dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

I actually bought my Trans Am in Corpus, from the Car Shack. I had a similar situation as the other guy did. I looked at the car and wanted it. I didn't tell them that though. I came back the next day and asked for a test drive, and they said only to people with cash. I pulled a blank check from Capital One out of my pocket and all the sudden all was good. Got in to start the car, and the damned clutch was stuck on the floor, as the master had obviously went out.

Anyways, got a new master, slave, and clutch out of the deal and picked it up 2 days later. Funny part is, when I went to pick it up they had a few rustangs there. Me and the salesman got to talking and he explained to me how this one had this problem, trans is bad in that one..... At least he was honest though. He said they buy them at auction, and the "red light" sales are the unknowns. He did say they disclose the info though to potential buyers.

All in all, a fairly decent experience there. I had that car for 2 years and never had a single problem with it.

RsSean

iTrader: (27)

So let me get this right, u complain that they prolly did their 37 point inspection, and for once they did their job right. They prolly did u a favor bu puting some lube on it. But you looked at is as a bad thing. Then got all hot headed and made a ss of yourself. But I doubt tthey messed with we/techs don't sit around and say let's screw this guys antenna today. Really get a life a set of tools and change ur own hub next time. I am sure with hand tools and taking beer breaks you could do it for les labor than what u were charged at the dealer to change it.

StealthB4C2002

do your own work an trust in yourself.. then only you are to blame.. an you bond with your ride..
or take it to someone specialized in our rides..

dealers are rip off. 45 bucks for a power steering cap replacement.. come the f on.. lol

enjoy your day.. an get little greasy girls.

Grifter

iTrader: (12)

Agreed but you realize that we need to make money too, right? That time includes getting the RO, finding the car, bringing the car in, setting it up on the lift, getting the parts and then installing them. Also, even with a car as little as 5-10 years old you could be looking at some rusted nuts and bolts depending on where the car has been. I do agree that some dealerships are just out to squeeze every last drop of money out from their customers. And the only ones they treat well are the ones that don't speak up and just say yes to every service and repair that is offered to them. I however have been taught differently. You don't want a comeback, of course it's going to happen, but you always want to be honest and fair and fix the car right the first time. In my case almost all the hours I make are based on a system that tells me what I get paid. For customer pay cars it is normal to add .1-.5 hours because with the car being older you're more likely to run into problems that are out of your control.

Of course there are crooked mechanics out there. Think how much your mom probably knows about your car. Now imagine her making up about 3/4 of the customer base to almost any automotive repair facility, it makes it pretty easy to take these people to the cleaners.

When I go into work tomorrow I'm going to look up then labor time for rear springs r&r on a 4th gen. My guess is customer pay is around an hour.

Fbodyjunkie06

iTrader: (10)

If I ever feel something is out of my ability and I have to have a shop do it I stand there the whole time right behind the car just outside the door so that I am not in the way, but not out of sight just so it's in the back of whoever's mind that is working on my car that the owner is still here and is watching everything I do. Whether or not it actually works and is to my benefit oh well, at least it makes me feel better about the work being honest.

flintwrench69

iTrader: (11)

Although not very common I have had plenty of customers like yourself & even had a few that would follow me around the whole time their car was in the shop watching my every move. Put yourself in those shoes & tell me that wouldnt annoy the **** out of you. I dont have a thing to hide, thats just totally pathetic to have someone do that because they are that paranoid. Grow up or take your car to someone you can trust.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

I understand your point, however:

It doesn't matter if it annoys the **** out of you or anyone else. If I want to pitch a tent at the entrance of the lift bay and open my lawn chair to properly seat myslef, I will. If it's MY car, paid for with MY money, you're damned right I'm going to be camping out and watching it.

I take it you're one of the few mechanics out there that still give a **** about SOMEONE ELSE'S car. It's getting too few and far between now. You can't blame anyone for wanting to watch their 10-50 thousand dollar investment.

