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Billing Customers For Rust Issues

DMG said:
Unless you have wrenched in the rust belt, you can’t imagine the problems we are talking about. Exhaust manifold bolts that rust off almost flush with the aluminum head, oil pans rusted through and leaking, brake backing plates rusted apart, O2 sensors fused to pipes, fuel lines rusted to the point that if you touch them to change a fuel filter they will leak, and a thousand other things.


TJs that rust so bad the belly pan falls with the trans attached.
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No, I haven't experienced the rust belt life but I lived in the mountains of NC for ~40 yrs. We got the salt and wet conditions that lead to what you're talking about albeit maybe not as often. Also, all I've ever wrenched on is old rotten Jeeps that have been sitting for years. Even though I don't dick with it every day I still have the tricks I pull out when things get stubborn. I'd say 60% of the time, it works every time :flipoff2:

edit: I forgot to mention I bought my tow rig from Ohio. By the end that som bitch was slap eat up in rust. It ate through the diff cover, leaf spring plates, brake lines, exhaust, etc etc
 
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Ted_Kaczynski said:
But will you refund customers of non rusty cars that you beat book time on?
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I think we know the answer to that. He wants his cake and eat it too. I'm not a mechanic but my company does contract work. It's a mix of fixed price (flat rate) and time and materials (T&M). We find as a company we can make the most profit on fixed price because we assign our most talented, hard-working, and efficient staff because they do it right the first time, they get paid more and we make more profit. T&M is fine, but we find we have to spend more time managing the assigned staff because they don't work as hard (the incentive is to burn more hours than necessary) as they do on fixed price where efficiency is incentivized. Btw, on more than one occasion we have charged less than the fixed price for an easy job, but it's usually a larger repeat customer that we want to have for the long term.
 
jimmy123456789 said:
Somebody finally understands what I'm talking about.
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:homer: - did you miss all the replies agreeing with the basic principle?


Also - called it! :laughing:

ExWrench said:
Then charge them and see how the market reacts.
Or start another thread seeking an echo chamber for your inane chatter.
What do you want, an "IBB stamp of approval" to show your customers your billing is justified?

The market sets the pricing in the long run. If you add $50-$100 to every job while other shops don't, you could become "that shifty shop that always tacks on an extra charge" and you lose customers. If your shop rate is $110 & the shop down the block's is $135 but they don't have that "sleazy" reputation, they may be charging more per job than you; while they have customers lined up to take a fucking, customers thankful to have an alternative to "Upcharge Jimmy".

People are generally reasonable - it just takes clear communication so they don't think you're hosing them.
If you want more than the shop across town for the same job, you need to communicate the additional value.
Based on this thread & same thread(s) on PBB, the communication is where you're going to fuck yourself :laughing:
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Ted_Kaczynski said:
But will you refund customers of non rusty cars that you beat book time on?
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No.

I bill the normal customer pay flat rate time (most times sourced from Alldata) for the job (e.g. 2 hours to replace front struts, etc.) and if I beat it, that's my reward for working efficently and having tools to make the job quicker and easier. That's the benefit of flat rate, customer is charged a FLAT RATE regardless of the time it takes the tech to do it. A newbie tech might take the full 2 hours to replace those struts, but an experienced guy and no complications can easily have it done in half the time (or less).

If there's known rust issues with that vehicle, I inform the customer that if an issue arises that they will be billed x extra to deal with the issue.
 
Maybe buy a torch and some penetrant so you have those tools and work on rusty cars efficiently?

To your credit you did get 2 people to agree with you, so you have that going for you, which is nice. Goongalagoonga.
 
jimmy123456789 said:
No.

I bill the normal customer pay flat rate time (most times sourced from Alldata) for the job (e.g. 2 hours to replace front struts, etc.) and if I beat it, that's my reward for working efficently and having tools to make the job quicker and easier. That's the benefit of flat rate, customer is charged a FLAT RATE regardless of the time it takes the tech to do it. A newbie tech might take the full 2 hours to replace those struts, but an experienced guy and no complications can easily have it done in half the time (or less).

If there's known rust issues with that vehicle, I inform the customer that if an issue arises that they will be billed x extra to deal with the issue.
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so what the fuck is your bitch again?
 
jimmy123456789 said:
No.

I bill the normal customer pay flat rate time (most times sourced from Alldata) for the job (e.g. 2 hours to replace front struts, etc.) and if I beat it, that's my reward for working efficently and having tools to make the job quicker and easier. That's the benefit of flat rate, customer is charged a FLAT RATE regardless of the time it takes the tech to do it. A newbie tech might take the full 2 hours to replace those struts, but an experienced guy and no complications can easily have it done in half the time (or less).

If there's known rust issues with that vehicle, I inform the customer that if an issue arises that they will be billed x extra to deal with the issue.
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if you are already doing the thing, then why the thread and the concern griping "customers SHOULD blah blah blah" ?
 
Jftc jblahblah you've been crying about this for years if you haven't figured it out by now you never will. May i suggest a move to florida or alabama.
 
jimmy123456789 said:
No.

