Replace or Repair ?

Duffer72 said:

I spent a day at court when I could have been in the shop billing out work!

Click to expand...

You should have counter sued for lost wages if you won the case. Thats how it works here my town.

Not in NJ it doesn't, and I would have had to go back again to do that as you couldn't file until the original case was decided, what I am saying is it is just not worth the hassle, easier to say sorry your machine is not worth repairing and move on to the next customer. I found that most people understood and actually appreciated the honest answer. If they didn't I would just give them a "rough" estimate that was so high they wouldn't want to spend the $. I had a large profitable shop with plenty of work so we didn't need to do that type of job to pay the bills, if it had been a small mom and pop operation I might have looked at it differently. but the topic of this thread was should somebody spend the same amount of $ to repair a unit as it would cost to buy a new one and I still say no.

Duffer72 said:

Not in NJ it doesn't, and I would have had to go back again to do that as you couldn't file until the original case was decided, what I am saying is it is just not worth the hassle, easier to say sorry your machine is not worth repairing and move on to the next customer. I found that most people understood and actually appreciated the honest answer. If they didn't I would just give them a "rough" estimate that was so high they wouldn't want to spend the $. I had a large profitable shop with plenty of work so we didn't need to do that type of job to pay the bills, if it had been a small mom and pop operation I might have looked at it differently. but the topic of this thread was should somebody spend the same amount of $ to repair a unit as it would cost to buy a new one and I still say no.

Click to expand...

Doesnt work around here in VA. If were to refuse to repair something that the customer bought in and it wasnt worth fixing. The customer then yes go ahead and fix it anyway. Then word would get around that I refused to fix his mower and I would start loosing customers based on that rumor that wasnt completely true.

we can agree to disagree on this all day long, but if someone says that I refused to do a repair because the unit was not worth it then so be it, would rather have that go around than I charged them more for a repair than what it was worth. I mean what is being said that isn't true, if the repair is not worth doing? I also did not take in cheap mowers & 2 cycle stuff w/o an estimate fee up front, people tend to think because it is a cheap unit that we should charge them cheap to fix it. I was never able to get my guys to work for less $ when they worked on a 59.95 trimmer. It must not have bothered people too much as we always had business and I still to this day will do the same thing and most will say ok, thanks for an honest answer, and actually get more business that way even here in NC, if they want it fixed they can go to rip off joe a few miles away and he will do his usual thing of charging a ton and only doing about 1/2 the work he claims to have done. I will gladly let him have the headaches. I get alot of work out of him as he has done the same thing and now that the customer is into the machine for so much money they have to keep repairing it to justify the original repair.

Duffer72 said:

we can agree to disagree on this all day long, but if someone says that I refused to do a repair because the unit was not worth it then so be it, would rather have that go around than I charged them more for a repair than what it was worth. I mean what is being said that isn't true, if the repair is not worth doing? I also did not take in cheap mowers & 2 cycle stuff w/o an estimate fee up front, people tend to think because it is a cheap unit that we should charge them cheap to fix it. I was never able to get my guys to work for less $ when they worked on a 59.95 trimmer. It must not have bothered people too much as we always had business and I still to this day will do the same thing and most will say ok, thanks for an honest answer, and actually get more business that way even here in NC, if they want it fixed they can go to rip off joe a few miles away and he will do his usual thing of charging a ton and only doing about 1/2 the work he claims to have done. I will gladly let him have the headaches. I get alot of work out of him as he has done the same thing and now that the customer is into the machine for so much money they have to keep repairing it to justify the original repair.

Click to expand...

I know what your saying but around it doesnt take much to put small engine repair shop out of business cause of some bad rumor that wasnt true.

And I will ask again what rumor isn't true?

I can refuse any work I want in my shop because its a hobby not a business and cash only. I am in my 70's and retired and not about to start a business or care who comes to my shop or not. It just seems like I am never lacking customer. maybe it,s my low labor rate at 10 dollars a hour and I will only do repairs right and my way or take it to someone who makes a living repairing. The shops around here the labor rates run 45 to 65 per hour and they charge 65 dollars for a pick up. I charge 20 dollars for a pick up. Also not that it always work out that way but I try to do only one job at a time seeing I have a small shop. If the government wants there nose in my business the door will be locked for good.

Too many variables to answer that question without qualifiers. To make that determination you need to take into account whether the old and new are of the same quality and whether they have the same or similar features and if you were satisfied with the old one. Assuming you liked the old one and quality and features are the same, then sell the broken one to the local repair shop for $10 and buy the new one.

reynoldston said:

Don't understand why would you repair. You have a 200 dollar mower and it is going to cost 200 dollars to fix. Now you have a old worn out repaired 200 dollar mower. why not have a new 200 dollar mower. Now lets keep dollar for dollar and same mowers. When someone brings me a repair job like that I refuse to work on it. There is a time to stop unless you are into restoring old mowers for a hobby.

Click to expand...

I'm with reynoldston on this one. A $200 repair bill on a $200 lawnmower has got to be at least a complete engine rebuild. If you maintained your mower and this still happened, I'd look for a different mower.

A friend brought me an almost new Honda Pressure washer. Tried my best on it, couldn't get it to run. Put my hand over the exhaust when I pulled the cord a few time, no puff or anything.

Unscrewed the 4 screws that cover the OHC, saw a chain and what looked like bits of pepper that had just gone through a grinder... It was a plastic gear.... on a pressure washer...

I reuse the frames on them for hauling things like my 4000 watt generator around that must be 30 years old. I even have a homebuilt compressor that haul around on one of those frames.

I kept the pump off the pressure washer as they're usually at least $200 for a new one.. will I ever find a pressure washer that needs that pump?? Who knows.. Kinda hard to toss it though.

If you called me about that mower, I'd usually offer a very small amount to take it off your hands. I'd put another motor on the deck IF the deck was in decent shape.

But yeah, if you told me it had something wrong that the repair guy estimated a $200 repair bill, I could probably do it for a lot less but, then again, I'll have maybe $100 in a mower I can't get $100 out of.

Find on on CL that has a decent motor and a rotten deck, and swap them motor if that's the issue..

With your original premise the logical answer would always be buy the new.
However if we are talking about $ 200 I would be surprised to see any one asking you to fix a throw away priced item.
the next question is warrantee.
However the most new mowers will not be identical to the one you are repairing unless it was almost new itself
I give a 1, 2 or 3 year warantee on my rebuilt second hand mowers and 12 months on all repairs.
A lot of budget priced mowers do not have a warrantee as long as I offer on repairs.
most time a big ticket repair gets done is because the old is substantially better than the new.
Either the new one has idiot safety features which makes them a PIA to use or the new item is made in China from tissue paper or is simply not able to be repaired.