DealersEdge Professional Forums

If you get a chance read this article http://www.motorage.com/motorage/articl ... ?id=381434
from a recent Motorage publication.

Here are my questions - while I can see that the guy's heart is in the right place, I might have an issue with some of his processes. does anyone want to rebuild a compressor anymore? It just doesn't seem to make economic sense to the shop or the customer. In his example with the evaporator - so when it leaks again in a few weeks the customer is just out cost of the sealant repair and told now they have to buy a new part?

I just wanted your feedback.

As a side point, I used to have a tech who could fix nearly anything with no parts. Was it a proper repair - probably not - likely a lot of JB Weld and wire, but it economical, got vehicles back on the road and was never done to a safety type of issue. For example, i used to see him gluing broken internal tabs on window switches. He was fast and we knew our parts dept didn't stock them - so it was either do the repair right now or risk not having the customer back.

== Rob ==

I agree with the notion of trying to teach students on how to be Technicians and not "Parts Changers". There are so many variables to this story that it is hard to say where to begin. First does anyone make repair parts for the component in question? For example my shop foreman has a 1998 Dodge Stratus with a 2.5 liter V-6. It needed a coil. Chrysler and the aftermarket only listed a complete distributor. After 2 days of research I found out that a Ford Probe uses the same distributor and that the aftermarket had a coil listing, he installed the coil and is burning gas! What tech/manager/shop has the time to track down these items? Who wants to battle with a customer who's "sealer repair" didn't hold and has to pay for the correct repair, the replacement refrigerant that was lost and any consequential damage done by the sealer itself? Parts availability is a catch 22 if your DMS does not see a demand it will never stock the part! I won't even talk about the impact on CSI & FFV scores! Man I could type for hours on this one...

Absolutely that is another issue - o/h parts availability. Do they even make o/h kits for alternators anymore? Gosh I remember taking the covers off old GM alts and putting in new voltage regualtors and putting in new brushes all the time - I don't even know the last time I even saw that option available.

== Rob ==

I agree....we could spend hours on this.

If we could count on customers to be more understanding if a less expensive repair attmept didn't permanently fix the problem I reckon we'd see more home-spun style repairs. As it stands, if the cheap repair doesn't work they'll likely want the more expensive one for free---- no matter how many times you told them that the first time was a "no warranty" type of thing. Its the old "no good deed goes unpunished" thing.

Call me a coward but 95% of the time I'm gonna suggest the repair that offers the highest possibilty of sucess and the lowest possibility of a comeback.

Cheers
DD

Your right Old Irish! Customers ask, "can't it be fixed without replacing it?" Of course it can, in most cases. But, with a lifetime warranty, alternators that are sealed, the chance of the "repair" failing and then we having to eat the new part...even if you document the repair, a good lawyer or a loud customer will get the part and labor free. We do not perform any repair that we cannot get GM's blessing on. If the customer wants a "Patch" job, we recommend they find a "shade tree".

As I've told my advisors and techs countless times. "The very first thing the customer forgets is that you saved them money by repairing their _______ rather than replacing it. All they remember is that they paid you to fix the car and the same thing is wrong with it again."

With the parts warranties we have available today it just doesn't make good business sense to try to cobble something back together...

Just my opinion.