That is not the cost - that is the VALUE. The cost of the water may be the same in both cases. It may be a bit higher if it has to be trucked farther to the desert location. The PRICE needs to reflect the value, and excede the cost, in order for a business to be viable.
Like an auctioneer friend of mine said years ago - "an article is worth exactly what the highest bidder is willing to pay on a psrticular day - not one penny more, and not one penny less"
And you can buy pads, in the case of my Ranger for as little as $29.00 or as much as $180.00. (wholesale from about $26 to $135.00)
Definitely not the same pads!!!!
Most places wouldn't let you in with the cooler - a lot of places, not even with a single water bottle.
And they pay that fee directly to the provincial stewardship fund - it is a tax that just gets passed through, except for places that "bury" the tax in the cost and charge markup on the tax too.....
I've taken (but never again for the rest of my life) repairs to Midas Muffler Brake. They do nice quality work, but I don't like the 1 - 2 - 4 level pricing. For example, on the phone, it sounds like $100 job. Estimate in writing says it's a $200 job. By the time they find all the other things, it's $400.
I've talked to others about the Midas touch, they were just as offended as I.
- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .
Same with dealers - and sometimes even more so. They pay huge franchise fee, and then are REQUIRED to spend on facility upgrades on a regular basis to keep the franchise - and if they loose the franchise for not doing what the manufacturer requires, they do NOT get their franchise fee back - it is GONE. They are required to buy all the "special service tools" and to provide "factory training" for their technicians over and above what the independents need to do.
I spent half of my life as a mechanic as a dealer service manager. Sure, there are bad dealerships out there - but in my experience, the big name chain shops - whether muffler, shock, transmission, or tire related, have a much higher proportion of "crooks", and while there are many good "independents" (and I worked for a few) there are lots of inept grease monkeys willing to rob you blind, either purposely or through their ineptitude, too.
And many very poor mechanics in flat rate shops make good money too. Many make more money with their pen than with their tools.
In my years as a mechanic , mechanics went from being the lowest paid trade to being the lowest paid profession.
How many beer and liquor containers to you find strewn along roadsides??? Perhaps not as many as before there were deposits/refunds on them - but still WAY too many. Even in areas where pop cans have deposits, you find them scattered all around. (enough to keep some homeless folks busy collecting empties, anyway)
. Service call gets billed from my door to their door one way at full rate.
The battery for my koolatron portable refrigerator doesn't last past the second inning at the ball game. Do any of those battery revival powders actually work? What about in VRLA batteries?
Gee, stormy - it didn't even take 3 hours!!!!!!!
But I went to the dealer because they were the same price. It's the dealer who tried to sell me two boots.
I saw what you said about dealers having to buy all that stuff, and pay for all that training, so I'll limit myself to this dealer. Except that the whole setup makes it near impossible for the customer to know what's going on. At most shops if I cant' go int the bay, in decent weather I can stand outside the bay and see what he's doing. When he finds rips in my boot, he'll call me in and show me, and I'm sure the insurance allows for that. But at this dealer -- all dealer builtings built in the last 20 years maybe????? I drop the car off at one end of the building and they have someone else drive it around to the mechanics. It's clear I'm not wanted in that big room.
Though the girl they assigned to talk to me said I coudl have seen the car. Of course this was a day later when I called with questions. Even when I first heard her rattle off stuf (I missed it iirc when she said I needed boots.) by that time the car was done and returned to my side
We'll see what happns when I bring it back. They'll probably claim I had the boots replaced.
Good for you. I guess you're not the "right person", with his definition of right.
Wow. Makes you feel good,doesn't it.
nowhere near as many as before the deposits. I worked on a farm along a road and was constantly picking up many, many cans and bottles - until the deposits were established.
Sounds accurate from my experience. If you find a good shop, stick with them. They may not be the cheapest on every job, but they will save you a bundle if they are honest, knowledgeable and fair.
Do you remember the lawsuits against Sears some years ago? I think the mechanics got a commission on parts on an individual basis. The results were almost inevitable. Customers got parts they really didn't need.
snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote: ...
holy crap! if i were that worried about getting paid i'd say cash up front.
songbird
My cousin (by marriage) was just screwing people on parts. That was the gist of what the mechanic told me. He wasn't adjusting the labor charges. It was simply added profit. Most independents don't stock many parts. Parts stores deliver them as needed. Where I live there's parts stores all over the place.
This was the late sixties. So he would charge you 20 bucks for a 10 buck wire set. It was simple gouging.
Back then it was all AC Delco, FoMoCo and Mopar. All OEM. You didn't have the choices you have now. Different world.
When I was working many hours I found a good mechanic only because my wife's car stopped in front of his shop on a busy street. First time I had a car in a shop in 27 years. Frankly, it was scary. They pushed her right into the shop. Lucky place for her fuel pump to fail. Used him until my son became a mechanic. He wasn't cheap and wasn't expensive, and did every job one time only. Never had to take a car back for something he did wrong. There's good ones out there. You just have to find them.
Reply center posted, in keeping with your pattern.
. Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .
I had a car in the shop a few years back. The online help from stores like Autozone pointed to the mass air sensor ( think that was it) that was about a $ 500 part. Instead of getting that part I took the car to a dealer where I though they should be able to check out that part. The mechanic replaced about 3 or 4 other things that cost form $ 50 to $ 100 each that did not solve the problem. They finally replaced the sensor after about 2 weeks and an email from me to Toyota about that dealer not being able to repair a problem. I still had to pay for the other items that were replaced that were not needed. I don't think I was ripped off by the mechanic other than he did not how to check out a car. Just a parts changer instead of a real mechanic. The dealer did say he was just going to charge me their cost for several of the items to try and make me happy.
That and a couple of other things cost them atleast 2 car sales from me over the next 10 years, and I will only buy from them again if they are really below out of town car prices. They will be the last place I look at for a car.
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