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Mechanics Fleeing in Droves

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:09 pm
by Caretaker
I had read that Sears Auto has been having trouble keeping mechanics. The reason? Sears corporate heads mandate certain services be performed on all cars that come into their shop. Right now, corporate is making the mechanics do a "Performance Snapshot," a once over to find anything wrong or coming up with a list of suggested services. No great pressure to the customer, just a thorough look over your car mainly to help the driver, but also to come up with some other money making repairs. No big deal; every shop does it. In the past, Sears also had free tire rotations when you got an oil change. Whether you needed them rotated or not, the poor mechanic had to do this time consuming task even when the customer did not ask for it. They also mandate a $35 brake fluid flush done at each of the brake lines, not just replacing the fluid at the reservoir. This, all on top of having mechanics work multiple jobs at once to clear out the daily overschedule of jobs to be done. Sears seemingly has since dropped the free tire rotation to alleviate some of the burden. However, when people like me come into Sears for an ordinary oil change, we now have to worry about overscheduled mechanics working too many cars at once, possibly missing something critical. Well, it happened to me yesterday. When I took my daughter's car to my regular mechanic to confirm/deny the need that Sears' mechanics said needed to be done (tie rod boot cracking), my regular mechanic saw that my oil had been overfilled by at least a quart. Good thing I only drove a couple of miles on it like that. I have had very good service at Sears Auto over the years, but this turn of events has me worried. If the turnover of mechanics there is that great, and the new ones are rushed to get in all the jobs on their plate each day, I could face another blunder like the one that happened yesterday. I feel for the mechanics who are treated like slaves, rushing to earn as much commission as possible on the volume of jobs they perform, but now that I have 3 cars to care for and don't perform any services myself, I may have to pay the higher price and suffer through the longer waits at my trusted mechanic just to ensure everything is performed properly. Any of you seeing something similar going on at your local lube/Sears Auto/Pep Boys/Tire Shop/Walmart?

Re: Mechanics Fleeing in Droves

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:41 am
by vibrologist
My trusted mechanic is worth his money. I pass a number of quick lube places to get my oil changed at my trusty independent for 20+ years now. It cost me an extra $10 bucks. Now, they are human too, i.e. not perfect. I specify what fluids the car needs when I place the work order and I check the fluid levels later. Once they had a tranny not filled to the top mark and once I found an ignition wire not seated correctly. 20+ years with 2 to 3 cars in the family.
Before that I used several corporate franchises. Never again!

Re: Mechanics Fleeing in Droves

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:34 pm
by tpollauf
I never have used any of the major "chain store" auto shops and likely never will. They will always have high turnover rates and lack personal customer service. I have two private garage/shops where the guys there have 20-30 years of loyalty service. Went to high school with one of them and they more than treat me right. Trust and personal service usually costs a bit more BUT well worth it.

Re: Mechanics Fleeing in Droves

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:18 am
by RRich89
I've had terrible experiences with two local Pep Boys in the past few years. I'm a DIYer with most things and only used Pep Boys for tires. I had Pep Boys tires for the past four years and I've had to have them remounted multiple times due to their technicians doing a poor job causing them to have slow leaks every few months. I was once told my Vibe needed $500 worth of suspension work due to "the part seized up with rust and leaking, it will not pass inspection", I was only there for a tire rotation and my inspection wasn't due for six months! Had my local trusted mechanic look at this "rusted out" part and he said it looked like they sprayed your suspension with some kind of fluid to make it look like it was leaking, there was no actual issue. I just had my local mechanic put four new tires on my car, it only cost a little bit more than Pep Boys and I know he did the job right the first time. I don't know about saving on routine maintenance but I feel a trusted local mechanic will save you money just by simply not recommending unnecessary repairs.