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O/T - Shop Fee RANT

J

jCarroll

Well-known Member
Location
mid-Ohio
Had the alignment on my truck adjusted yesterday.
Discount price was $74.99 + tax + Shop Fees.
Our tax is 6.75%
Shop fee charge is 6%
So, out the door was $84.85

I understand oil, grease,soap, etc has to be purchased to run a shop - but so does electricity, water, janitorial service, advertising, wages, payroll taxes, and on and on.

Why not charge just $25 for wheel alignment? Cheapest in town, right? Then make your bill:
Alignment $25
comfortable chair fee 12%
hard bench fee 7%
today's newspaper fee 2%
new magazine fee 5%
old magazine fee 3%
free coffee fee 4%
overhead lighting fee 7%
grease fee 8%
manager fee 17%
tech school fee 23%
invoice form paper fee .8%
.............
.............
etc............

Total bill $84.85
 
That is nothing, my car was running rough so I took it in.

$90 for the diagnostic

Quote to replace spark plugs, coil packs and wires:
$870 parts and labor (about 4 hours). They wanted $70/per coil pack (3x), $90 for 6 spark plugs, and $100 for the plug wires. Went on Amazon yesterday and got the same parts (AC Delco) for just over $200 total.

But if you bring in your own oil and filter, and oil change is $10.

I can personally change the spark plugs, wires and coil pack just about as much time it usually takes me to get an oil change. All the funny math those shops are using makes me want to get into the auto repair racket.
 
You should get into the auto repair racket.Don't forget to hire someone to do the diagnostic on your customers cars,so you can change the parts (and hope it solves the problem ) and make a bundle.(Because it seems you cant find out what is wrong with your own car)LOL
 
Even worse then paying for an alignment is when I take my truck in all they do is toe it way in and never touch the other adjustments. I still think it needs more done to make it drive right. They say it is within specs. ,but I think the specs. have too wide of a range. The old timers would look at your tire wear and adjust by that.
 
I never take a car or truck in unless I realy have to. They most likely will screw up more than they fix and charge for parts that they don't use. There motto is, screw every body that comes thrugh the door today no matter if they are big or small.
 
Is that a Ford pickup per chance?
If it is you will work and work to change the plugs, and if not torqued perfectly to factory specs it will spit out the plugs, and then the big money starts. Tom
 
I've owned my own shop for over 35 years and it gets harder every year to make it. If you think you can invest between a quarter and a half million dollars to buy and equip a shop and pay all the overhead at $25.00 a pop, I'd say jump on in, the water is fine. I'll be retiring before long and glad I will.Nobody has a clue what it takes to run a business today with all the crap you have to put up with until they have tried it.
 
I used to charge shop supplies . all those little things add up ..But I looked at it from a customers point of view . I raised shop rate to cover costs of shop supplies. No complaints ,,only about other shops that do charge for them .
Auto repair is changing pretty fast . The costs to run a well equiped modern shop that can fix cars right are out of sight . Diagnostic equip,there is no one fits all scanner anymore. Factory based scan tools are the norm ,,not cheap at all . New A/C recovery machines, shop managment,invoicing systems , repair information systems,100 - 300 month , lot of it is pay to use factory web site systems now . Not to mention all the taxes ,permits , insurance , geesh , people wonder why I drink ? lol
 
I think you missed his sarcasim.

Point is as a shop owner don't advertize or quote a fix it price of $25.00 and then add on $70 of fees. Be straight and say it'll be $95.00.


I agree with him. The add on's are BS.

Same goes for bag fees on airlines.
 
I think you missed his sarcasim.

Point is as a shop owner don't advertize or quote a fix it price of $25.00 and then add on $70 of fees. Be straight and say it'll be $95.00.


I agree with him. The add on's are BS.

Same goes for bag fees on airlines.
 
I think you missed his sarcasim.

Point is as a shop owner don't advertize or quote a fix it price of $25.00 and then add on $70 of fees. Be straight and say it'll be $95.00.


I agree with him. The add on's are BS.

Same goes for bag fees on airlines.
 
Lots of law offices charge for long distance phone, postage, copies, etc.- I think that just irritates people, so the only thing I charge for is certified mail, because that's almost 6 bucks, and I don't want to eat it.

Most outrageous thing I've seen was an office in Seattle. They billed every client every month, and if they hadn't done any work on your case that month, they sent a bill for 25 cents- for the 25 cent stamp they used to mail you your statement showing nothing due.
 
If it will make you feel better look at a telephone bill from Frontier (New York State). I think buried somewere on it is a charge for the ink to print the bill.As a customer I would rather have the total price up front - its a way simpler process.
 
He is the problem I see with some shops and dealerships. Be up front with the customer. Last week I was talking to a friend who was working for a GM dealership and he told me he got laid off because he was not putting enough add ons when a customer would come in for state inspection.

It happened to me also. Local inspection station failed my jeep for a fan belt that was worn. I bought a state inspection manual and found that a vehicle can't fail for a worn belt. Went to another station and it passed.

I am lucky in that I can repair my own vehicles with the exception of A/C or auto transmission (never had too).

With the shop rates as they are and the fact that the parts that are replaced are billed to you at list price, not what the shop actually paid for them, I can buy alot of tools and still be ahead.

I am able to buy my parts at the same price that a shop pays for them, so I am lucky there.

I am not being critical of all shops but there are sure alot of bad ones.

There is a wealth of info on the internet if you do your own vehicle repairs.

My daughter bought a used 2007 Ford Edge with a keyless entry and I needed the key code. Called the dealer where she bought it and asked about the code, bring it in and we will get it for you but it will cost $50.00
Got on the internet and found the code location within 5 min. It is located on the fuze panel cover. Almost got ripped off on that one.

