Jawaad Mahmood in Tokyo

Found this at Red Flag Deals

automatic transmission repair @ a nationwide transmission chain.

1. “free” towing” may be advertised, but when a customer calls in saying “I think my transmission has a problem”, we won’t initially offer it, and we’ll probably ask you if you have CAA or other Auto Club membership that you can use (so we can save the $30-50). We’d only bring it up if the customer is on the fence about committing to bringing their car to us. Also, “free” tow is conditional on us doing repair work – if it turns out the tranny is fine and it was something unrelated that we don’t work on, guess what – you’re reimbursing us. If you decide to take the car elsewhere once you find out how much it’s gonna cost to fix, or decide to scrap the car.. you’re reimbursing us.

2. “Free multi-point Check”
– We’ll check your tranny-fluid (dip stick). We’re meant to drop the tranny oil pan to check for debris/metal filings but rarely do – it costs us $2 for a gasket + if everything is ok, or you refuse to leave the car to be worked on, there’s the time & labour to re-fill the (old) fluid which had drained out. It’s hot & messy work..
– Pretty sure I’m gonna find your fluid “smells burnt” or “is quite dark” .. which indicates “some kind of internal problem.”..
– free test drive – bring the owner along in the passenger seat – this is perfect “sales pitch time”, ie: “definitely internal problem, gonna hafta do an Inspection (remove tranny from the car to determine extent of damage… $$$$)
– Tranny light on dash is on — often, it’s a bad speed sensor switch (cheap & easy to replace as it’s usually located externally!) Code Scan at any shop (CDN Tire/Dealer, etc) should indicate this error code. They’d suggest replacing it for < $100 and see if it works rather than spend $2-3,000 on a tranny. Maybe good for them - but it's NEVER just a speed sensor when we check..
– Free Computer Code scan – dealer & most shops charge $90+ for this. It’s often a 5 minute job.. hook up the scanner and read the code. We do it for free ‘cos it’s:
1) a way for us to check for tranny codes meaning we get a job (most shops like CT don’t do tranny work – when they diagnose a tranny code, they may send the car out to a competitor, for which they probably get a nice $commission$). If it’s anything unrelated and complicated, we don’t fix it anyway, so we give them the code # and tell them to go to a general mechanic for a scan (and see how honest they are).
2) It gives us an opportunity to check your tranny fluid (“hmm.. a little dark/burnt-smelling; when was the last time you had your tranny flushed?” $$)
3) It builds up good faith/starts a relationship with a customer. They will come back to us when they have tranny issues as we are proven “honest” and fair. (LoL)

3. “Inspection Service” – Ok, so we’ve convinced you that your tranny has an internal problem, now we need to pull it to see what exactly is going on inside. This is unfortunately expensive, due to the extensive labour involved – removing wiring harnesses, hoses, cv-joints, air-boxes, etc. And then once it’s out and on the bench, we have to see what’s wrong with it. This is usually $250-$350. What we tell you, but you don’t know unless you already know, or are paying extremely close attention to the words we use is that if you decide that you don’t want to go ahead with any repairs once you find out the results of the Inspection, we don’t but it back in. The fee I quoted was for removal and inspection, and re-installation *once the repairs have been completed*. When you tell me to f-off because your neighbour (who’s always a mechanic) said he’d do it for $1500 vs my $3000, we say fine.. and we put the dismantled tranny in a box and put it in your trunk. Hey, you didn’t complete the repairs. Now you’re looking at a towing fee to get the car out there to another shop, + if you had it towed by us (for free), as we’re not going to be doing the repairs, you’re on the hook for the tow to us. (On the bright side, whoever you take the car to next *should*(but probably won’t) only charge you 1/2 the rate we’ve already taken the damn thing out of the car for them!!
– Anyhow, I guarantee you that when we phone you to tell you the results of the Inspection Service, it’s *GOOD news*:
We know what the problem is and we CAN fix it!!

.. The BAD news, however, is this price…

4. YOUR TRANNY IS SHOT ($$$$$)
– Couple of things to know:
1) First of all, even if you go to the dealer, you NEVER get a “new” from-the-factory transmission — they’re ALL rebuilds. (same with alternators, btw). New ones are simply cost prohibitive. Nobody is hiding this fact. What we do is we (tell you that we’ll) do a “complete rebuild” of your transmission. In most cases this involves “replacing all of the internals”, which would consist of a lot of parts – frictions, steels, clutches, seals, gaskets, etc, etc… a long list. In some cases, the tranny case (housing) itself is damaged- we may be able to repair it or get one from a supplier (used) if we don’t already have one in-house. But of course, case is extra $$.
2) Whatever parts are salvageable – we will save and reuse – and tell you we replaced anyhow. We have to make a judgement whether a part is honestly ‘good’ or whether it is ‘passable’ because if we are warrantying the repair, we certainly don’t want to see you again in 10 months demanding warranty work – all over a $50 part that we probably should have swapped out (and charged you for already). Again, the labour is insane, we only want to take out & reinstall your tranny ONCE! Bottom line, whatever you paid, you *will* leave with a working transmission that should last you for a while.
3) Oh, here’s the BEST PART OF THE WHOLE DEAL:
THERE IS NO ‘SET’ PRICE FOR A REBUILD!!
Ok, we know our ‘list price’ for what we charge other shops who outsource their jobs to us is (they in turn mark it up however much they want), but as a customer, I’m going to suck as much money out of you as I think I can get. And the more, the merrier. It’s a challenge. It’s a game:
– The second you walk in my door, I’m sizing you up. Your clothes, your appearance, your level of automotive/transmission knowledge. If I get a chance (if your car is towed-in or you dropped it off at night and I only speak to you on the phone) – I’ll even judge you on the contents & condition of your car. Oh, and of course, the type of car.
– Are you likely to have lots of money?
– Are you organized (probably put it on existing credit card) or is your car a mess and full of empty McDonalds food containers, unpaid parking tickets, and other receipts? Couple of young kids maybe? Prime candidate for FINANCING.. (so we can hit you up for even more ‘cos I can make the monthly payments so attractive)
– What kind of car is it – make/model – if it’s a $60,000 SUV or BMW, I’m gonna be telling you it’s $5000+; if it’s a 1985 shitbox, I’m going to adjust my price & options for you..

