"FREE DIAGNOSIS"

It seems to me that on a daily basis, I get a client who at whatever age, they still believe in the tooth fairy. How do I know that you ask?

It's about people thinking that other people, not themselves, will work for free.

On a really busy day, with all the bays full and all the technicians working as efficiently as possible, a client proceeded to educate me on the merits of "free diagnosis"

 You see he said, other shops don't charge for diagnosis, if I have the work done they recommend, they will waive "diagnostic fees" and you should do the same. Maybe then you will be more successful!
Mind you, this is the same guy who bought a new BMW and told me they had given him free oil changes for the length of the warranty. I tried to explain then, he merely had prepaid for those oil changes. He didn't believe me then either.

But that really got me going!  I proceeded to explain that the most important thing about a successful repair is the diagnostic work. I explained that you can do the best work on a missed diagnosis and the ensuing result is going to be a failure, always. You can't fix an engine misfire by having diagnosed it as failed suspension shocks

Backtrack to the beginning of this exchange.

2006 "Corvette" comes in with a mysterious intermittent squeek, It only happens at slow speed of 15-25 mph and the vehicle has to be under some kind of load. Difficult at best to try and recreate in the shop, you also need two people in the vehicle as one drives and the other tries to locate the ever so faint source of the noise.

It took about 3 man hours to find the source, it turned out to be coming from the drive line area. We explained we would have to remove it for further inspection. Gave him a quote to inspect and he agreed.

Once we removed the components and inspected, we gave him a quote for all the necessary parts and the labor to fix. He agreed again. That's when all the problems begun!

-you are not going to charge me for the testing time are you? After all, you get to do the work and you are still charging me for that. Besides, I saw how somebody else had a similar problem on you tube, if you had started with that, you wouldn't have spent so much time.

Sir, if I had started with that, as you say, and then ask you to pay me for 10 hours of work to remove the transmission for further access, based on a you tube video, do you think you'd be willing to do that?

-No! I'd want to be sure that if I was to spend that money, the problem would be in the area you pointed. I certainty wouldn't want to spend all that money on a guess, do you think I'm nuts?

Bite my tong,,,,,, silence,,,,

We now have two diagnostic choices, and they are:

1) The you tube way, no charge to test, goes documented as "owner request"
No shop responsibility if it does not produce the results the owner intended.

2) We test and it's a separate line item from the repair. We guaranty the correctness of  answer.

So! which one will it be this time Sir?

“How much” to,

I get asked this question so many times a day, I wish there was a single answer to the question.

How much to do ” head gaskets” ? How much to replace the engine, how much to replace my brakes, how much to do the struts, how much to do a ” timing belt” etc. etc. etc.  You get the idea.

Some shops may choose to quote the lowest possible price to get the vehicle in, figuring they will add all the other necessary items once the vehicle is in the shop, the work being done and the client has little choice.

Some will give you a more realistic price and not compromise their integrity,

Realize that if you ask, “how much to replace the head gaskets”? what you get is the price to replace the head gaskets and just that. Nothing else.

Let’s use the example of a 2002 Cadillac SDV with the North star engine.

The initial cost to answer the question on the phone is $2090 in labor and $665 for a head gasket set,  Total price of $2755 and that could conceivable be the quoted price over the phone. But now, let’s look at the actual price, the one you would get once the job is half way done and you have little choice.

Add $500 for machine shop work (necessary to assure no damage to heads)

Add $380 worth of radiator, thermostat and cooling system hoses

Add spark plugs $100

Add cooling system clean and flush  $165

Add Head new head bolts $180

Add head bolt inserts along with the work to retrofit (necessary on about 90% of the instances this job is done)  $800

Suggest new radiator since most head gaskets blow due to overheat $525

So now, imagine you get a quote of $2755 and a day or two later you are asked to spend another $2650  at a time when there is no going back.

So back to the original question, would you rather get the realistic price or the “come in to the shop” price?

Let’s take it one step further.

 You make the phone call to Shop 1 and the quote is $2755 ,then you call another shop and the quote is $5400  but they explain to you that it is a realistic out the door price. So, which shop is going to get your business, shop 1 or shop 2?

Best auto repair shop in Ventura,,,,,Lee L.

Here we go again, revisiting Yelp!

No, my beef is not with the posts, nor with unruly clients, competitors or former employees trying to
get even.
This time, is the policy Yelp has of allowing posts to go public without publishing the name of the writer.
In one short sentence, it Stinks!
Last year I bought a one page ad in the local paper, I was fighting the place next door from opening up, and I needed to expose the true intentions of the nature of their business.
As you may imagine, a one page ad is not cheap. At the bottom of the ad, I wanted to close with the caption "Concerned citizens of Ventura." as I did not want to use my own name (for security reasons).

