Dealer vs Normal Mechanic

[frankie86]

At the end of the day i think it all comes down to the individual who is working on your car, doesn't matter wether they work in a dealer or the local workshop, if you find someone talented who takes pride in their work thats what wins it for me

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Stefan

Sounds too cheap...$100/h min if he has a workshop, hoist and tools. not like 100 goes into his pocket as his pay.

I'll call ford today for price on service for F6 and list of things they do.

We're $95/hour, but I'd like to increase it in the next few years.

If my rent goes up I'll increase my labour rate.

[FPV0137]

I don't bother with dealerships... Though I've had issues with a few private mechanics too.
Every time I send a car in to ford, I need to double check the job was done properly and send it back. They have NEVER given my car back ready to go first time. They even tried to slug me for a set of tyres, when 2 were the same ones that were on the car when I bought it (1 month at the time, minimal skids) and the front pair were a brand new pair of yokahama ado8's ($460 each tyre) that were fitted 2 days prior, and had only done 150kms!!

As for private mechanics, they only forget to put bolts back in like brake calipers, leaving me with an extra $900 tow...
Obviously I've taken to servicing everything myself. Being lazy is a lot of effort these days...

[FPV0137]

And it's always the apprentice that stuffs up apparently...

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by 4vxc

so you dont think they take the wheels off, check brakes, adjust h/brake if needed, check front end, engine mounts ect?
there is a bit more to it than wandering around
if so go elsewhere

They do check those things but its eithe just visual or a good shake.Brakes can be checked without removing wheels in most cases.When my wife had her Hyundai serviced by the dealer the wheels were retorqued with an air gun so tight I had to use a breaker bar and jump on it (105kg) to loosen them.when I chipped the service manager about this he seemed to think I was imagining it.I pointed out that 35 years in the motor trade had taught me probably more than he thought he knew

[Olbucko]

I go to five different mechanics,
1. myself , when the job is straight forward and doesn't require to much working under the car.

2. The auto Trans specialist 50Kms away for servicing the ZF.

3. Terry, the old school mechanic 4 doors down the road, as honest as the day is long, has a well equipped workshop, great for under car servicing, brakes and suspension repairs, and wheel alignments, does everything by the book, and will make his own special tools so the job is done properly. After the job is finished he shows you the old parts and explains what he has done.

4. Pete, 3 blocks away when the job requires more thought, computers, and electronics knowledge, or air conditioning repairs.

5. And finally the Ford dealer 55Kms away as a last resort. He seems a bit better than some of the dealers mentioned above, he seems to have one or two good mechanics that can get to the bottom of a problem quite quickly.

[99AUXR]

So much stereotyping here.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

So much stereotyping here.

How do you feel about the stereotype that dealerships only teach apprentices how to service?

[99AUXR]

I know thats not the case, not saying some dealers places don't but every dealer is different. Some workshops employ unqualified people as workshop hands who do servicing etc. My comment was as an independent some of the comments are inaccurate as is some of the comments about dealerships.

The industry is filled with alot of pretenders and know it all unfortunately, as I said on previous page find a decent mechanic and hold onto them. Either it be dealer or independent just find someone who is good and honest, contacts you about any thing and always gives you clear options.

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by frankie86

At the end of the day i think it all comes down to the individual who is working on your car, doesn't matter wether they work in a dealer or the local workshop, if you find someone talented who takes pride in their work thats what wins it for me

You may find one or two that take pride in their work but the majority of them are employees that clock on and off.

A private mechanic has a vested interest in doing the right thing as it can mean the difference between earning a living or going broke

[Ross 1]

Thanks to my dashcam, I know that the last time I took mine to a dealership it was 20 minutes between starting work on my car and redlining the crap out of it on the test drive. I know you can do oil and filter in 20 minutes but not much else of what they claim to check. Only discovered it when I checked the camera to see how they manage to scrape the bumper. Have had great dealers in the past that can't do enough to help, so I'm hoping this was an isolated incident. Have now found a good mobile mechanic, well priced and doesn't mind if you watch everything.

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Ross 1

Thanks to my dashcam, I know that the last time I took mine to a dealership it was 20 minutes between starting work on my car and redlining the crap out of it on the test drive. I know you can do oil and filter in 20 minutes but not much else of what they claim to check. Only discovered it when I checked the camera to see how they manage to scrape the bumper. Have had great dealers in the past that can't do enough to help, so I'm hoping this was an isolated incident. Have now found a good mobile mechanic, well priced and doesn't mind if you watch everything.

