Stealership just keeps on stealing

Most techs I've chatted with indicate that "book time" is barely adequate... and the dealerships and techs DO rush their jobs to save time and to make more money.
This is very prevalent in motorcycle shops where the tech is paid by the job. It is not uncommon for a tech to "book" 14 hours worth of work in an 8 hour shift. If he can complete a 3 hour book job in 2 hours, he still gets paid for the 3 hours.
This isn't saving the dealership any money... except for the days when there is no work and the tech does nothing but a couple of oil changes and barely makes enough money to buy dinner that day.

In shops where the techs are paid a flat hourly fee, you can bet the service manager does everything he can to push productivity to save money.

I've used air ratchets and other tools typically used in commercial shops. They are significant time-savers over my 3/8" drive ratchet.

 

Exactly the reason I avoided the automotive side and chose diesel. Mine life baby.

 

And I've never wrenched for pay.
I've done brake jobs on motorcycles for a 6-pack, and done work on the GF's car to save them a few bucks.

But I've been twisting wrenches since my dad put a Crescent in my hand when I was 3 and had me "help" him change the oil in mom's old '53 Buick.

 

You seem to spout off a lot of shit that you really have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry I don't have era in front of me to pull up exact times but I believe we charge 4.5 to do a water pump or 3.5 to do a timing belt and an extra 1.0 for the water pump, by my math that's the same 4.5 hrs (sorry I'm just a stupid dealer "tech") if your stupid enought to just pay for the water pump how is that my problem and how am I raping you? If you need a water pump I'm quoting the timing belt, cam seals, crank seals thats an extra 0.5 per seal. It works vice versa your timing belt is due I'm quoting water pump cam seals and crank seals.

 

And I don't have a problem with that.

But I got 4 quotes before doing that job. 2 quotes were for around 4 hours.
2 quotes were for EIGHT hours... double labor charge.


But you said it.
You're just a stupid dealer tech that can't read what I typed because you're butthurt that someone challenged you.

 

+1

 

We all thought it.

 

Rich,

did you ever mention to the service advisor something like "shouldn't it only be 4 hrs labor because the parts are already off the truck to do the other job?" because I'm sure they would have worked with you, it's like you think they are out to get you, just because they are in the automotive industry. You know that tv in your living room, they made a significantly higher profit margin on that, than a dealership is making on a simple service, and the HDMI cable you were told was top quality, you don't want to know how bad you got "raped" on that.

We're looking at 4.5 hrs to do the job, and you said $350 in parts, going rate for a dealer is about $110/hr. $110 x 4.5hrs = $495 + $350 in parts is $845.... so, this dealership is bang on, with their price, as I'm sure your price of $350 isn't exact.

 

No. If someone highballs me on a price, I walk away.
When I need parts locally, I don't even bother going to Claremont Toyota, because they are less than 5 miles from Glendora Toyota, and they are 50%-70% higher on parts. I discovered that when buying brake pads for my wife's Rav4.
When my buddy and I were looking for a pair of dirtbikes, one dealership, the lady sat down with her little worksheet and added up MSRP, tax, etc, and gave me a quote for $15k for the pair of bikes. I had already had verbal quotes in the $13k range, but most of the dealerships did not have a pair in stock.
We ended up paying about $12.5k. I went back to the highball for an accessory, and she asked "Did you get your bikes?" "Yup" "Why didn't you come back, I told you when you were ready to buy we'd work with you!"
"I told you when I was here that my friend was in his office and ready to wire the money to you, but you highballed me by $2000 and we didn't feel it worth our time to try to work you down"

Yes and no... I've had it for 10 years. It's a Sony projection and I got it free when my boss upgraded to plasma.

Got a source out in Rancho Cucamonga that's dirt cheap on cables. I haven't bought from them in years... going to have to look them up again, but I don't fall for the "Monster" cable shit. If I want large gauge cable, I go to my electronics wholesaler and buy large gauge cable.

My parts price of $350 included a thermostat, water pump, tube of FIPG, coolant, serp belt, timing belt, radiator hoses, and a new tensioner for the timing belt. And you're right, $350 isn't exact... that's a hair higher than what it actually was. The water pump itself was almost exactly $100.
And this was in 2005. Labor rates were not $110/hr, and most felt that a fair quote on the timing belt was around $650.

And this goes back to above... the serp belt would have been $55 from Claremont Toyota, $22 from Glendora. I bought the parts as a complete package from Carson Toyota using my contacts through Tundrasolutions. This was back when Dianne was still the fleet manager.

 

^^^^^THIS!!!! Not gonna argue with outrageous prices when already having other quotes or knowlege of another place for much cheaper!!!!!