This is why you should do your own car maintenance

[Ernest Jones]

My brother in law is a mechanic. Let me tell you, that is handy!

He lives pretty far away now, but I will sometimes call him while at the garage and tell him what the garage is telling me and charging me. I've caught quite a few crooked mechanics that way. I once brought an Oldsmobile into Mr. Lube because I had an exhaust leak. They quoted my 2 grand to redo the whole exhaust system (I paid $1200 for the car lol). Anyway, I call my BIL and he tells me to ask the Mr. Lube guy why he can't just cut out the section with the hole and weld a piece of pipe in to replace the cut out. The Mr. Lube dude sheepishly admits that he could do that instead of the $2000 job. Ended up costing me $175. 

The story doesn't end there though. I leave the car with them and go do some shopping. When I come back, they tell me my sway bars are rotted out and that I should leave the car with them to replace them. I say no thanks. They start telling me that it would be very dangerous to drive the car like that. I politely tell them I'll have a reputable garage check it out, thank you very much. Had the car checked out later that afternoon by another garage, sway bars were in perfect condition. Douche bags. 

[JonMA1]

14 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

My brother in law is a mechanic. Let me tell you, that is handy!

He lives pretty far away now, but I will sometimes call him while at the garage and tell him what the garage is telling me and charging me. I've caught quite a few crooked mechanics that way. I once brought an Oldsmobile into Mr. Lube because I had an exhaust leak. They quoted my 2 grand to redo the whole exhaust system (I paid $1200 for the car lol). Anyway, I call my BIL and he tells me to ask the Mr. Lube guy why he can't just cut out the section with the hole and weld a piece of pipe in to replace the cut out. The Mr. Lube dude sheepishly admits that he could do that instead of the $2000 job. Ended up costing me $175. 

The story doesn't end there though. I leave the car with them and go do some shopping. When I come back, they tell me my sway bars are rotted out and that I should leave the car with them to replace them. I say no thanks. They start telling me that it would be very dangerous to drive the car like that. I politely tell them I'll have a reputable garage check it out, thank you very much. Had the car checked out later that afternoon by another garage, sway bars were in perfect condition. Douche bags. 

I wonder how many elderly people fall victim to a shop such as this. Really sad. That type of practice hurts the entire profession. I'm not sure how people live their lives praying on others. Seems like you could make a decent living being truthful.

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

My brother in law is a mechanic. Let me tell you, that is handy!

He lives pretty far away now, but I will sometimes call him while at the garage and tell him what the garage is telling me and charging me. I've caught quite a few crooked mechanics that way. I once brought an Oldsmobile into Mr. Lube because I had an exhaust leak. They quoted my 2 grand to redo the whole exhaust system (I paid $1200 for the car lol). Anyway, I call my BIL and he tells me to ask the Mr. Lube guy why he can't just cut out the section with the hole and weld a piece of pipe in to replace the cut out. The Mr. Lube dude sheepishly admits that he could do that instead of the $2000 job. Ended up costing me $175. 

The story doesn't end there though. I leave the car with them and go do some shopping. When I come back, they tell me my sway bars are rotted out and that I should leave the car with them to replace them. I say no thanks. They start telling me that it would be very dangerous to drive the car like that. I politely tell them I'll have a reputable garage check it out, thank you very much. Had the car checked out later that afternoon by another garage, sway bars were in perfect condition. Douche bags. 

My son shopped around to get new tires. One dealer told him, "your lug nuts are swollen" and said $10 a piece to replace. After I stopped laughing, I explained the BS and told him to go to the shop I mentioned above. That shop gave him new lugs for free (they were a bit corroded, that's all) and the whole job to mount new tires was less than half the dealer.

[Ernest Jones]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

My son shopped around to get new tires. One dealer told him, "your lug nuts are swollen" and said $10 a piece to replace. After I stopped laughing, I explained the BS and told him to go to the shop I mentioned above. That shop gave him new lugs for free (they were a bit corroded, that's all) and the whole job to mount new tires was less than half the dealer.

Ha ha ha!

[billchao]

To be fair, this argument could be made for any service industry anywhere. Plus, a lot of people don't have the time, tools, location, or skills necessary to work on their own cars. There's a reason job specialization has evolved in society.

I could do my own repairs but it would be much more efficient to pay an experienced mechanic to do it while I spend my time getting paid to do the work I'm qualified to do.

[jkelley9]

A good mechanic is just so hard to find. That's why I drove 11 hours to get the head rebuilt on my car (s2000) because I knew the guy did quality work and he was well known. Honda was well known for messing up a head job on these cars. I wish I could go back to that guy for routine stuff but that's unreasonable.

