Questions and Answers

Bargain Oil Changes - A Rebuttal Q. This is a response to your article about quick oil change places. (Bargain Oil Changes) I agree with you on some of the items that you mentioned, however there are a few concerns I have. There are certified mechanics out there that are supposed to be good, honest people who have made a living off of their customers by taking advantage of them.

I personally have been ripped off of by some of those certified mechanics. For instance, just recently I visited a shop to buy tires and asked them to exchange one of the older tires for the spare. The old spare is still in place and I was charged a special fee to mount the spare.

Their dishonesty lost my business. What if it had been something more serious that would have endangered my family? Some shops seem to make a habit of charging for services and parts that are not replaced or performed.

In response to the point about these places just hiring fly by night employees, I can honestly vouch for the employees at my shop and say they are just as good as some of the mechanics I've dealt with in the past. They are knowledgeable and quite informative.

There have been quite a few times that we have had customers come in and asked us to take a look at minor items as brakes like a wiper blade that is not working properly and we have fixed it for them at (guess what) no charge. Now can you tell me if you think the average person on the street that doesn't have his own "personal mechanic" is going to stop in at a mechanic's shop just to have this done.

I was also wondering how many mechanics allow their customers to come into anytime between oil changes to just for a quick top off on oil, coolant or wiper fluid after they haven't been in for 2 or 3 months, and it's done at no charge. We have quite a few of our customers that just stop in just for this.

Why is that mechanics charge so much for that item called labor hours and there have been times when I have been charged $20.00 to $50.00 difference on a part than if I went and purchased it myself at a part store. One time when a mechanic upset me with a problem with my heater core. He told me it would take five or six hours to do. When I returned and it wasn't done I got upset and told them that I would go somewhere else.

I decided to try and replace the part myself. With minimal experience, I was able to finish it within two hours and saved about $150.00 to $200.00 of labor charges. If I could do it myself in two hours, why would it take a "professional" mechanic five or six hours?

Now I agree there are some quick oil change places that are not honest but I think you really mean the whole entire automotive repair industry has some very dishonest people out there and we are all in this category together.

I have had people come into my shop and think I am being dishonest when I later find that they don't trust any type of auto repair person because they have been ripped off by the whole entire industry.

I hope you don't think that I am upset with your article but I feel that you may need to look at this with a totally different viewpoint and understand that these quick oil change places really do have a place in this industry.

A. You have brought up some very good points. And hopefully I can respond to them in a fair and equitable manner.

First off, the point of the article was not to condemn ALL fast oil change stores. As with anything else there are the good and the bad. The point of the article is to warn people of the real possibility of what can happen at one of these places. That they should be careful and there are some simple things they can do to protect themselves.

Since these fast oil change places are franchised there are some owners who are, and let's be blunt here, crooks and thieves. I'm not saying all, but there are some. My own personal experience with such a place proves that to me. It was not the guy in the pit that tried to rip me off, but the store Manager (owner?). I have been ripped off. And I think at one time or another, we all have been ripped off. But it's like my Grand Father always told me, "They can only screw you once." Or as I like to say "Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me."

As for the quality of the help, well just because a guy is making minimum wage to change oil and filters does not, necessarily, mean he doesn't know what he's doing. It just means the chances of getting inexperienced or incompetent help increases. I don't know how many engines I have replaced because of this. It proves the old saying, "You get what you pay for". You pay good money, you get good help. These places work on a slim margin so they can't afford to be generous with their pay plans.

I have no doubt that the people who work for you are competent. It behooves the store owner to get rid of the bad ones and keep the good ones. There's not much profit in doing an oil change if you have to put an engine in that vehicle a couple of weeks later. That's why when a bank teller makes a mistake, they are fired, no matter how small the mistake is or if it caused the bank to lose money.

With mechanics it is as it is with fast oil change stores. There are the good and the bad. I used to work at a Firestone dealer in Jackson, NJ where the owner was as crooked as the day was long. He painted customers starters and charged them for new. He would charge for a four wheel alignment and just wire brush the adjustment points to make it look like we lined it up. This guy knew all the tricks to screw and cheat his customers. That is why I left after a few weeks. I don't play games like that and I won't be a party to it.

