[BlueEyes]

shameless plug/

I came across this place on craigslist and went down to check it out yesterday and I think it's pretty awesome, never seen anything like this before. For people here in AZ that work on their cars and have no garage or need a lift, bay and/or tools you should check this out.

DIY Performance Automotive in Mesa. Lift with bay and tool access is $20 an hour, simple bay is $15 an hour. only issue is one of the employees have to put the car on/off the lift for you. Prices are very reasonable, they inspected my trans wiring fixed some bare wires and cleaned up the connector, only charged me $37.50 and at any other shop around here it would have been $200 minimum.

Seems like a pretty cool place for do-it-yourselfers, I know I'll be going there to finish up all of my interior stuff.

http://www.diyperformanceautomotive.com/services.html

 

[tino]

I noticed that you mentioned that they inspected your trans and fixed some bare wires and cleaned a connector. Did they do this or did you fix this yourself. I ask because you said it was a diy shop.

 

[BlueEyes]

They did all of the work at that price.

it is a DIY shop but they also offer mechanic services. You can do it all yourself or have them do it or half and half. When you rent a bay or lift advice is free (ASE techs) and they have 2 computers in the office with access to the ALLDATA system so you can look stuff up yourself.

I think it's an awesome idea. And great for people that know what they're doing and can fix it themselves who don't want to shell out $96 an hour to have some mechanic jack your stuff .

 

[tino]

That is a really good price. I wish they had one of those type of deals here. When you bring your own parts the mechanics cringe at the sight of it. They want to use their cheap wholesaler parts and charge you an arm and a leg.

 

[Traveler]

As soon as I win the Lottery I'm goin to open a business like that in Parsons.. LOL Think of it, my own huge shop to do my work in, and a tax deductible business... hehehe

 

[BlueEyes]

Yes, I've ran into the same thing if I bring my own parts and at some shops they won't install them. If they do it's still $96 an hour. One major problem I had with the shop I had been using was their parts suppliers parts had an average life expectancy of 13 months (one month out of warranty). Plus every time I had something repaired they would jack or break something else. For a shop with ASE certified techs the work was beyond and amazingly sloppy. Definitely not worth what they were charging. Also just because you passed an ASE certification test doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Anyone can study for a test but in the words of Ron White;

"You can't fix stupid"

You can't teach common sense, it's just something you do or don't have.

Over the years I had thought that by taking it to only one shop which seemed to be doing decent work that I could be fairly confident they were doing a good job. That turned out to be a pipe dream. As time went on and they realized I was going to keep bringing it back the work just got sloppier and sloppier.

Unfortunately for someone like me where it's difficult for me to work on it at all you end up being dependent on these shops and trust they will do good work. How many average people do you know that have work done on their car at a shop take it home and thoroughly inspect what was done or sit in the shop and watch what they're doing? not many.

I just knew that even though I can't do all of the work myself there had to be a better place out there. The owner also let me sit under the car when he was working on it and showed me everything, explained his theories and showed me exactly what he was doing. This place also can get parts if you don't want to but they don't have a contracted supplier. His suggestion to me was to go online to Rock Auto and get parts there

 

[BlueEyes]

As soon as I win the Lottery I'm goin to open a business like that in Parsons.. LOL Think of it, my own huge shop to do my work in, and a tax deductible business... hehehe

You should go for it if you can. This place has a waiting list for bays, no overhead and his insurance is cheaper because everyone has to sign a injury waiver and only an employee can put a car up on the lifts. He just added a tire machine and balancer and he has a brake lathe, welders, engine hoists, tons of tools and just about everything you can think of.

 

[Traveler]

.....The owner also let me sit under the car when he was working on it and showed me everything, explained his theories and showed me exactly what he was doing. This place also can get parts if you don't want to but they don't have a contracted supplier. His suggestion to me was to go online to Rock Auto and get parts there

This is one of the wonderful advantages of a small town, and my dad running a used car dealership here for 30 years. Most of the shops in town know me, or at least knew my dad, and will let me stand right there and watch and talk to them while they work if I want to. And I have yet to find one that won't let me bring in my own parts and have them install them. LOL I've even told a shop how to put a PI intake on NPI heads, (they appreciated the information) and how to put MUSTANG (pbr) brakes on a T-bird.

 

[Platoribs]

This is one of the wonderful advantages of a small town, and my dad running a used car dealership here for 30 years. Most of the shops in town know me, or at least knew my dad, and will let me stand right there and watch and talk to them while they work if I want to. And I have yet to find one that won't let me bring in my own parts and have them install them. LOL I've even told a shop how to put a PI intake on NPI heads, (they appreciated the information) and how to put MUSTANG (pbr) brakes on a T-bird.

Yeah, this^ definitely won't happen anywhere even near Chicago, even the Latino shops charge $50-75+/hour, and really don't want to do anything other than shocks/brakes/oil/tires...