Meeting people as a mechanic.

[03mustangdude]

Cost of doing work

[JC316]

I tll ya some days you think are just gonna be great and then someone has to mess it up. Been working on this damn Jaguar for days and I go take it for a test drive and all is good except one tire is separating. I come back and tell my tech to put the spare tire on it and tell him he has to use the key to open the trunk because the alarm module is bad so no electric pop. He changes the tire and says its good to go so I call the customer to come get it. Go out to park the car and cant find the keys. I realized dumb ass threw them in the trunk and then closed it. No through seat access due to the gas tank and the customer only has a valet key that does not open the trunk. So there goes all my profit margin to have someone come out and cut me a key. Great part is Jaguar makes you wait 24 hours before they will give you the key cut code so I have a bay down now and $200 for a fuggin key to be cut. Tech thinks its no big deal and I explain that as the owner of the shop its no different than if he were to go in my wallet and pull out $200 and set it on fire. I have to pay for it, it aint the customers fault.

Looks like beer thirty to me! Yay!

Had a Lexus LS400 with that same issue. Only key I had wouldn't open the trunk and the trunk is like a fucking safe. I wound up taking the subwoofer out of the package tray and fishing a bunch of shit out with a coat hanger. Got a bunch of tools and shit from back there.

[Mysticcobrakilla]

I tll ya some days you think are just gonna be great and then someone has to mess it up. Been working on this damn Jaguar for days and I go take it for a test drive and all is good except one tire is separating. I come back and tell my tech to put the spare tire on it and tell him he has to use the key to open the trunk because the alarm module is bad so no electric pop. He changes the tire and says its good to go so I call the customer to come get it. Go out to park the car and cant find the keys. I realized dumb ass threw them in the trunk and then closed it. No through seat access due to the gas tank and the customer only has a valet key that does not open the trunk. So there goes all my profit margin to have someone come out and cut me a key. Great part is Jaguar makes you wait 24 hours before they will give you the key cut code so I have a bay down now and $200 for a fuggin key to be cut. Tech thinks its no big deal and I explain that as the owner of the shop its no different than if he were to go in my wallet and pull out $200 and set it on fire. I have to pay for it, it aint the customers fault.

Looks like beer thirty to me! Yay!

Meh...we had an $87k cost of doing business write off not long ago.

[sc281]

Laser hired a helper.
I
V

[Forever_frost]

Meh...we had an $87k cost of doing business write off not long ago.

What happened?

[Mysticcobrakilla]

What happened?

Someone decided that rod bolts didn't need the proper torque specs on a C-32.
Block was WELL ventilated on the dyno run.

[LaserSVT]

Do you just eat that cost or do you take it out of the employee's check? How does that work?

Laser hired a helper.
I
V

LMFAO!!!!

Do you just eat that cost or do you take it out of the employee's check? How does that work?

I just eat it. Cost of doing business. Tech breaks something and I have to pay for it. Now some stuff like on this Jag for instance, we were replacing the water pump. Surge tank line needs to be removed. Has those stupid Norma fittings. Go to release it and because its 14 years old it disintegrates. Well thats a charge to the customer. Now if its a fresh/good hose and fitting and it gets broken because the tech improperly removed it, well then I pay for it.

Hes a good tech and in 4 years he has only cost me about $500 in mistakes and thats like .05% so hes good. Thats why I didnt chew him out about the key. Simple mistake setting it down in the trunk. It was 104* out, been working in the heat and sun for almost 8 hours, you are gonna fuck up.

Someone decided that rod bolts didn't need the proper torque specs on a C-32.
Block was WELL ventilated on the dyno run.

Holy crap! Worst I ever had happen *knocks on wood* was a $1500 fender repair on an ElCamino from the wheel falling off. Shit thing about that is I told the customer several times his wheel spacers were no good and cracked and that the wheels were wrong so please buy some proper wheels or take this thing home on a tow truck. He insisted it would be okay. Pulled out, went several hundred feet and the wheel fell off. He insisted I pay for the repairs and I caved in. Truck was recently repainted anyway so color match was easy. I was so pissed at the whole ordeal I just went nuts on the body work and made the door and fender PERFECT. Not a single ripple and wet sanded the hell out of the paint to a perfect finish. Problem was that even though the color match was perfect it then showed off how bad the rest of the paint and body work was done. You really saw the ripples in the body and the orange peel and trash in the paint but my fender and door was perfect and the gaps were spot on.

He started to complain but i stopped him and said "Im sorry, did you want me to do a half ass job like whoever built the rest of the car?" he didnt know what to say. He also still hadnt replaced the wheels or spacers so I videoed him agreeing to not holding me responsible for the car and that he understands it is unsafe and needs to be towed. Had him sign a document and had it notorized before I let him take that car away. LOL

The car now has proper ElCamino SS wheels and the rest of the car except the door and fender we did are in primer.

[4king]

I've had lube techs put 4wd hubs on a 2wd truck and try to get us to warranty their labor claim, yeah let's ignore the fact that the two parts are completely different

I had a guy in yesterday trying to figure out why his neighbors Lincoln Ls was overheating. The fan was working and it's a hydraulic driven fan but he was convinced that it was the problem. Have you changed the thermostat? No. He was convinced he was going to change it to a manual fan driven off the water pump. I explain to him about deleting the hydraulics and he just smirks and says I'll get it to work see you around

Laser you couldn't figure out how to break into a jag? C'mon man

Labor claims, I've had one. I installed a battery backwards on a 2012 passat because the negative wire is orange and positive is black. It blew the main fuse box fuse but our policy is to have it towed at our expense and re imburse the customer. So $250 later vw fixed the problem

I know autozone also replaces a ton of winshields a year from the wiper arms coming down and cracking the window while we change the blades.

I don't advocate one over the other I just have a very high opinion of my store since I am very driven to help and love to talk about cars. Before I started working at AZ I had plenty of negative experiences with them, mostly involving long ass lines out the door and waiting 20 minutes to get what I needed

[LaserSVT]

And no, I cant figure out how to break into that things trunk. The gas tank is behind the seat so thats a no go and the module thats been unhooked by the previous owner is also in the trunk so i cant even force a signal to the poper. That same module controls the power door lock button so I cant even use that so that I can press the button on the trunk lid itself. I can only get in the trunk via the key.... or a crow bar. LOL

[4king]

I like the idea of taking off the speaker cowl and fish hooking the keys with a coat hanger but who knows what else you could break.

There was no way to use a plastic panel remover to make a gap in the weather stripping on the trunk to hook them out? I was able to get into my house by using a wire they use to hold young trees up straight to fish into my truck to hit the garage door opener lol

[LaserSVT]

The trunk is FILLED with crap and he does not know where he left them in there so no fishing. Plus the Alpine sub on the deck mounts from the bottom side.

[YALE]

Remember to keep a record of all those costs of doing business, and let your accountant know about them.

[line-em-up]

I had a friend that could pick a lock as fast as I could use a key. He was a cop, BTW. Maybe you could locate a good locksmith that knows how to pick a lock.

[SMKR]

LaserSVT, how much would you charge me, if you would do this, to go to Cleburne and check out a c10 truck I'm looking at buying? Would you do something like this?

[jw33]

He'll do it for a chicken salad sandwich from Stripes.