Couple of you have mentioned being charged flat rate hours for your repair. Flat rate protects the consumer as much as it benefits the shops. It establishes fair times for jobs to be done by an outside party and doesn't leave it up to individual shops. Protects the mechanic working in the shop as well so that he gets paid for his skill and time. It rewards skilled and organized mechanics and punishes the guy who spends twenty minutes looking for a wrench in his tool box or hiding behind the hood on his cell phone. Theres plenty of times it takes an extra hour or so that the customer isn't charged for. I grew up in my dads pontiac / cadillac garage and years later spent eight years as a Ford Parts and Service Director. I feel I ran an honest shop and my customer approval rating was over 96% for 28 of the 32 qtrs I ran the back end. I have seen it all the good bad and ugly of automotive repair. I left that business in 2001. So I see things from both sides of the counter.
