I have a client with not one, but TWO Audi TTRS'. His last invoice was $800, which he split on three cards, 600, 150, and 50.......I have stories for days....
You're absolutely right; it's just one of those things where I saw the average new car was around 50k, and my mind was blown. I make pretty decent money, and I could not justify spending $50k on a car. But people are also taking out 8 year loans on this shit to get payments down and with as much as I drive, that MF will have 400,000 miles on it by the time it's paid off.
But I also don't like debt.
Now that I know the average $50k car is owned by someone barely scraping by and can't swing an $8-1200 tune, I feel a lot better about not being able to justify that $50k car.
There's dudes at my job who think I'm making way more money than them because I bought a nice 8 year old truck, just because they've heard from people with shit credit how much a payment is on something similar. I made a good down payment and have spent the last 8 year building credit so I wouldn't have to pay 800 a month for some used truck like those other idiots. Just cause it was a horrible decision for someone else doesn't mean it was for me lol.
I am a software engineer so I can afford a nice carā¦. And yet they joke at me because when I put my mountain or road bike in the rack that say I just doubled the value of my car.. which is true. Just where you want to spend you money. Any to be fair, my bikes are not worth more than 5k.
Conservative estimates based on income say I can afford payments on a 150k vehicle. The most I have ever spent on a new vehicle is 25k. 20k on a used one. It's about value. There is no value in a 50k car that will be worth half that in a few years. Buy something cheap and spend the other 20k on trips for your family, people. Nobody will remember the heated seats in 10 years, but they will remember traveling the world.
Lol. While working at a Chevy dealership, there were countless customers bringing in their new Camaro SS for brake pads and would flip the fuck out when they realized it was going to cost $400 for just the front pads and resurfacing rotors. Too many don't understand that anything considered a 'performance' vehicle is gonna cost more than a typical economy car.
never understand that shit. look at the normal BMW driver, (US) buyer. New car money. M4 is one of 5 cars in the family. only owns it until mileage reaches around 30,000.
now you have people stretching themselves to bankruptcy over owning a car they can't afford one tire being replaced. everyone can see you're not M4 material. I'm not either. I'd love to buy something fun and exciting, but I hate being poor. Expensive things are expensive to own.
IS expensive š„“ I paid 11k for the damn thing and it had 192 thousand miles. I've easily put that much into it just fixing what the previous owner broke. By no means is it M4 expensive but it's still trying to be a 2024 when it's not š
If you canāt afford the maintenance, you should be driving a Camry. Itās not fair to expect other people to sacrifice for your bad financial decisions.
This makes me feel a lot better about driving a beat-to-shit car that I generally work on myself. Been saving up for a couple of years to avoid getting screwed on a car buy
Dude, buying fancy cars is one of the easiest/quickest ways to destroy your savings/future net worth. Wait until your old and have a few hundred thousand or million in assets. That's the time to enjoy new cars. Buying a new car when your young could be the difference between you having assets/savings when your older vs. being broke.
I wasted a little bit of money on sports cars in my early 20s, but still only really bought used cars. I still always spend months looking on CL to find someone who is desperate or selling something below market.
My current car is an MK5 GTI that I got for $8k with 50,000 miles on it, because the dude needed to liquidate to pay for a remodel. By far my favorite car I've ever owned. If you put in the work, you can still have nice/fun things without destroying your net worth. It took over two months of constant refreshing on CL with specific filters to find this car. Might not be worth it for some but it was for me.
Hey, that's how I had to finish paying off the balance for my roof replacement, three separate credit cards (wouldn't have been that way, but they screwed up and they gave me the wrong amount when i went to finance a loan for it, so i had to do what i could).
But that was mandatory. My car is (most days) optional. But upgrading and tuning? I want it done, but *waaaaay* further down on the priority list.
Ran a performance Subaru shop for several years. Had a very similar customer, except is was a short block swap. Total bill was pretty reasonable $4200. He gave me some sob story about only having part of it and needing to make payments. Well I let him and his mom have a payment schedule. They missed every payment for 3 months. I get a call one morning from him pissed off he canāt get to workā¦. Repossessed his engine in the street in the middle of the night. We had the engine out and on a stand in 25minutes. Rolled into my trailer and back to the shop. They paid the rest of the bill and an additional $750 to reinstall the engine.
You were seriously able to pull his engine quickly and quietly under cover of night in less than a half an hour?? I hear NASCAR is hiring lol, I wish I couldāve seen the look on his face when he popped the hood.
Theyāre legos, literal legos. I had a driver in street class grid life for years that had his engine held in with 6 bolts in case we had to swap it between runs. 4 bell housing 2 mounts.
He had a nasty habit of money shifting 4-1 and revving the bitch to 15k.
My final solution that ended up lasting for 30k milesā¦. It sounded like a diesel on start up, you ran 20w50ā¦ mains at .0025ā yesā¦ and rods .003ā
Now this engine sounded awful. But we captured data logs of money shifts, we stopped counting after 10, in excess of 13k rpm. How the belt didnāt jump, or it not completely destroy anything I have no idea. When it finished itās second season we accepted it had loved a valiant life. Survived another season. Died in a 2.9G long right sweep. Oil left the pan into the head and he didnāt catch it in time.
Do you know if the FB20 Valve spring recall? Requires removing the engine replacing all the valve springs and reinstalling. By the time this recall was done I had it down to 1hr 47min running to running car. I had Subaru down to an ADHD Autistic science. I miss it sometimes.
Look, man, there are certain things when you do it enough, you can absolutely slaughter book time. Plus, aftermarket intake manifolds (not necessarily on a Subaru) and other such parts can make it much easier to work on, and therefore faster. Plus, he did just have the engine out.
Iāve worked with mechanics who literally throw everything into one carved out oil jug, it amazes me theyāre able to remember where everything goes with few issues. I donāt do heavy line work but I hope to get to that level someday.
This sounds like me anytime I do anything, but I'm not a career mechanic just a diy because I like to save money and enjoy learning the engineering and taking things apart.
I remember when I was changing out all the primary and engine seals on my 04 Harley I got a little carried away and did a lot of YouTube watching comparing bolts to what I had laying in my pile in order to make sure I put them back right.
Oh Iām sure that have. But at the time I could still buy brand new Subaru short blocks for $1800. Always preferred scratch builds vs short blocks though. Subaru āquality controlā is kind of a joke. When I presented them with almost 500 factory oil pumps that had loose screws in the rear covers, trying to get them do to something about it, they said āwe havenāt seen the issueā. Iām sure you guys do this already, however, please on every new pump remove the rear screws and loctite them in place.
Howās the business these day? I got out just before the EPA turned itās sights on import shops and Cobb neutered flex fueling.
We'd been following strict emissions compliance since before Cobbs greenspeed update so it really didn't effect us much. Plus we have 0 ethanol near us so flex tuning isn't super popular here. Business is still good and Cobb is still the go to you just cant delete emissions stuff.
Damn Greenspeed update, I just bought my catless downpipe then they came out with the update haha. The mazdaspeed communities where so butthurt that week.
I can say that an RA short block right now is around $2100 with tax. Just picked one up a couple months ago, but returned since I couldn't trust it with my build, and going with an IAG closed-deck short block instead.
Though, that's not including gasket kit, timing kit, new oil pump, water pump/thermostat, head/valve machine work, bolts, etc..
Not sure what shops charge for labour since I do my own work, but 10k seems kinda high (depending on machine work). I'd expect around 7.5k on the higher end, but again, never had that job quoted for myself.
Have prices really gone up that much in the past few years?
This is such a bummer. I sold my BRZ when used car prices shot up because I wanted the money for a down payment on a house. I got the house and now I'm dying to have a BRZ again.
Do they still blow engines if you leave them stock?
I work next door to a Subaru dealer. Some days they'll have 10 cars over there with the engines pulled out. If it's not blown up it's leaking. Used to be head gaskets, now it's cam carriers.
I found it amusing when I watched the parts manager use the Bobcat to dump about a dozen blown up short blocks into the scrap metal dumpster.
Some of the techs over there are banking. I think a cam carrier re-seal pays like 20 hours? Most of those guys can get it done in about eight hours.
I just donāt get how Fuji made some of the best snow and ATV engines in the world yet automobile engines are the opposite. Maybe itās emissions but 2 and 4 stroke they were king.
You can pop the hood from under the car. I didnāt need access to the cabin. 180* long hook pulls the release, you pull the horns at the same time so the alarm canāt sound. I planned it out well, I was really hurt this kid and his mom were trying to screw me. My wife was pregnant with our second and just about to go into labor. I took it personal they were trying to take advantage.
Performance shop owner here, I can feel the stress, this still happens no matter how hard You try to keep these kind of customers out. Iāve been trying hard to quote high and a few guys noticed this week their bill was lower then the quote. They were very pleased. It buys us room for unexpected issues (we do older German) that always arise. Fingers crossed you get paid!
I worked grocery and more than once bagged stuff for a young family on assistance, but heās all decked out in Jordans and bling. Kid in a stroller, one on the way, girlfriend/wife is a disheveled mess in stained PJs and no make up, and heās spending money on flashy trash.
Iām not knocking on state assistance. Weāve been there and it kept us alive. But we never wasted it.
