Sometimes i hate

[indytruckboy]

Originally Posted by Jdub.csu

That's another part of being in the repair business is trying to get the whole truth out of the customer of what happened.

Side note here is some more pictures to keep the thread going





^^ some of the high quality great flowing exhaust work we have around town lol

That's actually not bad bugger welding considering the rusty pipe. By the muffler and pipe, i can tell this is not a performance unit so who cares as long as it has a muffler and it doesnt leak?

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[runrunshaw]

It's amazing the amount of people who purchase a car, and NEVER look under the hood or properly maintain it. Then when the problems come (and they more than likely will) they expect a mechanic to wave a magic wand and fix the problem. I have a lot of respect for mechanics. Not just because I can't work on my car but also because of the bs they have to put up with from crazy customers.

[JHFDowning]

Originally Posted by Napalm3nema

From that link another posted check out this awesome self worked on Hyundai Tiburon!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEXn33o0rKE

How does this thing run, seriously?

A testament to Hyundai that is, if the thing even just starts!

[Jdub.csu]

Originally Posted by indytruckboy

That's actually not bad bugger welding considering the rusty pipe. By the muffler and pipe, i can tell this is not a performance unit so who cares as long as it has a muffler and it doesnt leak?

It was on a big block chevelle that is at about 500 horse... Needless to say we put in a new exhaust

[Jdub.csu]

So my friend texts me this while at work

Steph - My moms BMW has the check engine light, battery and temp light on but we've had everything inspected and nothing is wrong. We think it's just a short but don't want to pay $100 for a diagnostic plus the repairs.

(when she means inspected family friends looked at the car, no shop looked at it ect)

Me - It's a BMW if you can't pay the 100 (which is cheap) for the diag plus repairs she bought the wrong type of car. Sorry but that's the blunt truth. For diag on that car your looking at 150-250 here at our shop.

Steph - Ok damn....

Me - It's not called a big money waster (BMW) for no reason.

I think she is mad at me now

[bue car]

hahah big money waster. i like that

[rudymcskoody]

That's pretty good. Lol

[2006 crystalblue sti]

Originally Posted by Jdub.csu

So my friend texts me this while at work

Steph - My moms BMW has the check engine light, battery and temp light on but we've had everything inspected and nothing is wrong. We think it's just a short but don't want to pay $100 for a diagnostic plus the repairs.

(when she means inspected family friends looked at the car, no shop looked at it ect)

Me - It's a BMW if you can't pay the 100 (which is cheap) for the diag plus repairs she bought the wrong type of car. Sorry but that's the blunt truth. For diag on that car your looking at 150-250 here at our shop.

Steph - Ok damn....

Me - It's not called a big money waster (BMW) for no reason.

I think she is mad at me now

+1 for b m troubleyou!

[Jdub.csu]

Mind you this is an 06 550i

They just bought it about 6 months ago

I just don't get it, when people buy cars and then they need repairs or need to get inspected and we tell them the diag price and they go OMG highway robbery... Uh you just bought a 30ish thousand dollar car and 150 is too much to pay for a professional to look at and you think we are trying to rip you off? Oh the love of being in the service industry

[wcjuggalo]

heard a noise on my ride home. thought i blew up my tranny. ended up removing all the teath off my sproket.

[cal_look_zero]

Originally Posted by wcjuggalo

heard a noise on my ride home. thought i blew up my tranny. ended up removing all the teath off my sproket.

Screen name + picture posted =

[mac1124]

Originally Posted by Jdub.csu

I just don't get it, when people buy cars and then they need repairs or need to get inspected and we tell them the diag price and they go OMG highway robbery... Uh you just bought a 30ish thousand dollar car and 150 is too much to pay for a professional to look at and you think we are trying to rip you off? Oh the love of being in the service industry

I completely agree with you. It gets on my nerves sometimes listening to people who whine about the cost. Some of them deem that these inspections are a part of cost of the vehicle and expect them to be done free. I am not in the service industry but I feel your pain.

[wcjuggalo]

Screen name + picture posted =

what does my sceen name have anything to do with a part breaking. way to judge a book......

[Jdub.csu]

Originally Posted by mac1124

I completely agree with you. It gets on my nerves sometimes listening to people who whine about the cost. Some of them deem that these inspections are a part of cost of the vehicle and expect them to be done free. I am not in the service industry but I feel your pain.

We have to pay for training and tools so we can diagnose so we don't play the part swap game. Why should it be free. Lots of the shops in the area just include the cost of diag in the repair so it makes it look like its free

[wcjuggalo]

I like when customers and/or service writers ask me to check out a cars service light with my scanner for free. "Sure let me go get my $3500 tool and diagnose a concern at no charge!" That will help me pay for the tool.

[Jdub.csu]

Had a guy that needed tons of work today on his truck that we had come in just to show how unsafe his ball joints and brakes were. He then preceded to tell me how to "fix" his truck.

