From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   In article , dan   wrote:   
   >What's a good reliable reasonably accurate way to look up car repairs?   
      
   There is none.  Most shops use the Chilton's book which tells you how many   
   hours something is supposed to take.  However, the assumptions made in the   
   Chilton's book are not necessarily correct.   
      
   Sometimes mechanics don't have a special tool, so it takes them much longer.   
   Sometimes there is rust, and it takes much longer.  Sometimes it starts out   
   with rust and gets much much worse.  Sometimes everything just comes apart   
   neatly.   
      
   Valve adjustment on my car is listed as a two-hour job in the Chilton's.   
   My mechanic wants an hour to do it.  I can do it dry to dry in 18 minutes,   
   but I have done it many times over the years.   
      
   If you believe the Chilton's book, a brake job on the same car is five hours.   
   It's not even an hour if everything is well-maintained and clean, maybe a   
   bit more than an hour if you have to turn the rotors down.   
      
   The book isn't very detailed either.  They'll have the same time on a U-joint   
   whether the car has a manual or an automatic transmission, and the difference   
   affects how much time you're going to be in there.   
      
   >I've never been to a mechanic in my life but I've asked plenty how much   
   >large repairs cost and rarely do they give you a price for repairs which I   
   >understand because they will tell you that they have to look first for the   
   >bigger jobs.   
   >   
   >That makes sense but I just want a price assuming all goes to plan.   
      
   Nothing ever, ever goes to plan.   
      
   >Steering racks   
   >Cooling systems   
   >Brakes   
   >etc.   
      
   These three are particularly insidious because they all can be easy if   
   everything goes well, and they can turn into hideous nightmares if there   
   are deferred maintenance issues and things don't go well.   
      
   Cooling system seems a little sluggish, the pump is leaking, you replace   
   the pump and then once the flow rate comes up, a hose blows out.  You   
   replace the hose and.... oh, now the heater isn't working because you   
   stirred up junk in the ill-maintained system and clogged the heater core.   
   Could have been an hour, could be a week.   
      
   >Often they give you a huge range which is better than nothing but still not   
   >a good answer to the question (for example $500 to $1500 for brakes or a   
   >clutch).   
      
   Ask them to show you the number in the Chilton's book.  But don't believe it.   
      
   >All repair "can" get bigger but many times they don't (although often they   
   >do) where all I want to know is the "traditional" cost of the basic repair   
   >in my zip code (I can easily find out the shop rates so that's not the   
   >problem as I can assume $100 per hour or something like that).   
      
   You can look in the Chilton's guide and see where their numbers come from,   
   but don't believe those numbers.  Sometimes it takes much less time than the   
   book says, sometimes it takes much longer.  The dealer will charge you for   
   the book time even if it takes much less, but a good independent shop will   
   charge you for actual time spent.   
      
   However, the time spent on maintenance is definitely predictable, because   
   if you do it properly, on time, and well, you won't have surprises.  Change   
   your automatic transmission fluid every 80,000 miles; it's a very quick job   
   on most cars and the time is predictable.  Whereas the time to rebuild a   
   transmission is not.   
   --scott   
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)