Complaint Review: West Oakland Park Mobil

Depending on what Saturn you have, the list price from NAPA for your serpentine belt is anywhere from $39.73, to $47.67. My cost is anywhere from $16-$19 for those same belts.

The labor to replace it is .4 according to my book, so $30 should do it.

What exactly is the complaint? That the repair shop makes a profit? Just like every other business? You know, the place you work at charges more for it's goods and services than it costs them too.

This isn't a surprise to anyone who did not go to a Government School.

As for the computer guy, guess what? You also charge more for the parts than your employer pays...alot more. The typical Computer repair shop hits their customers up for about the same mark up as an auto repair shop does.

Do you people go to a restaurant and complain about the prices they charge? It's the same thing. They charge for parts/labor too. They call it a meal though...the parts(edibles) and labor(cook) are combined into one package.

Parts pay for the shop, labor pays for the employees. It's as simple as that. Do you think warranty repairs are done solely at the expense of the repair shop? That is one of the overhead costs that parts mark up pays for.

If you don't like paying the mechanic, do it yourself.

Ya'll have fun now, ya hear?

That is not overhead. That is just a plain rip-off. I just left a mechanics where he is trying to charge me $725 for a part that is $543 at the dealer (or $340 elsewhere). He charges me for his labor to install it, so why should I pay a huge mark up on the parts?

I'm a computer programmer/analyst and I charge by the hour. If I marked up 50% for every part or computer I ordered for a customer, I'd be a millionaire (and have lots of unhappy customers).

I'm curious what other people think about this.
Thanks!

There are fifty dollar belts and the "same" belt can be bought for ten dollars. Most people want the best belt for the cheapest price, which ain't happening. If you know nothing about cars, I recommend you let the mechanic use the good stuff because he's trying to keep your car from breaking down. You will find that most mechanics won't even buy from the discount auto stores for good reason, they sell Chinese-made crap. If you were to bring me cheaply made parts I'd tell you to find someone else to install them.

There is a simple solution. Change your own d**n belt. Order it online or by phone and put it on yourself. That way you can spend the hour or two trying to figure out how to do it and when you screw it up you'll gladly pay the $30 labor charge. Last Monday morning there's a half dozen customers waiting at my door at 10 till 10. Always happens when we have a time change. That Monday, I probably had 40 folks who needed help changing their watches and clocks, which I'm more then glad to do. Anyway, this witch shoves past the other customers to be first. She has some old POS watch and says she's tried to put it on this monster leather strap watch band with straps, screws and rivets but hasn't been able to do it. It has TWO pages of instructions on how to assemble. I've done them before and they're a pain in the a*s. As I gather the mess up, sit down to begin work, she asks, how much, I say $10. The witch says "$10, that's ridiculos, it's a $5 job, for $10 I'll do it myself". I swear to God, everyone in the store starts laughing at her. She gets pissed off and storms out. They should have pegged you when you rolled up driving a '92 Saturn as just such a customer. Better yet, take it to the dealer and see what he'll charge along with the thousands of dollars he'll find wrong with your ride.

It's called OVERHEAD and the ability to do the job in a short amount of time.