Why do Transmission shops piddle around?

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What is wrong with Transmission shops? Why do they sit on jobs and don't finish them without the customer causing a ruckus?
 
Just like the airlines, they over book. And when your tranny is tore apart, they know you can't come in and drive off with your vehicle.
Sounds like the tranny shops you have in your area are exactly like the ones in this area.
 
Makes me wonder if you could assess, remove, disassemble, re-assess, order all the correct parts, modify, rebuild, and reinstall a transmission without making an error in a timely manner.

It's easy to criticize those that we feel are beneath us.
 
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
What is wrong with Transmission shops? Why do they sit on jobs and don't finish them without the customer causing a ruckus?


You work in the auto industry, you should know all about the OEM's and "just in time" inventory. I'm a semi mechanic. We are occasionally running
into not being able to get a needed part in quick order because no one has it in the U.S. until it's made and shipped. It's getting worse. We needed a particular part once for two semis that wasn't available anywhere and we got corporate brass to hold back on manufacturing two Kenworths to pull the parts from the plant in Chillicothe.
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
What is wrong with Transmission shops? Why do they sit on jobs and don't finish them without the customer causing a ruckus?


You work in the auto industry, you should know all about the OEM's and "just in time" inventory. I'm a semi mechanic. We are occasionally running
into not being able to get a needed part in quick order because no one has it in the U.S. until it's made and shipped. It's getting worse. We needed a particular part once for two semis that wasn't available anywhere and we got corporate brass to hold back on manufacturing two Kenworths to pull the parts from the plant in Chillicothe.
Big trucks sitting is a huge loss of money/cash flow. You can rent a car for not a whole lot of money for a week. of money.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Waiting on 1 little part that does not come in the rebuild kit.


Exactly.

Back when there were maybe 6-7 main transmission styles (TH350, TH400, C4, C6, TF727, etc.), I knew trans shops that actually had "ready-to-go" units on the shelf.

It's impossible to do now.
 
I broke a countershaft on a month old motorcycle once. A spare part didn't even exist. I had to wait three months for one to be made and shipped from Japan. They had to figure out better heat treating before they would release it.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Waiting on 1 little part that does not come in the rebuild kit.


Exactly.

Back when there were maybe 6-7 main transmission styles (TH350, TH400, C4, C6, TF727, etc.), I knew trans shops that actually had "ready-to-go" units on the shelf.

It's impossible to do now.
same with radiators. There are 13 different possibilities for a 95 chevy pickup! I cant stock that many hoping to sell one.
 
The shop won't get paid until the job is finished. Do you think they want to stretch the job out?.
Way back a few manufacturers made 95% of the cars for sale in the USA, not much trouble getting parts, especially as a wide range of parts were common to most of their range of vehicles.
Nowadays I think the maker with the biggest share of the market holds about 8%, how much inventory would a shop need to carry on the shelf not to get held up for want a 50c screw or whatever?. If they did what would they have to charge their customers to cover this overhead.?.
Brings to mind the old poster seen on many shop walls;
"We can do your job cheap, quick, or good.
If you want it quick and cheap it won't be good.
If you want it quick and good it won't be cheap.
If you want it cheap and good it won't be quick."
Pick two from three according to your needs.

Claud
 
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
What is wrong with Transmission shops? Why do they sit on jobs and don't finish them without the customer causing a ruckus?


There is at least one good one in every town. I have been able to find a guy with 2 day turnaround, decent prices (NEVER go to the cheapo), and lifetime warranties on most jobs.

But there are dozens like the OP describes...
 
bingo!
most likely cause.or overbooked.
if you think this is bad wait till you need a part for a industrial electronic device that is obsolete and only available via the slow boat from china!
hardly a month goes by without that scenario rearing its ugly head!
meanwhile someones production line is down and they lose more than your car is worth and cannot rent that special machine.
the very one they knew had issues months ago and didnt have it in their budget to have it overhauled during their last slow time/shutdown.and ran till it let out all its smoke and stopped.
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Waiting on 1 little part that does not come in the rebuild kit.
 
Waiting for parts, maybe waiting until the one guy who knows how to do anything gets back from vacation.
 
A friend who sold parts to transmission shops told me he judged the quality of the shop by how they ordered rebuild kits. Some shops replaced more parts than others.
 
Originally Posted By: kc8adu
...
hardly a month goes by without that scenario rearing its ugly head!
meanwhile someones production line is down and they lose more than your car is worth and cannot rent that special machine.
the very one they knew had issues months ago and didnt have it in their budget to have it overhauled during their last slow time/shutdown.and ran till it let out all its smoke and stopped....


You are A MIND READER?
 
I'm actually surprised to see AAMCO and Cottman being around still - and the trend by the OEMs or the transmission makers is to send back a bad tranny to a sanctioned or manufacturer-owned facility for remanufacturing.

There's a local transmission shop that's still around in an soon to be gentrified part of town - looks like they get a steady flow of business.
 
I'm surprised that there are shops that actually do rebuilds for the customer. When pricing a TH400 I was quoted $1400 for a rebuild which ended up being the lowest estimate, while a new reman unit (Jasper) from Autozone was less than $800. $400 for the install still ended up being $200 cheaper than having it rebuilt. The biggest advantage? From transmission failure to new install and back on the road in two business days.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
A friend who sold parts to transmission shops told me he judged the quality of the shop by how they ordered rebuild kits. Some shops replaced more parts than others.


Just because they don't buy parts from him doesn't mean they're not replacing parts that need replacing. His logic is flawed....Some of us don't care to pay their 30% "Brick & Mortar" fee on some items.
 
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