Most know the most glaring auto repair pricing abuses: Service centers overcharging $100s even $1000s for repairs, or charging for service that was never done at all. To be sure, this still happens every day. However, there are many other techniques which involve flying just low enough to avoid detection. The savvy service centers increase the price so as not to set off any alarms. Its become so common that its not just an accepted industry practice, but even service customers have accepted paying higher prices.
Knowing how ingrained price-gouging is within the automotive service industry, its shocking (although understandable) that even service customers have succumbed to excessive car repair prices. I frequently hear service customers state: Yeah, I know I was ripped off, but my cars fixed now. Or, I know they charge too much, but theyre convenient.
This is insane! To accept auto repair price-gouging is to allow its continuation. The difficult part, of course, is how to stop it. Given that the automotive service industry is so big and powerful (and so frightfully necessary) how does one battle such a force?
Perhaps the first thing to understand is the degree to which this type of stealth-like price-gouging occurs. A two-decade undercover investigation has revealed that 98% of all repair shops (dealerships, local shops, and franchises) are price-gouging their customers in one form or another.
The following exchange, between a service manager and service advisor, provides an idea of the scope of scamming below the radar.
A service advisor asked his manager how to bill more hours per month, which is another way of asking how the advisor can make more money. The service manager casually stated: Simply add an additional two tenths to every ticket you write.
In other words, every customer the service advisor helps, he was instructed by a superior to add a little extra. So if the labor rate is $100 per hour that would equal $20. Rather than pay $100 per hour, the service customer would actually pay $120.
$20 doesnt sound like much compared to the gross injustices weve all heard about. However, whether its an overcharge of two cents or $20, its too much. If you visit a shop practicing this strategy alone (there are hundreds of strategies, many applied simultaneously), you may end up paying over a $100 or more by years end.
Whats really shocking is that being ripped off $100 over a years time is actually minor!
Try $500-$5000!
-Theodore P. Olson (Ted)
http:repairtrust.com/
Ted holds extensive certifications from Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, General Motors, ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) and more. Over a twenty-year period in the automotive service industry, he has served as a technician, shop foreman, shop manager, shop owner, service advisor, service manager, and service industry consultant.
Other Works by Ted Olson Include:
- ARREST the Automotive Service Industry!
- Maintenance Myths: A Step-by-Step Guide to STOP Getting Ripped Off!
- Auto Repair: The Shocking Truth About Who's Ripping You Off and Why!
- Automotive Service Pricing Strategiesa fair pricing guide for service centers
- Being the Besta comprehensive customer service handbook for service advisors
- Service Center Personnelan auto repair informational for general service staff
- Service Mission Statementa philosophical proposal to improve customer service
