African Muscle Cars - Forum

The lawyer story is a lost to both party's!! Good reverences and a happy customer put you in work. My problem is working for S.A. people(customers) and New Zealand or Australia are far from the same!! To be better cost more work, time and planning. Problem one is S.A. are far behind on new!! kids who love cars. A computer with games are more into racing and playing games. Many I have had working with me run away as I am full of nonsense, as my name is on the outcome product!! My only real enemy is time and the weather as well as rising cost of parts and fuel!! Many business owners feel the strain in S.A. My work is my hobby so I love to go the extra mile and the extra hours. To feel a dead car jump to live is a strange feeling!!
Rassie.

Burnthosetyres wrote: ↑

Sun 09 Sep 2018, 11:02

Hey if you phone your lawyer for advice you get billed

This is the hell some restorations can drive you crazy if you quote and find it later!!

RASSIE wrote: ↑

Fri 14 Sep 2018, 13:36

The lawyer story is a lost to both party's!! Good reverences and a happy customer put you in work. My problem is working for S.A. people(customers) and New Zealand or Australia are far from the same!! To be better cost more work, time and planning. Problem one is S.A. are far behind on new!! kids who love cars. A computer with games are more into racing and playing games. Many I have had working with me run away as I am full of nonsense, as my name is on the outcome product!! My only real enemy is time and the weather as well as rising cost of parts and fuel!! Many business owners feel the strain in S.A. My work is my hobby so I love to go the extra mile and the extra hours. To feel a dead car jump to live is a strange feeling!!
Rassie.

Burnthosetyres wrote: ↑

Sun 09 Sep 2018, 11:02

Hey if you phone your lawyer for advice you get billed

I would love a Muscle car owner to work with me with his own hands for only one week and re-con. his mind set to show the real world of restoration.The normal rich guy love hid BMW or Merc but when we talk classic he just think it was a wash and wax.
If you have ever been to Australia you will see how they appreciate the hours the restorer did put into his pride and joy!
The last 2 x Fairmont GT's were sold for R.550 000 and R.600 000. Now we talk! How many real restorers have we got who got old school hard working people??? I would love the input from them.
Australia 2013 quote I have seen from a very good friend!! iT took many, many hours to bring a rust bucket to a full restored road worthy car. TV shows is what most people think is like a computer game. Press fix and it is done in a second!! Enjoy.
Rassie.

RASSIE wrote: ↑

Tue 18 Sep 2018, 08:45

RASSIE wrote: ↑

Tue 18 Sep 2018, 08:39

This is the hell some restorations can drive you crazy if you quote and find it later!!

RASSIE wrote: ↑

Fri 14 Sep 2018, 13:36

The lawyer story is a lost to both party's!! Good reverences and a happy customer put you in work. My problem is working for S.A. people(customers) and New Zealand or Australia are far from the same!! To be better cost more work, time and planning. Problem one is S.A. are far behind on new!! kids who love cars. A computer with games are more into racing and playing games. Many I have had working with me run away as I am full of nonsense, as my name is on the outcome product!! My only real enemy is time and the weather as well as rising cost of parts and fuel!! Many business owners feel the strain in S.A. My work is my hobby so I love to go the extra mile and the extra hours. To feel a dead car jump to live is a strange feeling!!
Rassie.

Burnthosetyres wrote: ↑

Sun 09 Sep 2018, 11:02

Hey if you phone your lawyer for advice you get billed

hi guys. I am from Walvis bay, Namibia. I have got a 1971 Opel ranger 4 door and its got the original 4 cylinder 2.5 motor with original 4 speed box. hoping you guys can advice on what engine and tranny replacement one can look at with the least hassles.

Stay with the 2.5 as it was one of the best engines build. My late Dad had a few of them and they were also used in the S.A. defense force. I would send the engine for balancing and let a professional gas flow the cylinder head. If you can find a reliable person who can cut the cam to a stage 1 torque cam it will give unexpected power and won't cost a fortune. I have just done a service on 2 x Land rovers and both had the 2.5 Chevy fitted. Parts was easy to find. Many members can assist I am sure.
Rassie.

