When is a bargain really a bargain?

I know that for many of us who work under the lift and behind the counter, we believe that we charge a premium for our services for many reasons. One is because we have to pay the rent to keep the doors open, two is to pay our employees, and three is to EAT! (And we believe we are the best at what we do!) But we understand that our customers go through many of the same ringers to earn their money that we do, and that these days it has become harder to part ways with our hard earned dollars. But next to lights, eats and sleep what is our most important necessity? Our cars! It gets us to school, work, the store reliably and safely without asking for too much in return. But when it does ask, why should we skimp on the gifts we give to our hardest working family member?

I know from being on the other side of the counter at one point as well, I realize the fear many folks have about taking their cars in for service, its worse for some than going to the dentist. But many think (and in some cases unwisely) to much about the price of the repairs rather than the quality. Many people assume, especially with the introduction of OBDII, that your scan tool will tell you exactly what’s wrong and what to replace. Right? So why not just take the vehicle to the cheapest guy on the block, seeing as any monkey who can read the instructions the computer spits out, can diagnose and repair any problem. But here are some things to think about when considering the cheapest guy.

For instance, the cheap guy still has many of the same expenses we all have: electricity, phones, advertising costs, payroll and if he’s doing things legit, he’s got EPA fees and waste fees and taxes. If this is true, then how can he afford to be so cheap? One of two simple ways he’s either doing something illegal, or something illegal. He may not be carrying the proper insurances, which we all know can be expensive, especially in California. The worst case scenario is that the repair facility is not licensed. In California all automotive repair shops are required to be licensed through the Bureau of automotive repair (BAR). For instance Smog Dog Palm Desert’s automotive repair dealer number is ARD-252692. You can visit the BAR's website and verify licenses. For smog check stations and other auto repair dealers http://smogcheck.ca.gov/70_SiteWideInfo/02_Tools/03_VerifyLicense.html is where to check it out. It will also tell you if the dealer has been cited, whether or not his license is valid or not etc.

But back to insurance, if the shop owner does not have the proper garage keepers insurance, what happens if an employee wrecks your car while on a test drive, or it falls off the lift, or otherwise damaged while in the possession of the shop? What if the work performed causes a catastrophic failure of other components? If he leaves this much to chance and sleeps well at night then what kind of person is he really?

If not avoiding taxes and license fees, then what else is illegal that he could be doing to make his "nut" every month? Maybe you go in for a drivability problem, and the service writer tells you that the reason for the problem is your fuel pump, so you authorize the repair. He then informs you that while the fuel pump were the problem, the cause was that your fuel tank was severely rusted on the inside, and the corrosion would get into the new fuel pump and destroy it in a matter of months. So you again authorize the increase in costs for the additional repairs. Later in the month you get a flat tire and take the car to another shop that specializes in tires to try and save money because they do higher volumes while under the car the tech notices that your CV boot is torn, and is letting grit and debris in and could cause severe damage to the joint. So you buy your tires and tell the tech you will have to ask your spouse about the extra costs when you get home because you have dumped a ton of money into the car lately. When you get home your husband (if you’re a woman in most cases) or most men in general will inspect the boot just to make sure it is in fact in need of repair. During the inspection you discover that the boot is torn, but appears to have been freshly CUT! pissed off you proceed to crawl out from under the car in a hurry and bump your head on the fuel tank...which was just replaced to cure the rust problem. Then you get red in the face and steam pours from your ears, you just realized your fuel tank is PLASTIC!

In this tough economy shops are struggling because although car counts are up, average ticket prices are down. This is not to say we blame people from stretching their dollars as far as possible, but in the above scenarios, the bargain turned out to be a sham. because if everybody else is doing job A for X dollars, and cheap guy is doing the same job for less, and the cost of parts remain the same and overhead is the same then how does the cheaper guy stay in business? Just something to think about.

In the smog business in particular, I wonder about the guys who do smog inspections for $40 bucks. Nearly $20 cheaper than me, but look closer there is a certificate fee and electronic transmission fees that total $10. Cuts the difference by half and additional fees are not always displayed in the most conspicuous manner. So now consider this, if we both do ten cars at $60 I make $600, he makes $500. He would have to smog an extra two cars just to make the same as me, and also do more cars just to reach break even. So how does he stay open? Maybe he sells more gas caps that weren’t really bad? or his failure rates are higher...maybe higher than they should be. I have a price that makes me enough money, so that i do not have to fail cars that should have otherwise passed to make extra, much less break even.

So the next time you consider shopping for the absolute bottom price, especially on services, ask yourself when is a bargain really a bargain? And consider how much money it costs to be able to provide you with our services, and that this is what makes up most of the price we charge, not our greed.