Weird and ungrateful customers

[BigD1]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk
My biggest complaint with shops is the price gauging on parts. I get that there is a little upcharge for maybe storing the part and time ordering or whatever. But I've had dealers try to charge me for over double for the parts. I've said it before, I'll pay for quality work on something I can't do myself. But when you try to rip me off on the parts thats when I'm not happy. I imagine this is a holdover from before the internet when I couldn't look up the parts price online. And I'm sure it still gets enough less savy customers that they get away with it.


Many moons ago....

I was working two jobs, and I did not have time to change a bad master cylinder. I had an account at a repair shop, so I told my wife to go get it fixed.

I looked at the bill, and they had charged me $42 for the master cylinder. They got the part right across the street from NAPA. That master cylinder my price was $17. I asked the manager why so much on the master cylinder. He said we have a 30% mark up. I am fine with that, but I can buy the same master cylinder for $17 at the same place you got it from. He got rude, and said that's just the way it is basically.

On top of all this, I asked the mechanic why he did not use line wrenches on the lines? The lines were almost rounded. He said they were already like that which was a lie.

Finally, I went to corporate(main shop), and told them what had happened about the excessive mark up, and the ruined lines. They agreed to pay for the lines, but would not take care of the excessive mark up because it was at the manager's discretion. I paid the whole bill except for the excess mark up. Closed my account, and they would send me a bill seemed like for years to pay the rest off, which I never did.

 

[StevieC]

.. double post

 

[StevieC]

My dad would mark-up parts 10% to cover any warranty claim that might result on the part that we can't get back or need to spend time on to resolve. Then he would charge labour which is lower than dealer labour. My dad has been retired for a while now due to his health and he still has customers chasing him and willing to drive the 1+ hour to get to where he lives now just to have him service their vehicle. I guess he did alright.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk
My biggest complaint with shops is the price gauging on parts. I get that there is a little upcharge for maybe storing the part and time ordering or whatever. But I've had dealers try to charge me for over double for the parts. I've said it before, I'll pay for quality work on something I can't do myself. But when you try to rip me off on the parts thats when I'm not happy. I imagine this is a holdover from before the internet when I couldn't look up the parts price online. And I'm sure it still gets enough less savy customers that they get away with it.

The revenue structure of most shops simply does not allow for this; most shops rely on both parts markup and labor to support their operation.

If parts were sold at cost or slightly above cost, labor would need to be well over $250/hr.

Many independent shops use a parts matrix. The mark-up is usually well over 100%. Take a look at page 2 of this article:

https://www.autotraining.net/articles/2007-08_MotorAge_Making Parts Profitable.pdf

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Basically all you have to say these days is "I'll give a bad review on social media X, Y, and Z" and you'll get what you want.
Someone gave my boss a bad review because he did satisfactory work for them, but then did not return their calls. He mentioned it on three separate days and called her to confront her but she didn't answer (lol). Turns out it was a review on his website and not google, and that website is going to be taken down soon. I thought that was pretty funny.

Originally Posted by The Critic
If parts were sold at cost or slightly above cost, labor would need to be well over $250/hr.

Many independent shops use a parts matrix. The mark-up is usually well over 100%. Take a look at page 2 of this article:

https://www.autotraining.net/articles/2007-08_MotorAge_Making Parts Profitable.pdf
It's hard to for people who don't wrench to understand how to fix things. They think they know better than you because not being working class makes them superior to you. Also, are more knowledgeable even though you do it everyday and they watch it on TV but have to pay someone to do it for them. Combine that with not really having any experience with running a business, or a small business and you have some pretty clueless people ready to tell you how to do your job.

There are customers who are the inverse of that and they are awesome!

 

[E150GT]

Originally Posted by BigD1
Originally Posted by HemiHawk
My biggest complaint with shops is the price gauging on parts. I get that there is a little upcharge for maybe storing the part and time ordering or whatever. But I've had dealers try to charge me for over double for the parts. I've said it before, I'll pay for quality work on something I can't do myself. But when you try to rip me off on the parts thats when I'm not happy. I imagine this is a holdover from before the internet when I couldn't look up the parts price online. And I'm sure it still gets enough less savy customers that they get away with it.


Many moons ago....

I was working two jobs, and I did not have time to change a bad master cylinder. I had an account at a repair shop, so I told my wife to go get it fixed.

I looked at the bill, and they had charged me $42 for the master cylinder. They got the part right across the street from NAPA. That master cylinder my price was $17. I asked the manager why so much on the master cylinder. He said we have a 30% mark up. I am fine with that, but I can buy the same master cylinder for $17 at the same place you got it from. He got rude, and said that's just the way it is basically.

On top of all this, I asked the mechanic why he did not use line wrenches on the lines? The lines were almost rounded. He said they were already like that which was a lie.

Finally, I went to corporate(main shop), and told them what had happened about the excessive mark up, and the ruined lines. They agreed to pay for the lines, but would not take care of the excessive mark up because it was at the manager's discretion. I paid the whole bill except for the excess mark up. Closed my account, and they would send me a bill seemed like for years to pay the rest off, which I never did.

30% markup on $17 is only $24

 

[forkian]

The shop I used to work in had a rule of 100% markup on all parts under $100. So if we bought an air filter for $20, I sold it for $40.00
Any part that cost us over $100 had at least a 50% markup, except tires. Tires had a special pricing matrix.

