Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[Dante]

Shop rates are going up everywhere even Indy shops, just like all other industries now. Our dealership charges $155/hr. And we earn it.

This is at a JLR dealer right? In that case not too bad. IIRC from a visit at a GTA dealer two years back I believe it was over $200/hr.

For comparison, for the dealers and indy shops I visited in the recent months, Mitsu - $125/hr, VW - $135/hr, VW/Audi specialist indy - $80/hr.

[Blueprint]

The Audi dealer surprised me this week. Even though the final verdict for my endless charging issue was "normal battery aging", the service was at no-charge and I got an A4 loaner for the day.

[ChaosphereIX]

Lots of Kias on the lot at the local dealership. I wonder why.

I wonder if Samsung (Korean) LG (Korean) are some of the fabs for the chips that are in such short supply right now...coincidence KIA and Hyundai are doing OK with stock?

[Blueprint]

Lots of Kias on the lot at the local dealership. I wonder why.

I wonder if Samsung (Korean) LG (Korean) are some of the fabs for the chips that are in such short supply right now...coincidence KIA and Hyundai are doing OK with stock?

Even with EVs - prior to the world issues - they had more inventory / less delivery delays than others.

Most manufacturers diminished their chip orders prior to knowing that 2020 would be much better than expected, sales-wise. Add the fire at a chip factory, high consumer demand for stay-at-home tech and world logistics issues and voilà! Mess. Big mess. Kudos to the Hyundai group if they planned ahead.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Lots of Kias on the lot at the local dealership. I wonder why.

Hyundai makes their own chips , this is what the owner of the local Hyundai told me, when she had an appointment with my wife
I would imagine Kia would use the same chip

[Gurgie]

The Passport got some love this afternoon, weather was nice so a full interior detail... ready for winter now.



Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[EV Dan]

Checked the oil level, topped up washer fluid. Toyotas are so boring 

[rrocket]

Checked the oil level, topped up washer fluid. Toyotas are so boring  [emoji14]

Boring in this regard is good!

[EV Dan]

Checked the oil level, topped up washer fluid. Toyotas are so boring  [emoji14]

Boring in this regard is good!

Yep, hence the "tongue" emoji 

[Hannibalsmith]

Service on the 335i at TheHire's shop...very happy

[TheHire]

Service on the 335i at TheHire's shop...very happy

Hey! I don't know how I missed you! I had my booster last night so I came in fashionably late this morning... didn't even see your car come and go!

[Hannibalsmith]

Service on the 335i at TheHire's shop...very happy

Hey! I don't know how I missed you! I had my booster last night so I came in fashionably late this morning... didn't even see your car come and go!

No worries, the two Pawels treated me and the 335 well

[Dante]

Service on the 335i at TheHire's shop...very happy

Hey! I don't know how I missed you! I had my booster last night so I came in fashionably late this morning... didn't even see your car come and go!

No worries, the two Pawels treated me and the 335 well

I second that - Pawel, the mechanic, is a great guy and a great mechanic (not that the other Pawel is not a great guy  ...).

I watched him few weeks ago doing the rear wheel bearings on my BMW and I was impressed.... He did not miss a beat! He knew exactly what to do every single steps of the way and he was moving fast... really fast. It was like watching a movie you watched many times before and know exactly what scene (operation) comes next. He definitely knows his way around BMWs and could tell from a mile that he's done that job many times before and knew exactly what's coming next, what tools to use, what sockets go where.... He's the kind of mechanic you feel comfortable working on your car.

I only whish he would've worked on my car from the beginning; he would've saved 3-4 hrs of my life and I would've been home for lunch rather than dinner....

Alex is great guy too.... I watched him at the same time working on an old Jag..... It was like a science project - he spent a lot of time in front of the computer, checking wiring diagrams I guess, as he was working on some electrical stuff on that car....
 

[Dante]

My FGCs are boring too.... oh... wait.... they were supposed to be riddled with issues....

Put in the new brake handle in the BMW today - the OEM "sport" perforated Napa leather option. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but for your amusement, one example of famous German engineering - the leather hand brake boot is secured to the handle (or the other way around) by a .... zip tie. Yep, a zip tie. Easy install though.... and it feels much better/upscale in the hand vs the original piece.

Also replaced the cargo light bulb in the GTI with a Philips LED bulb.... much better lighting now. All interior lights in the GTI are LED, except for the trunk.... Why? Not sure. I guess save few cents per unit?

[TheHire]

Service on the 335i at TheHire's shop...very happy

Hey! I don't know how I missed you! I had my booster last night so I came in fashionably late this morning... didn't even see your car come and go!

