why are so many mechanics so bad?

[valueplan]

It seems to me that there are large numbers of mechanics whom are reasonably successful, have a good location reputation, who also have absolutely no idea what they are doing. That, or they are patently dishonest people.

I can't tell you how many times I've taken my car to two different shops within days of each other, only to have them tell me I need drastically different things done with my car.

My current example, one dealer says I have no brake fluid which indicates excessive pad wear (fluid was replaced 5k miles ago, pads have 20k on em), cabin air filter needs immediate replacement (replaced 5 miles ago), and brake hoses (wut?)

Three days later in I'm another dealer shop, he tells me all my brakes look great, but 2 wheel bearings need replacement. He tells me he needs to spend an extra 50 bucks on some weird part in addition to the cost of th bearings (can't remember what it was). I say OK. I pay the bill, no mention of aforementioned part. I guess they didn't need it? Or they did and they just forgot?

Thanks for letting me vent. I need to go to community college classes and learn this stuff in the evenings. I'm so jealous of those of you who can do your own work. Trying to keep a Honda past 200K if you've got to pay others to do your work almost isn't worth it, I'm finding out.

 

[Narftastic]

Well your first mistake is takin ur car to the dealership to get work done. Everyone and there grandmother knows they charge 10x more what it's really worth.

 

[CG6>YourCar]

Well your first mistake is takin ur car to the stealership to get work done. Everyone and there grandmother knows they charge 10x more what it's really worth.

fixed.

 

[Bax]

I take my car to the stealership only when it's something I don't have tools for, or just can't figure out. But I also get really good discounts at the local Honda place so it's not really a stealership.

 

[CG6>YourCar]

 

[intel0116]

yeah the dealer charges about double what a private shop would charge, how ever, you pay for what you get. a dealship stands by there work and will fix any issues with no problem because they warrenty all of there parts and labor, where as a private shop will give you a major hastle and try to charge you a little extra to fix something that they F'd up on and on top of that they do not warrenty there parts the way the dealship does, and the warrenty if any dosent cover labor like the dealer does.
personaly id rather go to the dealer if its something that i cant fix on my own and or if its a major repair. and there are a few things that are the same in price if not close in price and there are a few things that are free, like my SRS light i had rest for free at my local honda dealer.

 

[CG6>YourCar]

 

[Shadow1]

fixed.

yeah dude. find a good private shop guy and make that your main mechanic. i had two incidents ill tell you about in a min. but my main shop guy, i take ANY car ive owned to him. even tell my friends about him. clutch install $150. drop if off friday night, he has it done saturday morning. guy stays busy. his prices are never crazy either.

but this one shop in front of his tho. if your EVER in North Carolina, NEVER take your car to a shop named Speed Zone. they suck. period. my g/f had a '04 Nissan Altima. their notorious for blowing head gaskets before 70k. well, hers was burning a lot of coolant and starting to mix oil and coolant. took it to the shop and they said they would look at it.

2 days later they call us and say the head gasket was indeed blown. but some valves were burnt as well and the head has to be sent off. we said ok. bill came to $1400. wtf...paid it. started the car up and smoke like a f**kin train!!! we asked about it and he said the piston rings were bad and needed to be replaced. it wasnt burning oil. when we took the car to them it wasnt smoking at all. but once we got it back it smoked like crap!!

well. while her car was in the shop i took her truck over there because it kept acting like it wanted to cut off. he told me it was the throttle body and that could lead to tranny issues and the TB replacement would cost $350 parts and labor. tranny issues from a TB? cereal? i said screw you and went to my friends shop. he found out it was a vacuum tube that was 2in long had a hole in it. he replaced it for $5 and truck never acted up.

thats the reason i work on my own cars. if i cant do it, i take it to my friend's shop because he has the tools and know how.

 

[juiCyyaccOrd]

I went to college for mechanic and I shyt you not, the first thing they taught us was how to make your money by scamming the customer in a way you can't get in trouble for....it's messed up lol my car has never seen the dealership lol, I have the best mechanic no scams, gets the work done for a good price hehe

 

[Shadow1]

I went to college for mechanic and I shyt you not, the first thing they taught us was how to make your money by scamming the customer in a way you can't get in trouble for....it's messed up lol my car has never seen the dealership lol, I have the best mechanic no scams, gets the work done for a good price hehe

another reason i dont want to go to school for it. lol. i dont want to learn to scam customers.