Leclue wrote: ↑

Mon 24 Sep 2018, 21:56

hi guys. I am from Walvis bay, Namibia. I have got a 1971 Opel ranger 4 door and its got the original 4 cylinder 2.5 motor with original 4 speed box. hoping you guys can advice on what engine and tranny replacement one can look at with the least hassles.

Wow guys hows it been

Looks like i have been ages last on the forum.

this is just my input.

Most people dont like the per hour billing as it work out bad in there favour. But what i have seen is if people are scared it helps like a laywer bills per hour and every nigly little thing. It seems people pay them coz they on the 1 side of the LAW and can make hell of your life.

I am an accountant and we are supposed to bill the same , but in our line of work i feel people dont like paying for something they cannot see. At least now things are changing as the none compliance of the SARS system helps scare clients , so they realise that now we actually see what we paying for.lol.

On my experiance with cars and run of the mill machenics VS specialist like rassie is this

I myself dont like per hour billing either and feel i can pay for decent charges if some1 works on my car . Back yard mechies have fixed rates for the run of the mill stuff like CV replacements R 350.00 per side etc.

Then i have my wifes brother , back yard mechy , but he is now working on auto data to gestimate hours spent and bills from there. Which is a total rip off. My polo 1998 model broke in jhb crank keyway damage . so it lost timing. This guy says he checked the cam, head ,compression test etc then he found the crank pully damaged he didnt even see the damage on the crank keyway. replaced the crank pully and belt , set timing and he calls with a bill of i think R3200.00

Right so i go to him ask for the break down and he gives me hourly estimates from that program to check things that are working( U cant charge for things that are working). Obviously me and him have a argument , but i paid him what i had coincidently it was enough to cover the transport of buying the parts plus parts cost. Bear in mind he was working under a tree in a back yard.

So he starts the car and there is a noise , which he checks and they tighten the crank pully some more. I came to collect my car like that and had to wait. Then i drive of and onto the highway . the more i drive the more the noise gets . about 30ks to boksburg. once there i phone him and tell him. now he tries to blame me for revving the car which i never did. just normal driving.

At the end me and him dont talk to each other. but damn is he crazy? and im not the only client complaining about him charging for things that are working.

Now on to established workshops
I have experiance with a few of them and most of them have a fixed minimum fee for initial checking when u bring the car in Some around R750.00 which i think is fair as he is the GUY that should know his trade. AM I WRONG HERE?
He will tell you its R 750.00 if i find the fault in 5 minutes or in 5hours. And i agree its his trade and he should know it like RASSIE does.
thereafter billing will be per task of faults found , but approval to proceed must be given after quote discussed with client. this is also good both ways as client dont get billed for things that are working and workshop mechy is not expected to fix other issues not quoted for.
This is then agreed apon by both parties in term of price and tasks thats going to be performed.

NOW Rassie
We all know that people dont come to u because they like your smile( This is a joke as i never met RASSIE, its just to make a point)( Im not getting into any1s character here)
They come because they feel that you going to be the best man for the job wright(Skill and knowledge)
I would say that even if you go the extra mile and add on small things u do and dont get paid for it , it might be those things that get you more business.
I think you know your cars u work on and know more or less how much work or time goes into it. especially if u did do it before for another customer.
So do your prices based on that.
additionally you can list all to be done to the car and discuss with the client before hand. add on a disclaimer that you will be discussed with the client to have budget ready for unforeseen things that u might have missed or that u discover other than the list presented to him or her.
this includes time frames with unforseen events.

So that when the client agrees to the quote given the client is aware that extra charges might be done when found by YOU.

this way you can't short change yourself when finding unforeseen.

Because u are the guy in demand u can charge a good amount for ur labour and time as long as the client agrees ofcoz, but this is how guys in demand make alot of money the more in demand your skill the more you charge.

also from an accounting view u must then take note of all ur expenses including a portion for business if u working from home. ofset income and see how much profit u make for yourself. and then take it from there.

I know weather health time etc is the problem but this is a labour intensive business and time is of the essence.

Just my 2c here and there might be people that dont agree.

PS a client of mine is a mechy. he does these Lexus V8s. so after complaining i asked him with so much work why does he complain. He told me that the fixed fee they normally ask for the conversion sometimes dont come close to the labour hours they spend on it. But where u going to go to a guy that says R35000.00 for a lexus conversion or a guy charging per hour and it could cost u R 75000.00 for the same conversion?