[Parallax]

I think he is quite fair in charging $42 an hour for his labor

That's more than fair; I'd call it cheap.

[stormtech]

That's more than fair; I'd call it cheap.

And the guy does know his stuff. I live in a very remote area and there are a lot of "back yard mechanics" that I wouldn't let touch my wheel barrow........

[jeffkrol]

That's more than fair; I'd call it cheap.

that's funny.. hook it to an "analyzer" at $100 per shot and replace "recommended" parts and hope it is the right one.. plus more than $45 per hour.. funny.
And to Adam et. al.. MOST HATE that you bring your own parts in.....but a buck is a buck ... at $60/hr.
Worst part is even if it is a better quality part than they use.. and it is possibly installed wrong and breaks.. no warranty...

My midlife career "dream business" was one catering to the "buy/bring your own parts" repair shop.. Unfortunately w/ overhead, it would probably fail or get sued by putting in a "ebay" part of poor quality and having it fail causing an accident.
my bigger complaint is "modules" and overpriced "electronic assemblies" of questionable quality..
Can't even replace things like a wheel bearing since it is an "assembly".. not even considering the "bare minimum" part engineering.. at 2x retail cost..

BTW: I wish the "grunt" would get paid more than $20/hr...

[magkelly]

My Dad says in December "our" car will finally be paid off and that he's going to sign it over to me at that point so I can get better insurance rates for it since I drive it 99.99% of the time now. In my family I'm definitely the chauffeur. I pump the gas, take it to the garage, wash it et all, actually have paid for repair work myself, but he technically bought the screaming red pseudo sports car that is our gently used Focus SES. I don't mind it. It's cute and very reliable though it has had a couple of issues the past few years that we did have to put major $$$ into fixing. I just hope he doesn't decide to trade it in for something even flashier so we have to make even more payments. I'd love to just have the insurance payments to worry about for a while. Might ask him about this though. If our mechanic will do that. Last bill for the car was two months rent. It would be so nice not to have to do that one again...

[jeffkrol]

That's interesting Adam. At an auto parts store I would assume? I never would have thought of that but will most mechanics accept that? Not to sell you the parts? Just wondering.

Most will "accept it".. just hope you never hear what they say.. Also the "grunt" is less concerned than the owner.....
Around here is that part is usually there "next day" by a supplier (another middle man) who is also charging more than "wholesale" creating more overhead and making the 2x retail markup not all profit for the shop.

My 2 least favorite professions lately.. auto shops
and insurance salespeople...

[Nick Siebers]

Most will "accept it".. just hope you never hear what they say.. Also the "grunt" is less concerned than the owner.....
Around here is that part is usually there "next day" by a supplier (another middle man) who is also charging more than "wholesale" creating more overhead and making the 2x retail markup not all profit for the shop.

My 2 least favorite professions lately.. auto shops
and insurance salespeople...

Yeah, the guy I went to said he paid a lot higher prices than I could get on the internet. And I thought "why?" Something to do with a warrantee program, supposedly, but I would think that volume would at least even it out.

[MRRiley]

Do you place no value on their efforts to determine exactly which part you need, and then the time they took to order it?

Is that time worth $102 for a five minute part search. Thats what, like $1200 an hour? Even if it took em an hour, which is unlikely when you consider that someone who barely knows where to look can find parts info online in just a few minutes, that's still over $100 an hour for RESEARCH!

I don't think so...

Mike

[Rupert]

In my plumbing business, I usually got a small discount on parts from my suppliers, and I passed this on to my customers, never marking up the cost. I always felt the labor was too high, even though I was about 30-50% cheaper than anyone else in town. Many of my customers were elderly on fixed incomes, or little widow ladies. I still made good money, and when the other guys were hocking their tools at the pawn shop during economic downturns, I was always busy and keeping my help fully employed. Word does get around if you have fair and honest pricing. I never spent one dime on advertising, and I almost never got a day off for lack of work. Worked for me for the last 30 years. I saw many new plumbers come and go, but they never got to work for my customers.

