Matt H

I dont know about others but we "top off fluids" for free and yes, it gets overlooked. There is nothing quite like filling a WW bottle that holds 1.5 bottles of fluid and then having it drip all over you because it is broken. Further, if you guys knew what we spent in "free" WW fluid you might have a different take.
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89magic98

I think the "winterizing" services are something like $69.95. I'll have to check the prices at the local MBZ dealer.

I'm sure it would add up over a year, but if I can buy WW fluid at retail at $0.99.....

Matt H

We do 40K cars a day on a weekday...imagine a qt per car. Winterizing should include a nice inspection of the entire car, topping all the fluids (including things like trans) and a coolant flush. 70 bucks is a good price.
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Yabo

40,000 cars on a weekday??? where the heck do you work.

iloveporsches

I think he means nationally...

Matt H

He does, sorry for the confusion. On a Saturday this time of year about 50K and on a Saturday in the summer maybe 60K.
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Yabo

sorry for the short temporary hijack, who do you work for matt?

Matt H

Sorry, not for public knowledge, you can PM me. For those that do know please keep it between us.

It isnt super secret butby saying the company's name there are times where my tire related answers can be construed as acting as a company spokesperson which I am not comfortable with.
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Jfrahm

I bought a new Passat last year and the brakes were spongy straight from Germany. I had them bled under warranty for a vast improvement. While the car was in I had a new Jetta loaner, also with very spongy brakes. Maybe when they assemble these cars they bleed them in some way that falls a bit short.

-Joel.

89magic98

On the other hand, a "winterizing" service is the opportunity to inspect the car and identify more lucrative work. So, perhaps providing it at a lower cost (maybe even at cost), works, because there is a value to getting a car into the service bay.

IIRC, your facilities are not "full service"... so the extra services you could sell might not make it as lucrative (based on limits to the the extra services you could sell).

Matt H

We are full service, save engine and trans rebuilds and we even have a few shops that do that. Like anything in life it is a diminishing return at some point. Yeah, 70 bucks sounds high but how many people know how to correctly flush a radiator (not many), how many have the equipment (very very few), and how much would it cost if you did it (factoring in your time).

There are price sensitive services (oil change)
There are market prices (alignment)
There is book time (repair work)

The goal is to be competitive at all three, though one can survive on repair alone (but it is MUCH tougher).

No doubt, things like winterizing are designed to not only protect your car but to sell something. Not sell something that isnt needed but if you have a 15 year old car with original hoses, odds are they are going to fail at some point. You may spend 100 bucks today but save 1000 in the future. In a way auto maintenance is little more than buying an insurance policy.
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89magic98

I bet you get a lot of interesting data when you can look at repair statistics across thousands of vehicles.

I imagine the $70 price also has to factor in a certain % of problems where the shop could be liable for a big repair bill. There are also environmental concerns that regular individuals doing their own maintenance don't have to consider as well.

For $100 I'd gladly take it to one of your shops to replace the hoses on the 924s... if that includes doing the heater core hoses... i'd even supply the hoses...

Porsche-O-Phile

I especially love the "specials" a lot of places run. Yea, for $60 or $70 we'll CHECK (read the ads carefully) the fluids and brake pads. Uh huh.

Maybe I AM in the wrong line of work.

As P.T. Barnhum said, "there's one born every minute".

Tom R.

me thinks that is what pontiac is gonna have to do with my gto. i didnt mind spendig $20 on a quart of ATE (bought it when the S2 was teched for lime rock) and say 30 to have it done.

Matt H

I wouldnt say that we factor in those costs. They are a part of doing business, however, and certainly those costs take away from profit. Yes, we do get a lot of interesting data. We could probably accurately predict when a part on X car is going to fail if we really wanted to.

It is funny you mention heater core hoses. Here is an example: On older Aerostar vans the heater core fails all the time. The book time is like .6 hours. Well that is correct if the heater core is the one OUTSIDE the cabin, if it is the one inside (and they are split about 50/50 because of two different designs) it is about a 10-11 hour job, requiring dash removal. I bet some of our guys know that, but I guarantee a larger portion dont and they end up doing an 11 hour job for about 60 bucks. Sometimes the customer understands and it willing to pay the difference, more often than not, they dont.
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