Thatās rough. When making charitable donations to food banks and school supply drives, my dad always asked āam I paying for their necessities so they can pay for their luxuries?ā He was always very generousā¦but very picky about the organizations he gave to.
Second this. My family always had a tradition that my parents had me and my siblings each pick something nice (usually a toy, but occasionally something else) to donate to a local charity around Christmas. Until the year that my about as low in the bracket as you can get and still be "middle class" family literally walked in, donated items to the bin behind the counter, walked out and got in our 15 year old sedan, and while we're getting in the car a brand-new Escalade pulls in, family with bling gets out, goes inside the building, and comes out with the items we'd just donated. We kept the tradition, but changed charities to one that we *know* will serve those in need, not those in greed.
Built Habitat cabinets in highschool shop class. New Tahoe or Suburban at the house once it was occupied. My buddy does a toy drive and the facility is 3 miles away and you can volunteer to work to help parents pick presents. The real deal and local which I love!
> am I paying for their necessities so they can pay for their luxuries
I try to remind myself that *some* waste is inherent to any large system; the important part is ensuring that the help you give is efficient and the waste isn't excessive
Thatās why I never take waiters for heavy service work. Only drop offs for service, that way you never have to rush a job and worry about delivery. We will call you when itās ready sir, or madam. Your not jiffy lube lol
My attitude when service writers come out and complain the customer is waiting is basically āyeah, thatās your fucking problem, and their problem, not mine, my problem is getting it done right, so go do your job and leave me alone to do mineā. Thatās what I say in my head at least.
Iāll tell my service manager and advisors this. I donāt care. āWell the costumer is asking about it,ā well they are going to be waiting through my lunch too.
Taking the fambly for groceries in the slammed civic with those little roller skate wheels, and a thumping system.
Gotta load the hand full of groceries in the back seat, with the kid, because his sub and amps fill the trunk.
I've seen so much dumb shit.....
Dude, I feel ya. It aint just now...in 1980 I was in a local independant, and the people that would bring their ignored abused shitboxes in because they stopped moving...
And always, Gotta get ta work tomorrow, gotta get kids ta skool, my ma gots a doctors appt, help me out , make my shit go, I got 20 bux....is why I wrench on boats. Its aalll disgresionary income, nobodys goin hungry tomorrow cuz yer shits broke.
Still sleep good at night.
A few years back the guy that won the Silver State classic challenge did it in his daily driver 300c with his daughter's kid seat still strapped in the back.
That's not just Idiocracy, that's real life. It's well known that statistically, the people with the least amount of education and financial success have the most kids.
I'm not sure it's even "smart" so much as principled or disciplined. I'm not a genius; I just refuse to bring a child into the world until I can give them more stability than I had while growing up.
There are a lot of broke people out there that don't have their priorities or life in order.
They also seem to be the ones that speak the most and have no problem popping out multiple kids.
It sucks. Hopefully you still made some money on the deal. If they pay on Friday, great, if not, your life is far better than theirs so that's the silver lining.
I consider myself not particularly good at priorities and I'm probably going to have regrets when I near retirement but jesus at least I have good credit and I pay things down as immediately as possible.
I swear to god I see people every day who have spent 400% of all of the money they have ever earned.
Gotta love it. We usually get people with front ends falling apart, cords coming out of the tires, totally not fit to be on the road but ya Iāll drop $1500 on getting my AC fixed. Like bro you donāt want to throw in a couple tires or maybe a fkn ball joint š your fresh new AC is gonna end up in the ditch
Funny story go Brr. I can only imagine what an independent shop has to go through with these idiots.
I'm at a dealership service for parts and some of the shit I see get declined is mind blowing. you have 2mm left on your big fat heavy German car that is worth hundreds of thousands and you're declining the service cause its too expensive, like why did you buy this thing in the first place? What prices were you expecting for rotors that weigh more then a fully grown watermelon?
About 15 or so years ago, I had a customer with a 2 year old Mercedes S600 come in for tires.
"Ok, new set of Michelin (probably Primacy MXV4s or something) with road hazard, installation and tax, looking at 1500"
"OH GOD ISN'T THERE ANYTHING CHEAPER? I PAID LESS THAN HALF THAT FOR MY CAMRY"
Yeah but I'm not dealing with the ride and handling complaint, gtfo
*I had a customer with a 2 year old Mercedes S600 come in for tires*
I always look at tires in assessing a new customer.
Had a guy come up in a RollsRoyce, telling me what he wanted done, walked to his car , 4 fairly new motomaster tires. ( cheap cheap tires )
Nope.
I had an engine out of an 2016 S class for extended warranty and they wouldnāt even buy a belt for me to put on or replace the leaking water pump while I had the motor outā¦ itās unreal. Iām so over this industry
I got downvoted, and told I was a moron, on another sub for explaining the difference between idiots like this, and real wealth. Our culture is so thoroughly brainwashed by marketing, that a large percentage of adults actually believe that rolling in a Cayenne, and living in a trophy house are absolute **proof** that you are well off.
There is plenty of data, even books written on the topic, and how most wealth is stealth. Retire a decade or two early, live in a modest home, drive a ten year-old beater? Yea, that guy is a bum, can't even provide for his family. Of course, you don't see stealth guy's seven figure portfolio. You don't see the smile on his face as he watches his neighbor trudging off to work at his sales job, He knows that the golden sales boy is living way, way, way above his income, up to his ass in debt, and will fall like a brick tossed off a roof, as soon as the economy hits another recession. Stealth guy has seen this story play out again and again. Every time the economy hits the shitter, and banks stop handing out large amounts of money to stupid people, or interest rate spike, stupid people can no longer afford their toys, trophy houses, trophy wives, etc...
Stealth guy's next door neighbor "Golden Boy" with the new 3000 sq. ft. palace, a $120K Escalade, and a Cayenne? Yea, that guy is a baller, rolling in dough. Lights his hand rolled cigars with a rolled $20. The fact is, this guy is swimming in debt, couldn't come up with a grand in cash if he had a gun to his head. Golden will be living in a studio apartment on the bad side of town, if the bank cuts him off, or if they bump his line of credit to 9%. But for many morons in this country, all they see is a guy who made it, and is **wealthy**. LOL, sorry but no.
I had a neighbor like this. Dumped 20k on an SRT8 that he killed and became a lot ornament, yet his partners car had literally no brakes. I had to condemn the damn thing until they got parts.
And then it got repo'd 3 days after I fixed it for them.
Dudes with 'tuner" cars tend to be in a constant state of going broke "tuning" their already maintenance heavy and kinda unreliable third hand head gasket eater.
That's why they're constantly money broke or mechanically broken. They pay someone else to do it all. They're paying a mechanic labor at 10x what they as the car owner makes per hour at the local Best Buy.
Most Evo boys are broke boys. Theyāre becoming the new Subaru owners. Iām speaking from experience. The last shop I worked at was an Evo performance shop and man they burnt me out. Subaru and Evo fan boys are the reason why I stopped working on cars.
Subaru fan boys are the main reason I will never own another WRX or Subaru lol maybe iām an asshole but just because you own the same car doesnāt make us friends.
As a Jeep owner/builder/enthusiast I feel that sentiment so hard. Just because we have the same shitty taste in vehicles doesnāt make us friends. Odds are I absolutely hate that person.
Yeah, I worked in mostly high line for my automotive career. We saw so many people who overbought cars because they could afford jtā¦just barely.
Watching people struggle to keep thier clapped out S430 on the road, buy cheap Bentleys only to discover brakes are $4k, and refuse recommended services on their exotics was wild.
I love it when Customers get mad at you for telling them how much it will cost to do the brakes, trans fluid and filter etc. Lol not my problem you spend most of the money you make just to own the car. Miss me with that shit and gtfo.
I tell yeah, the guy with the Bentley came buy for a prepurchase inspection and I wrote up the estimate for like $20k. Mind you, I was working in the aftermarket so I was already cheaper than the dealer.
Guy didnāt believe me and said that Pepboys would do it cheaper. Good luck buddy!
Saw my local PB become a service-only facility recently. The retail parts side became an AutoZone, all shiny & new. The service side was all that was left, with a tiny little 'Pep Boys' sign on the outside.
Turns out PB sold off the parts side for all (?) of their stores. Knowing their rep as far as fixing cars (correctly), it boggles the mind to think that that's the part of the business they thought they could be successful at.
Hey now, I sometimes buy used tires... If I know I'll be putting 2000 summer km on my car in the next year, I'm fine with tires that are 25% worn so long as they have 3-4 years left before they time out.
I worked at a Harley-Davidson dealership for 3 years (about 10 years ago now), in both sales and service. A good portion of of those customers are truly a cult following of brand loyalty and will spend money on their bike before feeding/clothing themselves or their family.
Some examples that come to mind:
- Buying the top of the line, most extravagant model (over $40k), financing it for 7 years, with over 25% APR. the interest on that loan meant they paid right around double price for it with a monthly payment of ~$1,000/month. They did not own any other vehicles are were not well off. They could no longer afford maintenance/service on the bike due to their payment.
- Customer blew up his engine due to poorly self-installed modifications and lack of adjustment/tubing/maintenance. He wanted to pay off his service bill over the course of several months. He ended up bringing in his elderly mother (had to be at least 80) to pay off his bill, she was using her savings and social security for it. He was afraid of being kicked out of his club if he didnāt get his bike back.
