MOT failure - options and advice

hewhoisnotintheknow

Alias_Omega wrote: »

I would never take the car to the garage to have brake pads replaced.

Some tasks you can do at home, that is one of them.

yes, it was an example, i put a disclaimer on there stating it was an example for examples sake

jeannieblue

a11waysindebt wrote: »

Is this still going on

Yep...... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

jeannieblue

:whistle:

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

Time to get the tools out, get the lamp in place, learn from the first one

whilst working on the 1st one the penetrating oil is working on the second shock etc etc

They dont actually charge for putting the car on the ramp, that's just stupid, but it all takes time, moving other cars out the way, parking them safely etc

Imagine this:

If i bring a car in and ask you to change all four brake pads on it, that will involve taking all four wheels off.

A day later i bring four cars in and ask you to one brake pad on each car, which is going to be quicker to do, the first job (1 car) or the second job (4 cars)

Both jobs involve changing four pads, so accoring to your logic it will cost the same to do job 1 and 2

*(I know you don't change just one pad, its just a daft example for you in terms of time)

Labour time to change a pair of brake pads - half an hour. Front and rear one hour. One brake pad quarter of an hour - although highly unlikely!!!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We do not charge for 'actual' time!!! Sometimes to change a pair of brake pads can take longer than half an hour (due to circumstances - ie half an hour to find hidden locking wheel nut that customer has hidden in first aid box and we've spent ages looking and time phoning them...) we STILL only booked out HALF AN HOURS LABOUR!!!!!!!! Because that is what the job is worth!! Not all garages rip you off!!

Bloomin' eck... mother...

hewhoisnotintheknow

jeannieblue wrote: »

:whistle:

Labour time to change a pair of brake pads - half an hour. Front and rear one hour. One brake pad quarter of an hour - although highly unlikely!!!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We do not charge for 'actual' time!!! Sometimes to change a pair of brake pads can take longer than half an hour (due to circumstances - ie half an hour to find hidden locking wheel nut that customer has hidden in first aid box and we've spent ages looking and time phoning them...) we STILL only booked out HALF AN HOURS LABOUR!!!!!!!! Because that is what the job is worth!! Not all garages rip you off!!

Bloomin' eck... mother...

I dont think you understand my point, not to worry

jeannieblue

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

I dont think you understand my point, not to worry

I understand your point, but in reality it does not work that way at all. A job is worth x amount of hours. In reality it generally takes more, you cannot book out more because that would be taking the p1ss. We are fair to our customers, we are a long standing independent of more than 20 years and are very busy as said before. You just cannot book out hours on a job depending on how long it takes to get it in the workshop on to the ramp! The 'clock' starts (trying to simplify it here..) when the mechanic actually starts on the work. The car is already on the ramp.

And if we could book out the labour and time we spend looking for well hidden locking wheel nuts then we would all be laughing all the way to the bank! And checking the spare wheel? And the boot is full to the top with god knows what?? No added labour time. It is not part of the job the car is booked in for and we charge for the job only.

On the plus side, alot of customers will put locking nut, service book on the passenger seat and the boot will be clear.... but it's not always that way. Its good to see behind the scenes sometimes! Feel free, if you are in our area - we have nothing to hide.

hewhoisnotintheknow

jeannieblue wrote: »

I understand your point, but in reality it does not work that way at all. A job is worth x amount of hours. In reality it generally takes more, you cannot book out more because that would be taking the p1ss. We are fair to our customers, we are a long standing independent of more than 20 years and are very busy as said before. You just cannot book out hours on a job depending on how long it takes to get it in the workshop on to the ramp! The 'clock' starts (trying to simplify it here..) when the mechanic actually starts on the work. The car is already on the ramp.

And if we could book out the labour and time we spend looking for well hidden locking wheel nuts then we would all be laughing all the way to the bank! And checking the spare wheel? And the boot is full to the top with god knows what?? No added labour time. It is not part of the job the car is booked in for and we charge for the job only.

On the plus side, alot of customers will put locking nut, service book on the passenger seat and the boot will be clear.... but it's not always that way. Its good to see behind the scenes sometimes! Feel free, if you are in our area - we have nothing to hide.

Just on a side note, why dont you ask the customer to physically hand you the locking wheel nut key?

jeannieblue

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

Just on a side note, why dont you ask the customer to physically hand you the locking wheel nut key?

Some do - and it is most annoying to be honest, it is much better if it is left within the car for the mechanic rather than handed in at the office. It is one thing to tag the keys - but hard to tag a locking wheel nut... no holes to put the label through and as they all pretty much look the same, we prefer they stay with the vehicle at all times, much more secure that way.

goldspanners

sorry jeanie but i know when im doing a job that takes one hour to do one side it generally is quicker to do the other side as all the tools are out and you know exactly what you need to do next.

wheel bearings for example, it might take me half an hour to jack it up get the wheel and hub off one side and replace the bearing and re fit the wheel and hub but i know from experience it can take say 20 mins to do the other side as all the appropriate tools are out and the things jacked up already and i know the very next thing im going to do as its all fresh in my mind from the last one.then 10 minutes to do paper work and get it signed etc, then charge 2 hours labour.:rotfl:

Rolandtheroadie

jeannieblue wrote: »

:whistle:
(due to circumstances - ie half an hour to find hidden locking wheel nut that customer has hidden in first aid box and we've spent ages looking and time phoning them...) we STILL only booked out HALF AN HOURS LABOUR!!!!!!!! Because that is what the job is worth!! Not all garages rip you off!!

My Mondeo passed it's MOT no probs on Tuesday. Guy said the rear inside pads were worn more than the outside one. I was going to get them to service it so I said just change them as there has been a slight shudder from the back end (turns out it needed discs too).
Got it back today and whats sitting on the passenger seat? The locking wheel nut thingie.
Never even crossed my mind.

vaio

jeannieblue wrote: »

I understand your point, but in reality it does not work that way at all. A job is worth x amount of hours. In reality it generally takes more, you cannot book out more because that would be taking the p1ss. We are fair to our customers, we are a long standing independent of more than 20 years and are very busy as said before. You just cannot book out hours on a job depending on how long it takes to get it in the workshop on to the ramp! The 'clock' starts (trying to simplify it here..) when the mechanic actually starts on the work. The car is already on the ramp.

And if we could book out the labour and time we spend looking for well hidden locking wheel nuts then we would all be laughing all the way to the bank! And checking the spare wheel? And the boot is full to the top with god knows what?? No added labour time. It is not part of the job the car is booked in for and we charge for the job only.

On the plus side, alot of customers will put locking nut, service book on the passenger seat and the boot will be clear.... but it's not always that way. Its good to see behind the scenes sometimes! Feel free, if you are in our area - we have nothing to hide.

Jeannie, trust me, in reality your wages have to be paid and the mechanic who drives it onto the ramp and road tests it afterwards have to be paid too.

Whether your boss lumps that sort of non productive stuff into the hourly rate or builds it into the allocated time per job doesn’t matter. Either way, you have to book it in, make the calls for the parts, invoice it etc and the mechanic has to put it on the ramp and get it up in the air, check the tracking and road test it etc. All these take the same amount of time whether one shock or two are going to be changed and so it’s obvious that the cost of changing two should be less than twice the cost of changing one.

Your boss might have taken a business decision to just charge £x per shock to make pricing easy but that doesn’t alter the truth of what I’ve said above.