yeah, you should use your judgement on a per job/person basis and decide for yourself.

what do you mean by this comment?
------ for the fellow who thinks that @ $90/hr you should wipe his ass, let me say this

i checked the thread and I'm the only one who made any reference to "$90/hr". I never said that at $90/hr I should wipe anyone's ass. The text was out of context from what a dealer would say if they had to deal with someone who wanted to bring in their own parts.

As for not knowing of any 'indy' shops that charge that much, well i'm sorry, that is not a out of the ordinary rate. Very common, and though I think it's high, I don't mind as people are lining up to pay that amount every single day. The same people who buy their parts there as well and have the whole thing done there. Nothing wrong with that, that goes with your "capitalist economy" concept.

But what's wrong with supporting the little guy? The guy who charges less than the big guys and is like you? that's called competition and charging less than the big fish so you can attract customers, and also subscribes to the "pay me for what I do and I'll pay you for what you do". We still pay the full labor rate, it's just sometimes I get a better deal on parts and save quite a bit. If it's roughly the same price and even 10% more, I'll have him do the whole thing!

--------- understand that these cars cost a lot of money to maintain and the cheap way out will usually result in a sub-standard car.

That is what's wrong with your theory, my way proves that you don't need to subscribe to the "pay ridiculous prices to maintain your benz" theory when there is an alternative to make your TCO a pleasurable experience, and everyone wins.

you CAN pay less money AND have the same quality assuming you know what your doing. I guess my comments are directed to people who know what their doing.