Weird and ungrateful customers

[SeaJay]

Indy shops have local parts sources that supply and deliver parts right away so that the customer's car can be fixed and out the door by the end of business, which is when most customers need to have their car by. These suppliers will also give a replacement if the original part is defective. There is usually a long standing relationship between the indy and the parts suppliers. The indy will eat the cost of the labor to redo the installation if the original part is defective. The supplier generally only delivers parts of the highest quality, not the cheapest so as to avoid the additional labor of removing and reinstalling defective parts.

The cost of those parts is naturally going to be higher than the cost of having google deliver it in a day or three. IMO, perfectly understandable for the higher costs of these parts.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by SeaJay
Indy shops have local parts sources that supply and deliver parts right away so that the customer's car can be fixed and out the door by the end of business, which is when most customers need to have their car by. These suppliers will also give a replacement if the original part is defective. There is usually a long standing relationship between the indy and the parts suppliers. The indy will eat the cost of the labor to redo the installation if the original part is defective. The supplier generally only delivers parts of the highest quality, not the cheapest so as to avoid the additional labor of removing and reinstalling defective parts.

The cost of those parts is naturally going to be higher than the cost of having google deliver it in a day or three. IMO, perfectly understandable for the higher costs of these parts.

We do have the usual box stores. If they dont have it or I need it cheaper the other option is over 100m a way. The last truck leaves there @1p. So when someone shows up @3p needing a part I am stuck with whoever has it locally.

 

[SatinSilver]

Well said SeaJay.

 

[dlundblad]

I've been told a few times it's not polite to take a vehicle to a mechanic with your own supplied parts.. I am an OE junkie and don't want them using whatever the local parts store can get them so I like to supply it.

The fact that it's cheaper without their markup is just an added bonus, but certainly not my main reason. I realize I could ask for a certain part, but they typically aren't in stock and would take days to come in.

I couldn't get the cat off my truck last fall so I had to take it to my go to guy just a few miles north. He said he didn't care either way (since I already had the cat purchased), but preferred not to as many folks go on Rock Auto and buy the cheapest part they can only for it to fail in a short time. People doing this has made him dislike RA. I told him sometimes they carried the factory parts as well and he seemed surprised.

 

[PimTac]

My mechanic from a long time ago, now gone, using to have a sign in their shop showing a customer in a cafe bringing in their own eggs and bacon asking the cook if they would cook them for his breakfast.

At the bottom of the sign it said, "Is this you?"

It made the point.

 

[Hootbro]

I sure wish all these complaining Einstein's that think they know what something should cost, would start their own business on that model with facilities, overhead, taxes and insurance costs factored in and get back to us on how they are changing the car repair business game?

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by Hootbro
I sure wish all these complaining Einstein's that think they know what something should cost, would start their own business on that model with facilities, overhead, taxes and insurance costs factored in and get back to us on how they are changing the car repair business game?


Amen!
I'm not a mechanic, but I would not stand the "know it all" types. If you know so much, why not do the work yourself? Or like suggested above, start your own business, I'm sure you'll get along with your "know it all" customers just fine and the business will flourish like no other

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted by PimTac
My mechanic from a long time ago, now gone, using to have a sign in their shop showing a customer in a cafe bringing in their own eggs and bacon asking the cook if they would cook them for his breakfast.

At the bottom of the sign it said, "Is this you?"

It made the point.



Just like I'd go to a nicer restaurant for higher quality food, it looks the dealership for me then.

 

[MCompact]

When I was an attorney in private practice I simply "fired" problem clients. If they told me attorney XYZ only charges $XXX for a title search I'd tell them, "Fine, go hire XYZ". Likewise, one time I had a divorce client tell me that his friend Jim Bob at got a divorce and he kept the home, all the cars, and didn't have to pay child support. I pulled his file, gave it to him(along with a check refunding my fees) and politely told him that he needed to hire Jim Bob's lawyer.
I did not have the patience to deal with price shoppers and second-guessers.

