How do people afford it?

On an expensive car, fixing it yourself and messing up can be far more expensive than having a trained person fix it, mess up, and replace your engine for free.

Most good shops have a "oops" cost built into their rates. Or the mechanics salaries...

So I do suspension, brake, or "minor" repairs myself, because the chances of me messing up is less likely, and if I do, I can quickly tell that something isn't right.

I've hated the idea of replacing a head gasket, starting it up for the first time, and bending valves or something.

In reply to stuart in mn: Mark-up may have been the wrong term here, as I expect every shop has to so some sort of markup on parts - it's part of the business. What I was trying to point out is that I don't feel like subsidizing a flailing new-car sales business in order to get work done on my 25yr old crapcan. I'll gladly pay shop rates to keep a shop open, not to pad the numbers for the other part of the business that doesn't make money.

Also, I've done the small-business-low-rate-crazy-hours thing for 6 years in a service industry. I understand that it's difficult to balance perceived value vs. actual cost. It's a challenge many of us face. Whatever the realities are between dealership service vs. independent shop, I choose independent 9/10 times because I feel I get treated better and I understand their pricing structure.

In the end, it doesn't really matter to the customer what challenges a business has to face. It's the business's job to provide a product or service that works for the customer, whether it's pricing, quality, customer service, or convenience. Obviously, bringing their car to the dealership for everything works great for a lot of people. However, it sure as hell doesn't work for me.

PHeller wrote: On an expensive car, fixing it yourself and messing up can be far more expensive than having a trained person fix it, mess up, and replace your engine for free.

Big reason why I take mine in for some things. I know I would jack something up.

In reply to Fletch1:

And then there is the wife's car. If I jacked something up on her daily driver, things would not end well for me.

I work with one guy who tinkers on old Harley-Davidson and Triumph motorcycles. He pays a guy to work on his car.

I'm the only one in my office that works on his own cars, and I work for an Engineering firm. Strangely, though, the engineers I work with respect the fact that I tinker with my cars and always come to me for advice when they have car trouble.

I am Engineer and I have dirty hands routinely!

Paying someone loads of cash to work on a motorcycle is ridiculous. You don't need a lift to replace the engine, you don't need a lift to change the oil, you can remove the wheels with a pair of wrenches...

Older motorcycles at least are like working on a bicycle with lots of wires.

Its what happens when everybody goes to college. Yeah they make more money but they have to pay more because there are less blue collar workers and you can just about charge whatever you want if you are good at it.

SupraWes wrote: Its what happens when everybody goes to college. Yeah they make more money but they have to pay more because there are less blue collar workers and you can just about charge whatever you want if you are good at it.

I don't really think this is the issue.

In reply to Otto Maddox:

Yup. I do oil changes and keep air in the tires. That's all she's getting. She hate's driving any other car.

HappyAndy wrote: I am not surprised to se that you live in PA. I live just outside of Philly, since I can't find an honest inspection shop around here, I've settled for a dishonest shop who's terms I can live with.

I hear ya... I've been going to the same shop for over 20 years now for much of the same reasons. Since my two main drivers are diesels and don't get an emissions sticker, there have been times when they never got into a servive bay - the safety sticker was replaced in the lot after I told them everythign was fine and they trust me. I still do a "pre-inspection" before I go over there to make sure there are no surprises.

Since I do timing belt replacements on my TDi (one of the more tedious TB jobs out there), pulling a head to replace a head gasket would only be a small increase in complexity. That said, I didn't pop out of the womb with that confidence. I got there through the experience of having ripped a fair share of cars apart and successfully putting them back together.

This is also a main reason why I always like to have more than one working car - so I have a back up to drive if I need to take one off the road for awhile. I would say the single-car (or one per driver) issue is a main reason why a lot of people won't work on their own cars.