car repair question #whatever

[unofan]

So I have a 98 Toyota Camry, though probably for not much longer.

Go to pick my parents up from the airport. Get there fine, pull up to the curb, put it in park, pop the trunk, load the bags, get everyone in car.

As I go to shift from park to drive, I feel a sort of pop (though there wasn't any associated noise to speak of), and the gear selector now moves freely without being able to pick any gears. ****.

The tow truck driver said it was probably just the connector, which shouldn't be too bad $$ wise. Anyone agree/disagree? Anyone know what "not too bad" means price wise? A couple hundred? I'm still waiting to hear from the auto shop it got towed to.

 

[walrus]

Re: car repair question #whatever

So I have a 98 Toyota Camry, though probably for not much longer.

Go to pick my parents up from the airport. Get there fine, pull up to the curb, put it in park, pop the trunk, load the bags, get everyone in car.

As I go to shift from park to drive, I feel a sort of pop (though there wasn't any associated noise to speak of), and the gear selector now moves freely without being able to pick any gears. ****.

The tow truck driver said it was probably just the connector, which shouldn't be too bad $$ wise. Anyone agree/disagree? Anyone know what "not too bad" means price wise? A couple hundred? I'm still waiting to hear from the auto shop it got towed to.

Connector? what connector? I'd say something broke , its either inside or outside the transmission. If its outside(shift cable?), probably won't be too bad, a few hundred sounds right. If its inside, you better have deep pockets.

 

[brookyone]

Re: car repair question #whatever

So I have a 98 Toyota Camry, though probably for not much longer.

Go to pick my parents up from the airport. Get there fine, pull up to the curb, put it in park, pop the trunk, load the bags, get everyone in car.

As I go to shift from park to drive, I feel a sort of pop (though there wasn't any associated noise to speak of), and the gear selector now moves freely without being able to pick any gears. ****.

The tow truck driver said it was probably just the connector, which shouldn't be too bad $$ wise. Anyone agree/disagree? Anyone know what "not too bad" means price wise? A couple hundred? I'm still waiting to hear from the auto shop it got towed to.

The connector is a good possibility...or the gear selector cable itself. Neither is a big deal or particularly expensive repair.

 

[geezer]

Re: car repair question #whatever

So I have a 98 Toyota Camry

you had me at "98 Toyota". Everything they built after '94 is a piece of crap, which is a crying shame. (not helpful?)

 

[unofan]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Connector? what connector? I'd say something broke , its either inside or outside the transmission. If its outside(shift cable?), probably won't be too bad, a few hundred sounds right. If its inside, you better have deep pockets.

If it's inside, well, I'm already planning on getting a new car this weekend (when I got the timing belt replaced a few months back, I said the next repair besides an oil change/new tires is going to be the last one), so I probably just don't fix it and hope the dealer still gives me something on a tradein for it.

If it's the cable, well, I get it fixed and still trade it in.

 

[unofan]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Well, it was the gear selector cable that snapped...but the mechanic is telling me they have to order the part from Kansas City and with parts/labor/fees/tax it's gonna be $500 total.

Seems a bit on the high side (was thinking $300+tax at the most, not $475+tax), but the car can't move without it. Thoughts from those of you who seem to know about this kind of thing? Rip off or not?

Either way, definitely selling it ASAP. This would make it about $1000 this year in repairs on this thing.

 

[Hammer]

Re: car repair question #whatever

It doesn't take long to get to $500 in repairs. That's fairly minor.

 

[ScottM]

Re: car repair question #whatever

$500 on a '98 Toyota is probably reasonable. I had a '96 Corolla a few years ago that cost $800 just for the front brakes. Besides, any money you fork over now is less than a stream of car payments.

 

[walrus]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Well, it was the gear selector cable that snapped...but the mechanic is telling me they have to order the part from Kansas City and with parts/labor/fees/tax it's gonna be $500 total.

How much is the part? The thing about fixing it is, you don't have to rush into buying a new car, you can pick and choose.

 

[unofan]

Re: car repair question #whatever

$500 on a '98 Toyota is probably reasonable. I had a '96 Corolla a few years ago that cost $800 just for the front brakes. Besides, any money you fork over now is less than a stream of car payments.

True...but I've now spent upwards of $1000 on this car in about 7-8 months. The repair bills are starting to equal a stream of payments. Which is why I'm still gonna end up trading it in sooner rather than later.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Id agree its likely the shift cable (or something that connects the lever to the cable).
$500 isnt bad, nowdays it doesnt take long to rack up a bill like that.
$1000 in 7-8 months is still a lot less than what payments on a new Camry would be. I understand what you mean though, its frustrating driving an older car that is breaking on you all the time.

