of the axle seals they replaced this past week was normal price and didn't appear to have markup.

lol
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762045241.jpg