No worries, the two Pawels treated me and the 335 well

I second that - Pawel, the mechanic, is a great guy and a great mechanic (not that the other Pawel is not a great guy  ...).

I watched him few weeks ago doing the rear wheel bearings on my BMW and I was impressed.... He did not miss a beat! He knew exactly what to do every single steps of the way and he was moving fast... really fast. It was like watching a movie you watched many times before and know exactly what scene (operation) comes next. He definitely knows his way around BMWs and could tell from a mile that he's done that job many times before and knew exactly what's coming next, what tools to use, what sockets go where.... He's the kind of mechanic you feel comfortable working on your car.

I only whish he would've worked on my car from the beginning; he would've saved 3-4 hrs of my life and I would've been home for lunch rather than dinner....

Alex is great guy too.... I watched him at the same time working on an old Jag..... It was like a science project - he spent a lot of time in front of the computer, checking wiring diagrams I guess, as he was working on some electrical stuff on that car....

Appreciate that. All five of our techs are actually really good guys and extremely qualified. Pawel is our BMW tech, and personally owns a fleet of unreliable BMWs that he keeps on the road. Alex is generally the one I entrust to keep my own sh*tboxes on the road. He's a VW/Audi/Porsche/Bentley guy at heart, so I have some use for him in this particular area.  I also have him doing some additional Aston Martin courses over the holiday break, since we're making my car a bit faster.

On that note, I went with a factory Aston Vantage GT4/N24 racer engine tune, full exhaust, catalytic converters, equal length headers, upgraded clutch/flywheel, and some other goodies. Car's going to be about the fastest it can get with bolt-ons. Got all of the interior panels (centre console, door bars, shifter surround, door sills, cluster surround, vents, etc.) redone in forged carbon, too.

[HeliDriver]

^^ I was wondering about the “watched him work” comment above. You let customers watch while their cars are being serviced? Did you put big windows in the shop wall just for this? Or does carcrazy get a backstage pass? 

Seems odd, IMO. Yeah, full transparency and all that, but sometimes it’s best not to see how the sausage gets made.

How do the techs feel about it? Most people don’t appreciate someone looking over their shoulder while they work.

[TheHire]

^^ I was wondering about the “watched him work” comment above. You let customers watch while their cars are being serviced? Did you put big windows in the shop wall just for this? Or does carcrazy get a backstage pass? 

Seems odd, IMO. Yeah, full transparency and all that, but sometimes it’s best not to see how the sausage gets made.

How do the techs feel about it? Most people don’t appreciate someone looking over their shoulder while they work.

Absolutely not. We have a waiting lounge upstairs where people can hang out while their car is being worked on, or they can drop off/pick up (which we prefer, but obviously isn't always ideal for the client).

I know the last time I was there and CarCrazy had come by for something, he had some time to kill so opted to wait for his service. I'm fairly sure it was after he peered through the window the entire time  that the techs asked if we can have the windows frosted, tinted or blocked off.  
 
Nothing against CarCrazy or any client in particular, but it's something that was an oversight on my part before and I didn't realize the impact it has on the technicians' performance. The techs get sweatier and way more conscious when they're being watched, so I respect that. You're right about the "sausage getting made" analogy there.

The previous management at our shop also had a small group of "old boys club" friends that would come and hang out in the shop while their stuff was worked on - that's a hard no. Again, lots to learn on my part, so I'm taking all feedback I can from both clients and my staff to see how things can be improved.

[Gurgie]

^^ I was wondering about the “watched him work” comment above. You let customers watch while their cars are being serviced? Did you put big windows in the shop wall just for this? Or does carcrazy get a backstage pass? 

Seems odd, IMO. Yeah, full transparency and all that, but sometimes it’s best not to see how the sausage gets made.

How do the techs feel about it? Most people don’t appreciate someone looking over their shoulder while they work.

Absolutely not. We have a waiting lounge upstairs where people can hang out while their car is being worked on, or they can drop off/pick up (which we prefer, but obviously isn't always ideal for the client).

I know the last time I was there and CarCrazy had come by for something, he had some time to kill so opted to wait for his service. I'm fairly sure it was after he peered through the window the entire time  that the techs asked if we can have the windows frosted, tinted or blocked off.  
 
Nothing against CarCrazy or any client in particular, but it's something that was an oversight on my part before and I didn't realize the impact it has on the technicians' performance. The techs get sweatier and way more conscious when they're being watched, so I respect that. You're right about the "sausage getting made" analogy there.

The previous management at our shop also had a small group of "old boys club" friends that would come and hang out in the shop while their stuff was worked on - that's a hard no. Again, lots to learn on my part, so I'm taking all feedback I can from both clients and my staff to see how things can be improved.

