Good and Bad Mechanics

June 12, 2025, 10:10 AM

Rey HRH

quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I had i explained in the past like this:

You take the car in and "the Book" says the task should be 8 hours. When the job takes 4 hours, you feel like you got ripped off, right?

But... lets say that 8 hour job actually takes 12 hours because of corroded nuts n bolts and other things which age can induce. The mechanic still charges you 8 hours even though the job required a day and a half.

This is an industry standard (might be something along the lines of consumer protection too.

Imagine the mechanic / dealership guesstimates the job will take 4 hours (new car, low miles, garage kept, etc) and quotes you 4 hours of labor cost but then, because of problems, your bill comes in at 12 hours of labor.

I suspect that is when the fight will start.

But what do you think will happen if the book consistently underestimate the actual time? Or another way of saying it is: what are the chances of the book underestimating the actual time needed?

It's just a method to: 1) come up with a pricing estimate that will ensure a profit. They can always call you back and revise the estimate because of some such other problems they encountered, right? 2) it incentivizes the mechanic to complete more work in a day. Book says it takes 4 hours and you did it in an hour? At the very least, it will go on your performance record or you earn more commissions.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.