The Problem with being the family mechanic...

[L98camino]

I can't bring my junk to a "garage" to have it worked on. I have trust issues and I'm tight with money. My junk includes the wife and kids cars and sometimes my Dad's F100 and Caddy.

I've always done all the work on them, even oil changes. My family appreciates it, and the money and hassle saved. I don't mind doing it either, I get alot of satisfaction from it. I haven't had a car in a repair shop in many years.

There in lies the rub......

I'm stuck in Wichita working (I live near Seattle Wa.) and my daughter's car won't start. No problem, I have friends who do basic car stuff, I call and ask a favor. The battery is charged and load tested the terminals are cleaned. The engine still won't turn over. What to do? I figure it needs a starter. I don't want to impose on my buddy for that task, he has his own stuff to worry about.

I don't have a clue what shop I can trust, I call a mobile repair outfit so my daughter won't have to pay to have it towed. $75 for the service call, $80 labor per hr., and he has to supply the part, $210! (I priced them at the local A/P store for $175 new, but he will only install his own parts). He can do it today so I give him the go ahead.

Long story, short, he can't get the starter out! And he doesn't have the "equipment" required to raise the motor for access!! He extorts the $75 from my wife for the call and leaves!!! Needless to say I contacted him and told him what I thought of his "repair" business and his abilities as a mechanic, all to no avail.

Sooooo... her car will sit until I get home in a month.

Does this sound familliar?

[Brad54]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Oh yes...
When my wife and I were newly married, I was out of town covering a show, and her '88 Firebird died. It was towed to a shop, and she called me in tears saying they wanted $810 to fix it. When I asked what the problem was, she told me they said it needed new plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Obviously I went through the roof. I told her I'd be home in two days, and to tell them not to do anything until I got there.

I walked into the place and asked them what the hell they were thinking, taking advantage of a woman in distress. The guy gets smug with me and starts asking what I know about cars. I tell him I've been working on them since I was a kid. He blows me off and says something smart about how it's one thing to work on them and another to know how to fix them. I said "I don't typically like to be a know-it-all, but I'm the tech editor for a national car magazine, so I know a bit about cars." He looks at me, and says "Yeah, but how much do you actually work on cars, rather than watch other people work on them." At which point I caused a bit of a scene. Dirt bag, thief, taking advantage of women, let me talk to your ####ing manager right NOW! as other people in the waiting room started to get a little uncomfortable.

They ended up paying to tow it to my house, where I fixed it for about a hundred bucks in parts.

Idiotically, I wasn't through with them--my mother-in-law refused to change mechanics and had the transmission in her POS '77 Cougar serviced there. When they refilled it, they filled it TWICE. When she brought it in because it was smoking (dumping fluid out the fill tube, onto the exhaust manifold after it got warm) they told her she needed--you guessed it!--a new transmission. I again went in, told them it was too full and that they were trying to rip her off. The dolt behind the counter tells me I don't know what I'm talking about. I skip the dramatics and tell him to put it on the lift right now, and check the fluid level with me standing there. He does..."Hmmm...lookit that. It's way over-full." Yeah. Thanks. "Well, we didn't do it. Did she add fluid to it after she took it home?" You're joking, right? She's 65 years old, and doesn't do anything but put gas in it. I'm surprised she knows where the hood latch even is! "Well, maybe she has a gentleman friend who added fluid to it." Drain the ####ing transmission, add the right amount of fluid and get it off your lift!

The Better Business Bureau makes you feel good, but they're pretty much useless.

-Brad

[min301]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Where's the car? Maybe a Junkie lives close enough to help?

[racepics]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

This is also the type of thing that happens when you send a sister or mom to get parts from
the parts store. I remember my mom and sister went pick up an exhaust pipe for a car me and
my pops were working on so we gave her the exact size of what we needed and my sister went in
and they asked what it was for so she told them and they told her that the piece we needed never
came in that size for that car and tried to sell her a piece that cost twice as much and was wrong my sister argued a bit and went out to the car almost in tears as she knew I knew what I needed, then mom went in and it got ugly GO MOM!!!

Also it never fails when someone who knows cars but doesn't work in a garage in the eyes of parts stores
and service garages doesn't know thing because they don't work in that field!

Makes me wonder if I am in the wrong racket!

[Scott Liggett]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Mostly the same issues. I once needed a power steering pump replaced when I was too tired from working so much to do it myself. The idiots see the 383 on my sbc's valve covers and tried to put a Chrysler 383 power steering pump on the car. When I confronted the morons; they tried to tell me they were professionals and I didn't know what I was talking about. I said they were so professional that they thought a small block Chevy was a Chrysler big block. This is after I told what year make and model of power steering pump to use and wrote it on the repair slip. So, I also reprimanded them for not being able to read and asked if he got his ASE certs out of cereal box. They wanted $100 for mostly doing nothing. I said I'll pay it, then send the bill and a complaint to the BBB and the Bureau of Automotive Repair, BAR. He told me to get my car out of his shop. Gladly.

[L98camino]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Well at least I'm not the only one.

Where's the car? Maybe a Junkie lives close enough to help?

I live in the south east area of Everett, Wa. about 30 miles north of Seattle. the car is on the street in front of the house. I hate to ask but if anyone is interested, send me a PM and we can talk. Or if you know of a reputable shop in the area that you really trust.