Best way to go. All cool for the tech to maybe talk to the customer & let them know what's up if they're sticking around, but other than that....

Most of the time I don't give a flying about who/what is being done on my vehicle. Passport is under warranty, so off to Honda for everything right now, SLK goes to 2 trusted guys (found a 3rd now that's even better) & I let them know what it needs & they price it fairly. The 951 used to go to the same place where the SLK goes now... and all of the above is only for (except the Passport) only stuff I can't do at home.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[rrocket]

^^ I was wondering about the “watched him work” comment above. You let customers watch while their cars are being serviced? Did you put big windows in the shop wall just for this? Or does carcrazy get a backstage pass? 

Seems odd, IMO. Yeah, full transparency and all that, but sometimes it’s best not to see how the sausage gets made.

How do the techs feel about it? Most people don’t appreciate someone looking over their shoulder while they work.

Absolutely not. We have a waiting lounge upstairs where people can hang out while their car is being worked on, or they can drop off/pick up (which we prefer, but obviously isn't always ideal for the client).

I know the last time I was there and CarCrazy had come by for something, he had some time to kill so opted to wait for his service. I'm fairly sure it was after he peered through the window the entire time  that the techs asked if we can have the windows frosted, tinted or blocked off.  
 
Nothing against CarCrazy or any client in particular, but it's something that was an oversight on my part before and I didn't realize the impact it has on the technicians' performance. The techs get sweatier and way more conscious when they're being watched, so I respect that. You're right about the "sausage getting made" analogy there.

The previous management at our shop also had a small group of "old boys club" friends that would come and hang out in the shop while their stuff was worked on - that's a hard no. Again, lots to learn on my part, so I'm taking all feedback I can from both clients and my staff to see how things can be improved.

Best shop I ever went to, Accelerated Performance in OH. https://www.acceleratedperformance.com/  They didn't care if you sat in the shop and watched (they had chairs), or if you looked around at other project on the go..and they even didn't care if you helped them wrench.  And they even bought YOU lunch on the day you were there.

Just the absolute greatest shop I've ever been to...even if it doesn't look like much from the street.

I absolutely adore those guys and IQ and I still go there a few times a year just to hang out in the shop and visit while they wrench.  Just the greatest guys, ever.

All 3 indy's I've used here (1 man operations) were OK with you being in the shop, chatting or pointing out minor things about the job they may not be aware of.  One of them even asked IQ if she could put her tiny hand into the engine bay to wrench on something because his burly hand wouldn't fit.   

[TheHire]

^^ I was wondering about the “watched him work” comment above. You let customers watch while their cars are being serviced? Did you put big windows in the shop wall just for this? Or does carcrazy get a backstage pass? 

Seems odd, IMO. Yeah, full transparency and all that, but sometimes it’s best not to see how the sausage gets made.

How do the techs feel about it? Most people don’t appreciate someone looking over their shoulder while they work.

Absolutely not. We have a waiting lounge upstairs where people can hang out while their car is being worked on, or they can drop off/pick up (which we prefer, but obviously isn't always ideal for the client).

I know the last time I was there and CarCrazy had come by for something, he had some time to kill so opted to wait for his service. I'm fairly sure it was after he peered through the window the entire time  that the techs asked if we can have the windows frosted, tinted or blocked off.  
 
Nothing against CarCrazy or any client in particular, but it's something that was an oversight on my part before and I didn't realize the impact it has on the technicians' performance. The techs get sweatier and way more conscious when they're being watched, so I respect that. You're right about the "sausage getting made" analogy there.

The previous management at our shop also had a small group of "old boys club" friends that would come and hang out in the shop while their stuff was worked on - that's a hard no. Again, lots to learn on my part, so I'm taking all feedback I can from both clients and my staff to see how things can be improved.

Best shop I ever went to, Accelerated Performance in OH. https://www.acceleratedperformance.com/  They didn't care if you sat in the shop and watched (they had chairs), or if you looked around at other project on the go..and they even didn't care if you helped them wrench.  And they even bought YOU lunch on the day you were there.

Just the absolute greatest shop I've ever been to...even if it doesn't look like much from the street.

I absolutely adore those guys and IQ and I still go there a few times a year just to hang out in the shop and visit while they wrench.  Just the greatest guys, ever.

All 3 indy's I've used here (1 man operations) were OK with you being in the shop, chatting or pointing out minor things about the job they may not be aware of.  One of them even asked IQ if she could put her tiny hand into the engine bay to wrench on something because his burly hand wouldn't fit.   

Agree to disagree there. I’ve gotten a ton of feedback that techs don’t like to be disturbed while they’re working. They’re excellent performers when given some autonomy so I’m okay with going with that.