I spent 8 hours negotiating with the newspaper publisher about that closing. They would not do it unless the ad was posted with the name of the writer, or those who paid for it. They would not accept some made up name, such as the one I had come up with.
As a result, I have come to respect that position a great deal. If an accusation is to be made, it should have the full name of the accuser.
Yelp just won a fight in court about the content of their posts. The allegation was that Yelp was creating fictitious accounts in order to post bad reviews to increase their popularity or ranking.
Because they post user content on the internet, they are not liable for it.

We need to change the laws and force all internet companies to have truth in posting. I don't know if people realize how much a bad review will hurt a business. I have a feeling people may be a lot more careful with their words if the world knew their name.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of the first amendment. I also feel we should live by the consequences of our words.

Sincerely,

ITIP    "internet truth in posting"

Two out of three ain't bad

Two out of three ain't bad!

With all due credit to the songwriter, Meatloaf.
I personally believe he wrote the song about the auto repair industry. I happen to think we were the inspiration for that mega hit.

The song was probably written or created around the late 70's.  Back in those days, two out of three was not bad!  Most people were satisfied with that. They came in to a repair shop and we offered them three choices, of those choices they could only pick from two: quality, speed, price.
It was perfectly acceptable to leave finger prints all over the place as a sign that a *"mechanic"* had been there, that was the proof. For some *"repair shops"* to wash the vehicle, it was unheard of.
Fortunately, we no longer live in the 70's. Gone are the days of three month warranties and polyester bell bottoms . Today, that has been replaced by the standard 24 month nationwide warranty, and a car wash at the end. This  includes *"Diesels"*as well.

If Meatloaf were to write the song today, it would have to be titled "Anything but three out of three is bad" as the consumer wont stand for anything else.
#mechanic,#repairshop,#diesel

Who saved who?

Have you ever seen those bumper stickers that say "who rescued who?"  It's a reference to an adopted pet and what it brings to the relationship with it's human benefactor. It implies that you would get more from the exchange than even the adopted pet would.

It has happened to me many times with pets I adopted. But this one time it happened to me with another human being. Not with an adoption, but merely with the interaction.

The third Friday of every month, here in the city of Ventura, we have a food truck extravaganza. Twelve to fifteen truck come to the parking lot of the local mall and serve food  to all the available hungry patrons that day. I was on my way to the adjacent grocery store and decided to stop by and get myself some food from the oyster truck.
As I got my food, I looked for a place I could use to sit down and enjoy my meal. Most of the tables had more than one person and it was obvious they were busy. I found one table with only one person and I asked him if he minded some company. He smiled warmly and said "okay"
I soon realized he was a homeless person. He had a bicycle next to him and along with it, most if not all of his life possessions.
We begun to talk, and I asked him if he liked oysters. He said yes and I gave him a couple of oysters from my half dozen.
He thank me. Then he asked if I had a cell phone (who doesn't?)
He asked to borrow it. Until then, I had never realized how personal of an item they had become.  I hesitated with my reply and I'm sure he noticed.

He made a phone call to his son. I could tell it was a voice message he was leaving. He finished with " I love you and I miss you, I wish I could call more often, take care"
He handed me the phone back and I headed for the grocery store nearby.
I needed ice cream and milk, some cheeses and a few other perishables. Also bread, some nuts and the obligatory bottle of wine for Friday night.

In the middle of the shopping, I got a phone call. It was the son calling his father back. I told him what had happened and he said it was too bad he had missed him. He asked me to tell him he loved him if I ever saw him again.  I said "okay, I will"

I don't recall feeling as empty as I did that time. I said I would tell him next time I saw him, but I also knew I was probably never to see that homeless person again.

The heck with the groceries!   I paid at the cashier and headed back to the truck extravaganza. I didn't know if I could find him again but it was worth the try.
Still sitting in the same place, I found him. I called his son back (dial the last number) and he came on the line. Then I handed the phone back to the homeless man.
I don't know for how long they talked and I made every attempt not to look anxious. I would wait until he was done.
Once done, he handed me the phone back and thanked me.
I don't know who helped who the most. All I know is that I felt really good when I left. But before I did, I pulled the first bill out of my wallet and handed it to him. He hadn't asked for it but it felt like the right thing to do.

The few times I've told the story, I have to catch myself from choking with emotion.
All in all, it was a great day!