Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:11:21 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Mechanics using customer supplied parts.. Was bars leaks
In-Reply-To: <540419.64584.qm@web112010.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
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With this new title for this thread - I want to recommend a shop in
Columbiana, Alabama for those who might be in Alabama or anywhere near
when traveling. Columbiana is situated between US 280 and I-65 just
south of Birmingham, AL
The shop is Loyd's Auto Repair. It's a one man shop, and the owner -
Charlie Loyd - does all the work. He's open minded about the work,
doesn't mind you in the shop watching, and is perfectly willing to
install whatever parts you bring in. Though he doesn't see but a scant
few Vanagons, he has worked extensively on my van for the past 6 years
and has come to know the van's pretty good. His shop number is 205-669-1255
Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
John Anderson wrote:
> Oddly for quite a while there were (presumably) non dealer EV mufflers on ebay for both 5 cylinder and VR6 cars, probably same supplier as BD gets. I've not looked for about a year so don't know if still there, and not a point on the topic so much, but if they are on ebay, I'm surprised a shop couldn't order one from a good FLAPS.
>
> I personally see this one both ways, the classic argument is that the customer often brings in shit quality parts, and it is often true. Karl summed this one up a couple weeks ago in a thread on T2, he had someone with the gall to come after he installed good $10 each Conti or Gates belts with some $2 crap from Autozone and want their money back and the parts exchanged because "he ripped him off." After all, the 17 year old pimply kid at the parts counter at Autozone said they were good and it was so. The flip is ludicrous however, I mean if the guy couldn't find a EV muffler and wants to hack/cobble together crap or get a ludicrous $$ dealer part when you have a perfect fitting part for far less is abhorrent. But no one can fault em either way for not warranting a part you bring in folks. That would be a very generous (and soon out of business) shop that might do that. And even the lack of want to install I see as reasonable
> sometimes. If the part fails, even if they state they are not going to warrant the part, they will still get rumbling bad word that "their work failed" from a lot of people. If they only want to charge you say 20-25% more than you can pay from B-D or whoever, probably isn't unreasonable.
>
> Sometimes they might not be doing much better or making as much markup as you think. A good (though not VW) for instance, front hubs on my 3/4 ton Suburban, $450 each at the dealer (likely Chinese), $300-350 each "jobber" price from all the local FLAPS her in AK (import Chinese part) $109 each off ebay for the exact same maker Chinese part, and flat rate boxed to me for $10 each. I mean had I gone locally, and had a shop do the work, even with a shop discount, it would have been 3 times the price each which they would have had to pass to me. Would have made a $350 in parts brake job into a $850 brake job even if a shop didn't overchage me, just how it is.
>
> I of course do all my own work, and used to do a lot of work for others for not a lot of money, for the love of the van. Your best bet is always to find someone so inclined, and go and learn for yourself. Not much you can't do on a concrete slap (or in the dirt for that manner just less pleasant) on a Vanagon with a $99 Craftsman tool set, a $50 floor jack, a few "specialty" tools, and a little ingenuity. That old, if you teach a man to fish addage.
>
> John
>
> --- On Wed, 9/16/09, B Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> wrote:
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> I bring parts. He gave my wife the nastiest look when she was dragging my BD
> EV muffler into the shop last week. I even gave them the chance to find a
> non-dealer muffler for the EV and they cound not. If they ever tell me to
> stop bringing my own stuff I'll find another mechanic.
>
> Bryan
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