Follow on Twitter: @RainmanRay4Real
Check out Spicy Shorts on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/ @rainman_rays_repairs
Customer States: Upgrade Oil Filter. CAT filter on a Duramax 6.6 Silverado/Sierra?
Warning: This may not work in all climates or circumstances. Please do your own research on vehicle modifications.
Check out my Merchandise (because I don't say MERCH) for Men's and Women's Apparel, MUGS and Stickers! https://rainmanraysrepairs.myspreadshop.com/
Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RainmanRaysRepairs
Patreon is a "Tip Jar" I don't post much there, daily YT uploads are all that I can manage for now
Amazon List, must have for any toolbox!
ATD Tools 13782 10-Piece Triple Square Spline Bit Socket Set https://amzn.to/3RV2fUB
Same as Matco. Mountain 5-Piece Metric Double Box Universal Spline Reversible Ratcheting Wrench Set; 8 mm - 18mm, 90 Tooth Design, Long, Flexible, Reversible; MTNRM6 https://amzn.to/3OJTRp2
Mercedes BMW VW Wheel Stud Master Kit: https://amzn.to/3OszRaL
Bahco "Frustrated" Pliers AWESOME tool! https://amzn.to/3IfDeOa
Brake Caliper Compressor: https://amzn.to/3gQBuiB
My Camera Gear:
Gopro Hero 10 https://amzn.to/3AaxELe
Gopro Hero 9 https://amzn.to/3EKDcM1
Hero 9&10 Dual Battery Charger MUST HAVE! https://amzn.to/3g5KdAT
Flexible Camera Mount https://amzn.to/3Jywrk5
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. #commissionsearned.
Also, I personally use or have used the products featured in my links and only recommended them if I feel they are of good quality.
”Intro Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio”
Thanks to Jesse for making the intro and graphic for us to enjoy!!!
“All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel does not claim any right over them.
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.”
Check out Spicy Shorts on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/ @rainman_rays_repairs
Customer States: Upgrade Oil Filter. CAT filter on a Duramax 6.6 Silverado/Sierra?
Warning: This may not work in all climates or circumstances. Please do your own research on vehicle modifications.
Check out my Merchandise (because I don't say MERCH) for Men's and Women's Apparel, MUGS and Stickers! https://rainmanraysrepairs.myspreadshop.com/
Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RainmanRaysRepairs
Patreon is a "Tip Jar" I don't post much there, daily YT uploads are all that I can manage for now
Amazon List, must have for any toolbox!
ATD Tools 13782 10-Piece Triple Square Spline Bit Socket Set https://amzn.to/3RV2fUB
Same as Matco. Mountain 5-Piece Metric Double Box Universal Spline Reversible Ratcheting Wrench Set; 8 mm - 18mm, 90 Tooth Design, Long, Flexible, Reversible; MTNRM6 https://amzn.to/3OJTRp2
Mercedes BMW VW Wheel Stud Master Kit: https://amzn.to/3OszRaL
Bahco "Frustrated" Pliers AWESOME tool! https://amzn.to/3IfDeOa
Brake Caliper Compressor: https://amzn.to/3gQBuiB
My Camera Gear:
Gopro Hero 10 https://amzn.to/3AaxELe
Gopro Hero 9 https://amzn.to/3EKDcM1
Hero 9&10 Dual Battery Charger MUST HAVE! https://amzn.to/3g5KdAT
Flexible Camera Mount https://amzn.to/3Jywrk5
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. #commissionsearned.
Also, I personally use or have used the products featured in my links and only recommended them if I feel they are of good quality.
”Intro Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio”
Thanks to Jesse for making the intro and graphic for us to enjoy!!!
“All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel does not claim any right over them.
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.”
Thank you! All these shops rip people off because they mark up their parts. Is it true or is there something else to it happening? Z Hood Hello everybody! Good day to you! Welcome back! Glad you're here. This is a 2007-2008 Jaguar XJ 4.2 liter V8 156 891 miles on the clock and uh, it is here for an annual service. but before you go anywhere, this is not an oil change video I know I said the head on the last one and I ended up changing my oil on the on the truck there.
But this is absolutely not an oil change video. This is a video explaining why most shops will not install your parts. They have got to supply their own. Parts They do not install customer supplied parts now.
Um, I'm kind of in that same boat but I'm 50 50 on that I Happen to know this particular customer is a long-time customer and friend and I will install his parts so no re on this particular Jag But for the most part, uh, it is not feasible for a shop to operate installing parts that they did not sell and I know what a lot of you guys are saying. Oh, you're just trying to make more money with your markups, Exactly. Yes, we make more money with the markups. Those markups are necessary.
Now before we go off on a tangent on how that's theft. Not exactly. For example, let's use engine oil. If you go to the store and you bought a buy a quart of oil, you're going to spend between eight and fourteen dollars for that Court Well, I have a deal and all shops have a deal or an arrangement where we can purchase wholesale pricing.
which means we buy larger quantities of a product and therefore we can purchase it cheaper. In my instance, for example, if I buy a 55 gallon drum of oil for twelve hundred dollars and I store it inside of my building and I insure it and I offload the money for that I can purchase that oil for I don't know. Maybe five, sometimes four bucks a quart and I can sell that to you on a retail level at seven, eight, or even nine dollars a quart. But if you go to the store, you're going to spend 12.
13. 14. Maybe nine. Maybe maybe you'll spend the same amount of money, but I don't get to make that margin that I put into place where I earned that extra two or three dollars per quart of oil.
which is what can make or break a certain job just by taking advantage of your parts purchasing power. So to put that issue to bed, Yes, shops don't like to install customer supply parts because they make less money. In fact, they make negative money. They actually lose money if I uh if I do this particular oil change job and I install the customers Parts I'm actually going to lose a substantial amount of money and uh, in revenue for the establishment that uh, that we have here.
I Will show you check this out. Let's take this oil change line on my screen here as our primary example: a baseball change oil change premium synthetic oil up to five quarts, right? There's no technician assigned. It's billed at a half of an hour labor to pay the tech the appropriate amount of Labor time at a reduced rate of 42.50 totaling 21.25 cents worth of Labor It's 100 profit we made 21.25 and that averages 42.50 an hour if we were to do two of those in one hour. That seems fairly profitable, doesn't it? And this labor line assumes that the customer supplied their own parts. so we're making twenty one dollars and twenty five cents. 42.50 an hour of customer supplied Parts This is just to do an oil change. Now Why What happens when I assign myself as the technician and I pay myself. The shop just lost five dollars.