After his talk about how to fix it for cheap ect. I said you can listen to me and fix it the correct way or I will put the wheels back on and you can leave and sign a piece of paperwork on how the vehicle is deemed unsafe and we are not responsible for the life you end.

Needless to say the guy grew some sense luckily and we are doing the complete repair. Total bill was around 1,300.

[somecoolbox]

Originally Posted by wcjuggalo

I like when customers and/or service writers ask me to check out a cars service light with my scanner for free. "Sure let me go get my $3500 tool and diagnose a concern at no charge!" That will help me pay for the tool.

Use your expensive scanner to figure out what is wrong (for free).. Then, fix there car and make $..
Don't be short sighted my friend!

[wcjuggalo]

It's not being short sighted. In my experience, customers that want there car scanned for free, are not going to spend money. They want to know what's wrong, so they can try and fix it them selfs. I have a sticker on my box that's says, "Doing you favors, doesn't pay my bills"

[tmoftw]

Originally Posted by wcjuggalo

It's not being short sighted. In my experience, customers that want there car scanned for free, are not going to spend money. They want to know what's wrong, so they can try and fix it them selfs. I have a sticker on my box that's says, "Doing you favors, doesn't pay my bills"

its the truth lol, im not even a mechanic just do work on my own car in my garage at home, i have a nothing-special ebay obd II diag. unit and its the same thing, "hey can you see why my CEL is on? thanks!" and then they go elsewhere to have it fixed instead of "wow thats whats wrong? how bout X amount of cash for your time and you fix it for me and we both save some hassle and money?" so if more over your a professional, i think its totally fair to charge money. people simply dont understand how much of an expense quality tools are they just expect a quick fix...

[wcjuggalo]

But maybe this economy has turned me into a bitter old mechanic, and I need to have more faith in customers. 😜

[waltah]

Originally Posted by deidog

At this point I explain to her that the car is in park and she has to put it into drive to go.

Of course she does this while stepping on the gas and then is suddenly off like John Force across the lot

literally LOLd

[Jdub.csu]

Originally Posted by wcjuggalo

It's not being short sighted. In my experience, customers that want there car scanned for free, are not going to spend money. They want to know what's wrong, so they can try and fix it them selfs. I have a sticker on my box that's says, "Doing you favors, doesn't pay my bills"

This even some of the diagnostic work we do my favorite is when they come back and say I did what you said to fix and it didn't fix the issue... Well that's why you have us fix it because if that happens its me working for free because I didn't diag it right (most of the time it's interlinked issues or they used pos parts)

Or they say I fixed what you said and now it has this issue you didn't diag it right... Well obviously there was other issues too...

I often tell customers do you pay to tell your doctor what's wrong with you? Well your car is sick and I'm going to tell you what's wrong. Somehow that seems to draw some sense into people.

Anyways back to the issue I'll get pictures of that guys brakes I was talking about earlier

[TwoFifty]

Originally Posted by Jdub.csu

So my friend texts me this while at work

Steph - My moms BMW has the check engine light, battery and temp light on but we've had everything inspected and nothing is wrong. We think it's just a short but don't want to pay $100 for a diagnostic plus the repairs.

(when she means inspected family friends looked at the car, no shop looked at it ect)

Me - It's a BMW if you can't pay the 100 (which is cheap) for the diag plus repairs she bought the wrong type of car. Sorry but that's the blunt truth. For diag on that car your looking at 150-250 here at our shop.

Steph - Ok damn....

Me - It's not called a big money waster (BMW) for no reason.

I think she is mad at me now

I like how she has told you "it's been inspected and nothing is wrong"... yet the check engine light is on , This generally indicates an issue whoever "looked at the car" should probably be shot.

So many times we see vehicles come into our shop with multiple problems. Sometimes it is hard to know where to start. Vehicle is running rough, you do a quick check and find that the wires are corroded so badly, it is surprising they are making a connection and that the plugs don't look like they have been changed in the 200,000km the vehicle has been on the road. This would be the first place I would start, you replace all that and find you are still having problems, eventually after another hour you find low/0 compression in one cylinder. Now the customer is unhappy. The trouble is that the badly corroded wires and worn plugs are a very common cause for rough running/misfire. So naturally most people would start there because it is the most obvious cause of the rough running, once that is fixed and you continue to have issues you know you have to look further. Now try explaining that to a customer. They don't seem to understand that your wires and plugs were most definitely causing you to run rough, as that is something we can obviously see we want to start by repairing that. You generally don't jump straight to a compression test when you have a misfire. But after repairing that and finding we still have a problem it has led us to continue our diag and find other issues that may be hiding in the vehicle.

[Green_Guy]

these are classic. wow.

[grknss]

Originally Posted by Green_Guy

these are classic. wow.

Definitely, I was tech for about 10 years I gave up on dealing with people now I work with animal piss. I'm much happier