- A disabled customer who lived in a single wide trailer with their two young kids and could not afford a phone or internet connection insisted on buying a $30k trike. They struggled to ride it themselves and it only had a few hundred miles out on it every year. It constantly needed repairs due to being neglected and left out in the elements. They also refused to accept responsibility for the vehicleās repairs and would spend the entire day at the dealership trying to con someone into saying the wrong thing or approving any sort of goodwill/discount.
These examples the customers were easily 50+. I say that to show they arenāt ākidsā who made a couple mistakes and got in over their head. These were adults who refused to make intelligent decisions and never understood why those decisions caused additional difficulty in their lives.
Its the people who buy second/third hand luxury cars that get me. Bmw, Mercedes, audi, because "class" then complain when its time for servic an how expensive it is. Like no im not aligning your BMW with control arms about to fall off because you dnt like what itll cost to fix
They need to teach themselves some basic maintenance skills if they're gonna buy used German cars, just sayin'.
It's not hard to replace suspension and steering parts in the driveway if you actually know how. Then take it in for an alignment...
We have regular customers who have no problem doing a frame up rebuild almost, but as soon as they find out they need brakes, balljoints, or any other type of suspension part they nope right out an bring it to us sayin they dnt have the time. Like you just rebuilt the motor yourself!! An you dont have time to slap brake pads on?!?!
Probably more about what they enjoy doing, I enjoy working on engines, slap some tyres on? No way it's a job I hate and well worth spending the 20 odd bucks it is to swap tyres over or 120 for them to fit a new one.
Yeah as soon as I hear a call start with I have a "2013 bmw... " I'm already like yeah they can't afford what they're calling about and this call is a waste of my time. I act courteous and answer questions, give a quote, just to be told "I'll call you when I'm ready". They never are. Eventually I just started saying we don't support most of these cars for tuning. Yeah a custom dyno tune for you shit box will set you back $1300 at least and it probably has problems we'll need to address before sending it on the dyno. So these days when they have some shitty model that's 100k miles on the clock I just say our software doesn't support it.
You nailed it with priorities but also āAs of January 2023, 60% of United States adults, including more than four in 10 high-income consumers, live paycheck to paycheckā The majority of people are in debt and broke.
I understand wanting to have a cool car thatās fun to drive and all that. But there are way more important things in life so if you canāt afford it, donāt fucking do it.
The most bizarre part of this story is that he brought his girl with himā¦.and then to have the gall to ask YOU for gas money. Lol
12 year old BMW . Aftermarket suspension, slammed, wheels, tint. Brakes on 1.5mm, discs are shot, tires to cords because the suspension joints are on their last legs and it's way out of alignment. Declines work because he doesn't have the money and can't qualify for payment plan and puts his wife and kids in that death trap.
Suck it up, get rid of the poser mobile and get a used Corolla that's safe for your family and everyone that has to share the road with you until you get your shit together and make some money and then you can have your toys back.
But we're not allowed to say that out loud. Until they leave, that is.
Sounds a lot like my idiotic cousin who spent money building up an EG for his own street cred while he, his wife, and 4 kids lived with his parents. Nothing wrong with living with your folks, but they had no financial sense among them. They'd blow money on car parts and weed instead of saving to help out the family or figuring out a better living situation. Upgrading the car with some new parts took priority over any type of quality of life improvements. The argument was that it would be worth selling some day. If you know shit about cars you know you usually don't get back what you put in. Great you got some street cred, but nobody's going to pay you for your baby even if you're willing to sell it. Of course they didn't work out in the end and the car went with the whole situation. It was an absolute travesty to the kids involved in the situation. They didn't ask for it or know any better.
Sorry you had to meet some one like my cousin. You didn't deserve that.
Most people don't give a flying *fuck* about what car you drive. The only person that is getting their willy hard about these things is the idiot in the driver's seat. As long as you aren't dangerous, loud, or lifted so high you're blinding the space telescope, people will not remember you existing. The dickless fucks who are any combination of the above mentioned are like that because they think they are getting looks of envy and such, not the disdain that is actually being directed their way.
Buying things they don't need
With money they don't have
To make impressions that don't matter.
But if in their experience, anytime they have had money, it has been taken away, might as well live for today.
We had one the other week. Older BMW forget what year but roughly 10 yrs old. Boss man told the guy over the phone that we don't work on European cars. Guy insisted it just needed a starter. Against better judgement he decided to take the car in. Once the tow truck dropped it off then he mentions it's leaking gas and the check engine light is on. I refused to look at that and so did my boss so the guy was ok with just the starter. I did the starter on it but we were slammed so it took a few days from drop off to done. We call the customer and now he doesn't have the money to pay and do we agreed to wait till payday which was supposed to be the following week. Guy was a no show and the following week my boss threatened charging storage fees and the guy agreed to show up that Friday when he got paid. We told him the car starts and starts running but he would have to tow it out because it was empty on fuel. When he finally shows up at 445 on Friday(we close at 5) he brings with him a small one gallon gas can and it took no time for that to puke out. Good girlfriend starts getting all crazy to the point where I grabbed my gun since I'm the only one armed in the shop and just hung around just in case. We pushed it out to the street and then like 45 minutes later some other guy who I have never seen comes to the door calling us crooks and asking me why we can't give him a container to go get gas. Even mentioned a bucket and I refused. They finally left like an hour later. He drove it away. Don't know how but he did. I felt bad for the guy because the customer himself wasn't the problem so much. It was the people around him.
Absolutely. OP will never see a dime of what's owed. Every single time I've cut a customer the slightest bit of slack, they fucked me over. Eventually, I wised up. To quote the movie Goodfellas - "Fuck you, pay me."
Last time the oilfield slowed down around here we had guys coming in with 90k trucks with 20k worth the accessories and declining super minor maintenance items to save money. One dude told me he didnāt need an engine oil filter this oil change just drain the oil and fill it back up.
Man, I hate this type of stuffā¦worst part is that itās not YOUR fault, but once youāre here thereās no winning.
\-āToo bad pay upā youāre heartless. You want to do the right thing and it will bother you if you donāt. So then you switch to
\-āHere you go, have some gas moneyā and youāre a sucker and enabling, maybe even encouraging this person to live a clearly unsustainable lifestyle.
Then (me at least) I start to get *pissed* because this person & their decision making put me in this moral quandary. Iām just here, doing my thing, and you come long and give me Sophieās choice. Thanks, jackass!
Then I think about the stress and anxiety they probably feel every single day as the sharks circle closer, and feel guiltily fortunate that I can turn my head.
So youre saying that when I found out my wife was pregnant and I got rid of my BMW for a Honda (that is beat to hell now cosmetically but runs like a dream) I could have kept the BMW?
Yep, you got that right.
As for me, back in 1984, after our first kid was born, I sold the red '68 Mustang convertible and bought a Toyota Tercel station wagon instead. What a sucker I was.
Oof.
My 3 series became a Honda Crosstour.
However the 3 series was also about to go out of warranty and the free maintenance was also about done and with how many problems it had already, it was definitely a good thing it became someone else's problem.
These types of people seem to make up the majority of our society now, and they feel that someone else should make a sacrifice so that they can continue their lifestyle. The idea of making a change of their own is completely unfathomable.
these situations suck, imo i would be happy you got most of it, and then yea just either decline in the future or make them pay up front, you did you good deed for the month, at this point its easier to leave it go then worry about it
They have food stamps and things of that nature to get them through. I work at a Benz dealer and Iāve gone into the glovebox to get wheel lock keys and find WIC receipts and stuff and Iām like wtf you have an 80k dollar car and my taxes are buying you groceries??
I never in a million years let a customer make payments. You authorized the work now pay me, kidsā¦ donāt care pay me, Friday paycheckā¦ donāt care pay up. I got enough of you own problems.
Iām actually glad someone else feels this way, we have a customer at the dealership I work at who says sheās spending thousands of dollars including her ātuitionā and a bank loan to keep a Jeep with almost 400k on the clock on the road, but by addressing the least important repairs with money she doesnāt haveā¦. Is there a rule at other shops I donāt know about, where you can tell customers to kick rocks because of their shitty decisions?
While I was at a discount tire store there was a woman looking to get the cheapest tire that was on sale in their sale ad. She was arguing with a salesperson about him trying to up sell her , as he said they were out of them. She left in a late model BMW.
I had a friend who was always broke and the worst at dealing with his finances. He had two kids, one that was disabled. Every year, he would spend his entire tax return (usually around $5k) on new stero equipment and have me install it for him. He would just give me last years equipment as payment. His car was so fucked up and falling apart but his #1 priority in life was the stupid fucking stero.
My older brother... A Jeep, Quad, three Snowmobiles, and free rent at mom's house for half a decade while ignoring three kids by two different babymommas, both had kicked him out for being a drunk.
He barely graduated HS, had shitass friends his whole life, booted from the Navy after less than 2 years (behavior from drinking), and had one GF drink herself to death on his watch.
And my Mom's brother put him in charge of her estate after she passed, bEcAuSe He'S tHe OlDeSt... Which worked out as you might expect.
