[zx10guy]

I hung around a good friend that was a ASE Master Tech and started his own shop. I got to see all the behind the scenes details. Your post is missing a ton of other variables a shop owner has to deal with. You've missed the hazmat fees he has to pay the county for running his shop and all the fees he has to pay to properly dispose of said hazmats. You missed the liability insurance which was eating up my friend's profits alive every month. You've missed the expensive software updates he had to pay every year for things such as his Snap On Shop Key electronic shop manuals and his Snap On Modus scanner. When he took on a second mechanic, to attract good talent, he had to provide some level of benefits. Then there are the come backs that some times was due to defective parts or just bad luck. He had to absorb those costs. His lifts required periodic maintenance along with his alignment rack. He also had to periodically go back to school to learn all the newer stuff to stay current with what is out there on the market. He took in jobs from the local Ford dealership that they didn't want to do as it involved electrical troubleshooting. He was good at it and could knock it out in a reasonable amount of time. Mechanics that can't get the job done in what is stated as book time will lose money. This is why I have a lot of latitude with what shops charge as I know what goes into that estimate. Of course I will try to get the best deal I can but I won't expect them to do it for free either.

Everyone gripes about what these guys charge yet I don't see many of these complainers doing it themselves.