I could go on and on. OK I am done with my rant now.
 
Total price they quoted you is $400. They are probably paying close to the $200 you just paid. That is not a bad markup to me. Every business has to make money. $200 in gross profit doesnt go very far to keeping the lights on month after month.
 
I agree on the bs. But I have been on planes where people come in carrying everything but the kitchen sink, leaving no room for my small carry on. The fees started out as an attempt to get people to be rational about what they carried onto the plane, now they are a profit center.
 
A lot of places advertise a $19.95 oil and filter change then charge you $30 bucks. They say shop fees and oil disposal fees are extra.
 
When I worked at one dealership, they had a $5,000-a-month parts and servic consultant who came in once a quarter, looked at the books, and told us how we were doing everything wrong.

The consultant told us to "sell value"...in other words, you would sell the alignment, and you would also disclose [but not TOO loudly] the shop materials fee, or whatever they call it today, as a separate charge. Bcause you were giving them "something of value," when you charged them for shop towels, hand cleaner, and the like.

Another shop where I worked had a different policy...they had a service "menu," and the parts and labor were NOT broken out separately for the customer. There was also NO shop materials fee. The customer was quoted the TOTAL price, less sales tax, so they could decide whether to do the service at our shop or not. One side of our "menu" had "packaged" services, ones we could discount when purchased together because of labor overlap.

The shop with the menu charged a higher shop labor rate [which was posted on a sign in the wall in the service writeup area], but unless you knew the "code" on the menu, the customer didn't know how much labor he was being charged for. [The "code" was the "cents" column of the menu. For example, full-service oil changes that paid the technician 0.3 hours were $34.03; a larger service that paid, say, 1.4 hours, was priced at $189.14...and so on]

So which shop was ripping off the customer? The one with the higher labor rate to include his shop supplies expenses, who quoted the total price...or the one who broke out everything separately to "sell value" to the customer?
 
That pricing looks pretty straight forward, what's your problem with it?

You knew up front about the 74.99 price.

You knew up front that there would be your state's sales tax.

you knew up front that there would be shop fees. Are you complaining that the shop fees were 6%?

At least they didn't try to sell you some other "absolutely necessary" repairs too.
 
The shop that services our fire dept. trucks charges 1.00 per gallon for waste oil disposal. I watched the mechanic put the oil in a tank that feeds the waste oil burner that heats the shop. I wonder how much they would charge if I told them I wanted our oil back.
 
For all that say get into the auto repair business for big bucks? I am a master ASE certified tech and a gm world certified tech. Our shop charges 90 an hour. If any of you think you can pay a GOOD tech and supply a shop with all the modern equipment and charge less go for it. I am sure you will soon find out that your 35,000 dollar alignment machine takes a hell of a long time to pay for charging what they charged you. Not to mention the 3 to 4 thousand dollar scanners and everything else and pay a good tech 25 bucks an hour. And at our shop if i replace a part and it dont fix it guess who eats that bill, ME.
 
Just be up front with a customer. If you do an alignment, charge $xxx dollars for it, add the state sales tax, and that is what I will owe.

The nickel & dime fees after some 'low' price you advertise is a fraud. It's a cheapie price to get a person in the door and then slap on a bunch of made-up fees.

Instead of trying to dump on a customer, how about a little honesty?

--->Paul
 
what's your problem with it?

Why not make it as simple as possible?
If one extra fee is OK, why not 2... or 3...

Motels are my second best RANT - ask the price - then ask the price of the local tax - then ask the price of the sales tax - finally you get to the total price.
 
If he's the only game in town, you'll just have to bend over and take it. But otherwise, you can let him know what you think of his bait-and-switch pricing and tell him you won't be back. Of course you'll feel silly if you find out he's still the cheapest in town the next time you price a front end job.
 
I was talking to my boss about all these little extra charges. They were saying that engineers charge $25 to pick up the phone. $75 to send/receive faxes. You can expect the high prices from them though, their engineers. Worse yet was a company that they sell some stabling to. Said that if your a customer, they charge you $25 for the secretary to pick up the phone.
 
That's what all the deceptive, fraudulent, bait and switch pricing appears to be to me.
 
Would you have gone there if the sign had said alignment was 84.85 while the one across the street was 74.99 plus the gimmick fees?
It's all about sucking you in the door... and 9 out of 10 will take the bait.

Rod
 
Chevy dealer tried this 50 years ago charging for rags,cotter pins etc.Got complaints.I use pop rivets, screws ,nuts ,solder ,tape in my shop.Labor charge covers it.Customers dont like nit picking.Some give me more than I ask.They know every one is having a hard time getting by.
 
Friend had a small motor home on a Ford chassis.He had a fuse blown but couldnt find it.Ford dealer charged 70.00 labor and 3 bucks for the fuse.Another time he got charged 50 bucks for an ignition coil plus 40 bucks labor.My Dad lost a head gasket on a 37 OldsWhen I was a kid.Miles from home on a Sunday.Dad pulled in to a small garage that was closed.He went to the house,mechanic came out opened the garage.Mechanics wife invited mother in for a cup of tea while the Olds was fixed.I watched the repair, had never seen an air wrench.The bill was 8.00.I did valve jobs on Chevy 6s in the 50s for 30.00 plus 9.00 if the head needed machine shop work.There was no rip off in the shop I worked in.I remember putting a rebuilt carberator on a Ford v8.Price on the carb was 6.00.Wages were low but we got by fine.Later on I worked for a Ford dealer, shop rate was 9.00 per hour.
 
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