I told my buddy...run away, fast!!

[214Chevy]

Wanna hear something funny. Well, the other day, a buddy of mine wanted me to go with him to check out this shop he thinks he wants to get some work done to his newly acquired 73 C10 shortbed. So, we go to the shop and it doesn't look anything likewise of a resto shop. It had tow trucks in the front as if it was a tow yard. Anyhoo, we go in, and an older gentleman greets us and we ask about getting some work done. As we tell the older gentleman what type of vehicle my buddy has and the type of work he wants performed, he states, "Oh yeah, we're a complete, one stop shop." My "hell-naw" senses were instantaneously alerted, but after he said that, I was totally like...."hell-naw." Then he calls out some young guy who looks to be about 20 years old, possibly a family member, and low and behold, he's the guy who runs the resto portion of the business. I was dying inside laughing. Not that a 20 year old can't do the work, but at the mere fact that this older gentleman has a tow yard and in my opinion, to probably keep the 20 year old out of trouble and give him something to do and a place to hang out, he gives him authority to run "the shop." So, by now, I give my buddy this..."Let's get the f@#k outta here"look. He asked me to go with him cuz this is his first car and he doesn't know anything other than old cars are cool. LOL!! Soooo, out of this whole story it gets even better. Just to be a fair guy and give him the benefit of the doubt, I ask the young, shop manager to let me see some of his work and he takes us to the back. He shows us several shoddy body worked cars that have lumped up bondo on body panels and a few cars with butchered, welded metalwork. I'm sure to him, being 20 and running a shop, he thinks it's top notch work. My buddy frowns at me like..."You see this crap?" I looked at him like wow!! Lastly, here's the best part. I asked him how much is his shop rate. He tells me, "It depends." I explained that I wasn't asking how much a certain type of job would be in total cost, because I understand that the car has to be here so you can see what you're working with in order to give a more accurate quote. I further explained how much was his basic shop rate is per hour. He still says, "It depends." I said okay thanks and we'll be in touch very well knowing I'd never allow my buddy to bring his car there. The funny part to me was he didn't even have an hourly shop rate. In conclusion, after we left, I told my buddy what that basically means is, they'll mess your car up with bad, poor quality work, you'll end up complaining about it and not wanting to pay an outrageous price that they'll over charge you and if you don't pay, they'll have your car and put a mechanic's lien on it and he'd wind up losing his car. I told him the shop would basically make up a price depending on what they thought a job should be worth which would almost always be way more than the quality of work performed.

[preston]

Good friend. Hopefully he will make sure you are involved in every future decision !

[Ketzer]

So I took a buddy with me to check out a car, the whole idea was for him to be impartial, not get caught up in the excitement etc. He was supposed to grade it hard, pull no punches. We get there and the car is pretty rough. Tell tale signs of some hidden sins, the normal crap. I was looking for something to beat on and have some fun in. Not a really nice ride I would be afraid to enjoy. I see how rough it is. I ask him his thoughts and he just shrugs...

I ended up passing on the car, a little too rough for the money. We get back in the truck and he starts in about how glad he is I didn't buy it and all the stuff he saw that was wrong.... Dude! WTF!