What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Fuel pump I believe.

 

I used these: https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...round-effect-light-kit-replacement/3042/6104/

Great mod. Especially when getting in a night with snow/muddy ground.

 

Yes you do.

 

Thanks.

 

I did the install myself. Getting this old exhaust off with floor jacks was a bit of a bitch. I checked to be sure the before and after bolt exposure was the same. Nice throaty rumble from the inside.

 

I wasnt talking about the mechanic... i was talking about the shop...

And this is what im talking about... Why did that customer get charged for 8 hours when it took you less than an hour? Did they keep the customers car for 8 hours also? If so that means the car said in the lot for 7 hours while the customer was probably worried about how they were going to get lunch or get home from work that day....

Why is there an hourly rate if they are not going to keep track of the time and charge how long it takes?

 

You guys think 30k is too soon to change spark plugs? Just picked up a new (to me) 2013 and she's due for her 30k mile service.

 

Based on what I know, if it is a 6 cylinder the plugs get changed at 30K with new copper plugs. If it's a 4 cylinder, the Iridium plugs don't need to be changed until much later. If I recall correctly it's somewhere around 60K miles.

 

Word word thanks man. Seems a bit soon but better safe than sorry.

 

well shit, guess i'm a bit late to the spark plug party. bought my truck with 35k and i highly doubt they were changed prior to that. now i am sitting at 50k.

 

Installed an MFC quick detach Extinguisher mount.

 

I think you should open your own shop.

 

Flat rate pay. If you did the job by the book it would take 8 hours, but there are shortcuts. Mechanic gets paid for 8 hours no matter how long it takes, sometimes it works out well and sometimes you'll spend 2x, 3x, 4x the time it should. Some mechanics hustle and some take their sweet time - regardless when the car is done the customer should be getting notified it's done.

There are many articles debating the advantages and disadvantages of hourly vs flat rate, and many opinions...

 

Waiting for a little more $$ to order my 35s...

 

Man that takes balls!

 

Just put a jacket on....
Only kidding. Please stay inside.

 

I'm sorry man but you wouldn't be a very profitable shop if you opened one and I'm sure you don't understand because you have never run such a business. No offense but it is fact.

I've had a family shop for 40+ years. Typically hourly rates are for diagnosis and flat rates are applied to insurance claims or a standard job that has a good baseline for a flat rate.

That being said I will get a lift kit done in the same day and charge a little cheaper to get reoccurring work from word of mouth.

With insurance claims I will actually pay out my customers a few hundred and sometimes a few thousand for bringing it to me.

Most shops will keep that money as profit but I believe in honest and good work. We are not as rich as we can be like stealerships but we have a few generations of families coming to us so our customer base is quite large.

I guess it really depends on the shop, if I had a job that was quoted 8 hours, I may knock off a few hours to make it a little cheaper especially if it's something ridiculous on paper vs actual work. Nothing is ever straight cut in this industry though, there are always hiccups, additional components and variables that attribute to the flat rate hours.

 

1. Flat rate pay and when you do one thing hundreds of times you get fast AF especially if you work at getting faster like I did.
2. I did the work on the side of the street, I didn't drive the car anywhere, I did the work at customer's homes/work/golf course/mall etc... wherever the customer was.
3. No, refer to #2. You went on a little trip of assumptions there.
4. Flat rate.

I think Zac should too.

Nicely done. Thank you.


In insurance replacement work insurance companies have huge amounts of demands to meet or you don't get their business. Insurance companies demand flat rates are used, flat rates exactly like Toyota dealers use (same book). My customers didn't pay the whole bill, they paid their car insurance deductible, and the insurance company pays the remainder.

In the case of a Civic stereo bezel, Honda determines the entire dash must be removed to replace the stereo bezel. If the mechanic is average and unmotivated to get the job done quicker I'm sure it would take at least 6 hours. I could do a Civic dash in 5 hours. But I didn't have to remove the dash, I could lay on my back on the car's floor and use various specific drivers with a phillips bit and my 90* Makita and do the exact same job in far less time.

Once I had the keys in my hand and was standing next to the car I could haul ass and take before pictures, R & R the stereo bezel, install a new stereo, take after pictures, do the paperwork, smoke a cigarette, finish up with the customer, leave in about an hour of arriving, and go to the next job. 99.93% of the jobs I did never had a warranty claim on my work. Just because someone is fast doesn't mean subpar work was done.

Just because the company I worked for charged flat rate doesn't mean I got paid flat rate because I didn't, I got paid hourly. I hauled ass because I have pride in my work and in how i work.

Now consider the flipside, every single year the new models came out and I didn't have a clue how those new models were put together, I'm referring to every single manufacturer and all of their models, those jobs took much longer to complete than the flat rate paid.

The biggest crooks in the whole deal are the customers because they're the ones claiming stuff was stolen when it wasn't because they never owned what they claimed they had most of the time, it's not even a close comparison to who the biggest crooks are.