Mechanics As Diagnostitions Only

I wouldn't -- doesn't feel like fair play to me.

Part/most of what I'm paying my Ferrari mechanic for is his experience to troubleshoot expeditiously. If he figures out in 15 minutes what would have taken me days, I feel like I owe him the opportunity to do the work if he wants the job.

I'm thinking specifically of a recent fuel injection component that went bad. I could have bought the Bosch part anywhere, and had it installed anywhere (or done it). But my mechanic put me onto the problem, so he fixed it and I paid him for that, no problem.

The other part is that with a Ferrari you need to be on good terms with your mechanic, because there will be times you need him to be forthright with you and perform work you can't do in your home garage. Obviously this applies a lot more to older Ferraris -- a 2007 F430 you just run over to the dealer and say 'fix it!'

 

The ones that have the skill you are talking about have better things to do.

That is essentially what I was paid to do at the dealer. I did very little actual work. They could afford it.

Iv'e said it before, trained monkeys can do the work. I am being paid for knowing what to do.

 

Depending on the problem diagnosis is often a process. It is not commonly just done and then the fix begins. If you really wanted to pay me 3/4 the price of the entire job to keep my hands clean fine. it'll cost you more in the end.

$200 hr wouldnt cover it.

Also just replacing parts is not an invalid way in some cases. Trial and error is often the least costly way, sometimes the only way. Done in cars, equipment and medicine all the time.

 

There are many ways to make money in shops. Diagnosistcs only is one way but there are some easier ones. For example see post http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/report.php?p=136593684

There are many shops who are fine with earning just shop labor/hr. It is a service offered. It was not free. If a shop has a problem with just earning shop labor they should raise the price then they would be happy with it. But ultimately they can and do run their businesses all kinds of ways. Some will flat rate book you say 20 hrs for a job by the book then do it in 15 hrs and make 5 hrs extra on you. But I have no problem with that since I would ask what it costs and accept or reject a job. I don't care how long it takes. If the shop undersestimates then I win more + a fixed car. If they over estimate it and I am o.k. with the price they win. Sometimes you find a shop who say it costs less than I thought and they get you as a customer for life.

 

Sometimes the vast majority of time spent repairing a car is in the diagnosis.

I remember twice finding an open wire in a loom, no kinks or anything; just that the wire had parted inside the vinyl insulation.

This took hours to find and 30 seconds to fix

 

AH HA! So that's why it's called a monkey wrench.

LOL

 

Yeah, but it's the cost of retraining them after lunch that's a biatch

 

I was a service manager off and on for 10 years at a Fiat, cadillac, olds, gmc,subaru and isuzu dealership, kept giving their job back, try a new guy, bla bla, anyway, as to the busines of diagnosis, as opoposed to maintenance, it is often hard to tell what is going on, ( particularly with the customers sketchy verbalization of what is wrong) and especialy with cars 20 years older and light years more complex.

As a shop manager, if someone towed their x car in and said the car is doing this and that, under these circumstances, will you help me fix the car by diagnosing what is wrong and telling me what you think is wrong?? I would say, "sure, thanks for the confidence in us to help you... and the labor rate is $XXX per hour". But I would also tell them that sometimes you have to try a few things, or do significant dissasembly to find answers, and as one poster said the fix turned out to be a 10 minute job. Diagnosis is occasionally uncertain untill you try it. This concept can be hard to convey satisfactorily to a customer with a broken Yugo and the certainty that he can fix anything. Diplomacy is all.

I would not have been offended or fel that i was cheating the shop or a mechanic to just do diagnosis.

Occasionally, we would do "bench work", that is overhaul a cylinder head or put new bearings in an upright for a customer to reinstall in his car - no problem.

We are selling knowledge, experience, the facility to do the repairs and TRUST.

How may we be of help??

chris

 

Would hooking up the machine to the car be part of the diagnosis? Or is the customer just willing to let you listen to the car and figure out what's wrong? Then if the fix is "ten minutes" would you go ahead and do it or let the owner do it?

Bob Wassam

 

Oof! I remember doing just that to find a short in my Pantera. It took all day only to find out that a license plate lamp screw was too long and had penetrated a wire, causing the short. Hours to find and less than five minutes to repair.