VENTING!!! Rip-off Labor rates!

[Colorado Yeti]

I have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe 2-door that is my pride and joy. I experienced the dreaded gas gauge issue and took it into a supposedly local reputable shop. I had already replaced the air stepper (e.g. gas gauge) in the instrument cluster. They ran some diagnostics and told me the sender unit in the tank was bad. I replaced it approximately 2 years ago and it still had a lifetime warranty. I provided them with my own part and they charged my > $980 to drop the tank and R&R the sender unit.

When I spoke to the manager, I told him I could do this exact same job in my garage myself in about 3-4 hours. Not a fun job, but not that bad, as I did it approximately 3 years ago. He agreed and told me his shop rates are $230 / hr for labor. I'm too busy at my work and didn't have a lot of time to take on this project.

I know that we are known for smoking a lot of weed in Colorado but does anyone else out there think this is absolutely ridiculous? Especially considering that I supplied my own part for the job??? No wonder automotive shops are right up there with insurance companies for being seen as complete crooks. How much does the poor mechanic get of that $230 / hr rate? Maybe $35 / hr? I hope & pray that more shops like this go bankrupt. Next time I will listen to my instincts and do the damn job myself. I'll do a better job than those jokers anyway.

 

[OR VietVet]

I have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe 2-door that is my pride and joy. I experienced the dreaded gas gauge issue and took it into a supposedly local reputable shop. I had already replaced the air stepper (e.g. gas gauge) in the instrument cluster. They ran some diagnostics and told me the sender unit in the tank was bad. I replaced it approximately 2 years ago and it still had a lifetime warranty. I provided them with my own part and they charged my > $980 to drop the tank and R&R the sender unit.

When I spoke to the manager, I told him I could do this exact same job in my garage myself in about 3-4 hours. Not a fun job, but not that bad, as I did it approximately 3 years ago. He agreed and told me his shop rates are $230 / hr for labor. I'm too busy at my work and didn't have a lot of time to take on this project.

I know that we are known for smoking a lot of weed in Colorado but does anyone else out there think this is absolutely ridiculous? Especially considering that I supplied my own part for the job??? No wonder automotive shops are right up there with insurance companies for being seen as complete crooks. How much does the poor mechanic get of that $230 / hr rate? Maybe $35 / hr? I hope & pray that more shops like this go bankrupt. Next time I will listen to my instincts and do the damn job myself. I'll do a better job than those jokers anyway.

1. Did you ask for and get a quote for the labor before job and when you handed them the parts you supplied? If not, why not?
2. Some shops charge a higher labor rate when customer supplies parts. They should be willing to supply their shop labor rate when anyone asks and then if customer supplies parts, what is the rate?
Granted, the labor rate is high, highest I have seen around here is $170 an hour, but as I read the story, I see where you should have asked and then argued ahead of time.

 

[OR VietVet]

The other thing to bear in mind is the diagnostic time that is part of that $980, or was there a separate diag time charge that is not part of the $980?

 

[GTRhino24]

I manage a collision repair shop. We use lots of sublet vendors. They have separate rates when we supply the parts so I typically let them purchase as it works out better in the long run. I will say that my shops labor rates have skyrocketed in the past 1.5 years due to having to pay higher flat rate to retain talent. Lots of competition came to town so where 20/hr was good a couple of years ago has now gone as high as 28-35/hr of a skilled tech.

 

[OR VietVet]

I manage a collision repair shop. We use lots of sublet vendors. They have separate rates when we supply the parts so I typically let them purchase as it works out better in the long run. I will say that my shops labor rates have skyrocketed in the past 1.5 years due to having to pay higher flat rate to retain talent. Lots of competition came to town so where 20/hr was good a couple of years ago has now gone as high as 28-35/hr of a skilled tech.

Yes, there is a large shortage of QUALIFIED techs and they command higher pay and all the incentives to work at a shop and the shop has to up their rates to cover that. The better techs are either getting out of the trade or are retiring and there isn't a qualified tech to plug in to that position.

I want to go back to work and manage shops. I have put feelers out. My experience is right up there with the best of them but my age, 70, is a minus sometimes. I interviewed at a shop yesterday and there best drivability tech is 70 and is wanting to retire soon. I am leery of taking an offer from them and then starting there with a top tech leaving the shop. I will worry about that if they make an offer. I know the interview went well. It lasted almost 2 hours and I talked to owner and his other service writer.

