PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

stevebfl · #8 07-17-2004, 12:43 PM

You don't get it, not that I expected you to.

First Miami like all metropolitan areas pays its techs 30% on average more than happens at small localities like Gainesville (who would live there otherwise). This of course is for real shops. It doesn't sound like any of your candidates would qualify. I know a number of quality shops in South Florida and my numbers are real.

So (due to mass marketing of price leader, chop shop, tire store, alignments), you think an alignment should cost 60 and you think it takes 30 minutes. There are no parts sales so this is all the income the store gets to pay two people and all the expenses you haven't a clue about, including the depreciation expense of $50,000 worth of equipment. Maybe you would understand this better if we talked about getting a ditch dug with a backhoe. In this case society has probably allowed you to realize that the cost isn't for the backhoe tech, but due to the cost of the equipment.

It is a shame you had to have your car aligned by someone who didn't know ahead of time which MBs have rear wheel alignment. If you had a 126 car and I aligned it I would know ahead of time that I would only be aligning two wheels.

It is also a shame that you dealt with a shop too stupid to know that all one's expenses need to be realized with the quoted charges. Adding the 5 bucks seems to be your biggest complaint. If they just had included it in their quoted charges this thread wouldn't have been written is my guess.

Not only are they stupid not to hide the charges but they are also stupid not to know they are breaking the law.

If as a DIYer you wish to buy labor only when you can't do it, you must understand that the shops catering to your business are all chop shops. You will have to understand that reasonable shops expect to make half as much per hour in parts profit as the labor charge. You don't have to like it, but even with that as a standard most shops aren't efficient enough to satisfy all three standards even at that rate. You read every day innewspaper adds of 39.95 alignments just like you read about $12 oil changes. you think this indicates a standard I suppose, as I said before you don't get it.

For those of you who aren't getting it, try another tack. Go look at the house the owner of your shop lives in and then venture out of town to where his techs can own a house. Of course you all think auto techs are the scum of the working community so the fact that they all have to live out of town to find affordable housing must satisfy you immensely.

As to the racial bias extended in your post, I will leave it alone.