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted by Hootbro
I sure wish all these complaining Einstein's that think they know what something should cost, would start their own business on that model with facilities, overhead, taxes and insurance costs factored in and get back to us on how they are changing the car repair business game?


A Ford dealer I went to literally doubled the price of parts (I didn't go there for that work anyway, had to go for airbag recall). I don't care what "overhead" the dealer has, they need to change their business model if they need to double the price of parts. There is an upcharge in most situations, but that should maybe be 10-20%. Maybe enough to cover the time spent ordering the part, and whatever shipping they may pay for. Its even worse when you consider they probably get the parts at a discount compared to what I can find them for. They don't have a manufacturing facility where they are creating these parts out back. They order them, and they show up in a box. Whats that worth?

Again, this practice probably worked for a long time. But its getting to the point they can say "the part costs X" and the customer can look it up on their phone in 10 seconds and say why are you charging me double? There is no reason for that. Now, if its say 10-20% more, thats explainable.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk

A Ford dealer I went to literally doubled the price of parts (I didn't go there for that work anyway, had to go for airbag recall). I don't care what "overhead" the dealer has, they need to change their business model if they need to double the price of parts. There is an upcharge in most situations, but that should maybe be 10-20%. Maybe enough to cover the time spent ordering the part, and whatever shipping they may pay for. Its even worse when you consider they probably get the parts at a discount compared to what I can find them for. They don't have a manufacturing facility where they are creating these parts out back. They order them, and they show up in a box. Whats that worth?

Again, this practice probably worked for a long time. But its getting to the point they can say "the part costs X" and the customer can look it up on their phone in 10 seconds and say why are you charging me double? There is no reason for that. Now, if its say 10-20% more, thats explainable.



Back in the 80s and early 90s some BMW dealers would charge 20-30% over BMW's MSRP at the parts counter. They would then offer a discount of 10-15% to BMW Car Club members. That doesn't work anymore either.

In 2008 I tried to give my local Mazda dealer a shot at my parts business. I had an HPDE coming up and I wanted a spare set of front brake pads for my Mazdaspeed 3; the parts guy came back with a quoted price that was $57 over MSRP and $100 over the internet price offered by a couple of online Mazda dealers. I haven't returned since.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by HemiHawk
Originally Posted by Hootbro
I sure wish all these complaining Einstein's that think they know what something should cost, would start their own business on that model with facilities, overhead, taxes and insurance costs factored in and get back to us on how they are changing the car repair business game?


A Ford dealer I went to literally doubled the price of parts (I didn't go there for that work anyway, had to go for airbag recall). I don't care what "overhead" the dealer has, they need to change their business model if they need to double the price of parts. There is an upcharge in most situations, but that should maybe be 10-20%. Maybe enough to cover the time spent ordering the part, and whatever shipping they may pay for. Its even worse when you consider they probably get the parts at a discount compared to what I can find them for. They don't have a manufacturing facility where they are creating these parts out back. They order them, and they show up in a box. Whats that worth?

Again, this practice probably worked for a long time. But its getting to the point they can say "the part costs X" and the customer can look it up on their phone in 10 seconds and say why are you charging me double? There is no reason for that. Now, if its say 10-20% more, thats explainable.



Well there is competition. I needed a radiator hose part from the local MB dealer, he was actually charging about 30% over list price. Online I could get it for 30% off list price which was about $60. I called another dealer that was a few miles further away and got it from them at list price. I knew to avoid that local MB dealer anyway, they don't have a good rep.

 

[NYEngineer]

Normally, I do all of my own repairs but I do have an excellent guy that does a great job at a fair price that I use when I need something done and I just don't have the time. He'll do it while I'm at work.

A couple of times I've already bought an OEM part or whatever part I wanted and then needed him to do the job due to time constraints. I always call and ask first. I even offer to let him adjust the price since there's no profit for him on the part.

