Are those becoming a thing of the past? The days of points, condensers, etc. are long gone. Computerized this and that are becoming the rule. How important is it to have an actual Ford or Chevy dealer nearby if one buys a Ford or Chevy vehicle?
We use an independent mechanic for our Toyotas. The mechanic has computers.
Cindy Hamilton
I guess it depends on the shop. A few years ago I took my Toyota to the local dealer because it was running rough and after replacing the simple things like the plugs and wiring the Autozone trouble shooting web page pointed to a sensor that was about $ 500. Took the dealer 3 weeks to find the problem and replace the sensor.
At that time the local independent shop I had been using had gone out of business or I would have went there first. Now if I have any other problems I will ask around for an independent shop.
The computer is nothing. Anyone with a laptop and the plugin and software can look at the computer of the car and see what it thinks is the problem.
All the technology used today is putting small shops out of business and the large shop I sometimes went too is no better or cheaper than the dealer.
Getting tougher Depends on what you need done. There are still some competent independents for brakes, plugs, and the like but some do not have the computers to diagnose some electronic problems.
I don't know how eager dealers are to sell parts to the independents either.
Before I retired, working for a Volvo/Jaguar parts dept, we sold parts to any shop that called. Even the best independents in town.
And we bought parts from other dealers in town, as needed. And they bought from us.
Business is business :-)
Voters in Mass. just approved a law called "Right to Repair" that says automakers must provide software etc to independent shops.
Whether the independent wants to service the newer cars is its own question.
Depends on where you live:
The only independent I can think of around here specializes in foreign cars, mainly older VWs. The bread and butter shocks, brakes, CV joints, and so forth business is handles by Les Schwab or the other tire stores. Jiffy Lube ate the oil change / lube segment, not that there's much lubing anymore.
In MA there was a referendum on the ballot. Not sure of the details but they have to provide parts and have service manuals available.
IDK, still plenty of them around here in NJ. I used to take the MB/BMWs to an indy. Back 30 years ago, their labor rate was substantially lower and the used quality aftermarket parts that cost a lot less. Over time they kept raising the labor rate and then the bills started showing BMW part numbers and BMW prices. At that point I concluded that in that case, might as well go to the stealership. The indy works on all kinds of foreign cars. The stealership on works on their cars, so hopefully they have more experience. And they certainly have the best computer resources and similar to diagnose. But I do most of the repairs myself and that saves a lot of money. Just put a camshaft sensor in this morning. The part cost be $45, at BMW it's 3 times that, plus the labor. Do the math.
If you do take it to the stealership you have to be able to say no and deal with those service advisers who are on commission trying to jack up the bill. I guess that's true even at the indy ones too though. My latest rip off joke was taking the BMW for an alignment at a Midas shop. Was supposed to be a special, for $100. They do the back, then on the front tell me the tie rods are frozen, so they need to be replaced. He looks up the parts and I ask where are they manufactured. He says Japan. Which I immediately know is almost certainly BS, all the similar parts are either Germany, Malaysia, China, never seen one from Japan. There was no brand, it's some Midas house brand stuff, most likely China junk. The owner came back with a work order for $750! I told him he was nuts. A big argument ensued, I paid him $75 for what he had done and left. I ordered Lemforder ones, which is the OEM supplier, online , total cost ~$75 for two, put them on myself, no big deal. That was real quality parts, vs their no name crap. My biggest problem was I had to go get a couple of oxygen tanks for the bernzomatic torch to heat them up. That's how they make their big bucks.
Depends how long you intend to keep it and if you buy new or used. With Ford and Chevy most normal parts are available aftermarket for out of warranty vehicles. Having a nearby dealer available may be a bit more important for a GM than a Ford during the warranty period. A good independent should be able to handle either one off warranty untill something major / complex goes wrong - again possibly more important with a GM. A good independent can look after all the "warranty required" service as well. STAY AWAY from fast lube shops!!
Just had the neighbor's 09 Sentra to fix. He was in to the libe shop for an oil change and they "checked" his cabin air filter. Now on a Sentra the filter ia almost a foot square and fits through a roughly 6 inch hole. They didn't check if they had one in stock before pulling it out - didn't have one, so "stuffed" it back in - 90 degrees out and backwards.
