Posted by Strat
(here)
Posted by palehorse
(here)
Most old car when break down, it cost absurd to replace parts depending on what is going on, ...
It must be a regional thing, this certainly isn't the case here. People have the same complaints here but it's not always true.
I guess, I am in Thailand, so the experience I wrote is related to this country, I lived in different areas in the North, Central and South, in Bangkok I would say it is cheaper to service a car, but that does not mean better service, because in this country most people has no formal education, they "learn on the job", big companies they train their staff, but the training has nothing to do with fixing parts, even though the refurbishing market here is huge, so someone is doing the fixings but they are not the mechanics.
Times have changed. Shops can still do the work but it will cost you a lot more money. We don't rebuild radiators, batteries, starters, alternators etc anymore. It's not that it's hard it's that it's more affordable to the customer to buy a new radiator than it is to have the shop take the time to rebuild it. And yeah some can't do it because schools are teaching you how to use scan tools that cost thousands of dollars. It's more relevant. Everyone is always suspicious of the mechanics already so it's lose-lose for them. If they rebuild it the cost will be through the roof and the customer would say how it's unbelievable that the shop charged so much more than the other shop... Well the other shop is just replacing it. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Yes we still do rebuild radiators, alternators, as I said above there is a market for refurbished, maybe in a developed country that is a thing of the past, but here in Thailand we still have it specially when the original part is not producing anymore. Here is a real world example that happened to me months ago, I got a bad "pressure fuel pump", my truck is 20 years old and this model stopped been produced back in the 2005, so new parts for it are not very easy to find, aftermarket parts are available but they are made in China and Taiwan and seems like mechanics here hate those parts too, I am very aware of their ****ty quality so I won't risk a aftermarket fuel pump, in that case I have to rely in the refurbished ones, or import from Australia, US or Japan the genuine part which BTW cost at least twice the price of the refurbished one. Back in 2015 I had a bad alternator, I went to the mechanic and he showed me a big box full of it, he said when he had the time he would fix all of it, but that would take a few days, so when customer volume was low, he was fixing things, this was the only mechanic I came across in this country with that mindset, so not all are bitches like I said before, I kind of generalized it when I said that. My toyota radiator had rusty on it and was leaking (old models were not alluminum like the new ones), so I drained it, removed it, carried with to the welder, he closed the holes, cost me $5 in the occasion, radiator back into the toyota and it lasted until I sold it. A new one would cost me $120 at least.
Another situation that I was presented by the mechanic, he said my turbo intercooler is no good and I should change it, however I got no issues when driving, no weird noise, no thing, after asking a tsunami of questions to the mechanic, he finally said why he want to change the turbo intercooler, my truck has it placed on top of the engine, it is the rally master version which are not produced anymore, so there is no new parts available, but mechanics here they use custom parts made in Thailand for turbo intercoolers, you can see it everywhere here, a lot of vehicles are modified, they usually place it right in front of the radiator, they say it is better for air intake, but mine has the hood air intake (the vent) and it works well, so I won't change it, because it is not essential and also the mechanic is basically saying the manufacturer is full of **** and designed it wrong and he want to correct their mistake?? lol I don't buy this kind of crap.
I agree today schools only teaches what is in the big agenda, so we can't fight that, the only way is to gain knowledge and do it ourselves or get luck and find a good mechanic.
In rural places and developing countries they rebuild because they have to. I admire it actually, it's really cool. But people don't want that. Well they say they do but then when they see the cost they think otherwise. Generally speaking.
exactly. But I am not that person, I would wait a week, a month in order to get the part fixed for a fair price because obviously it can't cost more than a new one, that wold not make any sense.
When I was taking auto repair classes they tried to teach us how to deal with old timers and people who want to tell you how to do things even though they don't have any experience. For example ball joints these days are often 'sealed for life' (they can't be greased) and nobody wants to hear how you're going to use bondo because they've heard about people slapping in bondo as a shoddy repair. Bondo is damn near mandatory, but you don't glob it on you're supposed to use a thin layer after pulling out a ding. And for the ball joints when old timers (or the other customer I just described) demands to have their ball joints greased you just swipe a bit of grease on the bottom so if they go out in the parking lot and check they can feel that and be satisfied.
