Mechanics - aarrggg

run_Forrest_run

Jaysus I'm fit to explode!
I rang last Thursday to arrange to have my car looked at, the mechanic says drop it in Monday morning so that's what I do.
5 hours later I ring to check what's the status, the guy says he tried to find the fault but couldn't, clearly he didn't listen to me when I described how to problem manifests. He didn't drive it around at all.
So he obviously didn't bother ring me to find out, and he probably just left it and started working on another car.

He basically said I could leave it with him overnight..is it too much to expect to have someone work on you car within the day that you previously made an appointment? It's not as if I dropped in out of the blue.

It's worth noting I'm new to this mechanic and he was recommended by a friend...but I'm fairly annoyed by the lack of communication. Has anyone else experienced this or can they see me coming a mile away

By the way, this is an indie mechanic.

Atlantic Dawn

Bring it somewhere else?

bucketybuck

Pay the higher labour rate for a full dealer or take your chances with the independents. Theres always a choice.

babybuilder

In my experience I've rarely had a car serviced with an independent mechanic and been happy with the quality of the work. Especially when they say " hadn't a chance to look at that .. can you bring it in another day?" The hassle. On the other hand the main garages will charge top rate for some apprentice on peanuts. I've often found pliers or screw drivers sitting under the bonnet.

bucketybuck

babybuilder wrote: »

In my experience I've rarely had a car serviced with an independent mechanic and been happy with the quality of the work. Especially when they say " hadn't a chance to look at that .. can you bring it in another day?" The hassle. On the other hand the main garages will charge top rate for some apprentice on peanuts. I've often found pliers or screw drivers sitting under the bonnet.

There are lots of really good independents out there.

The problem as always is expectations. People don't want to pay top rate so they want to use the independents, but they still want the customer service. But with the independents you aren't going to get top service, you aren't paying for it. Thats not an excuse for mechanics to jerk you around, but it also means the car will probably only be done when they get to it, when they can fit it in, or it might have to wait while they go to a breakdown or some other job.

If this guy is a waster then move on to somewhere else, but people may as well match their expectations to what they are going to get in the independent world.

run_Forrest_run

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Bring it somewhere else?

well yes, once I get through the hassle of finding someone to drive me out later today to collect my car I'll do that, hence the frustration.

run_Forrest_run

bucketybuck wrote: »

Pay the higher labour rate for a full dealer or take your chances with the independents. Theres always a choice.

Yes, that's the thing, I took the chance of an indie and to be honest with you a lot of the time the quality of the work has been fine. It's the sheer lack of communication and feckless attitude is what amazes me.

I'm thinking of biting the bullet alright with the main dealer at this rate.

run_Forrest_run

bucketybuck wrote: »

There are lots of really good independents out there.

The problem as always is expectations. People don't want to pay top rate so they want to use the independents, but they still want the customer service. But with the independents you aren't going to get top service, you aren't paying for it. Thats not an excuse for mechanics to jerk you around, but it also means the car will probably only be done when they get to it, when they can fit it in, or it might have to wait while they go to a breakdown or some other job.

If this guy is a waster then move on to somewhere else, but people may as well match their expectations to what they are going to get in the independent world.

but I rang last week, booked it in for today so I would have thought the lads would maintain some form of schedule/order of jobs. Why book in the work if they can't guarantee that they will be able to look at it within 8 hours?

bucketybuck

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

but I rang last week, booked it in for today so I would have thought the lads would maintain some form of schedule/order of jobs. Why book in the work if they can't guarantee that they will be able to look at it within 8 hours?

Full dealers maintain schedules and order of jobs. To do that they invest in the staff and premises to allow it. They pay admin staff to handle the scheduling and hire extra mechanics to allow flexibility when jobs take longer than expected. For all of this you pay higher labour rates and higher parts prices.

Many independents cannot do this as effectively, by their very nature they are going to be looser and less structured. They don't have admin staff scheduling, they have a looser system of drop it up and we''ll what we can do. They don't have 20 mechanics so if a job runs longer than expected then every other job gets pushed back. If they get called away for a breakdown or even for personal reasons then your work gets delayed. For all of this you pay lower labour rates.

If you want a guarantee that work will be looked at to some schedule then you need to go to a dealer and pay accordingly. This doesn't mean every time you go to an independent your car is going to sit there for days on end but you simply can't have the same expectation you have from a dealer.

ironclaw

I wouldn't lump all independents in together. Some are cowboys but there are some very decent guys out there, often those that have cut their teeth in main dealers and gone out on their own as they know their stuff. We've had issues solved by independents that stumped head mechanics in dealerships. Like anything, do you research on the garage first and then decide. If they can't fix it, and unless they put significant effort in, they shouldn't be charging you anyway so they only loss is your time. Once you find a good indie, you won't go back to main dealer prices.

run_Forrest_run

bucketybuck wrote: »

Full dealers maintain schedules and order of jobs. To do that they invest in the staff and premises to allow it. They pay admin staff to handle the scheduling and hire extra mechanics to allow flexibility when jobs take longer than expected. For all of this you pay higher labour rates and higher parts prices.

Many independents cannot do this as effectively, by their very nature they are going to be looser and less structured. They don't have admin staff scheduling, they have a looser system of drop it up and we''ll what we can do. They don't have 20 mechanics so if a job runs longer than expected then every other job gets pushed back. If they get called away for a breakdown or even for personal reasons then your work gets delayed. For all of this you pay lower labour rates.