58 cents an hour lost 13 percent of that job. Because it costs more to pay the technician than it did to actually charge the labor to do the work. Now Yes, I could charge the shop rate of 139.99 cents an hour to do an oil change And and some would call that fair because the Shop's not making any money and or you could say that's just what you charge. but I don't think it's fair to charge a hundred dollars an hour to change oil oil change rate 42.50 That seems fair I scrolled down the page some and here's a duplicate oil change.
Everything is the exact same except parts and take it half hour: 42.50 We still make that 21 an hour. but look what I'll show you customer pays six dollars and fifteen cents for their oil filter. Okay, still got our oil right here. 530 5 quarts.
They're paying eight dollars a quart which is the bottom of retail pricing for synthetic and I paid six dollars and fifteen cents for that oil filter. But look it right here: I pay three dollars and fifteen cents for that oil filter and I pay 3.99 for that engine oil if I buy larger quantities. For example, if I buy a 300 gal or 250 gallon drum of that oil, I could probably get that uh, that oil price down to maybe 215 225 something like that. But I can still sell it at a fair retail price.
A total oil change is going to cost just over 70.58 There's some taxes and I'm sure there's a Shop Supply fee built into that somewhere. That's just how it is. 67.35 that's retail price. Look at these margins here: 65.7 Profit: 44.25 cents an hour calling 88.50 per hour.
But I have not paid a technician yet. So if I click, pay technician or assign a technician whoop, look at those numbers. Half the money to this entire job went to the tech. So the store only profits 30 off of seventy dollars.
We made Twenty dollars And Twenty One cents. That's forty dollars an hour to do an oil change and pay a technician. And this is the exact prime example why shops cannot install customer supplied parts and stay in business. You just simply can't do it because what's not included here is the space in the shop that was being taken out by the car.
cost of doing business electrical bill um, or light bill. Some would say the rent or the mortgage on the property insurance. for the business uniforms. there's there's so many things that are not accounted for inside of this equation right here. So I've gone ahead and updated this labor or this. Uh, Parts line with a chords I Think that engine takes eight quarts. So charging 7.99 a quart, eight quarts 63 bucks worth of oil. head up to our price to 96.22 cents and there's our margins made 32.21 and that's with a paid technician.
now. check this out. See what we got here? All right. See some oil.
There's some Amazon We got 540 full synthetic European oil supposed to test pretty good I Think project Farm tested this stuff a while ago I Hear that's uh, that's fairly decent oil for the price. Let's make sure we've got eight quarts here. Yes, we do. That looks like six, seven, and one more in the car.
That's eight. Okay, here's number eight and here is our oil filters. We've got our eight quarts of 540. let's see how much this costs retail from Amazon Okay, I've got it pulled up here.
This looks like it's it. Amazon Basics Full synthetic? Yep, Yep, Yep, we're looking at 55 24. for a six pack. So let's do some math real quick.
see: 55.24 divided by six. We got 9.20 per quart. Multiply that times eight. It's gonna be a customer cost of 73.65 just for their oil.
plus the 20 20 21 that it costs labor to install it. we're at 94.90 looking right here. The Shop's price sold out the door 63.92 So the customer paid over 30 dollars more for their oil Minus 63.92 I paid 30 to 31 dollars more. They paid 31 extra to use Amazon oil and we still have not even factored in the cost of the filter yet.
So let's look that up All right. Hey, here's a pack of five of those: 37 49 right? Divided by five. That's 7.49 per filter. I Sell them for 6 15.
This is exactly why shops do not install customer supplied. Parts A shop loses money and the customer pays more money. Now when you expand this concept into things like brake jobs or engine work or anything else, now, you're factoring in warranty and correct parts and downtime in the building and everybody loses out by using customer supplied parts except for certain kind of special situations. It's not a very cut and dry scenario and and you know, maybe this guy bought this oil for less than seventy dollars and my parts Matrix doesn't make that work in this specific instance.
But for the most part, that's how these situations play out and that is why shops don't install customers supply parts Now like I said no re on on our Jaguar customer. Here this is a special situation in set of circumstances and that's why that's okay. But for the most part, this is not a sustainable business practice. You you can't do that and then expect to be able to pay the rent.
it just doesn't work. Green subscribe button Jaguar Moving on up Now there are some shops who will actually double their Uh listed labor rate in order to install customer supplied parts. For example, if somebody wants you know Brembo brake upgrades but the shop doesn't have the ability to buy that and if they can't purchase it and then sell it for what they purchased it for because again, that's bad business practice or they can't get a wholesale discount, then it uh, it behooves the customer to purchase that part for themselves and then Supply that to the shop. However, in a situation like that, if the shop were to agree on it, then I believe it is fair to charge and increase labor rate or uh, or even like a fee or a premium something to make up for that lost potential. Revenue Again By marking something up that's not ripping off the customer because you're taking advantage of systems that have already been put into place by the shop or the shop owner or the business that allows for wholesale pricing. And this concept applies to everything. not just engine oil and filters. this applies to your groceries or lumber for your house or your lawnmower or gasoline.
Everything involves markups. Every time something changes hands, somebody else collects a markup. And what about disposal fees? Who pays to dispose the waste oil? All that has to go somewhere I have to pay to have that removed and disposed of and recycled. Now considering that uh, that I own my own shop and I own the business I can do things like this on occasion, but as a whole it's a it's a practice that just can't uh, can't really function that well in real life, especially if I were a corporation or a large dealership something like that, you just you cannot can't operate that way long term and uh and expect it to to survive.
Now we come to the part where you're asking if I am charging extra to install people's parts and the answer is no I am not. And how do I expect to survive doing Uh, exactly what I said, you cannot. Do you operate a sustainable business And I will tell you. there's a saying in this industry and probably several others that you can have it good, fast or cheap.
