I find the antagonistic attitude towards shops interesting. Yes we all know of bad shop stories, but I'll bet that we know of many other business stories where we go back for lack of choice. Instead of telling me that "they started it", why not look at the realities of shop ownership, respect the fact that they are in business for reasons other than groveling at the feet of hobbyist enthusiasts and then get down on your hands and knees and thank Heaven that you live in America where you can vote with you dollars or even screw up your own car if you need to...

AMEN Wayne!

IMO, if you want business, you act professional and treat others like you want to be...when I do outside consulting work, I have no problem with a clients given choices on hardware/software just as long as it's Dell/IBM/Compaq/HP/Gateway, etc. If it's a cheap "whitebox" that is possibly a piece of crap, well then that I may have an issue with, but generally, I stay away from these situations...

Likewise, if I bring a dealer a quality part, install it, if I bring you some crap, well that's different...

The automotive service industry needs a kick in the pants like the technology one got long ago...no longer can the IT giants like IBM, Compaq take advantage of customers b/c of Dell and Gateway...

Pelican Parts just may be the Dell in the industry ;)

I think there are some issues other than just price. I'm all for shops making a decent profit, and like to find places that are good and fair (TRE comes to mind). But I also want to be educated about my car, and feel somewhat a part of the process. I unfortunatley don't have the tools or the time (or talent/experience) to do a much work on my car at home. But I can do a lot of reading and source quality parts. I also like what Pelican is about, and want to support them.

So the choices are to just drop the car off at the shop and say "fix it", then come back and pay. Or I can buy stuff from Pelican and do (screw it up) it myself. Seems that people are intimating that there isn't any middle ground...

What is needed for this middle-ground area between DIY and DIFM is a good mobile technician available to do those jobs not requiring a lot of shop equipment (lifts, etc.); maybe a retired tech. ; maybe not too many people interested in this line of work; maybe local regs.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

I don't think I would do it. But, if I took my car in for repair and they estimated a high price on parts, I wouldn't hesitate to refer them to a lower cost alternative. I haven't found a major difference on parts from what I can buy to what a shop would charge me. I guess it depends on where you are taking your car.

So far, I've only bought parts for service I planned to do myself.

I was at a local "euro" shop the other day asking questions and trying to determine if they would be a good alternative for me if I need a shop. They were great until they started talking about the tensioner upgrade. They said it cost about $1000 to do it and the parts were $700. I said "that must come with new idlers" - no the kit doesnt come with new idlers". I thought 100% mark on the tensioner upgrade kit was a little steep!! (Pelican sells them for around $350).

I continued talking to the owner because he did his own machine work in house and they took me for a tour of the machine shop. I asked if they will only use "std. std." cranks in a rebuild. "Oh no you can grind them down - all sorts of bearing sizes available"!! I said thanks and left, I dont think I want my $10K rebuild there!!!

Great guys though would use them for some stuff.


Sorry guess I got a little off topic.:-))

My Porsche mechanic is actually a full time BMW wrench these days, at an independent shop that ALLOWS him to work on Porsches on his own (weekend) time there. I KNOW that is pretty unusual, but this shop belongs to a really great guy, and this way he permits my wrench to make enough supplemental to keep house and hearth together.
All this is a long way around to saying that I ALWAYS buy my parts first, he only charges me a flat hourly rate. Plus Pizza and beer when the going gets tough...:D

No-static, this topic looks familar...
I have no problem with shops making a resonable profit, but some are too high. When your choices of shops are small, and they know it, then you have to become creative. I love doing my own work, but I also know my limitations.
I use shop parts when I think the cost is reasonable, but even my mechanic has said some of the parts are way cheaper in the US (I'm in Canada) so I supply some and he supplies some.
This is a one off thing as most all of the other work I do myself.
BTW I send the shop alot of business, so they shouldn't be too upset.

And yes if I could I would bring my own steak to a restaurant and get them to cook it, but I'd be worried they spit on it :D

In my experience there are really two kinds of folks that get into the business to wrench on 30+ year old cars... For love, or for money.. not very many of the former left, unfortunately...:(

The way I look at it when you are paying for the mechanics time you are taking care of the cost of doing business for the company.

Their "per hour price" charge should reflect the cost of the mechanics wage, along with the cost for doing business "overhead and profit".

A garage can make much more $$ if they quote you a price for making repairs. As an example if they quote you $600 to do a valve adjustment
which is labor intense and do it in four hours that equates to $150.00 per hr. The mechanic is probably making $30.00 per hr so the rest go towards OH/Profit.

Steve

"A Porsche does more then just go fast in a straight line"

I recently "found" a new mechanic. He charged me $260 for a valve adjustment, new gaskets etc. This was well worth it to me...because my time is valuable to me. The valve adjustment is a PITA and rather than monkey around with it trying to get it done right... the mechanic did a beautiful job for me.

Also, he is a cool guy and did a couple of extra things for me at no charge. One of them was to remove a stripped 915 filler plug. In addition, his advice on another issue I was having was valuable.

Those are the kinds of things that we, as customers look for from mechanic: cool guy, doesnt overcharge, willing to work with you and is not looking to screw you.

Today, I got an envelope on my car while at the Beach. A different shop in the area, was soliciting business from Porsche owners. While I appreciate his letter and "15% discount" written on top... I cant say I would use him....because I already found a mechanic that I know i can trust.

My mechanic is competent and nice to deal with. I've never had to have them fix the same problem twice. Recently, my WUR went out and they quoted me $560 for a new one. I pointed out that they were $320 on Pelican. He matched the pelican price just like that. Amazing. Anyway I never quibble over labor and I do want him in business next year and the year after that. But I do look at his quotes a little more carefully now.

I wish I was more of a DIY guy, but the reality is that I'm not (at least for now).