[s-cars] Head gasket: 2850$ (longuish)

[Bruce Mendel]

I don't agree, and I've worked on lots of stuff in different industries. Shoestring budgets and not being rich have nothing to do with being fair and honest. There are laws against this sort of thing for a reason!

The guy made a major mistake (maybe honest, maybe not) in more than doubling the cost of the quoted repair without first informing his customer. So now the benefit of the doubt beyond the original quote has to go to the customer, as the mechanic lost his benefit of the doubt by his actions.

I did not advocate screwing him, but rather getting the car at either originally quoted rate or under protection laws if it becomes a hassle, and once verifying the work was done well, working out something fair. 

Paying that kind of overcharge up front is silly to me. And I totally disagree that any professional working on a customer's car should put 120 miles on it without first informing the customer that those type of miles are needed to shake it down. But then, if he didn't tell his customer about the 130% upcharge, why would he say anything about the long joyride?

Bruce 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Djdawson2 at aol.com 
  To: brucem105 at comcast.net ; vfregeac at sympatico.ca ; s-car-list at audifans.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 10:51 PM
  Subject: Re: [s-cars] Head gasket: 2850$ (longuish)


  In a message dated 1/18/2005 7:56:43 PM Mountain Standard Time, brucem105 at comcast.net writes:


    The guy might be honest (MIGHT), and he may be a perfectionist, but he's not 
    a smart businessperson and he has no business doubling repair costs and 
    driving your car for over 100 miles without checking with you first. NOTHING 
    takes 100 miles to diagnose, least of all without your permission.



  After major repairs, I think it is well within reason to road test the car.  After repairs such as a head gasket, many things could go wrong, and road testing is the only way to reduce your repeat failures.  Slow oil leaks, etc... are only visible after some real world use, not a bunch of idling time.  Is 100 miles reasonable?  To me, I wouldn't argue it.



    If it were me, I'd get my car out of there for free, or as close to it as 
    possible based on the Canadian consumer protection agency, with the repair 
    work done. THEN I'd call him and try to work out something you feel is 
    reasonable and fair if the work was done properly.



  No offense, but that sounds like a reply from a person that doesn't work on cars.  Many of the mechanics out there operate on a shoestring.  By and large, they aren't getting rich.  Without question, he did spend money out of his own pocket to do the repair.  I would get a list of parts from the mechanic, and look them up yourself from a reasonably priced source... see if it's out of line.  Add in fluids, filters, etc...  Find out if the head was machined in any way (valve job, or surface decking)... and check on the cost of those services from a reputable machine shop.  Finally, see if you can find out the "book" hours from an Audi dealer for a headgasket replacement.  Take those hours, and multiply by a reasonable shop rate... or one you've OK'd in the past from him.  I think then you would have some ability to reasonably assess what has happened, and come to some agreement.

  To some extent, how you handle this depends on if you want to use this mechanic again.  If he is good, and you do trust him, you don't want to destroy the relationship.  If you screw him now, he won't forget.
  HTH,
  Dave in CO