Imposter Syndrome: I Paid Someone To Work On My Car.

So what's ironic about this  thread is that when I first switched from bikes to cars I'd see the arrive and drive guys and my first thought was "that's the way to do this"

I've done 6 or 7 events were I was invited to drive someone's car. It was a case of they wanted to know what their car was capable of.   In all but one of them I paid for my entry and other incidentals which for all intents and purposes is an arrive and drive.

So while I'm apparently OK driving a car someone else prepped, I'm somehow not OK paying to prep/fix my own cars.  Again I it find ironic.  

I don't feel like an imposter when I pay someone else.  Ultimately, I just feel like shops are ripping me off.

I just got a quote for my Transit Connect.  It has a sticking Driver's front caliper.  The shop quoted both front calipers (fair), pads, rotors, and bleed.  $2009.  Rockauto parts are like $300.  I get that they need to markup to make money, and there is some labor, but that's a E36 M3load on money for a what... 3 hour job?

I was also quoted $400+ to replace the top engine mount on my Mazda 5.  From what I understand that's like a 30 minute job, but they call out a $90 part and $300+ labor.

I keep finding that for small items, auto shops seem to be a waste of my time.  I have to bring my car there for a quote, sit around and wait, walk home, or uber home, come back for pickup, etc. just to find their prices are obscene.  I don't want to keep driving around to compare quotes until I get a low price, because I know that will result in me "getting what I paid for" and being unhappy for another reason.

TravisTheHuman said:

I just got a quote for my Transit Connect.  It has a sticking Driver's front caliper.  The shop quoted both front calipers (fair), pads, rotors, and bleed.  $2009.  Rockauto parts are like $300.  I get that they need to markup to make money, and there is some labor, but that's a E36 M3load on money for a what... 3 hour job?
 

Yikes... even with shop rates approaching $200/hr that's just robbery.

I have been fortunate that (so far) the local shop I trust to do work I don't want to do has been pretty reasonable.  They only charged me ~$40 more than Rock Auto for the A/C compressor in my E36 Touring, and their labor rate wasn't unreasonable considering I needed them to do the refrigerant recovery/recharge anyway. 

I will not pay a professional to work on my racecar. This is a learning experience as much as it is a racing experience.

I will happily do routine maintenance on my dailies, but bigger stuff gets farmed out. Also, living away from home in the cold for months at a time makes me less interested in working on my car. I paid a shop to redo the rear brakes on my XJ. It was below freezing, snowing, and I had minimal tools. Worth every penny.

buzzboy said:

Also, living away from home in the cold for months at a time makes me less interested in working on my car. I paid a shop to redo the rear brakes on my XJ. It was below freezing, snowing, and I had minimal tools. Worth every penny.

This was a similar situation for me. Later this week it will already be in the mid 90s; it would be at least two weeks till I could get to the car so didn't want to put the literal sweat equity into the car.

I'm 81 now and make excuses not to work on my car. Right now I have rear brake parts for my 911 that have been in my garage for 3 months now waiting for me to do the job. Just can't seem to pay someone for a simple job. Going to back-of-the-dragon this weekend so I need to get out of my chair and get to work on the brakes. I've got a pretty good dealer that I use for stuff I don't feel like doing. 

Most times if I take a vehicle to someone else, it bites me. Stripped oil drain plug, oil filter loose enough to lose half the oil before I got home, new unrelated problems 2 weeks later, etc. But the big jobs really bite me. New reman transmission installed for about what I could buy it, BUT they didn't refill the transfer case, and it was toast a year later. New alternator (have to move the power steering and disconnect the AC, so I didn't want to do that) and they left the wiring nut loose and arced/burned up the harness 2 days later, on a road trip.

I barely trust myself, and fewer of the professionals all the time. Present company excepted, of course.

It's funny, it always seems like letting someone do the oil changes is a step in the lazy direction.  But I've always found it's more of a pain than just doing them myself.  It usually takes me the same amount of time to change the oil vs take a car somewhere for a change.  But I probably do a more careful job, and for about the same cost.  And likely with better oil.  Plus I'm only bound to my schedule, so I can do it one evening after work, etc. instead of finding time when the shop is open. 

Thinking about the original idea more, there's definitely a difference in mindset, results, etc. between someone who just blindly pays to have everything done vs someone who is a DIY type and understands how it all works, but chooses to have certain jobs done by someone else. 

In reply to rslifkin :

I do the oil changes on all our vehicles except the diesels.  The truck is 16 quarts, and I don't want to deal with that much nasty a** diesel oil.  The RV is 10 gallons...

That said, my 'trusted' local shop just charged me ~70% more per gallon of Rotella T6 than what I can buy it for, so I guess I'm going to start bringing my own oil.

In the early 80's my buddy owned a big Chevrolet K20 4x4 with a 12" lift and 40" tall tires - did all the work himself - engine, body work, suspension - screaming machine.  

He always took it to a quick place lube for oil changes.  He liked to see the younger guys crawl into it and tell him how cool it was.  He got off on the high fives from the mechanics.