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More valuable than rubies, a virtuous woman, or a full head of hair.
I swear, auto mechanics have it made. Not only do they never, ever make any guarantees that anything they do will, honest injun, fix the problem, it's an expected part of their job. What other business can you do this in? I mean, airplane mechanics can't do this crap or planes would be falling out of the sky right and left. What's so hard about cars? Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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It is hard to find a good mechanic---but it isn't an easy job either.
My stepfather was a mechanic for many years--still is, but he doesn't work at a shop anymore. These guys are paid flat rate, meaning they have to do a job in a certain amount of hours. If they don't get it done in that amount of time, they don't get paid for the extra time.
For example, if the book says a valve job should be done in 6 hours, the mechanic will get paid for 6 hours of work--even if he did 12 because he ran into a problem.
Though in your case you probably got a sucky mechanic. What kind of car do you drive (year, make, model)?
Posts: 463 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I drove a 1991 excel right after I graduated high school. The transmission disintegrated within 2 months. Right before the end, it got to the point where it would not only drop out of gear at a stoplight, it would stall, too.
Posts: 463 | Registered: Oct 2003
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It's an 88 Chevy Corsica, aka Dick Turpin, with a low, low 200,000 miles on it.
It's been stalling out on me after I drive it for a few minutes. What will happen is that I'll come close to a stop and the engine croaks. I can restart it, but then getting it to accelerate without stalling is problematic. I can always tell when it's about to do this because accelerating in fifth gear is odd. I'll have to depress the gas pedal much more than normal and then when it does accelerate it surges forward.
The place did something with the 'IAC' and one mechanic said that it would take about 30 miles for it to 'relearn' the car. The other said a couple days.... Sigh.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Yeah, new Hyundais are cheap and have great warranties, but according to J.D. Power & Associates, they're still one of the most problem-prone car brands in the U.S.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Basically, if someone could tell me how long it normally takes an IAC to 'relearn' a car's settings, that would be super. That is, can it really take up to 3 days?
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I own a Pontiac Sunfire, with 44000 miles on it . It is a 2001, which my wife (JenniK) bought new, with 3 miles on it.
I pick it up tommorrow from the mechanic, who had to put a whole new motor in it, at my cost, because GM has the worst warranty in the business. I changed the oil every 3800-3000 miles, had it serviced at the dealership for the first two years, and it still blew up on the highway.
My next car will be a Huyndai, or a Kia (same company, same warranty) because at least then I won't have to pay for it out of pocket...
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Storm, we have felt that same frustration. When we move into an area, we start asking people if they know of a good, honest mechanic. The first referral we got wasn't so good, but we have been quite pleased with the second one.
I figure if a business will make a point of being good and honest, eventually they will have a large, loyal clientelle. I wish more businesses felt that way. We try to reward honesty with our business.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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You know what would rock? Faith mechanics that can just, like, lay hands on sick cars and heal them up for free. If Benny Hinn did that stuff, he would have more people than he knew what to do with converting to Christianity.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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My mother-in-law had a problem with her truck running rough. She took it to a mechanic recommended by someone at church. Charged her $1800 for replacing the head gasket, water pump, fuel injectors, timing belt, etc. Didn't fix the problem.
I took a look at it and saw the broken vacuum hose in about 4 seconds. Three bucks worth of new hose and the truck ran fine.
Just because a mechanic has the little fish in their ad doesn't mean they're honest or competent.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Jun 2002
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Faith mechanics that can just, like, lay hands on sick cars
A fellow I used to work with said that his mother dowsed the problem with his rebuilt engine. She asked the magic pendulum yes/no questions about the engine and finally narrowed it down to the mechanic having used the wrong piston rings.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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You're kidding, right? BMW isn't even above the median. Lexus tops the list, for the curious.
The key to finding a good mechanic, in my opinion, is to talk to people in your region who know their sh*t about your make of car. For example, I hang occasionally on TDIClub.com. The regulars can both help diagnose and recommend local gearheads to help you out; it's simply a fact that not every shop knows how to handle every car, since the books only go so far. Especially if you have something unusual in the powertrain (diesel engine, CVT, an auto tranny that happened to be only introduced in one model year, modifications obviously, etc.).