Pick two or good fast and cheap. pick two and I get around with or I get a round charging extra without doing a crappy job by taking a lot longer because I do install customers parts and I have no problem not offering a warranty for and selling parts that I did not sell. But that does not mean I can compromise on quality. Therefore, what I'm offering is a good job at a low price.
but the customers have to participate in granting me ample amount of time And this is how I have found uh I can reduce my stress I just take a lot longer I do a good job and I have several things in rotation simultaneously. For example, project Jeep is still sitting right over there I'm still missing it right side socket again. got it and I got Bolt gravity inside of here. Yeah, this.
uh, this. Shield's on its way out. It's starting to really really tear at one side over here see that it's coming apart three times. All right. What do we got here for a filter? I can't see it I don't know if I put this on or not. might be one of mine. it's a Bosch No, I didn't put that on Bush What do we got? Two, seven, two, two, Zero Nine whiskey Sierra Let's see how much that costs. All right filter coming in here.
Put some oil on that O-ring for you guys. There's some oil left over right there on that ceiling surface too. Got plenty of o-ring lubrication. six.
So I've got a couple of other filters too. I Think there's a cabin air filter in this car and a, uh, an engineer filter that's kind of tight. It's a it doesn't feel good yeah yeah. I don't like these threads I don't like them at all.
They're pretty crunchy feeling I'm glad that's not my oil filter that's on there. Woohoo! But if I installed customer supplied Parts last time, how do I know that's my oil filter or not? You get yourself in a pinch. see how these threads look. They didn't feel that great.
They didn't feel good at all. We got here. Let's see you see right here at the bottom of these threads see how they're uh, look like they've been pulled a little bit because they have this Fastener has been over tightened greatly. Now we could put it back in I'm sure it'll go back in, but at some point it's going to come out and it's going to either Shear these threads off or it's going to take the threads off that are on the pan.
This is inevitable. Yeah, now you can really see it. If I can get him closer. Hang on here.
Yeah, look at that. You see these see the point that they're sharpened to right there and all the wear on the back side of them is due to over tightening. Serious over tightening and I think it was sealed with some silicone ones too. Yeah, that O-ring is damaged.
Yeah, they're silicone right there. Okay, so we're here at the drain plug or the drain pan side and look at that. There's a thread at the very top that's already broken off clean and all those threads are damaged. Yeah, it could go back, but should it? What do you guys think? comment section down below.
So at this point this situation is going down like the Hindenburg because from what we've just seen, this car needs an oil pan and a drain plug. or I mean the lower pane at least. And as a as the shop or the shop owner. I Can't leave this thing sit here for a couple days while.
I Uh, order a new one and this isn't something that's going to be readily available. So I have no choice but to to put this thing back together and either use my oil to fill it up or use the customer's oil that they're going to have to waste as soon as they go to do this repair. And oh, look at that, it's not even coming up to torque. Hang on.
Okay, that felt real real nasty right there. Yeah, all right, that's that's good. And if this were an aluminum drain pan, we'd really be up a creek because those threads would have come out with the plug and there would be nothing for that plug to grip onto. So this kind of thing can definitely put you in a precarious situation. And it has it has for us right here. Uh, live on my GoPro. It's put us in a very sticky spot now like I mentioned before. fortunately.
uh, the owner of this Jaguar is a long time customer and friend and that this won't be a huge problem. But if this were a first time customer or someone who's already had a bad experience or it just has a bad taste in their mouth in general, this could be a very, very bad spot for the shop to be in. This is how you generate irate customers because they come in with the frame of mind that shops are always trying to rip us off, blah blah. So they buy their own parts and then a shop agrees to go ahead and install their parts even if it's at a very low margin or even at a loss.
Sometimes folks will do a lot or do things out of Lofts just to build that. Rapport But now it's my duty to go and tell you that you need an oil pan. But as far as you knew, you did not need an oil pan before you came in. thus solidifying your perception that shops are trying to rip you off.
You see, I didn't do that. But now that I've touched it in a way, I'm kind of responsible for that. Oh, and lucky here, look at all this oil that's been dripping from that thing. it's saturated in it Now, don't get me wrong, because this entire video is not a rant by any means.
I'm not a I'm not upset over the situation or anything like that. It is what it is, but uh, some younger and inexperienced people in this industry. They they take these things uh, very personally and it generates a lot of stress. just the anxiety of knowing that now you've got a problem car on your hand that you didn't cause and you couldn't foresee.
But now you're responsible to fix it for a negative. uh, 13. And what I meant by your responsible is you've got to explain that situation to somebody who frankly may not want to hear it or doesn't believe you or again has the stigma that you're trying to rip them off now. I know what you're gonna say Ray You should have stopped as soon as you felt, uh, felt those threads all chowdered up in there.
And yes, you're right I should have, but I did not for a couple reasons. One I could feel it and I felt it was going to be able to go back in. It wasn't like seriously hanging up and I I didn't feel threads breaking off, number two, it wasn't aluminum and number three again, I'm aware I know this car I know it enough and I know my friend and my customer enough to to where I felt that even the worst case scenario I could have proceeded. but that does not mean that younger guys who don't have those feel that muscle memory that experience would have ever picked up on such things.
funnel 30. there we go. I suppose wisdom comes with experience. Maybe that's what it all sums up to put that guy in now. and I get it. You know if somebody wanted Amsoil or Royal Purple or oil or you know, something 20, 30 a quart or I don't even I don't know how much this will cost, but if you wanted something that super premium, then you know, by all means install that for your customer. But people like that folks that are that involved in their car that participate on that kind of level they should be aware of. Maybe you need to charge them a little bit extra and it's not that you're ripping anyone off, you've just got to be able to sustain your own practice.
Whoa. I Almost lost it there and everything. I Just said. That's not the rule, but it's kind of a a good General way of looking at it.
There's always exceptions and there's always, uh, circumstances that mitigate those. uh, you know, pretty much everything I Just said. But in general I I Kind of think that, uh, that's sort of the way it works Again, my opinion for what it for, what that's worth, we'll do this one backhanded. I Believe this is number seven.
We're gonna check it after this, just in case this is not an eight quart engine. See what we got? Yeah, it's at the full mark, but we have not filled the filter yet so we may need that extra quart or half a quart. Yeah, we're at the full Mark Let us go stopping Z engine and Prime our filter foreign Jaguar kicks all right. We're gonna give it the old over the steering wheel reach around treatment here.
if uh, where's the key at? oh, the key's not in it I used it to open the trunk. Fail. Yeah, there it is. Take two starting.