If I could find a good mechanic here, life would be a lot easier. I've been to 4 places so far and they're all a joke. God I have some stories these guys all tried to pull. Yes, I'm 29 years old and I look like I'm 18 or younger. 99% of people try to pull the wool over my eyes because of this. Very, very frustrating. 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 12/26/2016 at 0:13 PM, JonMA1 said:

I wonder how many elderly people fall victim to a shop such as this. Really sad. That type of practice hurts the entire profession. I'm not sure how people live their lives praying on others. Seems like you could make a decent living being truthful.

So true! Some years back, my Mom had some concerns about her shocks, so I told her to take it to a certain shop that I've dealt with for 30+ years. This was a Caddy with "electronically controlled" shocks. The "on board computer" told her they were bad, and to replace them was major league bucks! 

Well, the guy put her car up on the rack, checked it out, and had her called into the shop area. He told her, in a whisper, that there was nothing "wrong" with her shocks, though his boss might be mad at him for telling her that!

That was her fear. That she'd be taken advantage of because she was an old woman who didn't know much about cars. But an honest shop took care of her!

[JonMA1]

On 12/27/2016 at 11:44 AM, billchao said:

I could do my own repairs but it would be much more efficient to pay an experienced mechanic to do it while I spend my time getting paid to do the work I'm qualified to do.

Don't know what line of work you're in Bill, but have you ever had to clean up work done by an amateur who thought they could "pull it off"? 

Hanging drywall once or twice doesn't make you a pro builder. Creating a spreadsheet in Excel doesn't make you a statistician. Having a set of wrenches in your garage doesn't make you an auto mechanic. 

If people have a knack for working on cars, enjoy the work and can come out ahead financially by doing so, then by all means they should do it. But I'm like you. It makes much more sense for me to get paid for what I'm skilled at and then pay an honest mechanic to do work (correctly) they are skilled at.

10 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

That was her fear. That she'd be taken advantage of because she was an old woman who didn't know much about cars. But an honest shop took care of her!

That's great. I'd like to think most folks are honest to some degree. Given the chance, they'll do the right thing.

[Hatchman]

Some good points here.  I don't do routine vehicle maintenance, parts replacement, or safety system repairs any longer.  Condo living solved that.  That said, I kind of categorize the work as noted above, and rely on places to perform scheduled and unscheduled work.  But there is a level of competence, and often certification, that goes along with each task.  I don't skimp on the safety part, like brake or fuel, but have had some lessor reliable repair agents try and accomplish things that were not up to speed like many have.  One dealership tried to change every thing in the engine compartment but the kitchen sink and still the truck stalled, at the worst times.  After trying to resolve with the service manager who smarted off; the judge simply asked them (the dealership owner, the service manager, and the lawyer) why couldn't you fix his vehicle after 6 attempts?  Their silence said it all.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Hatchman

[billchao]

1 hour ago, JonMA1 said:

Don't know what line of work you're in Bill, but have you ever had to clean up work done by an amateur who thought they could "pull it off"?

Unfortunately, yes. Makes my job harder when they screw something up trying to fix it themselves than if they had just called me in the first place. Ends up costing them more money due to the extra labor time added.

And to be fair, even skilled mechanics make mistakes or jury-rig something due to lack of time or proper parts on hand. Their goal is to get the equipment running so they can move onto the next job. For a number of reasons, I tend to be very detail-oriented with my work.

[Buckeyebowman]

I think part of the problem is that vehicles these days just aren't designed to be worked on by "shade tree" mechanics.

I've done plenty of my own mechanical work in the past, including clutches, U joints, wheel hubs and bearings, shocks, brakes, plugs and wires, fluid changes, etc. Older vehicles were pretty easy to work on, not so much these days! Better to have a mechanic that is good and that you trust! Which is priceless!

[nevets88]

@billchao is right, it's pandemic. I know computers, the software side better and the highway robbery I see in support, retail, services, consulting, etc... at all levels is batsh*t insane. Here's something I read on reddit that made me smile.

[CarlSpackler]

I just changed the oil in my mustang over the weekend. The last time it was changed was in Ohio by the mechanic who replaced the head gasket, etc. I had to use a breaker bar to remove the oil drain plug and had to mutilate the oil filter to remove it. What is up with these people? 

[jkelley9]

On 1/10/2017 at 3:48 PM, CarlSpackler said:

I just changed the oil in my mustang over the weekend. The last time it was changed was in Ohio by the mechanic who replaced the head gasket, etc. I had to use a breaker bar to remove the oil drain plug and had to mutilate the oil filter to remove it. What is up with these people? 

This has been my experience EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. For 10+ years.

I'd love to pay a good mechanic even a little extra if I KNEW he/she would do a good job, by the book. But they're very, very difficult to find.