 

[Oldtom]

Chris 142, I feel for ya! if you want to be truly entertained (or outraged ) try renting houses to people. I had a 30 year old male bring his mother and SIX other females to a lease signing. All seven females decreed that the clean, freshly painted rental was a pigsty and not good enough for sonny. I tore up the lease and advised everyone to find a rental that better suited their needs, except I was not that polite.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk
My biggest complaint with shops is the price gauging on parts. I get that there is a little upcharge for maybe storing the part and time ordering or whatever. But I've had dealers try to charge me for over double for the parts. I've said it before, I'll pay for quality work on something I can't do myself. But when you try to rip me off on the parts thats when I'm not happy. I imagine this is a holdover from before the internet when I couldn't look up the parts price online. And I'm sure it still gets enough less savy customers that they get away with it.


You're completely wrong. A shop simply doesn't care what Joe Blow can get a part for. Their concern is what their price is, and what their markup needs to be to pay their bills. Just because you can get a part for $5.00 from alibaba or ebay doesn't mean I can get that same price from a local parts house. Many times internet pricing is LOWER than my cost, so I'm not ripping you off. Most all shops will give an estimate first before preceding, so if you think it's too high, go do it yourself with that $5.00 alibaba part. Problem solved.



Originally Posted by The Critic
The revenue structure of most shops simply does not allow for this; most shops rely on both parts markup and labor to support their operation.

If parts were sold at cost or slightly above cost, labor would need to be well over $250/hr.

Many independent shops use a parts matrix. The mark-up is usually well over 100%. Take a look at page 2 of this article:

https://www.autotraining.net/articles/2007-08_MotorAge_Making Parts Profitable.pdf


Thank you for posting.

 

[Tomioka]

I hate the choosing beggars that ask for a discount or deal and in return you earn more business, more exposure and whatnot. That's not how it works and I don't ever see it working in the long run.

 

[Andrew1972]

he was given a choice and walked in.

I would not take it personally , just business.

 

[eljefino]

If you need it today it's more expensive. Just like movie set design or any trade really.

The B&M parts stores have just about doubled prices in the last 10 years. Seems to be ahead of inflation. I think the "plan-ahead" types who buy online are cutting into their gravy so they have to make it up on emergent work. Plus there are yet more vehicles on the road which spreads them thin on what they want to warehouse.

NAPA does it well with their regional superstores which act as warehouses for the satellites. You can get stuff on a hub run that day or run into town if desperate.

Another thing is aftermarket pricing and competition seems to be at its sweet spot 10-15 years into a model run. More generic options, tooling and patents paid off, more "problem solver" stuff. A 2014 is still so new that guy's going to get gouged.

 

[CT8]

I am sure the % of old cars need more repair than the new cars under warranty.

 

[dogememe]

Oftentimes my EMPLOYEE price (far lower than Professional and waaaaaay less than Retail) price for parts at the major corporate auto parts store I work at is still MORE than the same part on Amazon or Rockauto.

 

[jhellwig]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk
My biggest complaint with shops is the price gauging on parts. I get that there is a little upcharge for maybe storing the part and time ordering or whatever. But I've had dealers try to charge me for over double for the parts. I've said it before, I'll pay for quality work on something I can't do myself. But when you try to rip me off on the parts thats when I'm not happy. I imagine this is a holdover from before the internet when I couldn't look up the parts price online. And I'm sure it still gets enough less savy customers that they get away with it.

Parts mark up pays for the overhead of running the business at a lot of places. Non billable hours have to be accounted for some how. There is a lot that goes into running a business that can't be outright billed for that no one ever thinks about.

 

[dlundblad]

$80 labor is cheap especially given their situation.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted by dlundblad
$80 labor is cheap especially given their situation.


Agreed.

Id be ecstatic to have found an honest mechanic on the fly like that.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by BigD1
I looked at the bill, and they had charged me $42 for the master cylinder. They got the part right across the street from NAPA. That master cylinder my price was $17. I asked the manager why so much on the master cylinder. He said we have a 30% mark up. I am fine with that, but I can buy the same master cylinder for $17 at the same place you got it from. He got rude, and said that's just the way it is basically.

Finally, I went to corporate(main shop), and told them what had happened about the excessive mark up, and the ruined lines. They agreed to pay for the lines, but would not take care of the excessive mark up because it was at the manager's discretion. I paid the whole bill except for the excess mark up. Closed my account, and they would send me a bill seemed like for years to pay the rest off, which I never did.

You, or your wife, agreed to the pricing. You had no right to not pay the full amount. You could get the same part for $17, but you didn't. And the mark-up being "excessive" is just your opinion. That was good of corporate to not budge on that part.

 

[Trav]

The old guy I worked for in the beginning was amazing, he would give a price and if they howled out they went, just like that. He didn't give a rats rear, the thing is he was the best around, he knew it and they knew it, once your gone you don't back.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted by Rolla07
Originally Posted by dlundblad
$80 labor is cheap especially given their situation.


Agreed.

Id be ecstatic to have found an honest mechanic on the fly like that.


That's what my mechanic charges and he's a one man operation. Here's a link to his shop's Facebook page. Notice the Matrix that he put a new/used engine in and all the other parts he replaced while he was re-conditioning it to sell.

https://www.facebook.com/OberlinAutoClinic/