Z engine ring, angry Kitty foreign and by the way, even if this does turn out to be a seven quart engine and not a which, it's going to be a The Matrix still applies and not the Matrix that we're living in I'm just the the parts in labor Matrix that one trying to save brake clean. so I'm using a funnel right there just below the max. Mark We're good. Get in there please.
This fuel line's like right in the way. like a lot foreign. Let's see what else we got going on here. Got an air filter? it's a Fram extra guard.
number 9513. looks like it's brand newest I don't know what these cost. Uh, 16 bucks. 18 bucks I don't know I didn't look it up.
It's not like the filters that we went through earlier, but uh, customer supplied that filter to install. Keep in mind we're at a 24 oil change bill. I Mean it's really hard to to sell labor on a filter. this.
you're supposed to take five minutes, right? So most shops would be afraid to uh to build labor I can't even get that apart. Hang on. We need a tool now. How would you feel if someone wanted to charge you? Let's call it uh, one tenth or two tenths.
That's a 16. All right now. 32 or 16 to 30. let's call it 10 to 30 dollars to to install that air filter.
Well, that's more than you paid for the filter. that was. That was 20 bucks. You paid 20 bucks for the filter and you want you want thirty dollars to uh to replace it. That's that's asinine. you're trying to rip me off. But if you paid I don't know 20. let's call it 22 for that filter and I can get that same filter for six bucks.
Well, there's my there's my tenth of an hour that I need to at least pay the technician. You know there's that. Parts Markup supplies me the money for my payroll to pay the guy that actually does the work. But look at all this risk that I'm taking on now I have to disconnect things and this is taking a little bit longer than six minutes.
Uh yes, I'm filming. but I think you get the point. It's not just oh, it pops in and out, it's it's a little bit extra and there's there's effort that needs to to go into it. Oh look, now there's risk.
I seem to have to remove this uh, plastic emissions line right here. What if I had broken that? I'm off there please. Is it coming off? It still isn't one to come off? Hang on. let's take it apart some more.
What if I'm impatient? What if my service advisor staff thinks this should only take two or three minutes? What if uh, what if they forgot to tell me about it and the guy's outside pacing because he thought his car was done foreign things and it still won't come over there now? I'm starting to sweat I'm out in the parking lot. Everyone's mad at me because I did a bad job. It's all because I didn't charge you to replace an air filter that you didn't need. See that and I'm not talking to you Jaguar man, but this is a hypothetical scenario.
So now I'm out my time and effort. I Front loaded the risk. customer bought something that they didn't need to buy and someone paid more money and someone lost money. I make my uh, my six minutes are up by the way and one could argue.
Well, sometimes shops, uh, they offer all these free checks and yes they do. But I could have just picked that up and taken a look inside of it without actually disassembling. This could have done that free check in order to uh to make a sale for an air filter. Or perhaps I pay a an entry level guy to do this kind of work so they get to learn.
and I don't have to pay a technician to do this kind of work. And again, I'm I don't have an entry level guy or a technician I'm just speaking hypothetically as the shop or the business or the or the owner and that here. which is kind of cool. I have this backwards.
Don't I Yes I Do wrong fail. This is a it's no easy air filter. Realistically, the book might want to charge three or four tens for this, but again, how can you charge someone forty dollars to replace a 20 filter? Can't do that. Click, that's on, that's on, and this one right here.
All right. And there's also a cabin filter in this box now. I Did Bill A little bit of time for all this stuff. Um, my point of this. Uh, this rant. Some will call this a ranch. Um I'm not being a crybaby and I'm not ranting. I'm just trying to offer a point of view from the other side from the inside.
Like literally from the inside. This is this is my business has been my whole life and I'm just trying to give you guys some insight as to what it's like when folks walk in with a with their own parts and then expect expect them to just go on for for no money. Today on my third set of gloves, these are between 18 and 35 dollars a box depending on what you get shot supplies I Am of the opinion that the cabin filter is in here and it appears to be. yep, there she is nasty.
It's dirty. It's very, very dirty foreign. So here's the real kicker about a situation like this: Airflow that way. even if I did Bill 13 six minutes worth of Labor to replace this filter in I think six minutes is fair.
one tenth it would have actually taken longer for the person that writes the Ros the repair orders to build that line and add six minutes of Labor it would have taken more labor time than that six minutes thus still barely breaking the evening. so rant over and again Jaguar Man, this is not to besmirch you at all. It not one little bit. I just uh hey, this organically turned into what it is, not a rant.
Uh, Ray's not upset I'm fully well aware of these parameters and I am before I even took this car in. but uh I just want to make that clears I'm in no way upset and and yes, technically by the books, Um, yes, this was a negative return for me. This was uh, I lost 13 or 13 of 20 something dollars I lost money and I've been here for about an hour. It's taken up an hour of the rack, the lights have been on for an hour, I've used up an hour of insurance, and It ultimately, when you weigh out, uh, payroll and things of that nature and plus these other un itemized items like gloves, jobs like this can actually be a negative.
So most shops have just decided that they don't do work on vehicles where the customer supplies the parts or they charge double the labor rate. but for menu item services like oil changes and brake jobs and tires and tune-ups Things like that, when the parts are supplied, then the shop has no incentive to actually do the job. But when you have a car that's hanging out for weeks at a time and getting all kinds of work done and some of it's custom work, you can still offer a good job at a lower price. It's just going to take longer because while this thing's here hanging out, I can do other things, there's plenty of work around.