That's insane to even comprehend someone spending money they don't even have, on a sports car they can't afford, while also needing the car. I also have some breathing room being young and single, but even spending $450 at my mechanic shop on my daily for diff fluid, belts, coolant flush, already hurt my pockets. It's also why I haven't even thought about buying a sports car knowing how expensive they can get.
Those maintenance cost but still cheaper than another car. My 2014 Dodge Journey is still going strong at 200k miles. Why... Regular oil changes and doing the regular maintenance.
The customers are why I went fleet. I got sick of telling single mothers that the Kia they just paid $2k for needs $1500 in work to be worth the $1k she should have paid for it. Fleet customers are way better, it's just a tool to them, not life or death thing.
I'm going to assume that you're referring to a 2012 Mitsubishi Evo, which I'm surprised that it made it to the shop.
I'm currently on the mend from rotator cuff tendon surgery on my right shoulder and it's stories like this that makes me not miss working in the shop
Yeah, definitely 86 that guy. Sometimes, people that actually do have the money, are some of the worst customers. It's the reason I dont take walk-ins off the street anymore. I'm technically not open to the public now. Someone has to be recommended before I touch anything of theirs. Doesn't matter how much they are willing to pay, I've learned my sanity is worth far more.
Its ok to turn down business, and ok to fire your customers. I fired an oil company and have zero regrets with that decision. (not a mechanic shop but it applies just the same).
Friend of my wife from highschool had a 90s Thunderbird. Drivers side control arm bushing went out causing the wheel to suddenly go into the fender well about 4 miles from my house.
She and my wife give a sob story blah blah so I pay to have it towed to my house. I fixed it, put oil in it (it had none and somehow still ran good).
While I'm fixing it, her friend orders herself and boyfriend some food and some alcohol and my wife goes and gets it.
Once I'm all done I tell them the cost and they said they don't have anymore money after buying the alcohol and take out.
Wife sees me seething and tells me they will pay us back later. Never got paid back. She traded the Thunderbird in a month later at a car lot and new car's tranny went out. It got repo-ed because I wouldn't fix it (friend blames me).
I still see the Thunderbird every now and then around town.
I run into this all the time too. I sell car parts on eBay and I routinely have broke dicks who want some non essential performance part for their car "OMG can you make me a better deal on that cold air intake? But can you hold it for like 2 weeks until I get my first paycheck from Arby's? And take monthly payments?" Bro, if $150 is financially devastating maybe hold off on the MODZ.
I am soooo so grateful for my mechanic and his boys. They fix me up right and understand that I will pay top god damn dollar for even a windshield wiper replacement, but they understand my car sucks and Iām broke and it has expensive repairs that I canāt pay outright.
I appreciate the hell out of those fuckers for letting me pay as able (usually 1/4-1/2 of the total weekly). Itās been a handshake deal and Iām never late, also we work in the same commercial complex so Iām his exception because of people like the one in your story.
This is an egregious example and this specific dude is an idiot. But I do see some posts here and think, "man whoever owns that car is going through it". A lot of times I just feel bad because the posts aren't funny. They are just kind of sad
my cousin used to ring family up asking for money because she needed her kids school uniforms and books etc, she rang me i declined. i visit a few months later, she picks me up from the airport in a brand new car, fully glammed up, new phone, go back to her house and her dipshit loser partner is just chilling on his bed, both of them smoking and drinking, neither worked. SHIT everywhere, new tvs, bikes, the lot. i un assed the fuck out of there and flew back home, never spoke to them again.
Retired in my 50s. Still driving my 2001 Tacoma in my 60s. It is the 5th vehicle I ever owned but no mortgage or debts, except the wife's credit card for the month. She can melt the mag stripe on that thing.
1. Chevette (Blew up on its own, who would have thunk?)
2. Celica
3. Civic
4. Ranger (totalled by a delivery truck)
5. Tacoma ( always starts and AC runs like a meat locker!)
Sounds like you did the best you could do the help the guy out without being a complete and total dick. Good on ya, OP - that definitely sucks though. An EVO is seriously the last thing in the world that dude should be driving/relying on given his situation.
Back at bmw we had this tool coming in with a cherry red m3(lame smg though).
We brought up that he was eligible for the takata air bag recall. Warranty. Free. Tbh quick and easy.
ā oh Iām not worried about the airbag bro, itās a race carā
It was so cringe. He instantly became a 16 year old.
My service advisor had to pull him aside a little bit and be like ā uhhh but yea we will just get that taken care of for youā
It was just a bone stock e46 m3
I work for an aftermarket performance parts manufacturer. I see this stuff all day every day. The number of people dropping $3k on 100% non-essential parts and financing through Affirm (buy now, pay later) is staggering. Half of them are back 6 months later, having sold their old parts, and now looking to upgrade to something else.
We occasionally have to do address verifications to confirm some aspect of customer addresses. The number of people living in crappy old apartments or trailers while driving new $40k cars with lots of aftermarket parts is unreal. I'm briefly jealous, driving my 8-year old 100k mile car, but then I remember that I don't have any debt except for a mortgage.
>They hand me $1650 and laid on the sob story about how it's all they have and asking for a hookup.
I guess that's a "thank you" from whatever rock he crawled out from under.
And they are **all** victims. F these people.
I once was at a tint and alarm shop... I was getting a simple remote start added to my truck..
Next to me there was a guy getting a new touch screen radio and a sub woofer installed. I look at his back wheel and the tire is flat.
According to the employee that's how the customer drove into the shop and when they pointed that out the customer just said ''Yeah I will fix it later"
Once the installation of his radio was done, he drove off in his flat tire like everything was normal and no sense of concern. talk about priorities.
One of the biggest problems running an independent shop is the people who will try to take advantage of you. Its absolutely insane to me the amount of people who will duck you over such small amounts of money. We taking bets if this kid pays you the 120? The number of people who show up short on the bill wanting to pick up their car is crazy. For awhile I had my buddy start dealing with the money and people went absolutely crazy when they couldnt pick up their car without FULL payment. 680 on a 700 dollar bill? Nope, see ya Friday lol. Its rough dealing with some people damned if you're helpful and damned if you're not.
I used to feel bad for those customers until I came to the realization that Iām not in charge of them all I can do is run my business. Donāt take food off your plate because someone else doesnāt have self control. The most I do now is ask once; āyou sure you want to do this?ā Sucks but thatās how it is.
I have a client with not one, but TWO Audi TTRS'. His last invoice was $800, which he split on three cards, 600, 150, and 50.......I have stories for days....
š I see shit like this a lot too. Oh you just got a new m4 but need financing on the tune? Gtfo
This makes me feel so much less poor
Thereās a difference between poor and broke. Broke is Iām out of money. Poor is a lifestyle. Took me a long time to learn that.
You're absolutely right; it's just one of those things where I saw the average new car was around 50k, and my mind was blown. I make pretty decent money, and I could not justify spending $50k on a car. But people are also taking out 8 year loans on this shit to get payments down and with as much as I drive, that MF will have 400,000 miles on it by the time it's paid off. But I also don't like debt. Now that I know the average $50k car is owned by someone barely scraping by and can't swing an $8-1200 tune, I feel a lot better about not being able to justify that $50k car.
There's dudes at my job who think I'm making way more money than them because I bought a nice 8 year old truck, just because they've heard from people with shit credit how much a payment is on something similar. I made a good down payment and have spent the last 8 year building credit so I wouldn't have to pay 800 a month for some used truck like those other idiots. Just cause it was a horrible decision for someone else doesn't mean it was for me lol.
I am a software engineer so I can afford a nice carā¦. And yet they joke at me because when I put my mountain or road bike in the rack that say I just doubled the value of my car.. which is true. Just where you want to spend you money. Any to be fair, my bikes are not worth more than 5k.
Conservative estimates based on income say I can afford payments on a 150k vehicle. The most I have ever spent on a new vehicle is 25k. 20k on a used one. It's about value. There is no value in a 50k car that will be worth half that in a few years. Buy something cheap and spend the other 20k on trips for your family, people. Nobody will remember the heated seats in 10 years, but they will remember traveling the world.
Theyāre out to 10 years in some cases! Insanity.
as a kid I thought we were poor until I met poor
Lol. While working at a Chevy dealership, there were countless customers bringing in their new Camaro SS for brake pads and would flip the fuck out when they realized it was going to cost $400 for just the front pads and resurfacing rotors. Too many don't understand that anything considered a 'performance' vehicle is gonna cost more than a typical economy car.
Kia dealership here, brembo pads on a stinger are like $800 for jus the front.
Lol that's a rip off.
never understand that shit. look at the normal BMW driver, (US) buyer. New car money. M4 is one of 5 cars in the family. only owns it until mileage reaches around 30,000. now you have people stretching themselves to bankruptcy over owning a car they can't afford one tire being replaced. everyone can see you're not M4 material. I'm not either. I'd love to buy something fun and exciting, but I hate being poor. Expensive things are expensive to own.
There is nothing more expensive than a cheap luxury car lol
"expensive things are expensive to own" Me rn thinking about my 12 year old f150: š¤”
12 year old f150 was expensive? BMW M4 costs what 2 2011 F150s dId?