Regards!

[Docrwm]

I have a pretty good relationship with the sole owner shop I've been using for years. I went from doing all my own work to not being able to do any at all the last 2 years. Before hand I usually only went to him for state inspection or something major that I didn't have the tools for.

He knows I check prices and know what the appoximate labor time should be. I think he is quite fair in charging $42 an hour for his labor - after all he has a building, tools, taxes, etc to pay for. When I need something done that requires parts, we will sit at his desk and he will look up the parts and/or call his supplier. I always insist on non-Chinese parts if at all possible. Without me saying how much I find the parts for, he usually comes back fairly close - 10-20% more than I could buy them for myself. Being he has always been fair with me, and I know he has many bills owning a legitimate business with operating costs, I will let him get the parts.

This is for when he is working on my Ford. If my wife's VW TDI diesel needs parts, I have a fantastic vendor where I get mostly German origin parts for near the same price of generic parts - he is happy for me to procure the parts for the VW.

I have a similar relationship with my local guy. He and his partner run a small repair shop that also does custom work - sometimes the rumbling is pretty dramtic But after two infuriating experiences at the dealer (claimed tires were rotated - two sets of two so it was easy to see they weren't - told window motor was "burned out" and had to be ordered and would run $700 and it worked on the drive home - dirty oil after an "Oil & Filter Change", etc.) I switched to the local guy. He always comes in under budget (can you say Scotty?) and stands behind everything he does. He also treats my wife and mother-in-law with respect unlike many gearheads I've had to step in and negotiate for them with. When I price parts out he's usually 20%+- from what I could have gotten them for. Given that he did the leg work and arranged for them that strikes me as very fair.

[jeffkrol]

Bit O/t but interesting...............
Where Does the Car Dealer Make Money? - Edmunds.com

The Service Bay

If an aggressive car buyer is able to get a rock-bottom price, the dealer knows there is still profit to be made when the car is serviced. It's so profitable that, in economic hard times, the service bay has kept many dealerships afloat.
Here, too, commissions play a big part in getting the service staff to boost sales. The service advisor, who positions him or herself as a "trusted advisor" is actually receiving a commission on all the parts and services you agree to.
One former service advisor said that high-profit jobs such as brake pad replacement were often sold by pitching them as a safety issue. In other cases, oil changes and fluid flushes are done before they are needed. This is costly for the consumer and wasteful.

[Phil1]

There are a number of primary parts sources, OE manufacture, after market and used. All have different pricing depending on quality, testing, warranty, availability etc. It is CW that the "factory" parts are of better quality for most purposes and are usually the retail target price the aftermarket shoots at. Many aftermarket items are good and many more are low grade junk. Many come from China that are junk, don't fit or last long etc. Parts mark ups are usually about 40%. (cost X 1.65 approx). Some less such as expensive major assemblies and such. It is a common practice to mark up parts if they pass through the company books and inventory. How much is dependent on the business. The cost of handling is about 20% (cost X 1.2 approx.) For a small shop to step and fetch the parts adds extra time to the repair by someone too. Many car dealers here have upwards of $1 million parts inventories at cost to cover the very wide range of years and models. This obviously takes capital, real estate, equipment, staff and losses to supply a productive attached workshop and wholesale trade too. This is run just like any other business that has operating costs. Within this universe is lots of consumer choices. Only the gov't can operate with phony books and continuing losses. A dealership has a number of profit centers, New Car, Used Car Sales, Service and Parts. They can also have smaller related enterprises as car rental, a motor home Div. etc. Some service depts are weighted to up sell junk like the mechanic-in-a-can crap, early brake jobs and unneeded services. Follow your new car owners manual and you can't go wrong. Avoid the upsell garbage. Many are great sold business men, long in the community, great reputations and unfortunately some not so much. Just like any other business or gov't. Plenty of choices is what you want and more personal service seems to be best (small service shops) or know your Service Advisor well. Happy hunting