I Can find something else to do in the outer space where I can still turn a profit over a month-to-month basis and still be able to offer good and cheap. But if the guy wanted this, Jeep done in a week, that would have been a different story and thus I would have priced him out of the job and then not taking the job at all. And that's why sometimes you can have a car that sits around a car that needs to go in and out and a car that gets rejected because the customer brought a whole bunch of brake parts. oh hey, wait, and before anybody goes oh, I did that. it's okay I'm I'm aware of this and and I accept cars and people with their own Parts at my discretion and not everybody gets to uh to have that opportunity. That just applies to some of you out there and you know who you are who I have done work for with your parts I just charge it twice as much Booyah So uh. all that being said before: I get myself in some verbal whoa gravity Hood gravity before I get myself in some verbal trouble and actual trouble I'm gonna get this stuff out of here and uh, go ahead and call this one good before I break my flashlights So uh, as always I'd like to thank you guys for watching. Hope you enjoyed this video I I Enjoyed this little rant video that I made for you I enjoyed making it.
um and again, not ranting, not upset, just trying to offer some insight to the uninitiated. rambling continues. So I'm gonna go ahead and let you go as always. Thank you again for watching this video And most importantly, don't forget to have yourselves a great day! See you guys later! End of Jaguar Got it?.
I have a Harley repair shop, and people call all the time wanting me to install tires they bought on the internet. I will not do it. I tell them that if they have a problem with the tires, they are going to bring the bike back to me and want me to take the tire off so they can send it back. And while they are sending the tire back where is their bike going to be stored? Not on one of my lifts. My lifts make me money, they’re not there to store some guys bike, while he’s dicking around with the tire. If you buy a tire from me and there’s a problem I’m going to take care of it right away. They always want to make their problem your problem.
I had a car that Firestone charged me a fortune to repair to their liking. Parts on the car after they were done were in poor condition and they refused to replace them. These were Dealer only parts. I ordered them and several days later asked Firestone to install them. These were not optional parts, but important to maintain the safety and alignment. I tore into the care and put them in. I returned for the alignment which couldn't have been done correctly with the damaged part. They did realign it.
so f ing wrong
We have waste oil recycling fee included as well.
Something people also forget is the cost of the tools to do the job right. There's a difference between Craftsman and Snap-On. And some of those tools only get used a handful of times in their life. That scan tool when my shop bought one from Snap-On in 2003 was close to $20,000 I think. You can't do some jobs without one now.
Whats the program you use for your pricing? It seems pretty straightforward
I agree if they want the mechanic to put on their parts, I say go home and put the parts on yourself. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸%
The logic doesn’t hold. If you’re using parts to cover labor costs, it means your labor charge is too low. You are turning away work because you don’t make a profit without selling a part. If you’re not selling the part, you’re not spending to buy or store or have delivered that part.
the people who moan about this must take their own food to a restaurant when they go for a meal lol
It's not crazy to think about. When you go to a restaurant, you are paying for the food, rent, salaries, insurance, electricity of that establishment.. When you go to a CONVENIENCE store you are paying more for that convenience. The only way to not pay for a mark-up is to buy things yourself and get a bulk discount. Should customers be "hosed", no of course not. But customers will pay for the convenience of ANY service.
It was good for this point of view and being educated but it really hurt watching you put in the filter without vacuuming out or cleaning out the leaves…lol
All your whining about customer parts and markups and whatnot is annoying if you're losing money then simply don't use customer supplied parts and also you could have blown out the leaves when you changed the cabin filter come on man
I always expect businesses to use my parts. When I go to McDonald's I bring my own buns, my own cheese, my own ground beef and I tell them to just take these parts and assemble me a cheeseburger. When the police come to escort me off the property I insist on using my own handcuffs.
great example of working a business. People do not understand business until they get self employed.. like I did. In the beginning i was running the business from the customers point of view… well you can't.. there are costs involved in business that I didn't understand.. things (like your tools) wear out and replacements comes out of your own pocket whilst working on a customers behalf.. they need to pay for 'some' of that use! Great video!
When people hear "markup" they assume it means buying things cheap and selling them for way more than someone could buy it for themselves, which is what some private sellers do with wholesale purchases on the marketplace and similar sites. Hubby and I compared the price of an oil change if we did it ourselves vs getting it done as express and it was less to have it done at express by several dollars, but the price for us doing it was all filter and oil while theirs was filter, oil, and labor. The issue we hit was the engine air filter. It needed to be replaced soon and they were going to charge us $40 just for the filter. We got one from oreilly for about $20 and installed it ourselves. But I think the filter they had was the $70 filter so they were charging a lot less, it was probably the only one they could get wholesale or had in stock at the time, but for us it was too much to pay when we are always so tight on money. It is sad when you have to be careful fixing your vehicle because you may not have the money for what it needs.
Different topic, but similar idea. We bought a premade building and people on one of the business's posts was saying they could make one cheaper or had bought one cheaper so many years ago. I tried explaining all of the costs that go into what was being made, 2x4s and 2x6s and plywood and screws and windows and doors and roof metal and paint, plus labor, the electric it costs to run the tools, the gas needed to deliver the shed, etc. And how they would be hard pressed to build their own of the same size and style for that price because of the price of goods for regular consumers vs contractors and store members.
I am so behind on videos, ugh lol. If you do choose to make a shirt of the new intro I think the "Repairs" should be falling down with "that's… gravity…" Under it in smaller letters
Very interesting.
As a consumer who would prefer to work on their car, but displaced due to covid and living in an apartment now.. 2 thoughts. 1) had a shop tell me I needed an air filter 2 months after I replaced it, explained how much less it at their cost, I said no, and when i looked, i didn't need a filter. Previously, paid a shop to replace it on a mazda mx-5, and they left a half inch gap- totally mis-installed. They offered me a refund on the cost, but they never actually issued it. I will never trust a shop with an air filter again unless I know the mechanic. I'm hesitant to even go in for an oil change, but I don't have the facilities to do that.
Hey if friend and repeat customer why didn’t you vacuum out all those leaves?
Florida has a parts tax and a labor tax??? I thought Florida was better than that.
most boring yet lol
ONly time buying your own parts pays off is if you do the work.
Good video, but lose the background music. It was very distracting.
So bad for the environment for the plastic waist and shipping cost. My marketing experience just cringes with the customer paying more when they could have you do it all. Jag man looks like he was in you Toyota Camry video 11 months ago, at the old shop. ‘warning, video may offend you…..’
What's up with shops charging oil for the oil filter gasket seal
I have been enjoying your videos very much. I am in the UK and I never maintain my own car but this is all useful learning material and I like how you make the viewer feel that they are there with you. You have said you are open to constructive criticism right? My only gripe is with the overlaid music in some of your videos – it's too loud and distracting.
