Repair expectations - help ?

[Ice Cat ^. .^ ~]

>"Steve Jensen" <sjensen at mindspring.com> wrote:
>[snip]
>  >On the other hand, $86 for what I am assuming is a Michelin Man hose seems
>  >quite expensive.
>
>I believe she was describing the main air intake boot on top of the airflow
>sensor (i.e. fuel distributor). This is $51 from Blaufernugen as of last
>week when I bought mine. Blau does not always have the best price on every
>part, but they are usually competitive on this kind of part.  If the part
>came from some other part supplier, e.g. the dealership, it could cost more
>than $86 by itself.

well I haven't bothered the parts stores around here with the cost
because since I already have one I would just be using up their time
to price a part I know I am now going to buy soon, so I myself really
have no idea what I can get around here for.    If the shop charged
me $86, I assume it would be $43 here.

>It is a PITA to change because of all of the connections into it and the
>restriction in movement caused by the fuel distributor and CIS lines.
>
>If the other connections into the air boot were brittle, as they are prone
>to be after 15 years of service,

other hoses have been changed, and those which have not are not that brittle.
I put a bunch of new nice clamps on many hoses just last week so that
they would be easy to work
with.

>then these would be required above and
>beyond the cost of the air boot cost. The price of $86

that was just the price for the part without labor and diagnostic charges.
I never stated that I had a problem with the mark up on the part
I think if I can buy the part for $30-52, that their price of $86 was
reasonable.

I do not think it is fair to charge over an hour for diagnostics,
then charge me the mechanic rate book of .5 which they quoted to me
BEFORE I asked them to order the part and put it in,  PLUS the over an
hour of diagnostics.   Then yell and yell and yell while I am trying
to talk to the mechanic about what he checked.   I never said
anything negative to him, I just asked some questions about what
their usual procedure is in these situations.

If I had taken it to a shop, said my car doesn't run right, got an estimate,
they would have told me what part was bad, (it is to be hoped), and I could
have walked out of the place with the knowledge and fixed it myself and
ripped them off.   I have never done that to any shop.  I have always
paid for their knowledge.
I chose to act honestly and ethically and I feel that they took
advantage of that.

>All in all, it is much easier to spend more for most Audi repairs and
>parts, so if the car works now be thankful

Well I am happy that it is running better, of course.
I will *never* be thankful that I was yelled at because I wanted to
have someone
explain to me what was found to be correct or what worked okay during that
more than an hour of diagnosis which I paid for.   This guy was
totally bonkers and for no reason.

If he had not acted like such a complete and total ass, I would
probably have taken the
car back to them again if needed in an emergency, even though the
price was high.     I thought the mechanic was okay.   It was the
first time I went there and even my husband thought the guy was
*extremely* rude and would not let anything go.   All I wanted was
someone to tell me what
worked okay on the car before they found the hose.     The owner has
left it so that I would never go back there.

I had originally asked the list the question of how to approach
someone in auto repair business that so that it is a Win-Win
situation for both of us, being my husband and I do some of the work
ourselves, had you read my original post.

A lot of people will try to pick people's brains and not pay for it.
I have never been like that, and I feel since I have moved to the
East coast that being open and honest and attempting to be fair from
the start has set me up to be taken advantage of.

I really never did get an answer to my original question of how to
approach someone for diagnostics, decide I need them to do the work,
and then negotiate what portion of the diagnostics should be given as
professional courtesy in lieu of me paying them for *both* parts and
labor (which is almost always mechanic rate book, which I know darned
well is high allowing for usual problems).

I don't know of anyone who has an estimate done, pays for the labor
and parts, and then pays the shop for the diagnostics on top of it.
I have never heard of such a thing unless it is clearly written in
the shop on a sign that there is a charge for estimates.

And I have had people take a lot of time, say they don't want
anything, and I *always* give them something anyway.

>and start working on the next
>problem.

singular ?   ;-)

Chhers,   F.


     "An ounce of example is worth a pound of generalities."  ~ Henry James