In Minnesota, both houses of our state congress, as well as the Governor's office are presently all controlled by Democrats, and this is what they recently did for me. Actually they've been on a roll of good things, but this is extra tasty to me...
That's right, as of Oct1 in Minnesota, car manufacturers are no longer trusted to come up with their own warranty labor times. If they want to do business in Minnesota, they have to allow the dealerships to choose a 3rd party labor time publisher at the dealership's discretion. Happy days are here again, thanks Democrats!
But in the interest of fairness, if somebody wants to name an example of something Republicans have done in the last 40 years, that the Democrats were against, that had the sole purpose of making life better for all working people and doesn't have racist undertones, I'm listening.
-- Edited by PowerStroker on Sunday 8th of October 2023 09:28:46 PM
That's great news PowerStroker! Warranty time is hard to beat, even after you have lost your ass many times learning how to do the job it's still often times never can be done in what little time is offered to do the job.
But you said the new labor time publisher (3rd party) is at the dealerships discretion... which basically means the dealer can tell you to get bent if they don't like the times recommended by the 3rd party publisher.
I did read that right, right? lol
Anyway, anything is better than what manufacture comes up with I'm sure... until the manufactures come along and buy up said publications and make them even lower. Round and round we go!
As you know, I don't belong to a union -- nor do I work for a Ford dealership! Thus, most of what you brag about is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape to someone who is a self employed "working man"... I'd like to think about how Republicans don't come up with a bunch of bullshit laws to make life miserable for capitalist. You don't have to accept dealership rates PowerStroker! You can quit and open up your own shop! Seems pretty simple to me! In fact, a lot of your parties bureaucratic bullshit are the main reasons I haven't hired anyone and continue to work as a one man show. I'm sure at some point it will mean something to have a job again, but until then I'm probably not the guy to ask about "what my party is doing to create more bureaucratic red-tape"... In my eyes, the less red tape and regulation the better.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I work at a dealership because the only way to fix a modern car at a high level is to have all of the special equipment, service information, and software. The dealership provides that stuff for me because there's no way I could afford that stuff on my own.
My dealer has opted to use Alldata for our 3rd party labor time guide. Which we can substitute for Ford warranty times anytime Alldata has a published time that is better than what Ford says. Of course Alldata doesn't have a labor operation for everything, especially recalls, so some stuff will still be done with Ford labor ops.
But you're right, there is no shortage of bureaucratic bullshit and hoops to jump through. But I still count this as a pretty significant win.
Alldata and Mitchells are pretty much the top two in the 3rd party world. I still have many old school labor guides from the 1950's thru the early 2000's, I'm also able to get the information on a few suppliers sites.
I'm not so sure about your "high-level" claims... seems to me in a lot of cases (at least with Fords) they are just trying to re-program a problem away -- often times at the expensive of something else in order to get it past that warranty period.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
My 2015 may not be new, but I still consider it modern. My 1993 not so much.
Oh they do love when they can fix things with a reflash. I personally remember 8 different software updates for the 6.0 Diesel. Then they found the "happy medium" that would usually allow them to cold start without burning up FICMs too often, and decided any other problems would require part replacement. Now those are long out of warranty so no further effort goes into reengineering them.
Your Honda is a 2015? The 1993 truck you have is the last of the "good" body style and engine/transmission combinations. If you can keep it from rusting out in the rustbelt -- why the hell would you run out and spend $80,000 for a new work truck? Do you have payments on that 2015 or did you buy it outright? (If you don't mind me asking)
My oldest son, Rex -- who is working at Mercedes in Texas just purchased a 2017 Corvette Stingray! I don't want to get into all the details in this thread -- but the newest car I personally own is a 2006 Lincoln Zephyr... and I have no plans on buying anything newer. My S-10 is a 2002, and really as much as I'd like to have a 4X4 for here in Michigan, I bought it for like $500 and it does everything I need a truck for... so it's hard to sell it. More or less it's the insurance that bites you in the ass each month! $74 a month for an old 2002 S-10? It just doesn't even seem right! Last year the kid ripped the front end off the 2006 Lincoln and they only gave me $2,900 for the car as a "write-off"! It's just crazy because they were charging me something on the order of $130 per month on that one -- however it includes my youngest son as a "youthful driver"... So I get that it's more -- even my umbrella policy is more per month since he lives here! But boy will I be glad to claim him this tax season now that he's a full time student in college... Speaking of which, he got some good assistance for his college because I don't make a lot of money (after deductions)... and I know that is probably because of Democrats most likely.
I just don't know PowerStroker... I love Democrats -- but it's just some of the shit they support and try and glamorize I just cannot get behind or support! I just can't! I'm not saying other people shouldn't be able to do it -- just that I don't! And I won't be made to feel like a racist or a homophobe for refusing to promote it!
With regards to re-flashing, I think once a car runs out of it's warranty -- and especially if the model or "line" has been out of production past a few years -- Ford's just classifies it as obsolete once they run out of parts. I think Fords want's it's customers in a new car every 3-5 years... and if you take it to 8 years they wants BANDS to keep it going each year. As a mechanic, it's great! As a customer -- well, as you know -- it has sucked! I still enjoy working on their cars and watching them progress (or at least try to) in technology.
I recently did the Tesla review in the Tesla section, you should check it out! I know there is some good money in these electric cars in the future, I just have to be ready. I think if you read that thread you'll know that having the best of BOTH worlds, electric AND ICE -- that's the way to go. I understand the push, but let's not start shoving!
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I paid cash for the CR-V from a distressed seller and got a big discount. It was only a year old when I got it and had just over 6000 miles on it, by far the newest thing I've ever owned.
It was still under factory warranty when I got it. Previous seller couldn't handle the payments and just wanted out of it, so I swooped in to save the day.
So PowerStroker, that bill you posted was effective October 1st 2023 -- tell us, has it helped yet?
Or is the system still being implemented? You know, we don't want you to have to have another meeting with your manager while he's having his cheerios...
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
It has already helped. So far the average has been about 4-5 additional labor hours per week, but can vary depending on how much warranty work I do, and how much difference there is between the warranty time for a specific job and what Alldata says. We implemented a system through Microsoft Teams wherein we upload .pdf files of the alldata time under the RO# and our warranty administrators bill Ford accordingly. So far there has been 1 week where I wouldn't have hit my 40 bump without it, so life is good.
I'm really glad to hear that PowerStroker! While I didn't work for a dealership long, the main reason I left was because I could not stand that damn warranty labor time!
All is well that ends well!
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
