"Old" Joe was my teacher. He didn't intend to be, but with his "old school" experience as a mechanic from the 1930s, he had the wisdom I seemed to be lacking.
Joe knew how to fix things, not just replace parts. An important part of that was understanding what went wrong in order to know how to make it right. Joe's diagnosing methods were thorough, slow and, sometimes, just agonizing. However, Joe seemed to always be right.
Many times Joe's words and methods come back to me as if it were just yesterday instead of 30 years ago. Chasing down an electrical problem the other day, I was reminded of Joe's phrase, "Replace with a known-good part." A new part is not necessarily a known-good part. A new part might be a good part, but not always. And it's that "not always" that could send you down the wrong path for hours.
Luckily, I discovered that neither the new parking lamp bulb nor the new fuse worked BEFORE installing them, or, worse yet, BEFORE assuming they worked okay. Joe would've been proud.
One constant when working on vehicles is that sometimes some systems don't work. Repairing collision damage, one would think the only cause would be from the damage, but we find that not to be true.
Starters don't start, locks don't lock, lights don't light, and the list goes on. Sometimes the cause is obvious, including a dead battery, cut wire, or burned out bulb. Those are easy. It's the not-easy ones that give us trouble.
That starts the diagnostic process. It takes time. Time is money. Money is important. How much can we afford to give away? How much can we recover and from whom? Each business can decide how much diagnostic time they will give away. Each business can also decide when and how to charge for it.
This is where talking with the vehicle owner before repairs begin is so important. In conversation, we can discover vehicle problems before they become our problems. How is the engine running? Is the transmission shifting okay? Have you noticed any strange noises? Any vibrations? Anything not working? That list could go on and, of course, some quick checks would help. You could take a few minutes to check for engine noises, A/C operation, lights and a few accessories...just to make sure.
Now, how can you estimate diagnostic time when a problem is noted? If you knew what the problem was, you wouldn't need diagnostic time. By its nature, this one can't be estimated ahead of time. Instead, maybe some guidelines could be posted and followed. For example, make the first 15 or 30 minutes free, then charge $XX per hour after that. It could be your body rate, but with most problems being mechanical/electrical, maybe a mechanical rate would be more appropriate. Consider a minimum diagnostic charge, like electronic stores do.
This all assumes you can properly diagnose, repair and substantiate the problem. Make sure your technicians have access to the tools and data they need to find and repair common problems you would expect with your vehicle and customer populations.
Now, who pays for it? Of course, that would depend on the problem source. If it was accident-related, we would expect the insurance company to step up. If it turns out to be a maintenance item or part failure, the owner would be responsible. They may not feel responsible, but that is what the pre-repair interview is all about. That, good documentation and your posted diagnostic rates are your best chance of heading off problems. Save the old parts...just in case.
Years after Joe, I had another technician offer to make electrical problem estimating easy for me. He simply offered to fix any short, open circuit or bad connection for 0.2 every time.
Then the catch, "Just show me where it is."
"You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do."
— J. Kitt
Bruce Burrow, AAM started writing estimates over 30 years ago, has worked for most of the information providers, and, as an independent instructor for the last 10 years, has trained estimators all across North America. He is ASE Master certified and an instructor for the Automotive Management Institute. Send questions, ideas, and comments that you would like to see addressed here to [email protected] and stay tuned.