 

[The Rube]

Re: car repair question #whatever

It doesn't take long to get to $500 in repairs. That's fairly minor.

Truth.

Labor is killer. Especially if you go to a dealer. Dealerships work in time blocks. They have a job to do, they have a certain time block that the job "should" take. If it goes over, same price. If it goes under, same price. My brother often "works" 60-70 hrs a week, although he only really works 40-50, because he's dam good. It's not up to the mechanic to set the time blocks.

 

[Hammer]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Bend some sheet metal on your car and see how much it costs to fix it.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Truth.

Labor is killer. Especially if you go to a dealer. Dealerships work in time blocks. They have a job to do, they have a certain time block that the job "should" take. If it goes over, same price. If it goes under, same price. My brother often "works" 60-70 hrs a week, although he only really works 40-50, because he's dam good. It's not up to the mechanic to set the time blocks.

That can be a doubled-edged sword. My neibor used to be a Ford diesel tech and worked at a dealership. He ended up having to quit because the time blocks that the dealership set for the mechanics that a lot of weeks he'd end up with only about 30 hours worth of pay. He's a darn good mechanic too.

 

[brookyone]

Re: car repair question #whatever

That can be a doubled-edged sword. My neibor used to be a Ford diesel tech and worked at a dealership. He ended up having to quit because the time blocks that the dealership set for the mechanics that a lot of weeks he'd end up with only about 30 hours worth of pay. He's a darn good mechanic too.

Good / experienced mechanics will almost never lose time when doing customer pay work for Chilton time...Chilton being one example of a labor time schedule used by dealers. Warranty work is another matter all together, when the tech has to perform the repair...and get paid according to the manufacturers time schedule, where the time allowances for repairs are ridiculously low and the tech often spends between one and a half to three times (sometimes more) as long on the repair as he's gonna get paid for. Techs HATE warranty work.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Good / experienced mechanics will almost never lose time when doing customer pay work for Chilton time...Chilton being one example of a labor time schedule used by dealers. Warranty work is another matter all together, when the tech has to perform the repair...and get paid according to the manufacturers time schedule, where the time allowances for repairs are ridiculously low and the tech often spends between one and a half to three times (sometimes more) as long on the repair as he's gonna get paid for. Techs HATE warranty work.

Well, that partiular dealership had a lot of turnover and he wasnt the only one who said that their time blocks werent realistic.
Then again, he did work there when Ford was having all those issues with the 6.0L Powerstroke diesel; so who knows...

 

[legal_hit]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Truth.

Labor is killer. Especially if you go to a dealer. Dealerships work in time blocks. They have a job to do, they have a certain time block that the job "should" take. If it goes over, same price. If it goes under, same price. My brother often "works" 60-70 hrs a week, although he only really works 40-50, because he's dam good. It's not up to the mechanic to set the time blocks.

Theex worked for a dealership and had making money off the flat rate system down to an art. He was in the same deal as your brother, averaging 60 or so hours a week for a 40 hour workweek.

 

[brookyone]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Theex worked for a dealership and had making money off the flat rate system down to an art. He was in the same deal as your brother, averaging 60 or so hours a week for a 40 hour workweek.

A lot of dealer techs have additional wage incentives...if they hit a threshold of say 50 hours billed out, they may get paid a higher wage for those hours...higher still for 60 hrs...etc. You can make good money in their line of work...maybe not so common now as it once was however. Dealer principles have been cutting back on these types of perks and hanging onto the extra $$ billed out by techs themselves.

 

[legal_hit]

Re: car repair question #whatever

A lot of dealer techs have additional wage incentives...if they hit a threshold of say 50 hours billed out, they may get paid a higher wage for those hours...higher still for 60 hrs...etc. You can make good money in their line of work...maybe not so common now as it once was however. Dealer principles have been cutting back on these types of perks and hanging onto the extra $$ billed out by techs themselves.

They didn't have incentives like that. Hour 100 was paid at the same rate as hour 1. (yes, he did have 100 hour weeks from time to time).

 

[The Rube]

Re: car repair question #whatever

They didn't have incentives like that. Hour 100 was paid at the same rate as hour 1. (yes, he did have 100 hour weeks from time to time).

Yep. Now, the "incentives" are indirectly based on how good you are. If you're not so good, 40 hours might mean 40 hours. If you're good, 40 hours might really mean 100 hours.

And knowing this now, I'm in the wrong business. Although the knowledge you have to have these days with all the computer stuff is astounding. A lot of it is figured out by computers, but obviously they fail, too, otherwise you wouldn't have to have mechanics with knowledge of those computer-based functions.


My local mechanic basically said to be a mechanic nowadays, you have to have the equivalent to an MD/PhD to work on all cars that come in.