Anyway, thanks for the content. It's great.
good explanation and contrast of using customer vs shop parts- and liability etc. you have a very good grasp of business operation. I think you'll be very successful.
Some people just want everything for free. You shouldn't have to be explaining this. This is why your place is called a business. What you should is ask them next time is do they go to work and not want to get paid.
Half the supplied parts arent correct then you gotta do the running around or have another heap taking up space.
Sold my pool biz when the web caught on. Couldnt make anything on parts as they wanted to buy online then call the cheapest guy they could find to install it.
Low and behold it was defective parts/work and made it tough to do my job.
Sold it off pretty quick like, the end!
I dont mind paying for parts but want good stuff. Not paying double retail for some cheap offshore rebuilt rack and pinion that i know will fail in a year…or overseas balljoints.
Shops guarantee expires long before parts so youll pay labor again anyways.
Best of luck good to see you got a shop!
Maybe FLA titled vids that mention mechanic ripoffs, scams, tricks can draw in good local biz for you.
Older guy Muscle memory, he can read threads with his eyes closed…calibrated hands
Noob Tighten it til she strips and back it off 1/4 turn.
SOOOO…… Maybe leave the oil that is in there until the next oil change as to not waste it. It is not leaking enough to worry about it. So get the parts and when the next oil change then do it.
I wouldn't mind paying our local guys for parts but last time I did that it cost me 7000$ cause I popped an injector cup. They used their trusted product. Could have saved myself 3 grand doing it my way lol so I just wanna hear your take on that
JHFC Ray! $9.25/qt? I only paid $19 for a 5 qt jug of Pennzoil synthetic on sale AND it came with a free roll of shop towels delivered to my door just last year. Of course I had to clean up the oil I spilled on my driveway, drive to the dump to dispose of the old oil, ruined a good shirt and stripped the drain hole in the oil pan. But that still doesn't add up to what you charge. And if I don't count having to replace my old Taiwanese floor jack with a new one from Harbor Freight and having to go to the ER to have a piece of debris removed from my left eye, I saved a lot on my last oil change over paying a mechanic like you to do it for me.
I worked at a Napa store in high school, long before computers. There were 6 different price sheets in the books. Each 'sheet' was a different color, and the prices were stepped by about 10% between sheets. Jobbers (professional mechanics like Ray) were charged 20% above cost, which left a smaller margin of profit for the store, but they made it up in volume.
The retail price was listed next to the jobber price and if requested I would write down both prices on the itemized invoice so the mechanic knew how much to charge customers for parts. They were legally not allowed to charge more than the listed retail price, but not required to tell a customer what they paid for the part.
We had the option to charge a-holes the full retail price, and to charge regular customers who purchased a lot of parts one sheet above jobber price, or even the jobber price. As an employee, I paid cost plus 10% for parts for my car. If a customer told us he could get the part for less elsewhere and stated the exact price, I'd peruse the price sheets for a matching price in order to make the sale. If he was a bullshitter I'd call & verify the price. Ensuring repeat business with a good price was key. Today, auto parts stores must compete with online sales & free shipping, and customers can look up prices online before waking into a store. I paid $240 fur a clutch pack for my truck at my local Napa in 2000. In 2019, I bought the same parts for $85 online, delivered to my front door in 2 days for free. Because they're now made in China or elsewhere overseas.
Tip: If you are friendly to a parts clerk and they get to know you as a local and regular custome (and like you) they might give you a discount on parts without you even asking. Learn their names and use them with a friendly hello when you walk in. Shoot the breeze, crack a joke, make their day and they'll make yours in return.
Personally, I prefer to shop local but do search online for the best price on parts & supplies when planning maintenance or repairs on my rigs ahead of time.
It's important to have a parts store in your town, so support them all you can over big retail stores. But TBH, buying oil & filters from say, Walmart or Amazon to save yourself some money doesn't really hurt parts stores because their profit margins on those items is very slim.
also you have to worry of low quality parts, forgot to state
stripped threads are a pain, that I did not trust people working
on my auto back then there was “over crankers “ at least the jaguar guy has
time to get the needed repair parts for the car.
that is why I do all my work on my car that I am able to do. never trusted
different places to do auto maintenance because there are many butchers
out there working on cars. yes there are tons of extra expenses in a shop
that people do not understand.
I worked at a Arco gas station, the owner marked up by 10% wholesales price of
of the parts not the retail he paid. plus he wiped off headlights during NY state inspection
and charged people for a head light adjustment. I could not believe what he did.
The problem is. (Not saying you in person) How do I know the garage is using premium oil and not some cheap crap they can buy in bulk??? Or cheap Chinese knock off filters
Well you are right however we must look at what the customers wants as well when I was a lube tech at a Chrysler stealer ship they will charge the customers for a regular oil change before pandemic, $150 for a five quart and a single filter and both parts were literally the cheapest crap they could get on the market ,the filters on a bulk cost them about 9 cents a unit and the oil 55 gallon drum nobody knows the brand of that thing , but I can tell the drum cost as much as $350 and the technician got paid and I am not making this up 5 dollars an hour plus the flagging hours my pay rate was 55 cents per car so yes you have to kill your self to make a whapping $300 paycheck a week and this a very gray zone, so if you have to face a scenario like this as a customer , you will rather request for a better quality product. And no joke those filters were so cheap the shop try to blame me for a blown engine when in reality was their crappy filters which did fail they offer to the customers
Book says 1.2 hrs for a Malibu headlight. Front end needs to come off to do it. So you tell the customer $150 in labor, $40 for 2 bulbs so you don't just change one. Add tax and it comes to a little over $200. For a blown light bulb.
On average it's running $425/hr on parts and labor for average rx and repair.
How do you NOT make a customer irate when the see light bulbs at Wal Mart for 25 bucks? They think you are screwing them for $175.
Sometimes it makes a huge difference. My mechanic was willing to install a $15 heater core I purchased from FCP Euro while he was doing other cooling system work. If he had purchased that part through is regular supplier, it would have been $80+ and would not have had the same warranty. (The standard cost for the heater core replacement on this car is just over $1000 – almost all in the labor, but since they were replacing basically every other part of the cooling system, it didn't add significantly to the work either.)
