Most shops would have told you to pound sand. It's their way or the highway. They are the professionals and they know what they're doing and they will tell you what needs to be done. You either pay it or leave.
2016 85k miles, transmission went out
- Thread starter 5x10
- Start date
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Because a large majority of the time Transmissions do not need a complete rebuild nor does a vehicle need a new transmission. It simply needs a more minor repair. Some shops know this some shops don't. Diagnosing and fixing transmissions is a lost art today. But regardless, all they're going to do is tell you you need a rebuilt so they can make the good money. They get a huge, huge, huge profit margin on a rebuild your transmission.
Would anyone like to actually discuss cost of the master rebuild kit and a torque converter for one of these Transmissions?
And we could discuss flushing out the trans cooler and the radiator which some do or removing it and adding auxiliary cooler or replacing the radiator, all three fairly common options but let's talk about actual expenses incurred. Then let's talk about their actual Builder who there's usually only one guy in the shop who is the master builder who knows how to do it and what he makes per hour. The other guys and a lot of the young ones simply remove and install them.
So let's look at the numbers and compare this to what an auto garage makes when they replace an alternator on your car. You will soon see that the number show the transmission shops to be the biggest Crooks in the industry. Body repair and paint refinishing comes in number two as far as profit margin but at least there's is a very high-quality finesse delicate work that people expect perfection in the look and finish.
We can go back to the days of building houses and remodeling and doing roofs and stuff where it used to be if the materials for something were $5,000 if you can get the whole job done for 10000 or less. No one had the nerve 2 ever charged double labor and most were well under that. Now there are no rules. You can charge anything you want. Whatever the market will bear.
Body shops justify this because of all the hours of Labor they put into it. This is 2020, they should have sped up the process of sanding a fender and stuff with tools and everything we have today and they've been doing the same way for decades. Also, they don't actually do that much sanding and stuff today like they used to. If the fender has anything over a paintless dent removal pop out Dent, they replace the fender. They're almost always painting perfectly prepped straight ready to paint panels.
The people that earn their money are the guys that do Restorations and frame off an old rusted out cars. These guys spend a lot of time finessing everything to get it perfect.
I don't care how many hours you put into something, if you only have $500 in materials then no way can you justify a $5,000 bill.
my Dad used to run a new car dealership, so I know I would get solid repair advice when needed as he was good friends with the service manager and got everything at cost
not sure what the options are now
I could have towed it from shop to shop until I got an answer I liked , paying $100 per
I’ve used these guys before and they were reasonable on my caddy and my dads truck, I also had them do plugs on the expedition
‘thank goodness I am in a position where the $ isn’t an issue
not sure what the options are now
I could have towed it from shop to shop until I got an answer I liked , paying $100 per
I’ve used these guys before and they were reasonable on my caddy and my dads truck, I also had them do plugs on the expedition
‘thank goodness I am in a position where the $ isn’t an issue
I don’t think so, you just have to know how to deal with people. I wasn’t rude about it but told them that wasn’t an option to do so. They could either accept my $$ to diagnose properly and fix or I would have taken it elsewhere. They agreed to diagnose further and found the issue that way. Telling me to pound salt would have just got them a bad word of mouth and no $$. Instead they got my money and I was happy with a fixed transmission, worked for both sides.
star-art
Full Access Members
Talking about why it cost so much to replace a single part on an old Duesenberg, Jay Leno said back then labor was cheap and technology was expensive while today it's just the opposite. Labor costs have gotten ridiculous. Rebuilding an engine or transmission is very time consuming and labor intensive which is why if I had the choice I would no longer choose that option. These days, if you need a new transmission swapping in a used or reman unit is really the best way to go.
I'm just saying that most shops would have come back with a very controlling attitude. They don't like it when a customer know something or comes across like they think they know something. Most shops want to call the shots 100%. They don't care if you leave. Take it or leave it. Most of them have plenty of business and even the ones that don't have a waiting line, makes so much profit off each customer it really doesn't matter.
ManUpOrShutUp
Full Access Members
It's a good thing I have you here to tell me what I mean when I write or speak. Whew. Where would I be without you? No, that's not what I was saying at all, but thanks for putting words in my mouth and for being such a ********* about it.
Anyway, I was saying that if a job requires say, 4 hours of diagnostics, the shop isn't going to do 4 hours of free labor and the vast majority of clientele aren't going to pay $300 for them to do it ($75/hr is at the low end here btw. I figure I have to mention it to those who live in some part of ********** America where labor is still $25/hr. That's great, but we can't all live in the bayou.). If I told them: "Tell me what's wrong at any cost." they would gladly do so.
stamp11127
Full Access Members
Usually when internals fail there is a distinct "you're spending big bucks" sound that is similar to nuts in a can. Seeing the OP didn't say that I doubt there has been a catastrophic internal failure.
The high end scanners will command specific functions to occur for testing procedures, simple pressure gauges will tell you if the pump has failed. None of this info has been presented to the owner.
Therefore it is safe to say the shop has no idea of what has failed and is just guessing.
Mechanics is just like the medical field in some ways. Get the facts for a proper diagnosis then provide a solution.
The high end scanners will command specific functions to occur for testing procedures, simple pressure gauges will tell you if the pump has failed. None of this info has been presented to the owner.
Therefore it is safe to say the shop has no idea of what has failed and is just guessing.
Mechanics is just like the medical field in some ways. Get the facts for a proper diagnosis then provide a solution.
