i dont want to sound like im giving up but...

[Jscotty]

I just do not appreciate someone who knows they are not going to get their car fixed waste my time by implying the will to get it fixed in the begining.

My cousin does that. He lives in an apartment and he has 2 cars that he bought from auctions that he needs to store while he makes up his mind as to what he wants to do with them. So rather than paying for a storage facility, he takes them to various repair shops that don't charge for a diagnosis or estimates. Usually they tell him that he will have to leave the car and he says, "Sure, no problem. Take your time." When they call him back the next day or two, he ducks and dodges their phone calls until they threten to start charging storage fees and then he will take it to another shop and go through the whole drill again.

[delatlanta1281]

Your cousin's an asshole. You can tell him I said that. Idle cars cause shops to lose money.

[JK_E30]

Makeitrain,
I get it. I wasn't referring to you. 900 for a clutch seems pricey, but I know that my brother would pay it if he didn't have my friends and I.

Yeah, I just wanted to clearify that it is not some "game" I play all the time as Farbin had described.. if it would have been a reasonable price I probably would have just had them do it because of my time restraints.. thats all.

[JK_E30]

My cousin does that. He lives in an apartment and he has 2 cars that he bought from auctions that he needs to store while he makes up his mind as to what he wants to do with them. So rather than paying for a storage facility, he takes them to various repair shops that don't charge for a diagnosis or estimates. Usually they tell him that he will have to leave the car and he says, "Sure, no problem. Take your time." When they call him back the next day or two, he ducks and dodges their phone calls until they threten to start charging storage fees and then he will take it to another shop and go through the whole drill again.

See now this is messed up.

[delatlanta1281]

Yeah, I just wanted to clearify that it is not some "game" I play all the time as Farbin had described.. if it would have been a reasonable price I probably would have just had them do it because of my time restraints.. thats all.

600 sounds reasonable for parts and labor..... maybe 700.

[JK_E30]

600 sounds reasonable for parts and labor..... maybe 700.

Yeah thats what I was thinking. but then they said about $900 and so I said no thanks.

Even though now I fully understand why labor is so much.. clutch replacements are a bitch!

[xLibelle]

OP, you better keep in mind, the leak could be around the drain plug.

[Farbin Kaiber]

My cousin does that. He lives in an apartment and he has 2 cars that he bought from auctions that he needs to store while he makes up his mind as to what he wants to do with them. So rather than paying for a storage facility, he takes them to various repair shops that don't charge for a diagnosis or estimates. Usually they tell him that he will have to leave the car and he says, "Sure, no problem. Take your time." When they call him back the next day or two, he ducks and dodges their phone calls until they threten to start charging storage fees and then he will take it to another shop and go through the whole drill again.

those customers recive a free "underseat trout/bass installation"

really though we'll put whatever the local meat market has on discount under there. Screw your cousin and anyone who plays that same game.
that wasted space could net my business $5,000 min. in two work days.


Euroshark....

Your post yesterday was right on the fact that anyone with mech. knowledge can work on a 20 year old car and be a Mechanic. A tech. is a completly different job though.

[SpecM]

-Hmm wow this is getting interesting so I'll chime in...

-I'm a Toyota tech (yes a real tech) so I can sympathize with whoever it was that was offended by someone suggesting that a shop be ripped-off. Seriously guys, that's cheap and low. ON the other hand, go to a local garage and they MAY do it for CHEAP if you're honest. Just tell them. Real techs will not laugh at you or think less of you if you can't diagnos something yourself, that's why we have jobs, right?

-Oh btw to all the other mech/techs/etc... and everyone else listining... don't yall hate it when customers come in with there own diagnosis ("oh yea it needs plugs and an oil change blah blah blah") and it doesn't fix some undisclosed problem, now the customer's pissed that you "didn't fix it right"? We get that alot.

:hitler: [/rant]

[86espowa]

The one time i took my E30 to a shop i understood the idiocy of the people that worked there.

They didnt notice a disconnected O2 sensor. And they disconnected my fan.

They did get it running though, poorly, and i got it running better later that day.

Shops FTMFL, thats why i will be driving E30's for quite some time.

[JK_E30]

The one time i took my E30 to a shop i understood the idiocy of the people that worked there.

They didnt notice a disconnected O2 sensor. And they disconnected my fan.

They did get it running though, poorly, and i got it running better later that day.

Shops FTMFL, thats why i will be driving E30's for quite some time.

Thats because your car wasnt stock, it had an unfamiliar cam in there that shouldnt be..

possibly the reason why.

No excuse for the unplugged o2 but maybe they figured you would have already noticed that..

[Jscotty]

Your cousin's an asshole. You can tell him I said that. Idle cars cause shops to lose money.

I already told him that when he tried to ditch one of his cars at my house. He ducked and dodged my calls but after two months, rather than the trout treatment, I hid his car inside of the garage.

I don't think that 4 hours went by before I got a call from him yelling at me from the top of his lungs saying, "WTF HAPPENED TO MY CAR!?" Calmly I said, "I sold it to the junk man for $30". If you could have heard his reaction you would agree that it was priceless!

Anyhow he came over to kick my ass or raise hell or whatever he planned on doing to me to get even. So I pulled the car out of the garage, parked it on the driveway and then when he showed up he just took the car and left.

[JK_E30]

I already told him that when he tried to ditch one of his cars at my house. He ducked and dodged my calls but after two months, rather than the trout treatment, I hid his car inside of the garage.

I don't think that 4 hours went by before I got a call from him yelling at me from the top of his lungs saying, "WTF HAPPENED TO MY CAR!?" Calmly I said, "I sold it to the junk man for $30". If you could have heard his reaction you would agree that it was priceless!

Anyhow he came over to kick my ass or raise hell or whatever he planned on doing to me to get even. So I pulled the car out of the garage, parked it on the driveway and then when he showed up he just took the car and left.

Haha thats awesome!!

[Farbin Kaiber]

i "sell" peoples cars all the time.