This may seem strange to some but I'm the only person I know in my area that actually does ALL the work on my stuff. I know people who do alittle bit of this or that but nothing major. When I show them the car they say things like "do you really think you can get the thing back together?" or "you know they sell cars pre-assembled now-a-days", they just don't get it. Maybe it's a byproduct of the mostly tree huggin' ultra liberal population here.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

those agencies have no real power as all the hacks are still open
send your car to the local dealer , they might try and rape you for services , but you can always say no and get the real problem fixed

[KeithTurk]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

I just don't know any stories like this...

a guy like that wouldn't be in business here.... our local paper would print Brad's story... ruin the guys life and he'd be gone to the Big city to do it to YOU ... LOL... unless your smart enough not to live there!!!

Keith

[L98camino]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

I just don't know any stories like this...

a guy like that wouldn't be in business here.... our local paper would print Brad's story... ruin the guys life and he'd be gone to the Big city to do it to YOU ... LOL... unless your smart enough not to live there!!!

Keith

Oh, thanks Keith, kick a guy when he's down! ;) ;D

[KeithTurk]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Here.. Hold MY beer.... and watch this....

Nice eh...

Keith

[DanStokes]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

I do almost all of my own work and always have. There's some stuff I can't do for various reasons - don't have the equipment or license for A/C work, I can't give myself my state inspection stickers, etc. So I've established a good rapport with a local shop, and I take her (yes, her - ASE certified in everything) these jobs. I never nickel and dime her on the bill - it costs what it costs. And she's taken good care of me, including 4, count 'em 4, A/C compressors on my wife's Buick - only paid for the first one.

I have also been the family mechanic for my whole life. I made a change of policy a few years back, and it's worked out well. I no longer DO a job for anyone, but I'll work WITH them any time they want. So they can't just bring their car and drop it off - they have to stay and work on it with me. No variance to this policy for gender, either. The number of cars coming my way has dropped off considerably, and the family jobs I do get are much more appreciated by the car owner. I even took a pass on my brother's '73 351C Mustang convert, because he never showed up to work on it. Damn, I really wanted to do that car, too. The only exception to this policy is for Mom.

Dan

[min301]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Such a good son....

[Mr4Speed]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

Years ago when I was building my '68 Biscayne I needed to get an alignment done after I had rebuilt the front suspension. I had taken everything off replaced it all with new, fasteners and all. I didn't have anyone I knew on my side of town to do it so asked a buddy of mine that was a master mechanic and racer that had a shop right by the house where he sent cars to get aligned and he sent me to the body shop just up the road. I went over and told them what I needed, and who sent me. The guy said to bring it in the morning and he could do it the next day-great! I dropped it off the next morning and I told him to not worry about getting it perfect because I was going to have to bring right back in few weeks and get it done again when I pulled the six and dropped the big block in, I just wanted it to be driveable in the meantime since I had my daily driver for sale. Well he calls me right before lunch and tells me it's ready-and that the total is $148! I was expecting about $40, so I asked why so much? "We had to put it on the frame machine and spread it-on these old cars the frame settles." I calmly told him that I would be right there. He didn't know that it was a 29K original mile car. The first thing I did when I got there was to look under it at the camber adjusters and they were untouched, right in the middle as I had bolted it all together, and the core support to frame bushings were blown out to the sides. I went in and told him that I wasn't going to pay him anything and that if he didn't like it my skinny ass was going to feed him his teeth. I then told him that the car only had 29K on it and there was no way it had "settled", and that he had made a mess of my nice car. I took the keys from him and went to leave. When I got in the car the shifter was in neutral with the parking brake set because the column shifter wouldn't go into park any more-that's how far they had pulled the frame. I had to take it to a buddy of mine that worked at a frame shop across town and give him $150 to pull it back to where it was. I told my mechanic buddy the whole story-he was shocked and never sent them any business again. The body shop was out of business within the year. I don't think have I have been more mad in my life. It's not like I was a general clueless non-gearhead type person. I was clearly a car-guy working on a project, referred by a mechanic and racer, and I worked at an automotive machine shop at the time, but he stilled tried to blatantly screw me. I can only imagine how many other people got taken and never knew it.

I know several shops that I can send people to with confidence because they are run by people I know first hand to be straight up. You never know when you'll need them.

[sedandelivery55]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

I've always worked on my own vehicles, and my sisters, and my brothers, both of them, and my Moms(when she was alive). I've got friends who'll call me instead of a shop. I do enjoy it but sometimes it gets a little out of hand.
L98camino, what in the hell are you doing in Wichita? I left that town because there wasn't a damn thing there, jobs or people with brains, (including my ex). ;D Too bad my grampa had passed away. He had a shop there in Everett and was a honest person (he was a minister at a local Pentecostal church.) I worked is his shop back in the early '80s. I've got an aunt, uncle and numerous cousins still there but I don't think any of them can work on cars.

[ford141]

Re: The Problem with being the family mechanic...

I always do all of my own work too, and a lot of my family's work also. The only times my vehicles have ever been in a shop is for exhaust work (having custom pipes bent), and inspections. My "family" has recently expanded too, since I got engaged, and now I do my in-law's vehicles too. Just this past saturday I spent all day replacing an the oil pan gasket on my fiance's parents' Econoline van. Not fun, since you gotta unbolt the engine and jack it all the way up to the firewall, and take one of the torque boxes off of the frame to get the pan out. This weekend I am putting a front main seal in my fiance's 99 Suburu, and next weekend I get to replace a broken dash in my fiance's sister's R-title cavalier (bought it like that, the dash was broke from airbag deployment). No wonder I haven't had time to put my '79 back together. Currently the tranny is scattered all over the workbench cuz I'm too cheap to have a shop rebuild it, and I still need to port the heads on the 460 so I can start putting the motor back together. Hopefully I'll have it running again by summer, as long as everyone elses junk stays together.