I truly understand your point, but in my case I am not trying to step of their toes, the problem here i can smell BS, so when I see it my alert goes off and I will argue and they hate that because I was supposed to go along like most people without critical thinking. Show me you have a point and I will agree with that but come to me telling I have to change this and that and write down a big bill, that does not work, I will never handle easy money to people like that, will have to explain in details and I will ask questions if I don't understand, I will take the time to do research and learn too, so as I mentioned, time isn't the issue for me, most people accept all the BS because they are running against time, so they need it done, mechanics knows that and they take advantage.
Grease the ball joints 
Also comparing a mechanic of today to a mechanic of back then is like apples and oranges. Modern vehicles are not something the average person can work on. Pop the hood on the Maverick your father had and pop the hood of a modern car today and it's totally different.
absolutely, but even in my case, I have an old vehicle, I don't need a modern mechanic to work on my ancient truck. Like the last time the mechanic gave me his credentials and he enphasized how good he was with EV, could do programming too, and so on... I look him in the face and asked, do you see en EV here? This is my 20 years old truck, mostly mechanic, little electronics.. so I need an old school mechanic not a modern one.
I give the benefit of the doubt in life. Of course there are lots of mechanics who screw people over. Like instead of pressing out suspension components on a control arm they just buy a new control arm with the components pre-installed and charge you shop time for work they didn't do. That being said it depends on the shop you go to. I believe this is more prominent with chain store mechanic shops. If you find a local guy with a good reputation you shouldn't fight with him or your hurting yourself in the long run.
That is exactly my type of hunt, I would not fight him if he just do an honest work, but not what I had experienced so far, it is complicated when comes to deal with mechanics, I always do my homework to learn exactly what my problem is before just agree with the service and that seems to piss them off a bit, because they expect me to trust them right away, I guess time will help as they earn some trust from me.
I do agree that most modern vehicles are trash, see my post above. Especially high end cars. Frankly I think the people that buy those are the bitches, they perpetuate the problem for people like me. Mercedes, BMW, etc (frankly all modern makes) have zero incentive to make reliable user friendly cars like they used to. The only thing high end cars are good for is parking them in your driveway as bragging rights. Other than that they're poorly designed trash. Even Toyota changed for the worse IMO.
Yes!!! I won't buy any new vehicle ever, having ancient ones is already trouble, I can't imagine dealing with EV or Hybrid vehicles, I heard so many horror stories. I know a guy here he got a Volvo sedan, it is 3 or 4 years old with a high mileage already, he traveled a lot so the car one day just stopped, won't start, he took to the service in Bangkok because here in my area nobody dare to touch that thing, he said the price to replace all the expired parts would cost the equivalent of a good used car like Toyota corolla or similar, so he parked the Volvo and he intend to sell it for parts now, for whatever it worth.
The aftermarket in USA is absolutely fantastic. OEM quality is not the same as aftermarket, I'm just speaking from my personal experience. I do believe you that your experience is different. I just want to point this out so that others can save themselves from a major headache. If you buy a cheap ball joint then your wheel will literally fall off as your driving whereas OEM or different companies have a proven track record. This is a specific issue with my Toyota. I buy certain parts OEM (again, ball joints, sometimes I go with MOOG). I agree it depends what you drive and the part you need (supply/demand) but speaking for myself, parts are a breeze to find. I do agree Chinese parts are trash, they're great paper weights but not useful for anything else really. I bought door handles from China as a sort of experiment. They lasted about a year. The OEM lasted 23 years and looked great until they **** the bed. For my Toyota I can find great parts that will last a long time easily. If you do your own work in the USA go to rockautoparts.com. It's fantastic.
Vehicles are way over priced
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