I bill the normal customer pay flat rate time (most times sourced from Alldata) for the job (e.g. 2 hours to replace front struts, etc.) and if I beat it, that's my reward for working efficently and having tools to make the job quicker and easier. That's the benefit of flat rate, customer is charged a FLAT RATE regardless of the time it takes the tech to do it. A newbie tech might take the full 2 hours to replace those struts, but an experienced guy and no complications can easily have it done in half the time (or less).

If there's known rust issues with that vehicle, I inform the customer that if an issue arises that they will be billed x extra to deal with the issue.
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You're a God damned idiot. Such an idiot you can't even fathom how fucking stupid you come across to others and most likely your customers. If I see a mechanic with Jimmy on his shirt, I'm leaving on principle from here on out.

Slipping Jimmy...no, you're Jipping Jimmy :homer:
 
Ted_Kaczynski said:
You're a God damned idiot. Such an idiot you can't even fathom how fucking stupid you come across to others and most likely your customers. If I see a mechanic with Jimmy on his shirt, I'm leaving on principle from here on out.

Slipping Jimmy...no, you're Jipping Jimmy :homer:
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What part of this don't you understand? How the fuck am I ripping anyone off? Quoting a price with parts and labor that's agreed upon by the customer for services rendered. If they're happy with their service and the job was done according to the work order in a timely fashion, how exactly have they been ripped off?
 
jimmy123456789 said:
No.

I bill the normal customer pay flat rate time
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Well...except you dont want to.

Either its flat rate...or its not.

Rust and shitty issues are part of flat rate. You either except the job and it's a known possibility...or you don't.

You wouldn't survive very long in most places with the thought pattern you seem to be entangled up in.
 
jimmy123456789 said:
What part of this don't you understand? How the fuck am I ripping anyone off? Quoting a price with parts and labor that's agreed upon by the customer for services rendered. If they're happy with their service and the job was done according to the work order in a timely fashion, how exactly have they been ripped off?
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Fuck. Off. Stupid.

​​​​​
 
Poopyface said:
Upper rear shock bolts on jeeps. Those are fun.

I replaced the fuel tank on the gmt400 cuz it rusted through and rubbed the fuel and brake lines a little while getting it out. Instant leak. I rubbed off a little rust up the line with fingers and it started leaking there. I dunno how it held fluid when braking.
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Those are the stuff of rusty nightmares. And you can’t get a torch near any of it.
 
jimmy123456789 said:
What part of this don't you understand? How the fuck am I ripping anyone off? Quoting a price with parts and labor that's agreed upon by the customer for services rendered. If they're happy with their service and the job was done according to the work order in a timely fashion, how exactly have they been ripped off?
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You say you get a reward for being efficient. Yet what your describing is not anything to do with your work. Your basing how much you think you should be able to charge based on how well the customer maintains their rig. Not how well you maintain it. So from your little pea brained head can you please explain to the class how you should benefit from the work of your diligent customers and yet you should not have to work more if they dont maintain the rust. You realize you sound like a lazy SOB that is only truly interested in riding coat tails. Are you even working for a company currently? If so at least tell us you’re smart enough to not tell them what and or how you feel about flat rate, let alone this thread.

Fuck, you sound so dumb that I am beginning to think you may be Dumbage as an alter ego. Just to test that theory. What are your thoughts on Trump and N. Korea?
 
Cred is barely hanging. op needs to post images of his truck or something he is building...
 
jimmy123456789 said:
What part of this don't you understand? How the fuck am I ripping anyone off? Quoting a price with parts and labor that's agreed upon by the customer for services rendered. If they're happy with their service and the job was done according to the work order in a timely fashion, how exactly have they been ripped off?
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You want your cake and to eat it too. Thats how. You’re beginning to sound like a scammer at this point.
 
jimmy123456789 I'll type slow so maybe you can understand. As you've said if you can do a 3 hour job in 1, you're reward is getting paid for 3. If that same job takes you 4, you want a reward for the extra time.

if a customer has a clean rust free car and you charge them 3 hours when it takes 1, you're punishing them financially for making your job easy. If a customer has a rusty shitbox due to whatever climate you work in, you want to punish them financially for something they have only so much control over.


Have you considered a career cleaning porta-shitters? You may almost be qualified for it.
 
Jimmy is an idiot.

Jimmy is why I won't let anyone else turn a wrench on my shit.




I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy works at the shop my company truck went into. The one that 2 month after a brake job had the audacity to ask me where I took it since the rear brakes had fallen apart. They didn't torque anything and apparently that noise was the caliper bouncing around inside the wheel.... :laughing:
 
You look at the job before you write it up, take into account the rust factor you'll encounter, write invoice for whatever extra time you think it will be. And if your honest, when your done and the job went better and faster than expected because shit wasn't as fucked as it looked you knock some time off the final bill. You cover your costs, customer happy if everything went without a hitch. Its not rockets science.
 
I have come to realize something as I have gotten older, I truly hate working on cars.

I don't like modifying them, I don't like fixing them.

I'll take my old fat ass out there and work on it on a gravel driveway in the full sun before I let a fuckwad penis like Jimmy work on it.
 
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