The Auto Repair Shop; the Most Unregulated Business in the U.S.
Walk into any Pennsylvania auto repair shop that advertises as a PA Inspection Center and you will notice a very large sign indicating that you will be charged $75.00 per hour for all services. What you will not see are hazardous material bins, hazardous material signs, a sign indicated the last time the building was inspected for safety, air quality, or any other sign indicating the justification for an auto repair shop mechanic to charge $75.00 per hour to inspect your vehicle, or repair your vehicle. There are no signs explaining how the hazardous materials are exposed of. A lucrative business? Considering you can drive a period of one minute and count nine auto repair shops with a PA Inspection Center sign, I'd say it is.
These repair shops are working for the State of PA. Are the mechanics background checked, fingerprinted? No. In fact, no qualifications are needed for an auto mechanic. Does that infuriate you?
Consider this, you have taken out an equity loan to put your son through college. Four years later he has a BA in education. What should he expect to earn? 75 dollars a day, if he is lucky enough to find a position substituting. He has to get his car inspected. He drives down the street and the kid who bullied him through middle school is standing in his father's repair shop, laughing. It will take him an hour and a half to inspect the vehicle, and of course there is damage. So, a part must be ordered. The part costs forty dollars. But, auto mechanics can and do charge 100 to 500 percent mark-ups on car parts. Of course, it only takes ten minutes to put the forty dollar part in. But, you have to leave the car because the auto mechanic can and does charge you for three hours labor.
On the way home, your son gets pulled over by the town police officer. He is falsely accused of having drugs in the car. Turns out the bully's got an Uncle on the police force. His four year college degree is worthless, his background check will show the drug charge. His career is over.
The mechanic who charges $75.00 an hour, he can have three drug charges, be high as a kite working on your vehicle. He invested nothing in his career. But, takes every dollar you have earned.
Outraged, yet? It gets even better.
The average salary of a registered nurse is $33.00, a social worker earns an average of $23.00 an hour. A teacher can earn $29.00 an hour, a guidance counselor's average salary is $20.00. An air traffic controller earns an average of $35.00. A chemist gets $28.00 per hour, a reporter earns an average of $14.00. A detective has an average per hour pay of $23.00. And, a soldier earns an average of $23.00. All of these occupations require higher learning degrees. An auto mechanic charges $75.00 per hour and is not required to have any training, or education.
Still want to support the small business owner?
I have been charged $80.00 to have power steering fluid put in my vehicle. I have been charged $800.00 six different times to have a $40.00 part put in my vehicle. The same part, a ball joint. I have been told by a mechanic that it would cost $500.00 to repair my vehicle. Only to go down the street and have a friend of my daughter's take a piece of rubber from the trash and fix my car with it. I have waited an hour and a half while an auto mechanic inspected my vehicle. The fumes from the inept exhaust system entering into my lungs.
Once upon a time in the United States there was a consumer affairs office. People still work in the department, but they don't investigate complaints, any more. Once upon a time in the United States there was an organization called the Better Business Bureau. The organization still exists, but they don't investigate businesses, anymore.
There may be one occupation that earns more an hour than an auto mechanic. The average salary per hour of a physician is $80.00. If a physician overcharges you? You can report it to your insurance carrier, the American Medical Association, or his malpractice carrier. How much does a physician invest in his education? Enough time and money to not risk his career overcharging you, or breaking something else while portending to repair. If a physician commits malpractice he injures one person. If an auto mechanic tampers with a vehicle, he can injure hundreds. Drive by the wreckage of the inept, unethical, corrupt mechanics on any given american highway.
The auto mechanic invests no time, nor money in his career. What does he ever lose? Nothing. You, you can lose everything by the unregulated, unethical business, known as the auto repair shop.
If you have spent any time in a healthcare facility, you will have seen a quality assurance inspector.
You can drive by thousands of auto repair shops, and the one thing you will never see is a state regulator, an E.P.A inspector, or a safety sticker on any tool in a repair shop.
An American soldier will risk his life for $23.00 an hour, an auto mechanic will take it for $75.00 an hour.
The auto mechanic who earns $75.00 an hour and charges for additional hours of labor drives around in a brand new truck. Your child who just invested four years of time and alot of money is driving around in a ten year old vehicle.
Isn't it about time auto mechanics and car part stores earn what they invest into this society, next to nothing. People go to college and invest time and money to progress society. Auto mechanics invest nothing in themselves, or their shops. But, they will take your earned money.
Regulating prices and regular state inspections should be routinely done in every single auto repair facility. Every healthcare facility is routinely checked. Why aren't auto repair shops?
Auto repair shops should be subject to routine audits. Car part pricing and labor pricing should be regulated. And fines should be given to all repair shops and car part stores that do not adhere to the pricing guidelines.
The hourly wage of the auto mechanic is outrageous. The lack of regulation is abhorrent.
Car parts have lifetime warranties. A set of front brakes takes about thirty minutes to replace and costs approximately fifty dollars. But, should have a lifetime warranty and cost nothing. Find a repair shop who will adhere to that, you can't. Locate an auto repair shop in violation of all hazard material guidelines, they are a dime a dozen. Find a state that fines these shops, not likely.
