Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Don Bowen wrote:
> As for the other manuals, some dealers have a separate manual for recall and
> warranty work.  Usually this is lower than the other flat rate manual.
> Recalls can get really nasty on cutting the shop time.  This is what the
> manufacture uses to reimburse the dealer.

Right.  Warranty and Recalls pay significantly less to the mechanic.  A 
job that pays ten hours might only pay 1.5 or even less if warrantied. 
It is not fair at all.

> Also the parts are marked up.  The shop buys the parts from the parts
> department or parts house for a discount.  The receipt will have the cost
> and the suggested retail price called the extended price.  It can be
> significant.
In every shop Ron has ever worked, the parts clerk and sometimes the 
service manager gets a cut from parts sales.

> All the more reason I do all my own work.  I recently replaced the rear
> wheel bearings of my pickup.  Cost was $60 in parts and about an hour work.
> A shop wanted $200.  I do not have all my tools so some jobs have to be
> taken to a shop. 

More and more, this is/will be the case.  Cars have been intentionally 
specialized, requiring special tools that are so expensive that even 
dealerships have trouble buying them.  If makes it all but impossible 
for an independent shop to compete, and impossible for the individual.
Computerized diagnostic equipment cost tens of thousands, and without 
that, you can't tell what it wrong.  Everything is computer controlled 
these days.  The day of the shadetree mechanic, if not over already, are 
coming to an end.  In the last 10-15 years, there has become very little 
that Ron can do at home.
If you want to work on your own vehicle, you need to buy one that is 
about 20 years old or older.



 Last week I had a shop rebuild the pickup rear end.  Labor
> was $250 and parts were $150.  My son could get me the parts for $120.  So
> by not having the tools here I paid $280 that I would not normally have had
> to.  The special tool for the job is around $80 but there is no decent place
> to work on the pickup here in the dirt and cold.  Considering the time to
> take the pickup in, get a ride back, get a ride back to the shop, pay for
> the work, then drive back, I spent more time than if I had done the job
> myself.

And there you go..
Many times, those special tools are sold only to dealers.

B



--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to 
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda