Joseph Van syoc

You can talk until you are blue in the face.  Did this again just the other day.  Alternator from my local jobber cost 143 and lists at 309.  Customer tells me Amazon sells it for 69.  No matter what you tell them about quality and warranty, two facts remain.  Amazon has it for $69, AND Amazon DOES NOT REPAIR CARS.  Sometimes I think we fail to emphasize that last part enough.

I look up my own parts, so if it is wrong, more often than not I can find the problem in the mirror.  There are of course, mis-boxed, pulled wrong sku and my personal favorite, the mid year production change that no one knew about.  As far as the calipers, haven’t run into that yet, but over the years have seen bad runs on many parts from starters to fan clutches.  The worst part of th…Read More

I will confess that I have not looked up many warranty times for belts, but IMO I would have to be pretty daft to perform any labor operation for less than what a factory trained tech, using factory tools, gets paid by the factory to work on their own product under warranty. JMHO

Doubtful.  Most give you a time to perform a specific operation without much consideration to how most techs work.  If it does not say “includes” _______ you should not assume that it does.  It would be nice if more guides listed common combinations.

It is only going to get worse.  The supply of “dumb kids” sent to auto shop class, and motor sports enthusiasts that the industry relied on for decades is drying up, and people capable of doing the job can make much better money elsewhere

I hadn’t been charging extra for that, mostly because I get a 60% gpm on belts, however you do make a valid point about routing and installing serpentine belts on today’s vehicles, some of which require lifting the vehicle, removing splash shields or mounts etc to replace the belt   We are no longer talking about simply slipping it of the component being replaced and leaving it in p…Read More

I usually get $22.50 for mount/balance and disposal, plus an average gross profit margin of 28%.  A set of tires usually means around $200 gross profit on the job.  I am an indy  garage in a small rural town, so I only sell 1-2 sets per month. I don’t try to volume price because I have to order tires JIT, and could not sell in volume anyway

Seems to me there ought to be a lot of potential here, add fuel stabilizer and generator maintenance to the list

I only bring up the anode rod because on the majority of RV’s you must remove it anyway in order to drain the water heater.  Since most water heaters would require 6-10 gallons of RV antifreeze, it makes sense to drain it and install a bypass valve if not already equipped, reducing the antifreeze requirement down to 2 or 3 gallons total.  And mice love campers…

I have spent my entire career screaming “It’s the money,stupid” but no one listens, they would rather cry about how they can’t find techs

its not.

I usually do a check spin at rotation time, and it is not unusual to see a tire out by an ounce or more at 10K.  .5-.75 is pretty common.

While we are on the topic, I am curious to know what you all get for tire rotations, and wheel balancing.  Seems to me that these are often used as a loss leader or even a freebie to get a chance to look at the brakes, and wheel balancing is artificially low because it is  so often sold as part of a new tire package.  Me I figure a rotation and balance at .8hr  It can take longer, esp…Read More

Not a bad idea! I mean how many of us have done a straight tire rotation only to have to pull it back in the shop to balance the front tires because we now have a shimmy?  I know I have.  I prefer to sell a full rotation and balance all 4 wheels as I am convinced that an imbalanced rear tire is still hard on things like wheel and axle bearings.  Maybe I’m wrong.  But including a half bal…Read More

Well I have been seeing times ranging from 4.5 ( the OE TSB) to over 12.0 with most guys saying about 8.0 and Chiltons publishing 7.7  Still seems like you need to raise the cab up a little to clear the mess at the left rear cab corner and to access the clips

Of course there is not a repairlink dealer within 200 miles of me.  An OE application chart would be nice, it is a real PITA to have to phone the dealer with a VIN every time you want to write an estimate

Great, now can you tell us which major parts suppliers carry them?

I looked into them, two major issues: Since I am a one man shop, they wont even list me, a customer could be broke down a block from my door, but if they check repair pal, the nearest listed shop is over 40 miles away.  So that does me no good.  Second, their estimates are usually clear out in left field somewhere, no where near realistic. They don’t allow for diagnosis or inspection, a…Read More

Not quite related, but it kills me when people come in with quotes to install used major assemblies (engine or trans) for an overall estimate that is lower than the All Data or Chilton labor for the job.  Now figuring the engine, fluids, and incidentals, you must have guys who are crazy enough to install these for a couple hundred bucks.   A transmission, maybe I could see that, but an en…Read More

Not anywhere around here. An A tech may make that, but more likely he was promised a “potential” and you can’t eat potential.  Entry level starts at around $11 hr, and McD here will start you at $10 hr., no tools and no skills required.  It was pretty bad when I had to take a part time job driving truck, and that pays more than I make fixing them, just saying.  If you want to resolve th…Read More