Amazon basic 😂
I learned an awful lot watching this upload. You figures seemed absolutely logical to me. All my life I've worked on my own vehicles myself but now I'm 76 years old and have had several operation in the hospital and I simply cannot do even an oil change. Boy, is it hard to get used to the cost of maintaining my car and Tacoma thru the garages.
You do great work don't let the internet beat you down
Nope, every situation is different. I've got an old Nissan truck that isn't worth premium parts. Recently my go-to shop quoted a $400+ muffler/exhaust plus 2 hrs labor. I found a black friday sale from Oreilys for $85 DOLLARS! (from 190) Im sure it's a somewhat lesser quality exhaust but that will certainly outlive my truck. Every deal won't be as extreme as that but i typically pay 1/3 to1/2 at most when i bring in my own. They just charge an extra $20 per hr for any parts i bring. I have 3 cars and bring them a fair amount of biz, but without being able to supply my own parts there's no way i could afford to fix things in a safe & timely manner. I've done this with cv axels, exhausts, shocks, interior components, etc. I'm sure this business has found a way to make this financially viable for them. Most people just nod at the service rep & grumble, you'd be shocked if you shopped around.
Love your channel Ray, and anything you do to keep your biz thriving is good by me.
what software do you use for your invoices and billing there?
thank you for the cost breakdown, this really helps me understand how to keep my favorite shop in business!!!!!
One more point about charging someone 40 dollars to replace a 20 dollar air filter, you can’t apply that logic in my opinion for example how could I charge someone 600 bucks for a rear main seal that cost 5 to 15 bucks (totally made those numbers up). You need to be more cold blooded Ray ! Lol
Just to add to the discussion those book times are based on a brand specific Technician for example a Jaguar tech who’s done 150 of those air filters may do it in 3 minutes where as an independent shop sees 1 or 2 jags in 3 years. My hats off to the Techs that work on anything that comes through the door, that’s why the phrase “grease monkey” migrated to Mechanic and now Technician. These guys are investigating heavily into education and tooling to work in an industry which can be cut throat and thankless at times~
Why not just say to the customer I can get a better deal on it bulk?
in this part of our world, we have more option on parts where customer can choose cheap one and some mechanic will repair the thread for you if you give them time and charge you labour cost.
It's a late comment to this thread but I have a recommendation for owner supplied parts. Anytime we bid a project with owner supplied materials, we included the same overhead and profit as if we were still purchasing. We still have to receive, store, delivery to the job site, install and warranty said items so our overhead cost or risk doesn't change.
Coming up on 24 years in the commercial electrical trade.
Look most of these shops are disgusting and yucky people running them when I look for a mechanic i don’t give a flying f if he wants to use my parts or not .
If he won’t use what I buy that’s a red flag already never trust someone that drove ur car for 5 minutes I pay mechanic for labor
not for him to shop for me like i am retarded also you shouldn’t be forcing your customers to buy parts from you .
US gallon smaller than UK gallon by 20%
Marking up to retail is not a problem.
But some people will price gouge. And have like a 500% markup. Now price gouging is a problem.
My shop installed my $500 dual mass flywheel (lifetime parts warranty – supplied by me) for ten labor hours at $140/hr.
Easy. Just charge more for labor if customer supplies their own parts.
Also most jobs should be charged by the job, not hourly.
I get a view of the whole process working in auto parts, supplying these shops with the parts they need. We give the shops big discounts, basically selling parts to them at cost so when they mark up the shop can make money to keep the lights on and techs paid, and their customers aren't paying any more for the same parts.
You touched on this;
– Liability insurance
– Property/renters insurance
– Equipment/tool insurance
– Workman's comp insurance
– Unemployment insurance
… Damn, haven't even got to rent, lights, water, trash…
Anyhow, the way I did it. Working at a parts store I got a very good discount. Most of the time I did the majority of work myself. If something was beyond my skill or if time was short I would go to a friend who owned his own shop. His rate went up over the years but I would pay double. Sometimes I wanted something special and he didn't want to waste time, so I'd order, pay delivery charge and assume responsibility for correct fit and function. Anything I forgot, if he ordered, I paid MSRP. Any misc supplies like brake cleaner, floor sweep, etc I'd send him a case of cleaner or 5 bags.
A huge thing was we had an understanding about warranty's. His fault, he fixes. Parts fault I do the warranty paperwork.
The issue is, I can buy my two parts for 1100 from napa, shops here in alberta have quoted me 2350, for those same two parts…… and I shit you not, same supplier, same remanned parts……… plus the labour
Try construction equipment…..my Kubota skid loader was in for warranty work, and a work light bulb (essentially a fog light) was burnt out. It’s a ten dollar bulb. I said just go ahead and throw one in. They charged me a full hour of labor for it—$150 plus the bulb. I would think you would give someone a heads up that your were going to charge that for a bulb installation.
That was good a good video, and good info for people who own and maintain cars.
I’ve owned operated cars for 45 years. I have three sons who have cars, and this information should help all young folks establish a good relationship with a local shop so they can properly maintain and repair at reasonable rates.
You got to be kidding me you don't think charging $130 $140 an hour for labor is not a rip off I understand about knowledge and knowing how to fix things and how to read computers and diagnose problems I understand your knowledge is worth a lot but what about when you have someone working for you and you're charging $130 or $140 an hour labor but you pay your employee $20 or $25 an hour you think that's right because I don't he's got the same knowledge you got but I know you're going to cry about having to pay rent on the building having to pay for lights and Heat and insurance and so on and so forth you mechanics are just like the pharmaceutical business they charging outrageous price for drugs because they know you may need them drugs to live so they got you by the balls oh you're the same you know we need cars to get to work go grocery shopping it on and on so you chose to s*** out of us
Most mechs rip off, bosch fuel pump 100 euros at the parts shop, 250 said the mechanic it would cost him + his cut. And these stories repeat during my 30 years of experience with cars.
Maybe pricing over there is different, but over this side of the pond a lot of garages take the absolute piss with parts prices – often 4 times what I could pay for the same part at a motor factors. I wouldn't mind that on a £3 part – but on a £20 part it is a bit silly.
I'll never forget a cartoon hanging on my father n laws auto shop.
