jimmy123456789
Jackass
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2020
- Member Number
- 2312
- Messages
- 140
Fellow techs/shop owners out there, how do you decide when and how much to bill to deal with rust issues on vehicles.
For example, if a bolt breaks and you have to drill and tap out new threads, or if a lower strut bolt is seized (Ram 1500’s are terrible about this) and you have to spend 30 mins working it back and forth with the ball joint press to free it up, or if you have to put a rotor puller on and spend 30 mins hammering away at a rotor to get it free, how do you charge for this time? Or do you just eat it ?
I watch several automotive channels on YouTube, and one of them (Flat Rate Master) said that in their shop, if it breaks coming out/apart they bill the customer for it, but if it breaks going back together, they’ll eat it. Lots of shops don’t bill for this extra time at all, and IMO that’s not right. It’s fair to charge customers for work outside of the scope of the normal book time for a job.
So, what’s everyone else’s take on this? Is it legitimate to charge customers for dealing with rust issues? And if your shop does, how do they bill for it?
For example, if a bolt breaks and you have to drill and tap out new threads, or if a lower strut bolt is seized (Ram 1500’s are terrible about this) and you have to spend 30 mins working it back and forth with the ball joint press to free it up, or if you have to put a rotor puller on and spend 30 mins hammering away at a rotor to get it free, how do you charge for this time? Or do you just eat it ?
I watch several automotive channels on YouTube, and one of them (Flat Rate Master) said that in their shop, if it breaks coming out/apart they bill the customer for it, but if it breaks going back together, they’ll eat it. Lots of shops don’t bill for this extra time at all, and IMO that’s not right. It’s fair to charge customers for work outside of the scope of the normal book time for a job.
So, what’s everyone else’s take on this? Is it legitimate to charge customers for dealing with rust issues? And if your shop does, how do they bill for it?