5. The OPTIONS
I already explained the rebuild above, but there’s a couple of options here:
1) Plan A – good quality parts. The parts I’ll put in meet or exceed the original stuff from the factory! All made in the USA, Europe, Japan, etc as necessary, depending on make of car. This is a quality rebuild and I make it clear you pay top dollar because we give you the best parts (unlike our competitors) and we do the best job. And it comes with a fantastic warranty for peace of mind.
2) Plan B – ‘made in Taiwan’(or India) – if you’re looking to cut a few corners, I can do that for you, using lower-quality parts. They’re still good, it’s just they’re known to wear a bit faster and if we have any comebacks it’s almost always with rebuilds using Taiwan parts. But I have to be up front and let you know that it’s an option because many people are only looking to get the car back on the road so they can sell it or only plan to drive it for another 2 or 3 years and aren’t looking for that long-term reassurance. If you’re *really* gullible, I might be able to sell you the ‘cheaper’ rebuild, but then snag you for another 1 or 2 years extended warranty (ha ha! $$).
**** The idea here is to either get close to what I wanted originally from you, or to take you to the cleaners (Plan A). Either way, you get the same parts!!! ****
3) If I’m unsuccessful at either of the above, or your car is so old that the rebuild is worth more than the car, or you don’t look like you have lots of $, I may offer you PLAN C: a “good, used replacement”. Earlier in our conversation I probably replied to your question about “worst case scenarios” and told you that we might be able to get one from our friendly network of ‘automobile recyclers’. Well now that you’re actually going to make me call around and get a price, I changed my mind: they are now “auto WRECKERS”. I can probably source a used tranny to just drop back in (with fresh fluid/filter), but really, who knows what kind of condition it’s in?? If your car is 10 years old, the tranny I’m getting is probably no better than the one we’ll be replacing! And the wreckers don’t offer much of a warranty – heck, they’ll cover the tranny for 30 or whatever, but who’s going to pay for my labour? We *can* go this route, but I can’t guarantee the labour if something goes wrong (other than anything that was our fault). ‘Plan C’ typically runs $1800-$2500. “You know, for a few hundred dollars more, we can do the rebuild that I told you about a few minutes ago, and at least it comes with the reassurance of a solid warranty and you know what parts I’ve put into it”.

I’ve got you HOOK, LINE, SINKER.
That’s what it’s all about folks!

Ran out of room in the previous post, but I just wanted to add that it’s been my experience that all tranny shops operate in a similar cut-throat manner. We pretend we’re your best friend and our competitors are garbage, but we’re all as bad as each other.

However, having said that – the majority of customers do have serious transmission issues that require attention. And most people do not ever make a trip to their local tranny specialist until it’s far too late and the damage is already done. Get your tranny serviced as per your manual’s scheduled recommendation. A tranny shop will be happy to know they’re getting $100 from you every year rather than never see you and have you go elsewhere when you do eventually have a (real) problem. Refer some friends, and they’ll be even happier and more likely to replace all the parts should your time come.

Despite it all, I still would not recommend (for most cars) going to the dealer for tranny work. They charge the same or more and most shops won’t see anywhere near the number of trannies in a year that a tranny specialist will do in a month. Just be aware of the game – ie: that every customer gets a different price, and you almost definitely did not have every internal component replaced. (It happens, but it’s rare, and trust me, you’ll pay extra for all those parts!)

One other tranny-related thing – transmission coolers – if you are towing a boat, trailer, or camper – do yourself a favour and get a decent tranny cooler installed to prevent your tranny from cooking itself to death. Yeah, they’re a high mark-up item, but they will save you money in the long run. Seen WAY too many people come back from a weekend at the cottage with a fried tranny to show for it. Let me tell you – the tranny cooler that we sell them to go with their newly rebuilt transmission is always a little more expensive after the fact!

Oh, and if you ask to see your damaged old tranny parts – don’t bother – we always had that covered (well, except for that one time where the guy showed up on his pedal bike just as we’d said “sure, no problem”, not realizing he was on his cell phone!)