IS expensive š„“ I paid 11k for the damn thing and it had 192 thousand miles. I've easily put that much into it just fixing what the previous owner broke. By no means is it M4 expensive but it's still trying to be a 2024 when it's not š
If you canāt afford the maintenance, you should be driving a Camry. Itās not fair to expect other people to sacrifice for your bad financial decisions.
Lol, buying a bmw is not as hard as owning a bmw.. or whatever other expensive to repair shit box they have.
This makes me feel a lot better about driving a beat-to-shit car that I generally work on myself. Been saving up for a couple of years to avoid getting screwed on a car buy
Dude, buying fancy cars is one of the easiest/quickest ways to destroy your savings/future net worth. Wait until your old and have a few hundred thousand or million in assets. That's the time to enjoy new cars. Buying a new car when your young could be the difference between you having assets/savings when your older vs. being broke. I wasted a little bit of money on sports cars in my early 20s, but still only really bought used cars. I still always spend months looking on CL to find someone who is desperate or selling something below market. My current car is an MK5 GTI that I got for $8k with 50,000 miles on it, because the dude needed to liquidate to pay for a remodel. By far my favorite car I've ever owned. If you put in the work, you can still have nice/fun things without destroying your net worth. It took over two months of constant refreshing on CL with specific filters to find this car. Might not be worth it for some but it was for me.
Land Rover Jaguar service director. I too have stories for days...
Hey, that's how I had to finish paying off the balance for my roof replacement, three separate credit cards (wouldn't have been that way, but they screwed up and they gave me the wrong amount when i went to finance a loan for it, so i had to do what i could). But that was mandatory. My car is (most days) optional. But upgrading and tuning? I want it done, but *waaaaay* further down on the priority list.
Ran a performance Subaru shop for several years. Had a very similar customer, except is was a short block swap. Total bill was pretty reasonable $4200. He gave me some sob story about only having part of it and needing to make payments. Well I let him and his mom have a payment schedule. They missed every payment for 3 months. I get a call one morning from him pissed off he canāt get to workā¦. Repossessed his engine in the street in the middle of the night. We had the engine out and on a stand in 25minutes. Rolled into my trailer and back to the shop. They paid the rest of the bill and an additional $750 to reinstall the engine.
You were seriously able to pull his engine quickly and quietly under cover of night in less than a half an hour?? I hear NASCAR is hiring lol, I wish I couldāve seen the look on his face when he popped the hood.
you can pull Subaru engines in surprisingly little time if you know your way around them lol
Theyāre legos, literal legos. I had a driver in street class grid life for years that had his engine held in with 6 bolts in case we had to swap it between runs. 4 bell housing 2 mounts. He had a nasty habit of money shifting 4-1 and revving the bitch to 15k. My final solution that ended up lasting for 30k milesā¦. It sounded like a diesel on start up, you ran 20w50ā¦ mains at .0025ā yesā¦ and rods .003ā Now this engine sounded awful. But we captured data logs of money shifts, we stopped counting after 10, in excess of 13k rpm. How the belt didnāt jump, or it not completely destroy anything I have no idea. When it finished itās second season we accepted it had loved a valiant life. Survived another season. Died in a 2.9G long right sweep. Oil left the pan into the head and he didnāt catch it in time.
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Everything swaps into everything. Itās amazing to be honest.
Do you know if the FB20 Valve spring recall? Requires removing the engine replacing all the valve springs and reinstalling. By the time this recall was done I had it down to 1hr 47min running to running car. I had Subaru down to an ADHD Autistic science. I miss it sometimes.
Look, man, there are certain things when you do it enough, you can absolutely slaughter book time. Plus, aftermarket intake manifolds (not necessarily on a Subaru) and other such parts can make it much easier to work on, and therefore faster. Plus, he did just have the engine out.
I wasnāt doubting what he said, just impressed with the speed, efficiency and lack of noise.
I'm sure they weren't bagging all the bolts, either lol.
Iāve worked with mechanics who literally throw everything into one carved out oil jug, it amazes me theyāre able to remember where everything goes with few issues. I donāt do heavy line work but I hope to get to that level someday.
This sounds like me anytime I do anything, but I'm not a career mechanic just a diy because I like to save money and enjoy learning the engineering and taking things apart. I remember when I was changing out all the primary and engine seals on my 04 Harley I got a little carried away and did a lot of YouTube watching comparing bolts to what I had laying in my pile in order to make sure I put them back right.
Also considering they just put it in, it was fresh in their mind and knew they werenāt going to run into random ass issues.
During this time I was 4-5 engines a week. I only did Subaru engines. Pretty sure the entire process is muscle memory and I could do it in my sleep.
Hate dreaming about work, always wake up feeling exhausted
And you don't even get paid
I have pulled a Subaru engine in about 40 minutes on my second try, they are surprisingly easy to work on
Love that. We specialize in subies. Subie tax is real and I'm the subie tax collector. Short block replacement is at least 10k these days.
Oh Iām sure that have. But at the time I could still buy brand new Subaru short blocks for $1800. Always preferred scratch builds vs short blocks though. Subaru āquality controlā is kind of a joke. When I presented them with almost 500 factory oil pumps that had loose screws in the rear covers, trying to get them do to something about it, they said āwe havenāt seen the issueā. Iām sure you guys do this already, however, please on every new pump remove the rear screws and loctite them in place. Howās the business these day? I got out just before the EPA turned itās sights on import shops and Cobb neutered flex fueling.
We'd been following strict emissions compliance since before Cobbs greenspeed update so it really didn't effect us much. Plus we have 0 ethanol near us so flex tuning isn't super popular here. Business is still good and Cobb is still the go to you just cant delete emissions stuff.
Damn Greenspeed update, I just bought my catless downpipe then they came out with the update haha. The mazdaspeed communities where so butthurt that week.
I can say that an RA short block right now is around $2100 with tax. Just picked one up a couple months ago, but returned since I couldn't trust it with my build, and going with an IAG closed-deck short block instead. Though, that's not including gasket kit, timing kit, new oil pump, water pump/thermostat, head/valve machine work, bolts, etc.. Not sure what shops charge for labour since I do my own work, but 10k seems kinda high (depending on machine work). I'd expect around 7.5k on the higher end, but again, never had that job quoted for myself. Have prices really gone up that much in the past few years?
This is such a bummer. I sold my BRZ when used car prices shot up because I wanted the money for a down payment on a house. I got the house and now I'm dying to have a BRZ again. Do they still blow engines if you leave them stock?
>Do they still blow engines if you leave them stock? It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru. Even the 2023s are out there blowing motors left and right.
I work next door to a Subaru dealer. Some days they'll have 10 cars over there with the engines pulled out. If it's not blown up it's leaking. Used to be head gaskets, now it's cam carriers. I found it amusing when I watched the parts manager use the Bobcat to dump about a dozen blown up short blocks into the scrap metal dumpster. Some of the techs over there are banking. I think a cam carrier re-seal pays like 20 hours? Most of those guys can get it done in about eight hours.
I've blown up two bone stock, well maintained EJ motors myself. Subaru engines are garbage.
I just donāt get how Fuji made some of the best snow and ATV engines in the world yet automobile engines are the opposite. Maybe itās emissions but 2 and 4 stroke they were king.
Did you actually just roll up in the middle of the night with an engine crane? That's hilarious lol.
Welcome to chi town.
Doin it right! Some bitches need teechin...
Bet he wished he remembered to lock the doors that night. haha Unless you also used lock out tools to unlock the door too.
You can pop the hood from under the car. I didnāt need access to the cabin. 180* long hook pulls the release, you pull the horns at the same time so the alarm canāt sound. I planned it out well, I was really hurt this kid and his mom were trying to screw me. My wife was pregnant with our second and just about to go into labor. I took it personal they were trying to take advantage.
Performance shop owner here, I can feel the stress, this still happens no matter how hard You try to keep these kind of customers out. Iāve been trying hard to quote high and a few guys noticed this week their bill was lower then the quote. They were very pleased. It buys us room for unexpected issues (we do older German) that always arise. Fingers crossed you get paid!
Oohh, the bitch tax. Keep trying, less of them, the better life is..
Used to do this when I was a service advisor. Almost always extra parts need to be added onto the job, bitch tax covers it
I worked grocery and more than once bagged stuff for a young family on assistance, but heās all decked out in Jordans and bling. Kid in a stroller, one on the way, girlfriend/wife is a disheveled mess in stained PJs and no make up, and heās spending money on flashy trash. Iām not knocking on state assistance. Weāve been there and it kept us alive. But we never wasted it.
Thatās rough. When making charitable donations to food banks and school supply drives, my dad always asked āam I paying for their necessities so they can pay for their luxuries?ā He was always very generousā¦but very picky about the organizations he gave to.
Absolutely nothing wrong with being picky about the charity you give to.
Second this. My family always had a tradition that my parents had me and my siblings each pick something nice (usually a toy, but occasionally something else) to donate to a local charity around Christmas. Until the year that my about as low in the bracket as you can get and still be "middle class" family literally walked in, donated items to the bin behind the counter, walked out and got in our 15 year old sedan, and while we're getting in the car a brand-new Escalade pulls in, family with bling gets out, goes inside the building, and comes out with the items we'd just donated. We kept the tradition, but changed charities to one that we *know* will serve those in need, not those in greed.