Your point about parts prices is a good one. Now I'm sure you don't to deny the right of a repair shop to make a profit. In my shop I work on a 40% markup. This is what I need to make a profit, cover my expenses and just plain stay in business. So a part that costs me $100.00 get's marked up to $140.00. The can of baked beans you buy at the grocery store is marked up 35% to 50%. It's a fact of doing business. I have had customers come in and ask If I would put in a part that they have bought. I ask them if they ask the Diner to cook the eggs and bacon they brought in.

I won't do it. it because I'm mean or a hard ass, but because if they come back two weeks later with a defective fuel pump and I tell them I have to charge the labor to do the whole job again, they get mad at me.

And when I hand them the bad fuel pump and push the car outside so I can work on other cars while they go back to where they bought it to get a new one, they want to know why I can't leave the car on the lift. I've even had customers lose their receipts and want me to take their parts back for them.

So now you know it's not just the part you pay for, included in that price is me to back it up. Still think my 40% markup is unfair?

Now we need to discuss labor and labor rates. Most states require shops to post their hourly labor rate in a prominent place. This way the customer knows what he is going to pay per hour. A shop can charge as much as he wants per hour. The national average being about $65.00 an hour. WHich is also what I charge for labor.

As you may or may not know, there is a flat rate manual. This manual gives the times a particular job takes to do. For example, the flat rate to replace a water pump on a 1989 Chevy G20 Van with a 6.2 liter diesel is 3.2 hours. That is what the customer is charged. If the job takes a shop 5 hours, the customer still pays 3.2 hours. Prime example is a Ford heater core. The book pays 8 hours to replace it. In actuality it takes about 12 hours. But I can only charge 8 hours. Any more than that and he'll go down the street and I'll lose the job. That's why I will not do them anymore. I send them to the dealer for a new heater core.

Now if the shop charges 3.2 hours for this water pump, and they have a man that has done a lot of them and can do it in 2.5 hours, should they penalized for the man being good and doing the job faster than a guy who has never done it? I don't think that's fair. I can, usually, beat the book time by, at least, 20% and most times more.

In most shops and almost all dealerships, the flat rate manual is how the mechanics are paid. It is to the mechanics benefit to be better than the book. On a good day I can flag 15 to 20 hours in an 8 hour day. That is my reward for the knowledge and experience I have gained over 35 years of fixing cars. In actuality you are not paying me for what I do, but rather for what I know.

Here's a little story to illustrate this. A man was having a problem with his computer so he calls in a technician. The technician looks at the computer, turns it around and smacks it on the lower right hand corner. The computer starts working as well as when it was new. The technician hands the guy a bill for $300.00. The guy was really upset. After all, he just smacked the computer. Being upset he demands an itemized bill. So the computer technician hands him a new bill. "Smacking computer: $2.00. Knowing where to smack computer: $298.00."

Now you feel that I am including you in the category of bad oil change stores. This is not the case. You have people come into your store and believe you are dishonest. Don't feel bad. It only takes a few bad places to give us all a bad reputation. Well, I'm included in the list od bad repair shops because there are bad repair shops. I, too, have people come into my shop expecting me to rip them off and what have you.

That is why it is so important to be as honest and fair as possible. It is because I do this that I am always busy and have no need to advertise. My regular customers know that I'm good and that I charge fair. Maybe not cheap, but fair. Most of my customers are referrals from my steady customers. I think that's the ultimate compliment a customer can give.

Our business is not unique in this way. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters and a dozen other businesses suffer they same problem. A few bad ones makes all plumbers, electricians etc. crooks. I guess the bottom line is still; there are good places and there are bad places and it is, unfortunately, "Buyer Beware".

And for what it's worth. from what you describe, your place is a place where I could take my car and feel fairly confident I would get good, quality service. A place I could recommend others to go to. There should be more people like you. Then perhaps the fast oil change store would not have such a bad reputation.