It's tough to find a decent mechanic who takes the timeand does it right instead of half-assing things. For instance. I do not have a press so I opted to find a local shop and have the front bushings pressed out. meanwhile, I wanted to install new MOOG ball joints all around. Figured it would take 2 hours and their shoprate is $60 an hour. Got a call the next day saying everything is ready..Awesome. I get there, pay $120, bring them home and dive into the front end installation. Come to find out, the upper ball joint retainerplate for the rubber bushing is installed incorrectly so the boot can just pop out. Imagine after I install everything, pumpit up with grease and grease flies everywhere on a clean set of suspension components. So, I open the upper ball joints up to find out the the control arm ends and magnled to the point where I had to grind down and file down to make the mating surfaces flat. On the safe side, I sandwiches the pieces together with some silicone sealant.

It's all back together now holding grease but I think people get my point.

 

I agree. They are hard to find.
Unfortunately, most of the world is not interested in good work. They want it cheap, and right now.

 

The problem is finding a good mechanic that is honest as well. some are good but cheat's, others are honest but not really good.

 

Toss this into one that is priced right, and they are rare as hen's teeth.

 

You'll find that the honest ones are extremely busy as well...

 

The question begs to be asked at what price per hour do you get good quality work? One would think at $60/hr that would qualify for good quality work, guess not.

 

I guess you should have bought a press, and done it your self.

Greg N

 

The going labor rate around here is 70-120 an hour, flat rate. We are at 68.50 and i adjust flat rate for the age and condition of the car and the OWNER.

As a shop owner and a life time mechanic, it would amaze most of you how much it cost to equip a shop, $300 a week, every week just to Snap-on for 20-25 years adds up.

This does not count Baum, AST or any of the others specialty tool suppliers.

We almost always have more than we can do, but there are just the 3 of us.

Today we worked on 2 BMW's , 2 Lexus's, 1 mr2, a Rolls Royce and, set up a rear end for a blown Cobra.

We do not advertise, and most of our work come from other shops referrals and some times from the other shops them selves.

If you do not trust your mechanic, find one you do, or do it your self.

But i do under stand that there are some bad apples out there and even more that are just not competent.

 

It sucks that the good mechanics in the field have to put up with the bull$h1t that comes with having lousy ones in the field too. People approach the who profession with a lot of unfortuante sketicism. I have been doing a little research for myself into what it takes to outfit a shop, and I am amazed at the amount of $$$$$$$$ and commitment it tales to be able to survive as a mechanic these days.

That being said, I am trying to learn to do most things for myself. For me, it's almost fun. But I could not imagine doing it for a living. Hell, I'd never make it. I'm too frickin' slow!

It would be cool if we could start a list of mechanics that forum members have had good experiences with, by city and state. Might help a few folks out...

Then again, it's just my opinion.

 

By trade, I am a professional aircraft mechanic. My philosophy is to treat the customers equipment as if were my own. I take the extra time to get each job done right the first time. But no matter how careful one works, mistakes can happen. Thats why we always have a second set of eyes to inspect our work.

Now here is the catch. How does the automotive mechanic handle the mistakes. Does one cover-up their mistakes? Or does one repair or replace the damaged part or parts? And this all depends on the shops management of the problem. Will a mechanic who made the mistake be financially "punished"? Or will the shop absorb the costs in favor of a comfortable evironment for the mechs, which means satisfied customers?

I'm not debating the quality of mechanics, but I do question the quality of the shops and their management philosophy. Heres one suggestion to judge a quality shop. How long have the mechanics worked there?

We here on the forum have a network of hundreds of experienced DIY's fixing and helping to troubleshoot others problems on just one model of car. We can fix almost any problem on a C4. Can we really expect the local shop/garage to be as efficient as the CF is? The answer is No. Corvette speciality shops exist because Corvette owners expect quality service. These shops can still make mistakes, and we should respect their being human. And be prepared to negotiate the price tag when necessary.

I for one, will not take my Vette or any other car I own into a shop as long as I am capable of lifting a wrench and troubleshooting a problem. Or until the warranty expires.

 

It is hard to find a good mechanic, and to find one whose body will let them continue to do the job after they have learned what they need to know is rare. All C-4's are project cars, wether we thought of them that way before we bought them or not. If you can turn wrenchs,....have fun if not,... just keep looking for that mechanic till you find him/her.
Listing good shops is a great idea. ...

 

Publicly, I would certainly hope that an aircraft mechanic does the right thing and not cover up mistakes... people's live are entrusted in the work those kinds of mechanics perform. Aircraft cannot simply pull to the side of the road due to a mistake a mechanic has made.

I too know too well the dark areas of this industry.

 

I'm with you on the adjusting the rate for differing customers (attitude goes a long way). The problem is the perception of our industry as a whole, and unfortunately the motoring public still considers us a knuckle-dragging greaseballs. True, there are a lot of those still around, but you won't find any of those in my shop at all. Actually, my standard labor rate is $75 per hour for what I consider "normal" repairs and service, with specialized diagnostic and fabrication labor a bit more. I'm about in the middle of the road, labor-wise, and I also do offer a forum and club rate that's less. Consequently, I'm very busy and I have a typical lead time of about 2 weeks for conventional work, and large projects are out to 3 months, and it's still just me in the shop. I've had numerous "techs" wanting to come work here, but not a single one can meet my standards for competence and/or appearance (VERY important in a Corvette oriented shop...).
$300 a week to Happy Snappy...yep, I spend that much too. Professional tools and equipment cost money...good money. I just bought a new air compressor to keep up with my blast cabinet and still power the rest of the shop. How much? Try $7000.00 for a constant duty model. I blew up two "Home Depot Specials" that were "professional grade" (yeah, right), and of course I need at least two more lifts, but have to find the $$$ somewhere for them. A funny story to relate... I just ordered a VATS lock cylinder for a '92 that I've got in the shop along with a pair of keys for it. I told the parts guy at the dealer the VATS code I needed and he asked me how I knew. I told him, "I used my VATS Interrogator" (yes my shop has one..$500 well spent!). It amazed the poor guy that an independent shop not only knew what a VATS Interrogator was, but actually owned and used one!

Since I do primarily performance oriented work, I of course have to have inventory to sell and use in the course of my work. That all costs money too... I've got probably 12K in Magnaflow alone, along with some SLP stuff, etc., etc. I could go on and on, but I think that a lot of opinions expressed here by us in the business are all in line and have covered the matter.

 

After reading that paragraph ten times yesterday, today I see where you might come to a different meaning. Please reread the original post.