If you want a guarantee that work will be looked at to some schedule then you need to go to a dealer and pay accordingly. This doesn't mean every time you go to an independent your car is going to sit there for days on end but you simply can't have the same expectation you have from a dealer.

Some good points you make and I hear ya, but for nothing at all to be done in an entire day and not to receive a phone call or an update...it doesn't require a team of receptionists & 20 mechanics to understand that most of the time once the customer is kept in the loop they are actually fairly understandable of delays and unforeseen issues.

Ah well, it's all a learning experience...I just hope when I collect my car it will be in the same state (or better) as I left it this morning.

vandriver

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Some good points you make and I hear ya, but for nothing at all to be done in an entire day and not to receive a phone call or an update...it doesn't require a team of receptionists & 20 mechanics to understand that most of the time once the customer is kept in the loop they are actually fairly understandable of delays and unforeseen issues.

Ah well, it's all a learning experience...I just hope when I collect my car it will be in the same state (or better) as I left it this morning.

An expectation that a mechanic will ring you back is ludicrously optimistic in Ireland

run_Forrest_run

vandriver wrote: »

An expectation that a mechanic will ring you back is ludicrously optimistic in Ireland

so I've come to learn.

However the mechanics in this case are Polish..but I get your point.

Guy:Incognito

babybuilder wrote: »

In my experience I've rarely had a car serviced with an independent mechanic and been happy with the quality of the work. Especially when they say " hadn't a chance to look at that .. can you bring it in another day?" The hassle. On the other hand the main garages will charge top rate for some apprentice on peanuts. I've often found pliers or screw drivers sitting under the bonnet.

This always comes up in these threads. What do people think happens in main dealers? Lads spend 4 years serving their time doing all the work in the garage then 40 years in a chair with their feet up drinking tea?

ezra_

Had the opposite experience - have a local indie who lives nearby.

Dropped him the keys on a Sunday evening for a service. He'd pick up the car.

Was getting more and more pissed about the car not being done - called him on Thursday and he casually mentions he did it on Monday morning

He is fairly reliable but will say when he wants the car. Also will send a text when the cattle break out.

JohnBoy26

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

This always comes up in these threads. What do people think happens in main dealers? Lads spend 4 years serving their time doing all the work in the garage then 40 years in a chair with their feet up drinking tea?

Also infairness most apprentices(or at least the ones I've seen) at main dealers are decent. They are not the types that spend one day in the workshop and think they are already mechanics.

TheShow

local indie charges €60 an hour for labour. any idea what the going rate is or is that on the money?

George Dalton

Depends on the location. We charge €50 per hour plus vat so €56.75 inc vat. That's about average outside of Dublin IMO.

TheShow

just outside dublin, 60+ vat. not too far off so.

enumbers

bucketybuck wrote: »

Full dealers maintain schedules and order of jobs. To do that they invest in the staff and premises to allow it. They pay admin staff to handle the scheduling and hire extra mechanics to allow flexibility when jobs take longer than expected. For all of this you pay higher labour rates and higher parts prices.

Many independents cannot do this as effectively, by their very nature they are going to be looser and less structured. They don't have admin staff scheduling, they have a looser system of drop it up and we''ll what we can do. They don't have 20 mechanics so if a job runs longer than expected then every other job gets pushed back. If they get called away for a breakdown or even for personal reasons then your work gets delayed. For all of this you pay lower labour rates.

If you want a guarantee that work will be looked at to some schedule then you need to go to a dealer and pay accordingly. This doesn't mean every time you go to an independent your car is going to sit there for days on end but you simply can't have the same expectation you have from a dealer.

very sweeping statement to say main dealers have excess mechanics hours in there day to deal with over runs, would make no sense and would be a very wasteful business model. Every dealer locally runs extremely tight on full time qualified mechanics due to running cost like everyone else has to deal with. Possibly less likely to have overruns as dealing with newer cars with less issues of seized bolts, rotten wiring, previous repairs etc

Back on track
No excuse for not dealing with the job as booked even it is a one man operation, if on testing the fault couldn't be replicated customer should have been contacted to agree to further diag time.

tomwaterford

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

This always comes up in these threads. What do people think happens in main dealers? Lads spend 4 years serving their time doing all the work in the garage then 40 years in a chair with their feet up drinking tea?

No...but the older mechanic ime tend to do a lot of the warranty work and offer advise/guidance to younger lads??

enumbers

45 including vat here

bucketybuck

enumbers wrote: »

very sweeping statement to say main dealers have excess mechanics hours in there day to deal with over runs

I never said that.

run_Forrest_run

an update on this, I collected it yesterday evening, the guy had finally taken it for a short drive and followed by steps to reproduce the problem but by then the day was over so today I'm bringing it back and he's going to start the process of elimination, starting with the throttle body.

garancafan

It's worth remembering that using independent mechanics rather than main dealers can affect the value of a car at trade-in.

run_Forrest_run

garancafan wrote: »

It's worth remembering that using independent mechanics rather than main dealers can affect the value of a car at trade-in.

Don't worry, it's a 2007 1.8 petrol Mazda 6, it's worth more to me than a trade-in could ever match.