What have you done to your MSP today?

[SeR_Cyclops]

I have royal purple tranny fluid.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

looked up the shipping on my Forge WGA... should be here tomorrow...

pain in the ass install, here I come.

followed by EASY install of catless midpipe. woot!

 

[Laser Blue]

I have royal purple tranny fluid.

me 2

 

[FlyinHawaiian]

Lol shop wanted $700 to do all the things I asked... NO WAY!! I was willing to trade a little time for convenience, but s*** $700 worth? nuh uh

What I DID pay for was an oil change and an electronic diagnostic. Ordered my new Coil Packs and wires today, should be into Autozone tomorrow morning! Gonna prolly track down the exhaust leak and do the swaybar bushings this weekend or something.

I'll do the tranny fluid in the spring...

 

[Wagonbacker9]

the labor for the sway bushings is likely what killed that... am I right?

 

[FlyinHawaiian]

Actually for all of it. They wanted a full hour of labor for the coils and wires, $21/NEW NGK PLUG, and then 1.3 hours of labor for the bushings, all at $90/hr. In all they were guesstimating 4-ish hours of labor... eff that!

 

[Wagonbacker9]

an hour for plugs, wires, and coils? ROFL... try a quarter, TOPS. my god.

 

[FlyinHawaiian]

an hour for plugs, wires, and coils? ROFL... try a quarter, TOPS. my god.

Yeah... that's why I am picking them up from Autozone tomorrow and doing it myself in the garage. So much for convenience...

 

[Shadow102]

Actually for all of it. They wanted a full hour of labor for the coils and wires, $21/NEW NGK PLUG, and then 1.3 hours of labor for the bushings, all at $90/hr. In all they were guesstimating 4-ish hours of labor... eff that!

the labor of an hour for plugs wires and coils is a book value its probably the same across the board for all 4cyl. You have to remember of that $90/hr the tech is only seeing $14-20 of that before taxes and techs do not get paid hourly we get paid perjob so we need to beat the time on many jobs in order to make up for the down time we have sitting around waiting for work to come in the door.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

beating it by 75% though.... usually aren't jobs quited by car? you don't charge the same for a clutch on a cavalier as you do on a protege... doing the same for coils is stupid.

 

[StealthWyvern]

the labor of an hour for plugs wires and coils is a book value its probably the same across the board for all 4cyl. You have to remember of that $90/hr the tech is only seeing $14-20 of that before taxes and techs do not get paid hourly we get paid perjob so we need to beat the time on many jobs in order to make up for the down time we have sitting around waiting for work to come in the door.

I see what your saying and understand it but as the same time I'm sure you can see our stand point as well... I figured most shops would charge 1/2 hour worth of labor on a little 4 banger like our cars. It not hard to get to any of that stuff on most 4 bangers.

Most people that arnt into cars has no idea what it takes to change plugs which is why they get suckered into paying a full hour... my gf wanted to pay a shop 55 bucks to change plugs on her 6i(4 banger). I made her change her own plugs and even she said it wasn't 55 bucks worth of work.

Thats all she knows how to do with her car to other then check the oil. If she ever gets a flat she better not call me... she knows that ill make her change it lol

 

[Shadow102]

beating it by 75% though.... usually aren't jobs quited by car? you don't charge the same for a clutch on a cavalier as you do on a protege... doing the same for coils is stupid.

actually all cross member cars are 8hrs and all cradle cars are 10hrs so if the cavalier is a cross member car like the protege is than yes i would charge exactly the same. Like i said all dealers have book times that are the same across a range of similar cars...makes it easier to quote stuff straight away on the service drive and avoid any fluctuations in time between techs.

 

[StealthWyvern]

beating it by 75% though.... usually aren't jobs quited by car? you don't charge the same for a clutch on a cavalier as you do on a protege... doing the same for coils is stupid.

well generic stuff like plugs, wires, coil packs on a 4 banger I can see it being the same across the board.... I mean you dont go paying a different price for an oil chance from a caviler compared to a protege.

 

[Shadow102]

I see what your saying and understand it but as the same time I'm sure you can see our stand point as well... I figured most shops would charge 1/2 hour worth of labor on a little 4 banger like our cars. It not hard to get to any of that stuff on most 4 bangers.

Most people that arnt into cars has no idea what it takes to change plugs which is why they get suckered into paying a full hour... my gf wanted to pay a shop 55 bucks to change plugs on her 6i(4 banger). I made her change her own plugs and even she said it wasn't 55 bucks worth of work.

Thats all she knows how to do with her car to other then check the oil. If she ever gets a flat she better not call me... she knows that ill make her change it lol

no i totally agree i can believe we charge customers what we do alot of the times but at the same time i have to make a pay check and seeing as the only way i can do that is make as many hours i can without recomending things people dont need it needs to be that way

honestly your best bet is to become friends with a mechanic and pay them on the side to do work. its a win win for both people. You dont have to do the work and will pay half what the dealer charges and the tech makes alot more money than he would have going through his work.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

if the cavalier is anything like the coils on my 2.2l S-10 (don't know that they're the same configuration but I wasn't going to try to compare my truck to a protege LOL).... trust me... its a whole different ballgame than having em perched up on the valve cover for you.


your BEST bet is to do your own damn work. lol my time is free to me!

 

[StealthWyvern]

honestly your best bet is to become friends with a mechanic and pay them on the side to do work. its a win win for both people. You dont have to do the work and will pay half what the dealer charges and the tech makes alot more money than he would have going through his work.

BINGO, Thats why I know several mechs and shop owners. I got the T-belt and component kit, ep all done for 125 plus parts.. Every other place wanted 900-1200 to do it!!! EEEK talk about highway robery

 

[Wagonbacker9]

you just mixed up quotes... I didn't say that. lol

 

[StealthWyvern]

you just mixed up quotes... I didn't say that. lol

lmao I have no idea how I manged that one.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

only time I won't do my own timing belt is on an interference engine..

 

[Shadow102]

if the cavalier is anything like the coils on my 2.2l S-10 (don't know that they're the same configuration but I wasn't going to try to compare my truck to a protege LOL).... trust me... its a whole different ballgame than having em perched up on the valve cover for you.


your BEST bet is to do your own damn work. lol my time is free to me!

well yeah there is that too...i am talking about people that just dont have the will or knowhow to do things. Case and point i just spent an entire weekend installing a turbo upgrade kit for a srt4 charged the guy $700 which is alot less than he would have paid going elsewhere, i made a nice chunk of change, and he wouldnt have been able to do it himself even if he wanted to.