[peritonlogon]

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They ususally get the hours out of a book. ie this job = this many hours. If they do it quicker or slower you still get charged book rate.

Pretty standard

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The real rip off comes when you get that alternator (or substitute any part or service you can imagine) and whatever the problem you had you still have and you get ths beauty of a line

"You told me to fix replace the alternator, I'm just doing what you told me to do."

And it really doesn't matter that you just told them to fix the problem, not the alternator, because how the hell would you know if it's the alternator or anything else just that it doesn't work right, besides, who is the mechanic and who is the person who knows nothing about cars. And often, depending on just great your chain shop is, the MORE you know about your vehicle the Worse off you are. Because you talk to mechanic and tell him your problem, tell him the 3 possible things that could be wrong with it, and you can't figure it out because its twenty below outside but not in his garage. This will now give them licence to fix, not diagnose mind you, replace the part or perform the service, either the least likely candidate or the most expensive (really an EV qestion based on the circumstance) and send you home with the job all done....But with the problem still there. That is how garages really give you a new one.