guy advise

[Shattered-Reflections]

Could be just a good man trying to run an honest business. It's not uncanny to give extra to one's customers or not charge a client because of ignorance that wasted many hours. I do that myself, partly out of kindness and well... if I wasted time it's NOT my client's fault. I don't charge for stupidity.

Bringing baked goods is just a nice gesture, there's no harm in it. I'd almost say that's the least you can do for him for all the hard work. I'm pretty sure I did that for my 50/60 year old mechanic. He often didn't charge me enough and treated me very honestly, because he did like me and my mum. Even chewed out one of his mechanics for trying to cheat me. Not sure why he liked me (I was very shy around him) but my mother is very outgoing and friendly and they built a good friendship over the years.

Just be friendly, open, and maybe bring him and his crew some bake goods. Take it easy and take it slow, don't get ahead of yourself. You don't have to rush anything. At the very least, it sounds like you have a great mechanic. Don't take that for granted.

 

[blackribbon]

i have yet to see anyone give away that much labor...everyone knows when they bring in a car for repair that it may required changing a few things before they get to the problem...kind of the domino effect...I know for a heater there are a series of things they have to go through...from radiator fluid to the thermostat. If he felt he screwed up, he still would have charged you for the actually repair and parts. I don't know where you all go that you have mechanics that do stuff for free...tire repairs with a plug kit or a small repair that they see as they go like a loose wire, yeah maybe but not major repairs. Their knowledge is worth something and they have to buy the parts.

And WHY doesn't he have your phone number? Why would you leave your car any place and not give him a way to contact you? That is simply crazy. I don't have to give my mechanic my number everything I go in because he has it on file...but he calls me everytime he figures out what is wrong with an estimate (and for authorization to work on the car) and he calls me when it is ready for pick up.

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

Well for the MOT I just stayed there.... and when it overheated I just called him up and hung around lol

 

[Sketcher]

Could be just a good man trying to run an honest business. It's not uncanny to give extra to one's customers or not charge a client because of ignorance that wasted many hours. I do that myself, partly out of kindness and well... if I wasted time it's NOT my client's fault. I don't charge for stupidity.

The severity and the expense of the repair, as well as whether or not it's warranty work (for either the shop or the car) is also going to be a factor. If it's a stupid little thing, I might not get charged for it. If one or more expensive parts needs to be replaced, that's when most people can expect to pay quite a bit. It's also standard business practice to tell any customer that there may be something more expensive to expect, but it isn't really needed and they show you that on the bill (i.e. this could have been $1000 but we were able to fix the problem for $400).

 

[redblue22]

so what is your next move?

 

[blackribbon]

The severity and the expense of the repair, as well as whether or not it's warranty work (for either the shop or the car) is also going to be a factor. If it's a stupid little thing, I might not get charged for it. If one or more expensive parts needs to be replaced, that's when most people can expect to pay quite a bit. It's also standard business practice to tell any customer that there may be something more expensive to expect, but it isn't really needed and they show you that on the bill (i.e. this could have been $1000 but we were able to fix the problem for $400).

I have never had a mechanic do this. They quote a price for what he believes is wrong and warns me that as they work, they might find other things. Most my mechanics use the book time for the labor estimate and they have actually gotten a price for the part. The actual cost almost always is in the ball park of the estimate...and they will walk me through the repair and show me the broken parts. My son works for a dealership (not my mechanic) and he says they jack the price up but they usually charge the estimate too. I'd worry if my quote was always excessively higher than what I paid because it would make me wonder if my mechanic had any idea of what was wrong before he started. I am okay if the call me back and say "he fixed your xxx" but now that is running, we see that xxx also needs some attention"...mostly because I know I can trust this shop and he has called a couple times and said "I can change your brakes like you requested but, honestly, you don't need to do that job at this time".

I had a run in with the new service representative because he started quoting a job at $1700 and it came down to $1200 when I started saying I might not repair the car....a $500 price drop in 30 minutes made me doubt whether or not this place was going to treat me like an intelligent adult and give me honest advise. I still use the same place but I now watch my bill closer...the amount of trust they lost by him playing this price game was significant. Some of the price drop was small repairs that my 17 year old rusty Jeep doesn't need because I don't care if these things don't work...some was...well, I still don't know. The last time, the quote was lower than I expected and the actual price was very near the quote. That is what I expect from my mechanic. He also told me of an expensive repair that will need to be done in the next 6 months or so...but let me know it wasn't significant yet.