That's tops, that would be a nice conversation to have with the Service manager with footage in hand.

[Ross 1]

Originally Posted by Stefan

That's tops, that would be a nice conversation to have with the Service manager with footage in hand.

He was actually really good and even got the dealership principle on the phone at home to apologise at 7 at night. Won't be going back except to get my bumper repaired by their panel shop.

[Lego]

I don't totally disagree with the sentimate of previous posts but, I did have a great experience years ago. I had the auto go in my EA 2, it was 6 years old had done 90000 kms. The service manage went into bat for me with ford (after seeing it's service history's) and got the auto changed free of charge. I know that the bw 4 speed had issues but he could have easily let me hanging but didn't. One of the reasons why I own a ford today!

[SYZ]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

[...] A local mechanic said under $160 for the same service* (may be a bit more as I use a specific brand of oil)

*NGK IRIDIUM MAX spark plugs—$132

RYCO oil filter Z516—$22
Castrol Edge oil 5L—$69

Total=$223 parts supply.

[Spammy]

I know everybody claims that resale will be better with a full dealer service history and That maybe true on a merc or BMW but on a ford or commo nobody really cares ...and if they do, are they prepared to pay enough extra to cover the higher cost of the dealer services for how ever many years?

That being said, I shy away from service books that are full of Midas, Kmart or ultratune stickers.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by SYZ

*NGK IRIDIUM MAX spark plugs—$132

RYCO oil filter Z516—$22
Castrol Edge oil 5L—$69

Total=$223 parts supply.

In my follow up post, I mentioned that I dont need the plugs as they were recently done ;)

Total $71 parts supply ;)

[JessieXT]

I used to always go to my Dad's friend who was a mechanic but when he retired and I'd bought myself a Falcon I took it to the Ford servicing dept. While it was still young and it was under warranty that suited me. I continued with them when it was after three years simply because I was in the habit of going there.

But when I started having intermitent brake problems and they couldn't duplicate it at the Ford service centre I felt like I had to convince them that I wasn't imagining it.
Anyway they replaced my brake master cylinder, and I still got brake failure, with me putting my foot to the floor, trying to pump it to get brakes !

When I rang them, they said they would replace the brake master cylinder again. I asked if they would examine it a bit further, not just replace it again (it had only been a week !) but they said that it wasn't cost effective to take parts apart to see what was actually wrong.

Well call me old fashioned but I want a mechanic who is willing to actually work out the problem and take things apart. I took it to an old mechanic locally and he found that the bmc that Ford had put in was scratched and faulty ! He wrote a report on it which I submitted to Ford. They refunded the money I had spent with them and I never went back there again.
This happened two years ago.

[FPV GTHO]

The problem with pulling everything apart to find the problem is who pays to do it? If the mechanic takes the cost then they'll go out of business, but if the customer pays they could end up with 10x the labour vs part cost.

[Qwerty321]

Originally Posted by FPV GTHO

The problem with pulling everything apart to find the problem is who pays to do it? If the mechanic takes the cost then they'll go out of business, but if the customer pays they could end up with 10x the labour vs part cost.

I think there should be a reduced labour rate for it. If the mechanic pulls something apart and finds out it's not faulty, he made a mistake. I'm not saying that the costs should all fall to the mechanic, but he should charge a reduced labour rate for it (say 50%?).

[Windsor220]

They cant do that. For the time they spend looking for the problem they could have been doing service work which pays more.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

I know thats not the case, not saying some dealers places don't but every dealer is different. Some workshops employ unqualified people as workshop hands who do servicing etc. My comment was as an independent some of the comments are inaccurate as is some of the comments about dealerships.

The industry is filled with alot of pretenders and know it all unfortunately, as I said on previous page find a decent mechanic and hold onto them. Either it be dealer or independent just find someone who is good and honest, contacts you about any thing and always gives you clear options.

I'm an auto electrician by trade but I use a really good mechanic in Woodend for my mechanical work, they specialize in Euro vehicles but they will work on anything too, they do a fantastic job, new business.