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

I agree with you there man. You can't tell me someone isn't more careful and through with a job while being watched. While some people may have a certain amount of integrity a lot don't. When i've taken my car in before i always have watched and been there giving input or observing the job. The one time i didn't, just recently, it came back and bit me in the ***. It may annoy the people working there in front of me or seem weird or uncomfortable, but i'm not there to get a date or impress anyone, i'm there for whatever the car needs and what ensures that happening.

Grifter

iTrader: (12)

I'm with you 100%. Unless the customer is really cool, leave me alone. Most dealers don't allow customers in the shop anyway. I can understand you being paranoid, especially if the car is your baby but let me breathe. Your car isn't get fixed any better or faster with you on my back.

And for anyone who read my earlier post; warranty time to replace rear springs on a 4th Gen is .5, so customer pay you're probablyt looking at 1-2 hours.

Fbodyjunkie06

iTrader: (10)

It is not really a trust thing, as my car wouldn't be at the person's shop in the first place. Like I said it's something I do to make myself feel better about the work being performed. Sorry if it annoys you, but I just feel more comfortable letting my hard earned dollar go to someone who isn't pissed at his boss or deciding for whatever reason that work isn't the most important thing on his/her mind that day.

TransAmWS.6

I can agree with and relate to what you're saying man.

I had to take mines to the local Jiffy Lube to get an oil change about a week ago because I haven't got around to buying a lift for this car yet, none of my friends have them either because the majority of them are not into cars heavily like I am.

But yeah, while I was there, I was standing sort of off to the side, not in the way but my presence was known by the guys changing the oil on my car. I understand I was an annoyance and I apologized to everyone in there once they were finished because they did a fantastic job. But, like you said, I'm not there to make friends with anyone or anything, I'm there to have my car serviced properly and that's it and I will do what I have to do to assure that this happens.

UMD_Jesse

iTrader: (6)

Just call the dealer and ask for their insurance info and file a claim. If the wont give it file the claim with your insurance and tell them the dealer busted your car and refused to fix. I did this once...a tire shop jacked up the car by the fender and popped it out. When I called them out they said "sorry we didnt do that, unless you can prove it" So, I asked for their insurance info...they didnt give it....I called their corporate office who hapily gave me the info. Their claim adjuster came out and siad oh yeah...this is clearly their fault, and paid me. Give it a shot

LeanPocket

iTrader: (6)

thx for sharing that, it makes sense that someone would add a lil more due to age and potential problems might occur. In my case, i have a paper statement showing 2.5 hours to replace both springs.. but when it came time to do the work, it took them 45 mins and, to agree with u, he did everything you mentioned, and to agree with everyone else,
I was no less that 3' from this guy lol I spent about 10k of my HARD EARNED MONEY and for peace of mind I wanted to make sure he did what he was suppose to do, no more no less. Thankfully the guy did a fantastic job, and checked alot of other things for me

As far as watching em like a hawk, I'm not trying to annoy the mechanic, but they don't know what was done to my car, for example

When they were trying to drive my car into the bay, there was a speedbump and i had to waive him to stop!! and to go around it, I have LT's AND had eibach's at the time .. he would have unintentionally scraped or tore out my exhaust.

71novaguy

iTrader: (2)

agreed. if someone stood and watched me the whole time, I would move extremely slow and waist their time. Hell, I'd probably take lunch, talk on the phone, take a ****, ect. if you can't trust the people that are working on your car, go somewhere else. Or, man up, go meet the manager, ask to talk to mechanic that will be working on your car. A decent shop will allow it. A shady shop, not so much.

TransAmWS.6

Yeah, and all the person would have to do is simply report you to a manager or demand the keys and walk out on you, that's a real ******* way of acting.

