We have a B.S. button. And so should you.

This is why I started this little blogging site in the first place.  I just need a place to rant and at the same time educate my readers.  Knowledge is king.  I think NBC said it best, "The more you know!"  I knew watching cartoons in the morning would pay off eventually.

Anyone who knows our shop at all knows that we have a little thing for Miatas.  Call it a love affair, or an addiction, or a passion or even a fetish?  Whatever terminology you choose, just know that we know Miatas like the back of our hands.  As such, we have customers all over Austin and we understand when some of them can't always afford to take the time to drive all the way north to us for simple oil changes or the like.  If we can't provide them with on-site repair or maintenance service I always highly encourage our customers to call me if they ever have any questions or concerns about their Miatas.

Last week (a Wednesday, perhaps) I had a customer of ours call me because she was concerned about a noise coming from her exhaust and asked if it was OK for her to drive it until she could get it to us to check out.  She drives a 2001 Miata with an automatic tranmission. (normally being an automatic wouldn't have any weight in this discussion, but bear with me, it does play a role further down).  I told her that normally exhausts leaks won't cause a major problem but to get it to us as soon as she could so I could make sure she wouldn't burn up an engine harness or other surrounding parts.  The next day she called me saying that the noise was getting much worse so she stopped at a nearby garage to look at the problem.  This other shop told her that she had an engine vibration that was due to broken motor mounts.  She was quoted $485 to fix the problem and asked me if this was both a reasonable fix and a reasonable cost.  At that time I told her that I would look up the job operation and call her back as soon as I could.

When I get off the phone I thought to myself whether or not this was a reasonable diagnostic.  Let's do a little background first on just what an engine mount does in the first place.  An engine mount is what supports the engine on the subframe and is usually made of a solid rubber material.  Some mounts are even liquid filled as technology forces you to pay more money to fix them when they fail.  It's purpose is to absorb engine vibration so that you get a smooth ride in the cockpit.  It also allows other attachment points such as wiring harness or rubber hoses from being yanked around and being damaged.  Over time these rubber engine mounts get hard and brittle and start to either crack down the middle or separate itself from their metal plates. That said, we rarely see Miata engine mounts go bad. They only have two (one for each side of the engine) and are quite beefy. The exception to that rule are the automatic transmission Miatas.  Because the automatics are always in 'D' (Drive), the engine is constantly under load and it tends to collapse only one mount as its being torqued over even if you're sitting still at a light idling quietly.  When they do fail then there can be all kinds of engine vibrations and rattles that will absolutely drive the car owner nuts, not to mention your neighbors as you rattle up the driveway night after night.

Now let me talk about (2) red flags that I noticed right away:

1. She called me on a Wednesday complaining of a slight rattle.  It was only one day later that she called saying it's getting much worse.  Engine mounts don't fail this way.  They usually tend to degrade slowly over time.  A rapid degradation tells me something else is possibly going on.

2. $485 for mounts?  According to our shop labor guide (Mitchell's) the parts, labor and tax is half of that total.

So I called her back and asked her if she could possibly give me more information.  Perhaps they were quoting her some other work in addition to the mounts?  Perhaps because of the broken mounts she also had worn out hoses or harnesses?  Something would have to justify the additional cost.  She made the phone call and they said that they couldn't print out the quote because, "Our shop software doesn't allow us to print out estimates."  Wow, someone raise the B.S. flag.  I even pressed our 'BULLSHIT' button.    When asked why they were so expensive their advisor told her that they had to justify the cost because of the ASE Certified Master Technicians they employ to do such fine work on her fine automobile and provide a proper warranty.  Ok, I'll buy that explanation, but not for that price.   I told her to bring the car to me.

She showed up the next day and I personally test drove the car to verify the concern.  Sure enough there was an exhaust rattle so up in the air it went on the lift.  Motor mounts? check.  Engine vibration?  none.  Exhaust rattle, ah yes.  We found a 4-inch long broken exhaust bolt that had rusted through and was vibrating like it wanted off of this ride now!  This useless bolt simply supported a heat shield around the midpipe and served no other purpose whatsoever.  We removed it at no cost and I then went for a ride with our customer.  She was ecstatic.  I was fuming.

How can an independent shop with "ASE Master Certified Mechanics" rip off this poor older lady for $485?  Why can they not provide her with an actual breakdown of the estimate?  How do they sleep at night? ("On a big 'ol pile of money!")

As a consumer at any retail level the customer needs to know what they're buying.  We know exactly what we're buying when we plop down $900 at Best Buy for a big screen tv, right?  You did your research, you compared different brands and you trusted Best Buy's reputation.  Why shouldn't you know exactly what you are getting when you pay that amount at a repair facility?  Our average repair ticket is about $300 per job.  That's a lot of money to be paying, wouldn't you agree?  A knowledgeable customer not only makes more efficient use of their money but also does their part in KEEPING THE INDUSTRY HONEST!

This is the heart and soul of rebuilding a positive reputation. Knowledge is power.  If you have questions, ask them.  If you're afraid to ask them, then call me and I'll ask for you.  I have oftentimes posed as someone's brother calling a repair facility and asking questions on their behalf.  I love pinning them in a corner.  Never accept an answer from a service advisor that starts and ends with, "Because the tech said its bad."  Your confidence in them just got dropped to below zero and he needs to switch jobs and start flipping burgers.

This shop is located in S. Austin.  If you want the name, shoot me an email.