He keeps his workshop so clean you could eat off the floor, he puts mine to shame with how clean it is.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Qwerty321

I think there should be a reduced labour rate for it. If the mechanic pulls something apart and finds out it's not faulty, he made a mistake. I'm not saying that the costs should all fall to the mechanic, but he should charge a reduced labour rate for it (say 50%?).

So when someone stuffs up at work and takes more time to fix up their mistake is their pay reduced by half??

[sexyxe]

Originally Posted by vztrt

So when someone stuffs up at work and takes more time to fix up their mistake is their pay reduced by half??

Bit of a circle argument as what if the parts they are replacing aren't actually faulty? What's wrong with a bit of diagnosis and fault finding which has pretty much gone in every industry not just cars.

That BMC may have cost x dollars, double that, 2x, then it still may not have been fixed, plus the labour, 3x, the pain of having to go back and forth between the shop, 4x... Instead of taking the 1.5x to fault find and repair. Might not work in every situation, but surely it would in enough.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by sexyxe

Bit of a circle argument as what if the parts they are replacing aren't actually faulty? What's wrong with a bit of diagnosis and fault finding which has pretty much gone in every industry not just cars.

Some issues are easy to fix. Some issues aren't....especially if its not common or intermittent. I'm all for diagnosis but I've been in situations were you can spend time trying to find a problem because its not actually obvious. Other times I've fixed them in 5 minutes.

The question is do you want to pay from someone to find the problem or just to change parts till it starts working. Some people want it fixed now even when they wouldn't have a clue to do it themselves. But I could understand a mechanic not wanting to waste hours on something that will cost him money if he has big bills to pay.

[Express]

Fault finding to component level went out the window years ago for almost all products not just cars, it a consequence of our throwaway society.

In many cases it’s cheaper to replace a larger part as opposed to the labour required to repair the same.

In most cases it’s convenience for both the repairer and the customer.

There will always be those cases when replacement doesn’t fix the problem and that is usually where experience will help diagnose after the fact but in the norm replacement is usually the winner.

[mechanic]

Motor mechanics looks easy untill you try the job yourself. If problems were easily diagnosed and fixed 100% of the time first time then there would hardly be a need for workshops as every backyard " expert " would be fixing all the neighbourhood cars for free.
I started my apprenticeship in 1966 and retired a few years ago, just wish I had the knowledge and expertise possessed by a lot of customers that come through the workshop door.
Very seldom though have I heard of any of those knowledgeable people tossing in their job and taking on the mechanic game.

[Beastie]

I think that a bit of self diagnosis can go a long way....

My son's BA was missing under load so I googled it and so many posts came up about the coils being stuffed, so I though bugger it, I'll buy some coils and give it a go before I take it to my mechanic.

Sure enough, the problem was fixed! Maybe I just got lucky, but it was worth the research (I changed the spark plugs while I was at it).

Same thing when I noticed a vibration in the same car. I googled it and again, so many posts came up about the tail shaft centre bearing. Now I am not competent enough to change this (plus don't have the right tools either), but I felt a lot better when I took it to my mechanic and said - I'm pretty sure that the tail shaft centre bearing is stuffed. He put it up on the hoist and showed me. Yep she's stuffed.

Had I not researched either of these two issues, I could have been up for hundreds in repairs being none the wiser.

Obviously, this will not always be the case but I think it's always worth researching first and forums like this are so helpful too.

[sexyxe]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Some issues are easy to fix. Some issues aren't....especially if its not common or intermittent. I'm all for diagnosis but I've been in situations were you can spend time trying to find a problem because its not actually obvious. Other times I've fixed them in 5 minutes.

The question is do you want to pay from someone to find the problem or just to change parts till it starts working. Some people want it fixed now even when they wouldn't have a clue to do it themselves. But I could understand a mechanic not wanting to waste hours on something that will cost him money if he has big bills to pay.

You could say it is job dependant. If it was a $3-400 part, I'd like some diagnosis done. It not only shows me my mechanic has a brain and some sort of fault finding skills rather than mindlessly throwing parts and my money away. I can't count the number of times I've heard of, read, or witnessed a mechanic claiming that 'noise', 'vibration', 'misfire' was definitely due to 'that' part, without bothering to actually check. Only to replace it, costing the customer, and not resolve the issue.

[blakef6]

Now i have the internet i barely ever go to a dealer or normal mechanic. Google is my mechanic and my doctor