Some people actually care about their cars, such as myself. What's wrong with someone watching over it while it's being worked on by someone else if they want to? The owner did buy the vehicle, they're also paying the shop to do the work. While I can agree that it's probably an annoyance, I think if the person is cool about it and doesn't interfere with the mechanic/mechanics while working, they should be allowed to hang around and watch (from a reasonable distance) if they feel like it.

flintwrench69

iTrader: (11)

This is what I am talking about people. If youre so worried about your "baby" that you think its best to watch every move on your ride take it to one of these shops. Its simple, unless your broke down out of state if you dont feel comfortable with the place dont let them touch your car. If you think you can do a better job yourself then do it. I have worked on lots of nice cars & consider myself an enthusiast so I take great care when handling them. Here is a good example of what I am talking about: When working at the Dodge dealer a Viper owner needed a fob programmed. Sounds pretty simple right? To do this you gotta crawl under the dash & find the wire that needs to be grounded to program the fob. This was the 1st time doing this so it wasnt so familiar to me. Well the **** Viper owner refused to let me drive it into the shop onto my bay where I needed to access a wiring diagram & location of the module programming wire from the PC & had to make several trips for different tools back & forth from the back of the shop to the service isle just because he was sooo worried about his precious lil "baby"!! All that for 18 minutes pay, which took more like 40 minutes when all finished.

I have had a few others that just felt they had to question me the whole time while following me around every time I made a move. I sent them up to the waiting room after a few minutes of that. It might be your car but some people have no respect, no class & worry waaay too much.
There shouldnt be a charge for installing a simple cap like that, should be free IMO.

HVYMTL

On a sidenote... LeanPocket I really wish my magnaflow stuff was that straight. Congrats to you or whoever installed that. haha mine looks horrible.

But anyways, I understand the customer standpoint, but moreso the technicians standpoint. I work at a dealership as a Parts Manager and one reason we try to avoid customers in the shop is also for insurance reasons. It's a major liability issue to have anyone other than dealer employess inside the shop while work is being performed. Not to mention it's VERY annoying for the mechanics. Yes there are times when you may get a chance to talk to the tech beforehand, and if they're cool with it, then that's great. But you have to realize also that if you're some overbearing customer, who's hassling the tech and watching over their shoulder, it's possible that they are more likely to make a mistake, because you're putting them on the spot and some people can get nervous in that situation. As far as the lowered car, speed bump thing, or any other instance like that, I would say it is your responsibility to make it known that your car is modified if special provisions need to be made. Just throwing 2 more cents into this thread.

Starz T/A 17

iTrader: (6)

The thing is this isnt just with mechanics, if you have an accountant do your taxes how do you know there spending the time making sure you get the maximum refund? If you hire a lawyer for a traffic ticket, how do you know there doing everything to try and get you out of it.

This is just service industries in general. If your that **** about someone working on your car clearly you have not done the due diligence to find a trustworthy shop. And if your just that way about someone else working on your car, then do the work yourself.

pewter2002

iTrader: (4)

I do all the maintenance on my SS myself - always. My preference for many reasons. Slamming doors, hitting speed bumps, opening the door into the side of the hoist etc... That being said, when I take my car for (mandatory) emissions testing or rust proofing, I go back to the same trusted technician. They remember me because I ask to speak to the tech before work is to be done and no one has ever had a problem with it. I tell them about the low ride height etc and that it is my baby etc. I don't wait for a mishap. I do this with the utmost of respect, and they aprreciate the heads up about the cars' long doors etc and I think the fact that I trust THEM with my cherished ride does make a positive impact. These guys are paid to work fast to make money. My situation slows them down a little bit and I give them a tip for the extra careful service and thank them. I ask to book a time when they are slow as well for the reasons already stated and they are accomadating in this respect too. All of this goes for all my cars too...

71novaguy

iTrader: (2)

the only ******* is the guy watching. If its a good shop that does good work, then the manager won't care if you walk out cause he knows his mechanic is doing cause the owner is an ******* and doesn't need those ******** business.