At 70 years old and my experience, if I wanted to tech, I could get hired tomorrow. I would just have to make sure the office and shop have wheelchair access.

 

[GTRhino24]

Yes, there is a large shortage of QUALIFIED techs and they command higher pay and all the incentives to work at a shop and the shop has to up their rates to cover that. The better techs are either getting out of the trade or are retiring and there isn't a qualified tech to plug in to that position.

I want to go back to work and manage shops. I have put feelers out. My experience is right up there with the best of them but my age, 70, is a minus sometimes. I interviewed at a shop yesterday and there best drivability tech is 70 and is wanting to retire soon. I am leery of taking an offer from them and then starting there with a top tech leaving the shop. I will worry about that if they make an offer. I know the interview went well. It lasted almost 2 hours and I talked to owner and his other service writer.

At 70 years old and my experience, if I wanted to tech, I could get hired tomorrow. I would just have to make sure the office and shop have wheelchair access.

Yes. It’s because skilled trades were considered inferior to college diplomas for most of my life. If I had it to do over again, I would have started at my dads shop back in the 90’s and be retiring soon. My shop has 4 techs. 2 are 22 years old and went to trade schools, 1 is 32 and comes from good roots, and the other is 58 getting ready to hang up the tools. The middle guy makes more than I do. I waited 6 months to hire the 32yr old because he was so good and I had to keep upping my offer.

 

[OR VietVet]

Yes. It’s because skilled trades were considered inferior to college diplomas for most of my life. If I had it to do over again, I would have started at my dads shop back in the 90’s and be retiring soon. My shop has 4 techs. 2 are 22 years old and went to trade schools, 1 is 32 and comes from good roots, and the other is 58 getting ready to hang up the tools. The middle guy makes more than I do. I waited 6 months to hire the 32yr old because he was so good and I had to keep upping my offer.

Yes, I did forget to mention that. They don't teach trades anymore in the schools, better known as Vocational School. Like you said, the scholars-or so they say they are, say college is more important, for indoctrination, don't cha know.... Most fathers/mothers don't show their kids how to do simple maintenance on their cars/trucks, change a tire, check and add fluids, drive a stick shift....etc. because the kids are too busy with computer games. I know exactly why, and 90% of you here do as well, this is all happening that way but I will get spanked if I speak freely. The automotive tech is a dying breed. The ones that can think problems thru and test correctly.

 

[Eman85]

Did they fix your truck? Since you provided the part I'm sure you don't have any guarantee. I didn't install customers parts for many reasons.

 

[TollKeeper]

Welcome to the age of people going to college to get degrees in worthless areas.. I am not saying that to be condescending, but as a truth.

At the company I work at, we pay our mechanics GOOD, and we still have a hard time retaining mechanics... Either the work ethic sucks, or they are wrapped up in drugs/alcohol.. or have baby momma problems... Worst case scenario (we just lost a mechanic on this), ALL THREE!

And those that do go to school for blue collar jobs, specifically mechanics, they only go by what the computer tells them, and dont know how to diagnostics anymore.

God forbid any of these kids today get dirty.. Or even just their hands dirty.

 

[Colorado Yeti]

Update. Almost $1000 later, I received the truck back and the fuel gauge still does not work. It does the same thing as when I took it back in. The shop charged me $220/hr to not fix the original problem. Needless to say, I am absolutely furious and am kicking myself for not doing the job myself.

I am going in to the shop and am going to bring the original fuel sender unit / fuel pump with me. (Thank goodness I insisted that they give it back to me.) I am going back to the shop to politely address my issue with the owner. I am then going to perform a bench test on the unit with the owner present and prove to him that he replaced a part that was perfectly fine to begin with. I am then going to ask him to return my payment for faulty diagnostics and performing a job that did not fix the problem. I took it to this shop because they assured me that they were competent in being able to diagnose the problem even though it is an unusual vehicle. Clearly they were mistaken.

Shop owners do not like to use customer supplied parts primarily because they charge a significant markup on the part and make way more profit. Everything at a shop is designed to extract the maximum amount of money out of the little guy who needs his truck fixed. It is not just automotive repair shops, it is almost every other service based industry in our country where greed always comes out on top and there are crooks abound.