Always avoid the stealership. It's illegal for them to tie dealer service into the warranty, in case you didn't know.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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I take my car to a one-man shop. Otherwise, you don't know who worked on your car, and you don't know what he was smoking or drinking in between cranks on the socket wrench.
A couple of years ago a muffler shop here in town blew up when a transient worker accidentally touched the welding torch to the gas tank while smoking a joint.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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That's a little extreme. I have no qualms about my shop's employees; it doesn't take much extra effort to get to know each of them once you're comfortable shooting the breeze in car-speak. (And I'm a newb on internal car matters.) They warrant things for 3 months (plus whatever parts warranties apply), but if I mention over morning coffee that something isn't right they have no problem taking an unofficial look. I'm made to feel perfectly in my rights to balk at replacement costs, such that they have no problem finding used or salvage parts if I ask for them (or occasionally provide them myself, if it's something rare enough to require a lot of searching).
For body shops: my insurance company rocks, so I go with their recommendation (which was also recommended independently by a few acquaintences, probably not coincidentally). Being a USAA certified shop, there is no second-guessing of repair procedures and costs, and all affected areas are warranted for life.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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Having a friend that happens to work as the assistant parts manager at a Chrysler Jeep dealership is the way to go though. If you just happen to own a Chrysler mini-van. He's able to get me the factory parts at a significant discount, and arranged with one of the best mechanics in his shop to do the job on the side for about half the price.
I actually got the car before he got the job too, but I'm not complaining!! <grin>
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Um, can I gloat about our competent, honest, and trustworthy mechanics? Yes? Okay, if you twist my arm....
We just got totally lucky with our mechanic. The first car we bought was an old Volvo, and there's a shop in town that only services Volvos. Period. Turns out they're also the most amazing mechanics I've ever seen. They never invent things that need to be fixed. If they suggest something after a checkup, it's always something that had been bothering us before. They find us used parts if we can't afford new ones, barely charge us for labor at all, and let us know if something is going to be too expensive for us so we can choose not to have it done.
In three years of car ownership, first with an old clunker Volvo and now with a nice new one that we actually maintain well, we've never paid more than $300 at a time, and that's very rare. Looking at the service records, the previous owner was paying twice as much for regular checkups as we are, and it's clear from some of the things the previous mechanics did that they were nowhere near as talented as ours.
Oh, there's just so much I could say about how great they are.... but the moral of the story is, move to Ithaca, buy a Volvo, and take it to Dave's. He is, seriously, a major factor in any decision to stay in Ithaca.
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My mechanic is a combination of my dad and the dealer. When my car breaks down or I think there's something wrong, I call my dad. If it's something we can't handle or don't have time for, then I go to the dealership. And I've been lucky with the dealership as well. The guy I deal with doesn't treat me as if I'm an idiot (big plus!) and their prices are always less than I expect them to be.
I generally avoid dealers as well, but when I moved, I found these guys out of necessity (my car needed a tow and it was the closest place) and once you find a place you like, you stick with it as long as possible.
Of course I'm moving again in a few months so I'm going to have to find a new mechanic and my dad will be way too far away for the little stuff.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:You're kidding, right? BMW isn't even above the median. Lexus tops the list, for the curious.
BMW is above average, but not by much. They're about as dependable as a Nissan or Subaru. Lexus does indeed top the list, followed by Infiniti, Buick, Porsche, and Acura. It's actually a rather interesting list. I was surprised at some of the nameplates that ended up at toward the bottom. If anyone wants to read it, go here and click on the press release for the 2003 Vehicle Dependability Study.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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"Um, there's this annoying squeaking sound coming from our dashboard whenever we hit a pothole."
"Yeah, we saw that. Looks like the last people who serviced this car butchered the blah blah blah when they tried to remove the blah blah blah. I've seen it before, it's a stupid mistake."
"Okay... how much would it cost to fix?"
"Well, since blah blah blah snapped off, we'd have to replace the entire dashboard. I could find you a used one, probably, but it would still be about $500 with three hours of labor."
"Hmm."
"Yeah, it's a lot for a squeak. You're better off calling the #$@#$#s who did this and telling them to pay for it. Or you could just crank up the radio."
Except the color. It's car-colored - you know, that gray/beige/silver/concrete mixture that looks like every other car out there.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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and my dad will be way too far away for the little stuff.
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