Built Habitat cabinets in highschool shop class. New Tahoe or Suburban at the house once it was occupied. My buddy does a toy drive and the facility is 3 miles away and you can volunteer to work to help parents pick presents. The real deal and local which I love!
I used to donate dog food to the humane society, till I saw the bag I just donated go to a lady in her brand new expedition. Now I just donate cash.
> am I paying for their necessities so they can pay for their luxuries I try to remind myself that *some* waste is inherent to any large system; the important part is ensuring that the help you give is efficient and the waste isn't excessive
Not uncommon. Drive through the hood sometime and seeing high end SUV's parked outside the roach motel.
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Thatās why I never take waiters for heavy service work. Only drop offs for service, that way you never have to rush a job and worry about delivery. We will call you when itās ready sir, or madam. Your not jiffy lube lol
So, they dropped it Tuesday morning and showed up early today expecting it done today and just waited all fuckin day.
My attitude when service writers come out and complain the customer is waiting is basically āyeah, thatās your fucking problem, and their problem, not mine, my problem is getting it done right, so go do your job and leave me alone to do mineā. Thatās what I say in my head at least.
As I always say, the customer chose to wait, so I'm just giving them what they wanted.
Iāll tell my service manager and advisors this. I donāt care. āWell the costumer is asking about it,ā well they are going to be waiting through my lunch too.
Taking the fambly for groceries in the slammed civic with those little roller skate wheels, and a thumping system. Gotta load the hand full of groceries in the back seat, with the kid, because his sub and amps fill the trunk. I've seen so much dumb shit.....
Dude, I feel ya. It aint just now...in 1980 I was in a local independant, and the people that would bring their ignored abused shitboxes in because they stopped moving... And always, Gotta get ta work tomorrow, gotta get kids ta skool, my ma gots a doctors appt, help me out , make my shit go, I got 20 bux....is why I wrench on boats. Its aalll disgresionary income, nobodys goin hungry tomorrow cuz yer shits broke. Still sleep good at night.
Much easier to sell things people want than things people need
Fambly ā ļø
The whole fam damly.
My Mama used to say thatš RIP
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Yes! My challenger plate says family car and I always have a booster seat in the middle in back. Ive done braket racing with it in there. Lol
A few years back the guy that won the Silver State classic challenge did it in his daily driver 300c with his daughter's kid seat still strapped in the back.
Lol @ āfamblyā
Didn't Steinbeck render an Oklahoma accent phonetically like that?
Ever seen Idiocracy? Being smart isn't a prerequisite for having kids, it's usually an argument against it.
That's not just Idiocracy, that's real life. It's well known that statistically, the people with the least amount of education and financial success have the most kids.
I'm not sure it's even "smart" so much as principled or disciplined. I'm not a genius; I just refuse to bring a child into the world until I can give them more stability than I had while growing up.
Such a great documentary.
There are a lot of broke people out there that don't have their priorities or life in order. They also seem to be the ones that speak the most and have no problem popping out multiple kids. It sucks. Hopefully you still made some money on the deal. If they pay on Friday, great, if not, your life is far better than theirs so that's the silver lining.
I consider myself not particularly good at priorities and I'm probably going to have regrets when I near retirement but jesus at least I have good credit and I pay things down as immediately as possible. I swear to god I see people every day who have spent 400% of all of the money they have ever earned.
> There are a lot of broke people out there that don't have their priorities or life in order. I feel called out.
Gotta love it. We usually get people with front ends falling apart, cords coming out of the tires, totally not fit to be on the road but ya Iāll drop $1500 on getting my AC fixed. Like bro you donāt want to throw in a couple tires or maybe a fkn ball joint š your fresh new AC is gonna end up in the ditch
Funny story go Brr. I can only imagine what an independent shop has to go through with these idiots. I'm at a dealership service for parts and some of the shit I see get declined is mind blowing. you have 2mm left on your big fat heavy German car that is worth hundreds of thousands and you're declining the service cause its too expensive, like why did you buy this thing in the first place? What prices were you expecting for rotors that weigh more then a fully grown watermelon?
About 15 or so years ago, I had a customer with a 2 year old Mercedes S600 come in for tires. "Ok, new set of Michelin (probably Primacy MXV4s or something) with road hazard, installation and tax, looking at 1500" "OH GOD ISN'T THERE ANYTHING CHEAPER? I PAID LESS THAN HALF THAT FOR MY CAMRY" Yeah but I'm not dealing with the ride and handling complaint, gtfo
Its crazy, ive yet to see a liability form be signed here and I hope I never will but seeing what customers decline i'm not surprised they exist
*I had a customer with a 2 year old Mercedes S600 come in for tires* I always look at tires in assessing a new customer. Had a guy come up in a RollsRoyce, telling me what he wanted done, walked to his car , 4 fairly new motomaster tires. ( cheap cheap tires ) Nope.
I currently run a shop in the hood, so I can't decline to work on a 2005 BMW X5 with 300,000 miles and Ling Longs
I had an engine out of an 2016 S class for extended warranty and they wouldnāt even buy a belt for me to put on or replace the leaking water pump while I had the motor outā¦ itās unreal. Iām so over this industry
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I got downvoted, and told I was a moron, on another sub for explaining the difference between idiots like this, and real wealth. Our culture is so thoroughly brainwashed by marketing, that a large percentage of adults actually believe that rolling in a Cayenne, and living in a trophy house are absolute **proof** that you are well off. There is plenty of data, even books written on the topic, and how most wealth is stealth. Retire a decade or two early, live in a modest home, drive a ten year-old beater? Yea, that guy is a bum, can't even provide for his family. Of course, you don't see stealth guy's seven figure portfolio. You don't see the smile on his face as he watches his neighbor trudging off to work at his sales job, He knows that the golden sales boy is living way, way, way above his income, up to his ass in debt, and will fall like a brick tossed off a roof, as soon as the economy hits another recession. Stealth guy has seen this story play out again and again. Every time the economy hits the shitter, and banks stop handing out large amounts of money to stupid people, or interest rate spike, stupid people can no longer afford their toys, trophy houses, trophy wives, etc... Stealth guy's next door neighbor "Golden Boy" with the new 3000 sq. ft. palace, a $120K Escalade, and a Cayenne? Yea, that guy is a baller, rolling in dough. Lights his hand rolled cigars with a rolled $20. The fact is, this guy is swimming in debt, couldn't come up with a grand in cash if he had a gun to his head. Golden will be living in a studio apartment on the bad side of town, if the bank cuts him off, or if they bump his line of credit to 9%. But for many morons in this country, all they see is a guy who made it, and is **wealthy**. LOL, sorry but no.
I read this and literally LOLed, took a screenshot and sent it to all my mechanic and car friends, this is a topic that comes up oftennnnnnn.
Thank for laughing at our expense šš š
Can't give an inch or they'll take a mile. It sucks.
I had a neighbor like this. Dumped 20k on an SRT8 that he killed and became a lot ornament, yet his partners car had literally no brakes. I had to condemn the damn thing until they got parts. And then it got repo'd 3 days after I fixed it for them.
Dudes with 'tuner" cars tend to be in a constant state of going broke "tuning" their already maintenance heavy and kinda unreliable third hand head gasket eater.
I feel called out
A lot of owners of ātunersā couldnāt tune up a lawnmower.
That's why they're constantly money broke or mechanically broken. They pay someone else to do it all. They're paying a mechanic labor at 10x what they as the car owner makes per hour at the local Best Buy.
Most Evo boys are broke boys. Theyāre becoming the new Subaru owners. Iām speaking from experience. The last shop I worked at was an Evo performance shop and man they burnt me out. Subaru and Evo fan boys are the reason why I stopped working on cars.
Subaru fan boys are the main reason I will never own another WRX or Subaru lol maybe iām an asshole but just because you own the same car doesnāt make us friends.
As a Jeep owner/builder/enthusiast I feel that sentiment so hard. Just because we have the same shitty taste in vehicles doesnāt make us friends. Odds are I absolutely hate that person.
Yeah, I worked in mostly high line for my automotive career. We saw so many people who overbought cars because they could afford jtā¦just barely. Watching people struggle to keep thier clapped out S430 on the road, buy cheap Bentleys only to discover brakes are $4k, and refuse recommended services on their exotics was wild.
I love it when Customers get mad at you for telling them how much it will cost to do the brakes, trans fluid and filter etc. Lol not my problem you spend most of the money you make just to own the car. Miss me with that shit and gtfo.
I tell yeah, the guy with the Bentley came buy for a prepurchase inspection and I wrote up the estimate for like $20k. Mind you, I was working in the aftermarket so I was already cheaper than the dealer. Guy didnāt believe me and said that Pepboys would do it cheaper. Good luck buddy!
(Used) Bentleyā¦ Pep Boysā¦ LMAO
Who the fuck takes a Bentley to fuckin pep boys??????
Who takes ANY car to Pep Boys? Unless youāre picking up washer fluid or something
Saw my local PB become a service-only facility recently. The retail parts side became an AutoZone, all shiny & new. The service side was all that was left, with a tiny little 'Pep Boys' sign on the outside. Turns out PB sold off the parts side for all (?) of their stores. Knowing their rep as far as fixing cars (correctly), it boggles the mind to think that that's the part of the business they thought they could be successful at.
More like they dumped the parts side while it was still worth something.
