mechanic wanabe

If you can find a great independent Porsche garage send them a Christmas card for sure. There is a drought in Ottawa. I brought a 993 parts collection that I accumulated for a scheduled spring oil change to Auto Import, a shop described favorably in this forum. What an illustration in how not to run a service biz. I was given hell for bringing in the parts, because of their inability to mark up what they would otherwise sell me. I was told that the car couldn't be worked on for a few days and when I got it back the body work was loaded with grease the carpets looked like they just absorbed the 10 liters of used engine oil, and worse, the whole experience (oil, air filter, cabin air filter, brake fluid and some belt changes) cost $1100. They got their parts mark up and then some. The building is for sale and I understand the owner wants to sell it AND the business. He is devaluing his asset!! He obviously has had enough and just doesn't give much of a ****.

Long and the short of it: someone needs to run a DIY tech inservice in southern Ontario. I bet you could get half a dozen people together for a day and make it worth some technicians while. I am not thinking engine rebuilds, but routine maintenance etc. Toronto perhaps?? Any techs on this forum that want to step up??

ilko

I'm not defending the shop here, but generally bringing your parts is frowned upon. You can ask in advance and see what their answer is. If you really want to bring your parts you can say something like I bought the parts and wanted to do it myself but at the end I didn't think I could do it, can you please help.

As far as them overcharging you, that's also something you could've asked in advance. How much they charge per hour, how much it would cost to do the work and how long it would take.

Just my ¢2.

vjd3

Bruce Anderson always likened it to bringing a steak to the restaurant and asking the chef to cook it for you, and charge you less. Some shops don't mind, others do. Best to ask first.

EvEr34

You should try Ian at metric auto on clyde. Great guy and excellent work. I've been to auto import and it does not compare.

firesm

The shop that does all of the work on my car in Ottawa is brutal. They are seriously understaffed, and they have never finished any of the work when they said they would. The guy that does all of the work is also the owner of the shop - he has issues - I'm pretty sure he suffers from adult ADD, as he always has three or four different things on the car that he is working on at the same time. Everytime he starts a particular job on the car he always finds something that should be done "while he's in there" which of course increases the price. Today he stopped right in the middle of changing the rear suspension because he said he had to make supper! To top it all off - he's always flirting with my wife - she doesn't seem to be too impressed, but I think there's something going on there...

Seriously though, sorry you didn't feel like you got your money's worth - but I showed your post to my wife as proof for the justification I made to her last fall when I spent $1800 on a lift.

johnsjmc

I,m a retired tech and 993 owner in London Ont. You signed a work order authorizing the work. That was when an estimate should have been provided.I never do anything to a customers car or get something done on my own without an estimate. If it exceeds the estimate by 20% you would get a phone call from us about additional cost. I have no problem working with your parts but If you provided the parts at my shop our install price would go up to reflect that lost overhead and you would have a problem if the parts required warranty work .Who would you expect to pay for the warranty labour? If no estimate was offered then phone consumer affairs and lay a complaint otherwise know better next time. Also local colleges night schools often run auto maintanance hobby courses maybe you are a good candidate. Belt ,cabin filters etc are easy jobs requiring few tools.

cgfen

that sucks, even if you brought your own parts you should not have been treated like that, but why would a mechanic wannabe pay someone to do an oil change?

craig

johnsjmc

Thinking more about this I think we are missing something. An oil change is about $200 parts + - 1 hour labour. Belt changes less than an hour ,cabin filters 15 min.,brake flush less than an hour. How was the $1100 broken down? Did they supply any parts,run into any problems requiring more time? Are we talking fan belt or power steering belt? Something is missing here.

DJF1

Sorry to ask, but why would a "repair" shop need to make money on top in parts when the average shop charges $100+ an hour for labour? Isn't that enough, not to mention the actual time that it takes to do something vs the "book"?

In my experience, shops that have my business will work with me to get the best deal possible for the parts needed and collect their due labor which is what they do in the first place. Padding labor for something that you dont do, sorry to say its unethical.

atr911

I'm a service manager at a Canadian Tire store (in Ottawa actually). I know it's difficult to defend the industry with so much potential for misunderstanding and ultimately a few bad apples out there however Auto Import is a family run business and has supported the Porsche community for many years. I would hope that something was lost in translation during this transaction. Have you allowed them the opportunity to explain/clean the car? Did you agree on an estimate before the work was done? I don't ask because I assume anything, only because I believe the answers are pertinent to the complaint. Ultimately, everybody makes mistakes (I'm sorry if it was your turn to affected) but the way a shop addresses and owns up to these issues should determine how the customer feels leaving.

