Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting do mechanics really charge women more?

This is going to be a long one I suspect... I'll start with saying please let us know what the second opinion says about your car. As a former mechanic (we like to be called technicians these days :p ) and a former service writer for various places including Pep Boys and a couple dealerships it really doesn't matter if you're a man or women what you get charged or what we tell you needs to be done (some exceptions but VERY rare). What does change on an hourly basis is the technician's attitude. Did he just get a 6 hour job done in 3 hrs (good thing) or did he just have to put a heater core in a Ford Taurus (pain in the ass). Did his girl just give him some crap about cutting the lawn when he gets home, or possibly it's Thursday and he has only 25 hrs in for the week and he needs to make that up by Friday. Simply it comes down to the PERSON you are dealing with, not the chain (midas, pep boys, Dealerships). I now work at a job where I visit many different shops on a daily basis, some are run better then others some places have a good crew some don't. On to your specidic questions:

1. If the garage is not a "muffler shop" most places will replace the exhaust as an assembly which means if the muffler is bad they will replace it to the next joint in the exhaust. I THINK on the SEV6 that would bring you up to the resonator, possibly the cat. You said the Cat with a question mark so I don't know if they said to replace that. If they did it sounds a little funny to me. How fast it wears out is another issue in itself, short trips where the exhaust does not burn off the moisture inside will work to destroy the exhaust faster. You get enough snow in pittsburgh (and roadsalt) to have an effect on the exhaust.
2. The brake prices sound high but for the rears I'm betting they are including new calipers, I dunno if you need them. For the fronts that's not completely out of line especially if this is a dealership and if it's not they are probably including new rotors in the price.
That's my thoughts on the subject. Try to find a couple garages that are convenient to you try them out when you have the need. See who seems to treat you the best. It is true a nicer looking shop is usually a better place to go although sometimes slightly more expensive. If you were on this end of the state I'd offer to check it out for you. Good Luck!

I am always getting people trying to rip me off. Luckily, I know my stuff and call them out on it. Ask around people you know to see if they have "honest" repair shops. The place I go for tires and brakes is actually a Sears store. Not always known for honesty, but this paticular one is.

Ask them to show you the problem in the exhaust. The brake prices are way to high. I got new front pads and rotors on my car for less. Rear brake job was even cheaper than the front. If they say you need new rotors, tell them to measure them and show you the book of discard specs. If they are well above discard spec, they can be turned. I doubt you wore out brake pads in 12k miles.

Vibration in the front at highway speeds is related to the new tires. They are not balanced right. Or you could have one of several common problems seen after new tire installation: a bent rim that is showing itself now that there is a new tire not worn to it, an out of round tire, or they need to try to turn the tire on the wheel so the heavy spot of the tire and rim are opposite each other. (I spent 6 years selling brakes, tires, suspension parts.)

Good luck on the second opinions. It may not even hurt to have a third.

By the way, this stuff does happen to men as well. I saw a person at a Valvoline oil change place sell a rear diff. service to a man in a Windstar mini van. Didn't know front drive vehicles needes rear diff service.

I was having problems with my exhaust on a former car (dual exhaust) and so I bought a muffler myself and installed it on my car. It was on there for about two weeks and then the rest of the sytem actually feel off. Okay I realized then that I need a whole new system. Went to Midas and they inspected and came back with me with a price of about $800.00 (cdn). I asked what exactley they were going to do and the guy proceeded to explain it. He then told me I needed a new muffler too. I told him that the one on there was brand new. He said that there was no way it was. We went to the back and looked at my car and okay it was dirty under there it was winter but I again told him that it was brand new. He still did not belive me. I told him to bring my car down from the hoist and I would show him the receipt for it. He shut up very quickly. I told him that I wanted my car down and that I was never going back there again. I then took it to another muffler shop where I got a better quote no arguement from them. I know for a fact that if I was a guy this would not have happened.

No BS to either male or female customers, we tell it like we see it here, oddball situations are photographed (re 'exploding diffs/ trans cases!),to the point that the building contractor who built our shop wife now has her M/Benz repaired here....good manners, full facts and discriptions of the problem, engineering reports supplied free if required. Terry Haines , HMS Inc

I'm going to miss the mechanic I use back home in New Mexico. He did the exhaust work on my Contour and a brake job on my Grand Prix. Very honest and professional. He even worked on my car on a Sunday!

I had NTB put 2 new tires on my Contour. After that, I had a vibration problem at ~60MPH. I brought it back and they told me that one of my wheels was bent. So I bought a new one ($60, cheap 14" steel wheels). Brought that to them, they replaced the wheel they said was bent with it.

Vibration problem was still there, so I brought it back to them. They told me ANOTHER wheel was bent, so I bought another new wheel and they replaced it. (I bought the wheels from Sentry-South LM, it was cheaper that way).

Still had the vibration problem, brought it back to them and they told me the new wheels were bent. Curious, I wanted to know how they were determining this--so I asked them to show me, and they put it on their balancer and spun it, and you could see a little runout.

I decided to try going to a Sears instead, and somehow they were able to make the vibration problem go away.

I think the balancer at the NTB was either screwed up or the guys operating it were screwed up. As far as the runout, that may have been coming from the balancer itself.

Fortunantly, I didn't pay any labor for this, just two new wheels. I can use one of the old wheels as a full-size spare.

Brian