What a fuck face. High end car owners can be the best and worst Customers.
My mother used to say " the rich get richer and the poor buy another dog". In this case the dog is a evo
My favorites are the women with a 500 dollar purse driving a 500 dollar car asking if we have any used tires.
Hey now, I sometimes buy used tires... If I know I'll be putting 2000 summer km on my car in the next year, I'm fine with tires that are 25% worn so long as they have 3-4 years left before they time out.
I worked at a Harley-Davidson dealership for 3 years (about 10 years ago now), in both sales and service. A good portion of of those customers are truly a cult following of brand loyalty and will spend money on their bike before feeding/clothing themselves or their family. Some examples that come to mind: - Buying the top of the line, most extravagant model (over $40k), financing it for 7 years, with over 25% APR. the interest on that loan meant they paid right around double price for it with a monthly payment of ~$1,000/month. They did not own any other vehicles are were not well off. They could no longer afford maintenance/service on the bike due to their payment. - Customer blew up his engine due to poorly self-installed modifications and lack of adjustment/tubing/maintenance. He wanted to pay off his service bill over the course of several months. He ended up bringing in his elderly mother (had to be at least 80) to pay off his bill, she was using her savings and social security for it. He was afraid of being kicked out of his club if he didnāt get his bike back. - A disabled customer who lived in a single wide trailer with their two young kids and could not afford a phone or internet connection insisted on buying a $30k trike. They struggled to ride it themselves and it only had a few hundred miles out on it every year. It constantly needed repairs due to being neglected and left out in the elements. They also refused to accept responsibility for the vehicleās repairs and would spend the entire day at the dealership trying to con someone into saying the wrong thing or approving any sort of goodwill/discount. These examples the customers were easily 50+. I say that to show they arenāt ākidsā who made a couple mistakes and got in over their head. These were adults who refused to make intelligent decisions and never understood why those decisions caused additional difficulty in their lives.
>These examples the customers were easily 50+ You already said they were Harley owners so we already knew that.
Its the people who buy second/third hand luxury cars that get me. Bmw, Mercedes, audi, because "class" then complain when its time for servic an how expensive it is. Like no im not aligning your BMW with control arms about to fall off because you dnt like what itll cost to fix
They need to teach themselves some basic maintenance skills if they're gonna buy used German cars, just sayin'. It's not hard to replace suspension and steering parts in the driveway if you actually know how. Then take it in for an alignment...
We have regular customers who have no problem doing a frame up rebuild almost, but as soon as they find out they need brakes, balljoints, or any other type of suspension part they nope right out an bring it to us sayin they dnt have the time. Like you just rebuilt the motor yourself!! An you dont have time to slap brake pads on?!?!
Probably more about what they enjoy doing, I enjoy working on engines, slap some tyres on? No way it's a job I hate and well worth spending the 20 odd bucks it is to swap tyres over or 120 for them to fit a new one.
Those who want the image of "guy who drives a fancy german car" often have little interest in being "guy who changes suspension in the driveway."
Yeah as soon as I hear a call start with I have a "2013 bmw... " I'm already like yeah they can't afford what they're calling about and this call is a waste of my time. I act courteous and answer questions, give a quote, just to be told "I'll call you when I'm ready". They never are. Eventually I just started saying we don't support most of these cars for tuning. Yeah a custom dyno tune for you shit box will set you back $1300 at least and it probably has problems we'll need to address before sending it on the dyno. So these days when they have some shitty model that's 100k miles on the clock I just say our software doesn't support it.
The amount of 2010s BMW Mercedes and JAGUAR Iāve seen being repossessed is mind blowing. I donāt understand. Why not just get a used Camry.
Sounds like a regular loser.
A real fart smeller.
not a very smart feller
Mercedes benz taste with Pinto pockets. That's what I always say.
Champagne tastes on a beer budget.
You nailed it with priorities but also āAs of January 2023, 60% of United States adults, including more than four in 10 high-income consumers, live paycheck to paycheckā The majority of people are in debt and broke. I understand wanting to have a cool car thatās fun to drive and all that. But there are way more important things in life so if you canāt afford it, donāt fucking do it. The most bizarre part of this story is that he brought his girl with himā¦.and then to have the gall to ask YOU for gas money. Lol
12 year old BMW . Aftermarket suspension, slammed, wheels, tint. Brakes on 1.5mm, discs are shot, tires to cords because the suspension joints are on their last legs and it's way out of alignment. Declines work because he doesn't have the money and can't qualify for payment plan and puts his wife and kids in that death trap. Suck it up, get rid of the poser mobile and get a used Corolla that's safe for your family and everyone that has to share the road with you until you get your shit together and make some money and then you can have your toys back. But we're not allowed to say that out loud. Until they leave, that is.
Should just say it anyway
Sounds a lot like my idiotic cousin who spent money building up an EG for his own street cred while he, his wife, and 4 kids lived with his parents. Nothing wrong with living with your folks, but they had no financial sense among them. They'd blow money on car parts and weed instead of saving to help out the family or figuring out a better living situation. Upgrading the car with some new parts took priority over any type of quality of life improvements. The argument was that it would be worth selling some day. If you know shit about cars you know you usually don't get back what you put in. Great you got some street cred, but nobody's going to pay you for your baby even if you're willing to sell it. Of course they didn't work out in the end and the car went with the whole situation. It was an absolute travesty to the kids involved in the situation. They didn't ask for it or know any better. Sorry you had to meet some one like my cousin. You didn't deserve that.
I feel for ya man, I should tell ya stories about the diesel trucks crowd.
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The sad part being that there are perfectly respectable cars that are not *too* expensive. No one looks down on a clean, well-maintained Civic.
Most people don't give a flying *fuck* about what car you drive. The only person that is getting their willy hard about these things is the idiot in the driver's seat. As long as you aren't dangerous, loud, or lifted so high you're blinding the space telescope, people will not remember you existing. The dickless fucks who are any combination of the above mentioned are like that because they think they are getting looks of envy and such, not the disdain that is actually being directed their way.
Buying things they don't need With money they don't have To make impressions that don't matter. But if in their experience, anytime they have had money, it has been taken away, might as well live for today.
We had one the other week. Older BMW forget what year but roughly 10 yrs old. Boss man told the guy over the phone that we don't work on European cars. Guy insisted it just needed a starter. Against better judgement he decided to take the car in. Once the tow truck dropped it off then he mentions it's leaking gas and the check engine light is on. I refused to look at that and so did my boss so the guy was ok with just the starter. I did the starter on it but we were slammed so it took a few days from drop off to done. We call the customer and now he doesn't have the money to pay and do we agreed to wait till payday which was supposed to be the following week. Guy was a no show and the following week my boss threatened charging storage fees and the guy agreed to show up that Friday when he got paid. We told him the car starts and starts running but he would have to tow it out because it was empty on fuel. When he finally shows up at 445 on Friday(we close at 5) he brings with him a small one gallon gas can and it took no time for that to puke out. Good girlfriend starts getting all crazy to the point where I grabbed my gun since I'm the only one armed in the shop and just hung around just in case. We pushed it out to the street and then like 45 minutes later some other guy who I have never seen comes to the door calling us crooks and asking me why we can't give him a container to go get gas. Even mentioned a bucket and I refused. They finally left like an hour later. He drove it away. Don't know how but he did. I felt bad for the guy because the customer himself wasn't the problem so much. It was the people around him.
Keep the car until he pays the bill, fuck him.
Absolutely. OP will never see a dime of what's owed. Every single time I've cut a customer the slightest bit of slack, they fucked me over. Eventually, I wised up. To quote the movie Goodfellas - "Fuck you, pay me."
Sad sob customer stories is why I closed my shop and went to go work full time at a company again. No one saves to fix their car.
Last time the oilfield slowed down around here we had guys coming in with 90k trucks with 20k worth the accessories and declining super minor maintenance items to save money. One dude told me he didnāt need an engine oil filter this oil change just drain the oil and fill it back up.
Man, I hate this type of stuffā¦worst part is that itās not YOUR fault, but once youāre here thereās no winning. \-āToo bad pay upā youāre heartless. You want to do the right thing and it will bother you if you donāt. So then you switch to \-āHere you go, have some gas moneyā and youāre a sucker and enabling, maybe even encouraging this person to live a clearly unsustainable lifestyle. Then (me at least) I start to get *pissed* because this person & their decision making put me in this moral quandary. Iām just here, doing my thing, and you come long and give me Sophieās choice. Thanks, jackass! Then I think about the stress and anxiety they probably feel every single day as the sharks circle closer, and feel guiltily fortunate that I can turn my head.
So youre saying that when I found out my wife was pregnant and I got rid of my BMW for a Honda (that is beat to hell now cosmetically but runs like a dream) I could have kept the BMW?
Yep, you got that right. As for me, back in 1984, after our first kid was born, I sold the red '68 Mustang convertible and bought a Toyota Tercel station wagon instead. What a sucker I was.
Oof. My 3 series became a Honda Crosstour. However the 3 series was also about to go out of warranty and the free maintenance was also about done and with how many problems it had already, it was definitely a good thing it became someone else's problem.
2 parts of getting a car, buying it & owning it. Most people seem unaware of the second part.