It said you wouldn't take bacon, eggs and hashbrowns to the cafe for them to cook, so please do not bring your parts for us to install.
Mechanic shops mark up the parts, this I know to be true.
Hi Ray from the UK. Great videos, firstly, thanks. The point you make about material markup is valid.
The overheads set your recovery rate Inc profit. Half the equation on customer supplied parts and oil is missing – hence economically, it can not commercially work.
There is one point where I do disagree is your air filter labour example.
If a customer elects to supply parts, the standard repair operation time SRO for each every separate operation applies.
0.2 hrs drive in out time
0.2 hrs air filter
0.6 hrs oil and filter
0.3 hrs cabin filter
Menu priced service is a pre-pack price, not a buffet.
In my example above, only labour at your rate is stated, but add consumables, environmental charge for all disposals (all those bottles and oil), and thrifty customers will pay a lot more.
You stated, "ripping customer off." Ray, no – you are being paid to do a job they either can't or won't do, never apologise for that when using SRO times (shop times)
If you went to your Jag customer who is say a retired architect, and ask them to charge you less because you gave them pen and paper to redesign your shop – they'd laugh in your face, buddy.
I've worked in the industry for 35 years, and we are of the same mind. Please do not make the mistake of having to justify SRO's to appease people trying to cheat the system. Ray.
Keep up the great work, buddy.
I really understand why shops need to sell the parts aswell. Of course, its part of being able to stay afloat. I support that.
you undercharge for labour then whine about profit?
I wish I had a mechanic who worked to your standards near me.
I'm very lucky to have found an honest competent mechanic 5 minutes from my place 3 years ago, he charges so much less than the dealership for services and repairs and he also supplies additional service like driving us to work , home and picking us up , even a loaner on one occasion . I used to do my own repairs and service for years but at that age now when it's all a bit too hard. I love your videos , something relaxing watching you work .
Well put. Not to mention the shop is responsible for warranty on said parts. So in short you’re paying extra for parts and labor warranty. That’s what I say anyway 😘
SO DIY All The Way watch youtube rent the tool and get to work.
Not to mention all of the taxes that go along with profit. Transportation costs ,driver costs, regulatory compliance costs. Most people don’t have a clue about who’s actually stealing!!!! Washington DC!!!!!!!
Sometimes you get ripped off with markup, but not on an oil change. Maybe on something like an alternator. The consistent rip-off is the "misc./shop supplies" which is just a % tacked on and generally has nothing to do with actual supplies used to complete the job.
Ray I furnished my own parts because I want certain parts put on my automobile and sometimes shops put parts on that they think are best and I don't want those parts that's like the type of oil I use only use one type of oil and I found a shops use their oil that they buy Drums of and they can sell at a huge markup even though they don't pay a whole lot for it I don't want that oil I would rather pay more for labor and me furnish my own parts
No they are saving money. They charge u for a basic oil change and don't use their oil or filter.
Typical Ray; informing customers AND young mechanics about truth and how things are/should/and should not be done! Fabulous work–and again, basically one-handed! Bravo!!!
I understand the cost / price differential and how markup margin can offset overhead. The issue I have with shop supplied parts is when they charge double or triple the retail price. I look up the cost of parts. If the shop markup is reasonable, say 25-50%; no problem. I buy OEM or name brand parts because they are usually higher quality. If a shop says they will not install them, sometimes I'll just do it myself.
p.s. I got ripped off for a brake job that I did not want to do in my garage. I supplied the parts…the shop ADDED a charge for customer parts because they LOST their markup. That is the last time I'll use them.
As for the damaged drain plug on the Jaguar, I would be willing to bet that this is the result of having too many visits to the “Quick Lube” oil change shops. I have witnessed technicians in these places, use impact wrenches to remove/install drain plugs!
I haven't payed someone in 20 years to change oil literally takes 15 minutes
I've seen shops charge labor for air filter changes. My lady friends have shown me time and time again how shops rip them off. These are filters that take less than a minute to change and were billed for an hr of labor
I change my own oil (full synthetic 5 qts + oil filter) for $35.00, less if I find a sale.😁
Man I love how fitting it is that "Keep the Wolves away" came on the radio as you're talking about all this. These are the great insights that helps people understand how shops operate and I look forward to being a better customer for my regular mechanic!
How i see it u dont like price place charge do it ur self then
The moral of the story is $20 an hour does not keep the doors open.
As a person that has and can change out the oil and an oil filter, if some buys the oil and buys the filter it costs me just labor time of about 15 mins so when I charge $20 it's just profit, I don't work or own a shop so it can be done. it all depends on the fact some people will pay anyone else to do it.
this is why i do the work myslef. if i buy $h1t parts (ebay) lol its on me noone else…. If i already had the parts i do expect those to be installed if i pay the labor. plain and simple! i cant afford huge markups im not a millinare im on SSI with limited income…. so yeah! and sucks cuz i cant do it anymore and cant afford mechanics either…
Unfortunately Ray, The publics perception that they will be ripped off by a mechanic is hard earned by mechanics. I don't know anyone who hasn't been ripped off by a mechanic at one time or another. Everything from work never being done to poor or incomplete work, right on up to fraud.
Some jobs just attract the worst sort of people. In my exp as limited as it is. Carpenters, home contractors and car mechanics seem to be professions that are ripe with dishonest actors. The public all knows this but its hard to tell the good from the bad until they do a job for you. By that time your money is spent and your screwed.
As a flip side of the coin, i started doing all the small easy jobs my self, because i didnt want to pay someone to do it, so the local shop here just will never see my car for that stuff anymore.
LOL you turned it into an oil change video 🙂
Mark ups is not the only reason we do not like fitting customers parts as here in Scotland we have too guarantee the parts we fit
Do not return bad parts without telling the customer so they can decide how to proceed.
those spark plug connectors will have to be replace otherwise the cats will be damaged!
Not one of my favorite videos. I do understand. Yet not entertained
This is the 2nd time watching this video over just the oil change, I had a shop tell me he wanted $80 for an oil change. My first thoughts run do not bring anything to him.
6 quarts of that amazon oil just over a year ago was $26
What shop software are you using? ShopBoss/ShopMonkey/Mitchell?
why use new oil? just pour the old one back in XD