<VV> paucity of mechanics

[kaczmarek at charter.net]

Folks
Unca Lew hit it on the head. 

When my friend Eric was running his Corvair shop in NC, he did estimates for free.
(Which I got him to change eventually)
Each car that came in got put up on the jack stands, and he would spend 2-3 hours going through the entire car, making a list of parts required.  He would then sit down with the Clark's book and write up a parts estimate, and then estimate his labor.  Didn't even include shop supplies like paint, oil, grease, varsol, etc. (for cars not getting a paint job there, just mech. restorations.)

I was there when several customers saw that it was going to cost (in 1996 prices)
6K for parts, 6-8K for labor.   After we revived the frugal owner, they would leave--never to return. 

After Eric estimated it was taking him 8 hours to give an estimate, for which he received ZIP,  he started charging 100.00 for an estimate.  And people balked at paying THAT.   

This hobby is still infested with some seriously cheap SOB's.  If I take my car to a shop and they're going to spend 8 hours doing a throurough inspection and make up a parts list and labor estimate, they deserve compensation for that time.  To think anything else makes you a cheapo.  

I was chastised once in this form about complaining when a trans. shop charged me 10.00 to use a slide hammer for 30 seconds, because the shop deserved to be paid for their time and the use of the tool (which I USED MYSELF--THEY DID NOTHING), right there in the shop driveway. Big difference between 8 hours and 30 seconds, but the same rule applies. 

A rod shop in Morganton NC has a full sized poster made from an e-mail reply to the shop from Boyd Coddington, answering the question. "how do I get people to understand the cost of restoring a car?"

Boyd's reply
"I tell my customers I need a credit card I can charge 10,000.00 a month, EVERY MONTH FOR ONE YEAR.  If you can't give me that, THEN DON'T BRING YOUR VEHICLE TO MY SHOP. 

Now of course that would be a bit much for Corvairs, but you get the general idea. 

Hank


---- Mr Lew Rishel <lewrish at sbcglobal.net> wrote: 
> Since it is well known that vair owners are excessively frugal, is it any 
> wonder that there are so few that are able to make a living at this type of 
> work ??   Even  lc has been know to attack other makes of vehicles.
> Lew 
> 
>  _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights are the property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Change your options: http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs 
>  _______________________________________________