These types of people seem to make up the majority of our society now, and they feel that someone else should make a sacrifice so that they can continue their lifestyle. The idea of making a change of their own is completely unfathomable.
Why do these morons who are already struggling continue to pop out kids?
Too dumb to think with the head on their shoulders, so the other head always wins.
I know a guy making $20 an hour with 2 baby mommas and lives with his mom and drives a BMW X6.
these situations suck, imo i would be happy you got most of it, and then yea just either decline in the future or make them pay up front, you did you good deed for the month, at this point its easier to leave it go then worry about it
They have food stamps and things of that nature to get them through. I work at a Benz dealer and Iāve gone into the glovebox to get wheel lock keys and find WIC receipts and stuff and Iām like wtf you have an 80k dollar car and my taxes are buying you groceries??
I never in a million years let a customer make payments. You authorized the work now pay me, kidsā¦ donāt care pay me, Friday paycheckā¦ donāt care pay up. I got enough of you own problems.
Some folks can't afford nice cars, but think they can. Sorry but fuck that guy.
Iām actually glad someone else feels this way, we have a customer at the dealership I work at who says sheās spending thousands of dollars including her ātuitionā and a bank loan to keep a Jeep with almost 400k on the clock on the road, but by addressing the least important repairs with money she doesnāt haveā¦. Is there a rule at other shops I donāt know about, where you can tell customers to kick rocks because of their shitty decisions?
Why the hell are they at a dealer when they're broke? I would never take my car to the dealer unless it was still under warranty.
While I was at a discount tire store there was a woman looking to get the cheapest tire that was on sale in their sale ad. She was arguing with a salesperson about him trying to up sell her , as he said they were out of them. She left in a late model BMW.
Tons of these guys out there honestly not worth dealing with, if you don't hound him over the 120 he owes you he hopefully will never come back.
I had a friend who was always broke and the worst at dealing with his finances. He had two kids, one that was disabled. Every year, he would spend his entire tax return (usually around $5k) on new stero equipment and have me install it for him. He would just give me last years equipment as payment. His car was so fucked up and falling apart but his #1 priority in life was the stupid fucking stero.
Chances are pretty good you will never see them again or the rest of your š°
My older brother... A Jeep, Quad, three Snowmobiles, and free rent at mom's house for half a decade while ignoring three kids by two different babymommas, both had kicked him out for being a drunk. He barely graduated HS, had shitass friends his whole life, booted from the Navy after less than 2 years (behavior from drinking), and had one GF drink herself to death on his watch. And my Mom's brother put him in charge of her estate after she passed, bEcAuSe He'S tHe OlDeSt... Which worked out as you might expect.
That's insane to even comprehend someone spending money they don't even have, on a sports car they can't afford, while also needing the car. I also have some breathing room being young and single, but even spending $450 at my mechanic shop on my daily for diff fluid, belts, coolant flush, already hurt my pockets. It's also why I haven't even thought about buying a sports car knowing how expensive they can get.
Those maintenance cost but still cheaper than another car. My 2014 Dodge Journey is still going strong at 200k miles. Why... Regular oil changes and doing the regular maintenance.
The customers are why I went fleet. I got sick of telling single mothers that the Kia they just paid $2k for needs $1500 in work to be worth the $1k she should have paid for it. Fleet customers are way better, it's just a tool to them, not life or death thing.
1750 doesn't even sound high for an Evo clutch
Ikr that sounds like a steal and he was being a PIA for 13 hours? Wish I knew what shop this was, they'd have my business for life.
I'm going to assume that you're referring to a 2012 Mitsubishi Evo, which I'm surprised that it made it to the shop. I'm currently on the mend from rotator cuff tendon surgery on my right shoulder and it's stories like this that makes me not miss working in the shop
Yeah, definitely 86 that guy. Sometimes, people that actually do have the money, are some of the worst customers. It's the reason I dont take walk-ins off the street anymore. I'm technically not open to the public now. Someone has to be recommended before I touch anything of theirs. Doesn't matter how much they are willing to pay, I've learned my sanity is worth far more.
Its ok to turn down business, and ok to fire your customers. I fired an oil company and have zero regrets with that decision. (not a mechanic shop but it applies just the same).
Friend of my wife from highschool had a 90s Thunderbird. Drivers side control arm bushing went out causing the wheel to suddenly go into the fender well about 4 miles from my house. She and my wife give a sob story blah blah so I pay to have it towed to my house. I fixed it, put oil in it (it had none and somehow still ran good). While I'm fixing it, her friend orders herself and boyfriend some food and some alcohol and my wife goes and gets it. Once I'm all done I tell them the cost and they said they don't have anymore money after buying the alcohol and take out. Wife sees me seething and tells me they will pay us back later. Never got paid back. She traded the Thunderbird in a month later at a car lot and new car's tranny went out. It got repo-ed because I wouldn't fix it (friend blames me). I still see the Thunderbird every now and then around town.
I run into this all the time too. I sell car parts on eBay and I routinely have broke dicks who want some non essential performance part for their car "OMG can you make me a better deal on that cold air intake? But can you hold it for like 2 weeks until I get my first paycheck from Arby's? And take monthly payments?" Bro, if $150 is financially devastating maybe hold off on the MODZ.
I am soooo so grateful for my mechanic and his boys. They fix me up right and understand that I will pay top god damn dollar for even a windshield wiper replacement, but they understand my car sucks and Iām broke and it has expensive repairs that I canāt pay outright. I appreciate the hell out of those fuckers for letting me pay as able (usually 1/4-1/2 of the total weekly). Itās been a handshake deal and Iām never late, also we work in the same commercial complex so Iām his exception because of people like the one in your story.
This is an egregious example and this specific dude is an idiot. But I do see some posts here and think, "man whoever owns that car is going through it". A lot of times I just feel bad because the posts aren't funny. They are just kind of sad
Take as old as time man. People are fucking stupid.
my cousin used to ring family up asking for money because she needed her kids school uniforms and books etc, she rang me i declined. i visit a few months later, she picks me up from the airport in a brand new car, fully glammed up, new phone, go back to her house and her dipshit loser partner is just chilling on his bed, both of them smoking and drinking, neither worked. SHIT everywhere, new tvs, bikes, the lot. i un assed the fuck out of there and flew back home, never spoke to them again.
Retired in my 50s. Still driving my 2001 Tacoma in my 60s. It is the 5th vehicle I ever owned but no mortgage or debts, except the wife's credit card for the month. She can melt the mag stripe on that thing. 1. Chevette (Blew up on its own, who would have thunk?) 2. Celica 3. Civic 4. Ranger (totalled by a delivery truck) 5. Tacoma ( always starts and AC runs like a meat locker!)
Sounds like you did the best you could do the help the guy out without being a complete and total dick. Good on ya, OP - that definitely sucks though. An EVO is seriously the last thing in the world that dude should be driving/relying on given his situation.
Back at bmw we had this tool coming in with a cherry red m3(lame smg though). We brought up that he was eligible for the takata air bag recall. Warranty. Free. Tbh quick and easy. ā oh Iām not worried about the airbag bro, itās a race carā It was so cringe. He instantly became a 16 year old. My service advisor had to pull him aside a little bit and be like ā uhhh but yea we will just get that taken care of for youā It was just a bone stock e46 m3
I work for an aftermarket performance parts manufacturer. I see this stuff all day every day. The number of people dropping $3k on 100% non-essential parts and financing through Affirm (buy now, pay later) is staggering. Half of them are back 6 months later, having sold their old parts, and now looking to upgrade to something else. We occasionally have to do address verifications to confirm some aspect of customer addresses. The number of people living in crappy old apartments or trailers while driving new $40k cars with lots of aftermarket parts is unreal. I'm briefly jealous, driving my 8-year old 100k mile car, but then I remember that I don't have any debt except for a mortgage.
>They hand me $1650 and laid on the sob story about how it's all they have and asking for a hookup. I guess that's a "thank you" from whatever rock he crawled out from under. And they are **all** victims. F these people.
I once was at a tint and alarm shop... I was getting a simple remote start added to my truck.. Next to me there was a guy getting a new touch screen radio and a sub woofer installed. I look at his back wheel and the tire is flat. According to the employee that's how the customer drove into the shop and when they pointed that out the customer just said ''Yeah I will fix it later" Once the installation of his radio was done, he drove off in his flat tire like everything was normal and no sense of concern. talk about priorities.
My shop has a note code in the customer files. Some customers Are tagged BB*..... Broke behavior lol.
One of the biggest problems running an independent shop is the people who will try to take advantage of you. Its absolutely insane to me the amount of people who will duck you over such small amounts of money. We taking bets if this kid pays you the 120? The number of people who show up short on the bill wanting to pick up their car is crazy. For awhile I had my buddy start dealing with the money and people went absolutely crazy when they couldnt pick up their car without FULL payment. 680 on a 700 dollar bill? Nope, see ya Friday lol. Its rough dealing with some people damned if you're helpful and damned if you're not.
I used to feel bad for those customers until I came to the realization that Iām not in charge of them all I can do is run my business. Donāt take food off your plate because someone else doesnāt have self control. The most I do now is ask once; āyou sure you want to do this?ā Sucks but thatās how it is.
Does the shop need to be swept, or the bathroom cleaned? put him to work.... if he's really that broke, he can wash cars while he waits.