There's always going to be situations where the customer swears up and down that the scratch wasn't there or that they KNOW they had $11.32 in their ashtray before their servicing but if you can't trust the shop enough to not damage your vehicle (or at least tell you if they do) or steal your coffee money then you probably shouldn't be servicing there.

I cannot speak for any other shops but can say that although I don't like using customer supplied parts, I completely understand when a customer would like us to use his own parts. Especially with a Porsche where so many people can be so particular with their car and part prices vary so much between vendors and across the borders. Understand that when you buy the parts from me, typically the labour or part is discounted when installed in the vehicle. This isn't true of all services but tires are $52 to install if purchased from me and $85-125 if customer supplied. Oil changes are $15 labour if we use the 'bulk' oil from our drums and $20-50 for customer supplied oil/filter. Most other services remain consistent between customer supplied and shop bought parts but there may be exceptions.

I personally have found that honesty, clear communication and education are what build relationships between shops and customers. Often, a customer needs to be called about additional work that has been found on a vehicle and it is imperative that the shop clearly and honestly communicates the benefits of the service and the severity of the problem. It all boils down to trust I suppose.

I urge you to give Auto Import an opportunity to correct the issue and that you post the (hopefully) favourable outcome. Sometimes there's no way to win a customer back and if you find that is the case there are several other decent shops out there to service your 993. Metric, Autobahn (Manotick), Mark Motors, Speed Merchants (Kanata Ford), Chris Kirby (South of Ottawa). I've got a few 911/993/996/997 cars that we service but we're far from specialists on the brand.

What I can say is that us Porsche guys can be very hard to please so when you find someone who you trust and you get along with, stick with 'em and take care of 'em. It's a thankless business and it's always nice to feel that a customer appreciates the level of service you've offered them.

Adam

95 NC 993

atr911, that's a nicely writen post. I bet you have happy customers.
To the OP, I don't understand them thrashing your interior like that. Time for court.

johnsjmc

Why unethical? It,s all about the bottom line . I used to work at a shop which only charges $45 an hr today. They work mostly on taxi cabs . The volume of business and the mark up/profit on parts allows the labour rate to remain low. We will quote both ways if needed. You supply parts and we calculate at $60 per hr which is still cheap locally. When you get an oil change and there is no seperate charge for labour on the bill but you paid retail for oil and a filter. Do you think the oil changed itself? Also the average mechanic in Ont makes about $25 /hr. He/she has over $30000 in personal tools and completed a 4 yr apprenticship after high school to make that. The majority of the $100/hr door rate goes to the shop. The shop needs to pay the rent ,insurance,utilities,taxes and install and maintain equipment like a hoist,compressor and special tools the tech doesn,t use often.The shop also pays the tech to do any warranty work and then fights with the supplier for reimbursement etc, With or without a car in for any repairs there are still bills to be paid.
Dealerships buy all their parts wholesale so the mark up is there most of the time even if some customers supply their own parts.
The comment about flat rate deserves a reply as well. The flat rate is an average labour time. Experienced techs can often but not always beat the rate. Beating it often requires special tools and knowledge . The factory method of changing a clutch on a 993 involves removal of the engine/trans about 10-12 hrs work. An experienced tech can R&R the trans only in about 6 . If he drops the crosshaft into the clutch while replacing it it adds back in a few hours so it is a gamble on the shops part. They probably quoted a fixed amount to start. The shop might be charging at flat rate but have salaried employees so the markup/profits from all sources are used to run the place and pay everyone a wage.
Some details are still missing from the original post which when provided might shed some light on what happened there.

atr911

Agree on many of the above points but at $95/hr it really shouldn't matter where the parts come from. Kudos to the shop who has enough work that they can turn down customer supplied parts work but you won't catch me doing it! On that note, generally, I offer the best warranty and pricing on my parts anyways so it's an easy sale to sell customers my parts.

IXLR8

Brent, hang in there, I'm retiring in 15 months.

There is a reason I do not take my cars, motorcycles...to any shop.

IXLR8

What difference does it make if you supply the parts or not?

The shop rate is the shop rate...period! Its the labour portion of the bill...not the parts!

If you bring the car in for service that does not require parts, do you get a lower shop rate? I think not!