why do mechanics over charge you?

Answer 1

Laura,
Because they can is the simple answer.
Mechanics over charge people that they find that have little knowledge of vehicles. And women such as you that go there and give out vague information about a problem are the most susceptible to being over charged. A man is less susceptible unless he is a geek or a nerd. The solution to this is if you develop a problem with your car have a man with some car smarts go with you and you won't be taken for an awful ride.
Pun intended. Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

Good question. The fact behind this question is not that the money goes to the mechanic, but to the shop. The mechanic doing the actual work is usually making about 1/10 - 1/5 or less the hourly shop rate. The rest of this money goes to shop supplies, maintenance, shop supplied tools, expensive air compressors, licenses, taxes and other employees ( IE. cashier, etc ). The fact that some automotive technicians "overcharge" or recommend not immediate repairs is atrocious. More than likely the company that owns the building is the one who recommends these practices. Also in most cases, certain employees have wages based on either commission or "book time" pay. Sometimes this pans out to be too tempting for some folks, but the reality is, they give a bad name to the rest of us, which makes people suspicious and not trust us. When a bill comes through that seems high, it is immediately thought that we are over charging. Many times, for the wide array of vehicles on the road, the technology they use and the cost of production parts are just going up in price. To most shops, the return customer and word of mouth is the most important thing. We try to do our best for everyone, but unfortunately not all cars are made the same!

Answer 3

Here is the deal.

There are shade tree mechanics out there that can do a good job with simple stuff tires, brakes and etc. These guys sometimes charge much less than the other shops. You can do these jobs your self cheaper sometimes, but you run the same risk as the shade tree guys. You try to do the job without the propper tool and you mess something up (tools are expensive, especially when there are specific tools that you have to have for each make of car). Perhaps the problem is a little out of your league and you try to fix it anyway, then you "fix" stuff that ain't broke. You pay mechanics to take these risks off of your hands and because they have the expertise required to solve the problem, or so you hope.

These guys want to make a living too. Who really wants to lie on a cold concrete floor in a puddle of oil working on a car that somebody else doesn't care to maintain properly.

I'm a do-it-yourself guy, but some of my friends are mechanics, so I see both sides of the toolbox

Answer 4

Not all overcharge. Mechanics that are paid on commission will sometime find stuff that doesnt really need to be done just to get the bill up so they will make more money. The shop owner doesnt know because he hasnt worked on the car. If you feel you have been overcharged, you might want to find another mechanic.

Answer 5

In the profession there are honest mechanics, dishonest mechanics and a whole range that fall somewhere in between. Its like most professions that way. Me - I am an honest one.
You have to keep in mind also that operating a repair service is an expensive proposition and a guy has to make a living as well.

Answer 6

Why are you making an assumption that shops overcharge? How do you even determine if you are being overcharged unless you hire an accountant to go over all of that shops books? You can't. Besides, you as a consumer have all the power. You an spend your money wherever you want. If you don't like a quote you have been given, go somewhere else. Even if one quote is less than another, that doesn't make it a "better deal". The shop with the higher quote may have higher operating costs becuase of where it is located. If that location is more convenient for you, is it worth your time and money for less convenience? The more expensive shop might have ASE tech's who acutally know what they are doing and geting paid what they are worth while the cheaper shop might be using illegal immigrants paid under the table or teenagers fresh out of tech school (most of whom in my experience are totally useless). The more expensive shop might use higher grade (more expensive) parts with longer warranties. How do you judge which one, if either, is overcharging you?

Case in point. In my shop when doing a brake job we always use the OE grade materials. If the car takes a ceramic brake pad, we use a ceramic pad. These pads cost us, typically, from $35-40 each. Two blocks away is a major chain store shop that buys all their brake pads from once source, in bulk, and they are all a set cost of about $20 a set. All of their brake pads are semi-metalic. If your Lexus takes ceramic, too bad, SM is all they got. Of course, they don't come right out and tell you this, you have to literally force that information out of them - but nobody ever does because they don't know. All the customers knows is that these guys just beat me on a brake job estimate by $20. Clearly I must be overcharging. After all, I'm just down the street.

The GM 60-degree V6 engine (3.1 and 3.4 liter) are well known for intake manifold gasket leaks. Lots of shops can fix this problem. Some of my competitors charge about $600-650 to do this, including dealers. I charge $900. Of course, unlike my competitors I change the oil and flush the coolant with this job. I just don't see how you can do it right and not do this. I also replace the thermostat, heater hose quick release fitting, EGR gasket, dummy shaft seal, injector O-rings, clean the throttle body and use new bolts for the manifold among other little details. The extra labor is nil - about $30 - its mostly just the parts, but it is so much easier to take care of those future problem areas as long as you are already in there. To me, that's just the only proper way to do that job right and it saves the customer money in the long run. Am I overcharging?

I have the same issues with tires. The general public does not understand tires. Many (most) people in my industry don't understand tires either, even if they think they do. If a customer comes in with say, a VW Eurovan which takes a very rare extra-load tire sized 225/60R16XL 102H (102 = load rating, H = speed rating of 130mph) I will follow that description to the letter and only install a tire with that same description. Unfortunately, there is only one tire made in that size and it is super-expensive - nearly $200 each. People don't realize these kinds of things when they buy these vehicles which leads to horrible shock at the tire store sales counter. My friends at the big chain store down the road have no such ethical qualms however. They will be more than happy to put on a common, garden variety standard load P225/60R16 97S (S speed rating + 112mph) tire all day long. That's the most popular tire size on the planet as it fits about half the domestic cars built in the last 20 years. You can get tires in that size for as little as $50 each! Great deal right? Dimensionally it is the same as the Eurovan tire so it fits and looks right. Unfortunately it isn't designed to carry the weight of a loaded Eurovan, it can't carry enough air - 35 psi max where the VW may require up to 48 psi, and its much lower speed rating means braking and handling performance will be reduced over what the vehicle was designed for. But the customer doesn't care. Those are very esoteric things that are difficult to explain and comprehend, even for people who work in the industry, let along the general public. All the customer understands is that the asshole up the street just tried to charge them 4 times as much for a stupid set of tires. Clearly a case of overcharging, right?

Answer 7

Normal 90% of the time,
your Lucky if you meet the other 10% ..before you turn in your car ask if they use Chilton book for their labor time,and ask if you could see it ,even so some shop will show you more things to do to get to your complaint to jack up the price. which is already included in fine print on the book, Example;;;replace water pump,to get to the pump you have to remove the fan belt.so they add the removing of the belt labor time ,plus the water pump labor time which is suppose to be already are included together but at a lower labor time ,, Diagnosing time will be added again ,which on some cases are include too, The answer to your question is to make money ,and you cant do anything about it if you don't now how,.

Answer 8

It's funny how the general public thinks the cost of mechanics' services are "through the roof", UNTIL they are "educated" about the business. I suggest you read all the answers to the link below, THEN see if you STILL think mechanics overcharge:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Atrvwrvou60HAUC5QGrnhsPAFQx.?qid=20070222181402AAoOImW

Answer 9

lol well first they know mose cant fix it them self, an some got a lot of over head , like other working for them, an tool breaking,,,,,

Answer 10

because you are uninformed.... speek like you know what you're talking about and you'll be treated fairly