I picked up a filter from my local NAPA jobber (less than 1/4 the price the Lub Shop quoted) and attempted, for over2 hours, to remove the mangled mess they had jammed back in. Lost a lot of skin!!!( Ended up getting it with a long bent-nose needle-nose pliers) Finally got it done then went and chewed out the "moron" who stuffed it back in!! On a good day it is about a 15 or 20 minute job - a bit less after you have done a few of them, I would imagine
I then decided to check the filter on my wife's KIA. Less than 5 minutes to access and remove - and less than 2 minutes to install the new one after picking it up from the supplier.
BIG difference between Nissan and KIA - not to mention the difference between knowing what you are doing and not. (and by the way, it was the first time I had changed a cabin filter on either one)
The dealer "computer" goes quite a bit beyond that - you CAN buy your own, starting just north of a grand - that will do most everything the dealer unit does -and any GOOD independent will have it -(My brother's unit is north of $4000 and costs a couple hundred a year to keep uptodate) These computers can excercise all controls on the car, checking solenoid controlled valves, actuating throttle, AC clutch, fans, etc. as well as reading ALL of the sensors, graphing outputs and datastreaming everything on the test drive so the mechanic can see EXACTLY what was going on when the symptom occurred. Requires the mechanic to be trained to know what all the data means too - - - A GOOD independent gets periodic update training courses. If your car requires a reprogram or firmware upgrade, MOST independents are unable to handle that.
I'm not saying this is true elsewhere but tere are two pretty successful independent shops, each a little under 2 miles from me. One is about 40 years old I think and the other maybe 20.
The county tried to condemn, confiscate, and destroy the first one to replace it and a large amount of business land around it** with other private businesses, instead of a public use. (All the properties were running and in good physical condition.)
**Including a successful Greek restaurant, a successful garden maintenance company, a welding shop, a gas station, and a strip mall that was missing its supermarket and I think had been bought and whose other tenants were being evicted.The owner of the shop had his son buy a small shop a couple blocks away, so if he lost, he would have some place to work, and there was a big community objection to this project. There were two other sections in the east side of Baltimore county and I don't remember if the objections appplied there too. Eventually the project was stopped, the strip mall was torn down and replaced by a walmart, and other things went back to normal.
The County Executive who promoted this outrageous plan didn't suffer for it but got elected to Congress. I'll never vote for him, however.
The other shop is in the middle of some woods and not visible from the street, except for its sign, and it hasn't had any trouble.
I had one new used car inspected by the first place, and the other by the second. They're both fine. Not sure which I like better.
There are tsill points and condensers. I know becaue they're in a box in my closet. ;-)
GOOD independents have the equipment and knowlege required - and are honest enough to tell you when something is beyond their capability and should be looked at by a "specialist" - usually meaning a dealership.
Many "lube shops" "Tire shops" "brake shops" "muffler shops" that have morphed into "general repair shops" do NOT have either the equipment or expertise required - often even to do what WAS their "specialty" - while many independent shops can handle ALL of those competently - and much more. Don't know what it is like in Florida - but I know there are a LOT more "shade tree" operations in the American south - and a lot more "Bubba" shops - than there are here in Ontario. To set up a decent independent shop here requires an investment of somewhere around a hundred grand and up- not counting the building
The dealers pretty much ALL run a sizeable wholesale parts business - at least up here. When I was at the Toyota Dealership the wholesale parts business was sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars a MONTH and put a pretty good boost on the bottom line at the end of the year. Body parts for collision repairs were a sizeable portion of it - but lots of suspension, brake, engine, transmission, etc parts as well.
OTOH, after I replaced the half-axle, lower ball joint and a couple other thigns on my Toyota a few years ago, I took it to a toyota dealer, who actually was charging no more than Firestone for an alignment,
And when they finished they claimed the rubber surrounding the CV joints, on both sides, even the brand new side, was bad. They claimed I was leaking a lot of oil and other things, all lies.
That it required a referendum does seem to imply they didn't want to do it.
Almost all our shops are independents. They are having a hard time hiring folks too. And they are now so busy that they are three weeks out on appointments.
The dealer ship and too expensive and some lack the honesty they should.
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