[CarlSpackler]

1 minute ago, jkelley9 said:

This has been my experience EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. For 10+ years.

I'd love to pay a good mechanic even a little extra if I KNEW he/she would do a good job, by the book. But they're very, very difficult to find.

This mechanic I used for years in Ohio. They do a good job, but for some reason feel the need to crank on the oil drain plug and filer.

[carpediem4300]

Google has been my best friend, I was also an apprentice panel beater so taking cars apart and putting them back together again was what i learned the most

 

recently I noticed water in my footwells that was coming from my heater matrix, and literally pouring out when going round corners and soaking my feet!, took it to a garage who looked over it and quoted me £200 to rectify,.........I google the common cause for this and found that the drains in the scuttle panel when blocked will allow the scuttle to fill up with water which then gets into the heater matrix intake, hence water in the footwells, with my panel beater experience it took me about 5 minutes to dismantle the scuttle cover and take the wipers completely off and disconnet the water jets, a further 5 minutes to clear the drain holes out and flush them through with a pressure washer, 5 minutes to put it back together and probably £5 in fuel running the car with the heaters on max for about an hour to dry the system out,......its been fine ever since,. saved myself £195

 

A simple method for learning how to change things and something i show my friends which my apprenticeship teacher tought me is get the part you want to replace, and look at the attachment points, that shows you where/how to take things off, then just rewind the steps to fit the new item back on. like a bumper, get the new one, see the locating points then hunt them out on the one on the vehicle and bobs ya uncle

[colin007]

I always change my blinker fluid and muffler bearings myself...

[jkelley9]

Just finished a big (multiple week) job on my truck and I wanted to point something out to anybody willing to read this. I sometimes get crap from people (mostly co-workers and stuff) about "how can you afford this/that, you must make the big bucks." No. I would have to say the #1 reason my wife and I have as much money in the bank as we do is these top 3 reasons:

1. We don't have kids (lol, that was an easy/obvious one)

2. We don't blow money on big $100+ drinking nights out or fancy restaurants even though we can afford to do so. We enjoy the little things and we are happy to have a nest egg to keep our stress levels lower

3. I do a lot of DIY, including with our vehicles. And it's the vehicles that pays off BIG TIME.

Case in point: My truck is old but I still love it. But it had creaking and wobbly sounds that were tough to diagnose. Not a single mechanic I brought it to could properly diagnose it (by a LONG shot). So obviously they all recommended to start replacing the typical suspects and see which one ends up fixing it: wheel bearings, front rotors and pads, ball joints, sway bar bushings, tie rod and bushing, sway bar end links, control arm bushings (I ended up not installing), and shocks. Those were all suspect. 

All of this work was quoted at >$4,000. The lower ball joints alone was $1,000 just for labor, by the way.

The truck is only worth probably $3-4k. 

I bought all of the parts for $180 + $50 for 2 nice new deep socket sets + $75 for some harbor freight tools including and angle grinder, some better jack stands, an air chisel, grease gun, etc. + $40 for a NICE Milwaukee metal drill bit set

So total was $305 for parts and NEW tools. Plus I rented a couple things that I turned out not needing. BTW I did the wheel bearings a few weekends before this but that wasn't long and only $100. That wasn't in the shop's quote since I had already done them.

The work took about 22 hours total over 2 weekends. Car was safely drive-able after each weekend no problem.

1. I'm a ROOKIE mechanic at best lol.

2. This is on a freaking DODGE. Dodge's are notorious for being a royal pain in the caboose.

3. 2/3 of the total time was spent on one side of the car learning how to do this stuff as I went (and youtube). 

4. Everything was rusted to hell. That takes time.

5. I don't even own a freaking impact gun guys. That's like the fundamental mechanic's tool to have, and I don't because I'm a cheap guy haha.

So bottom line, $300 for parts and some new tools I can use anytime in the future, and I now have $4,000 in our bank account that is free to use.

I also know that it was done CORRECTLY. And isn't it funny that the rookie mechanic (who hit his own thumb with a sludge hammer in the process... yea that hurts (still...)) completed this job with rookie tools, rookie knowledge, on freaking jack stands, in less time than the quote 25 hours to complete the job that the shop quoted? I understand they quote based on worse case (having to cut parts out because of rust and such) but EVERYTHING on this truck was rusted beyond belief and had to be cut out basically. I still handled it in < 22 hours. 

Ask yourself: would you be willing to work hard for 22 hours at a rate of ~$168 per hour? Granted there's some risks involved. Maybe some people they aren't worth it. But I even factored in if I had to rent a car for a few weeks because I royally effed up  I'd still come out way ahead.