Back when I was repairing generators, this small nursing home in NYC needed a block heater on their Onan diesel. The guy was from some Eastern European country so haggling was normal for him. He wanted me to disassemble a new heater and only sell him the heating element. This was years ago when Kim Hotstarts were all pipe threaded. You just about destroyed em taking them apart. I managed to do it but it took way more time than the job was worth. That was the last time I ever did anything like that. From that day forward, if you needed a heater you got a heater.
The next generation had bolted flanges and O rings so I was able to do parts replacements.

Thankfully, I was busy enough that I was able to turn people away if they didn't like my prices. Not only was my price almost always better than the competition's, 99 percent of the time we did it once and never had a problem so less down time. Most of my loyal customers never had a problem with our pricing.

 

[DoubleWasp]

What people are not understanding is how much more expensive it is to run a B&M repair business than it used to be. I've laid out a basic outline of my expenses before, and a basic outline of my labor charges before for other business owners and the general consensus is "How the heck do you make any money?".

The business model is not ours to change. We are one cog in a huge machine. There's no phone I can pick up to call the "Repair President" and make him change the entire system. I either figure out how to make it work, or I join the WIDE range of repair businesses that have either shut their doors or become completely crooked.

Internet parts are great for people who don't buy them frequently enough to know how many of them are complete garbage. Everything from poor fit, won't fit at all, early failure, to complete destruction of the unit installed on. I can list off the top of my head the items that are going to never even make the machine operate in the first place.

We have to store until repair. There's just no way to shut down a bay so we can wait for a bad part to be shipped back to be swapped out in order to make pocket change. We already have to do this for the parts we can only get from the OEM that have to be shipped in. If we were to exacerbate this issue by dealing with Internet parts, we would pretty much never get anything done.

I have a very simple policy for "bring your own parts":

* Zero warranty on parts and labor.
* Zero guarantee anything is going to even work
* Full estimate paid upfront
* 100% customer liability for any additional labor due to issues with said parts

Is this because I'm a huge jackhole? Nope. I've literally watched a 1 hour install turn into an 8 hour job because of problems with an internet part. DOA is not unheard of. Seen poorly engineered radiators destroy transmissions and engines (oil/water mixing), and more. These parts are cheap because unlike our suppliers or the OEM, they are accepting zero liability. If there is a problem, customer is going to do absolutely nothing to make me whole. Internet supplier is going to do nothing. So I grant the same favor for the customer. My supplier has changed out a part (picked up and delivered) in hours. They have compensated labor losses. They have paid for damages the same day. RA, eBay, etc. is going to do NONE of that.

I do actually have customers (dealers, commercial operators, etc.) who gladly accept those terms to save a buck. They're actually quite happy with it. They're already used to reaping the savings of accepting their own liability with the occasional serious loss. It's territory they're quite familiar with.

When a bay or a vehicle fails to make money on a certain day due to whatever issue, there is no magic turtle who absorbs the costs for that day. It's a hit. Again, we already have to deal with this stuff because of OEM's limitations or availability. There's no reason in the universe to try and exacerbate these issues.

I still do what I can to help customers. There are actually some very reliable online suppliers who I deal with for certain circumstances. Not often, but it's all situational, and always has to make sense.

Markup is a reality of business. If anything, the repair business has some of the lowest markups in the wide range of business. One of my businesses is food supply. I can tell you from experience that a lot of the food people eat has been "marked up" anywhere from 300-2000%. Is there a good reason why? Heck yes. Running a restaurant is TOUGH and expensive.

Every year, taxes get higher, insurances get higher, we have to buy more new equipment, city makes us buy more equipment, we have to do battle not to be zoned out of existence by developers, etc,etc. It goes on and on.

There is a reason why most people who start or buy a repair business eventually run screaming away from it if they know how to do anything else. If I didn't have the passion (or stupidity) to want to work with machines, I'd sell out and never look back tomorrow.