Hi Hachi, Re. a shop only getting 10% off list from the dealership on parts, that was at an independent shop in New Haven, CT where I was friendly with the owner and he'd tell me what it was like running his business. It was a literally a one-man shop run by a guy who was only
20 years old at the time, but who was very professional and competent-- one of his friends said he had started working on cars with his dad when he was 6 years old or something. From what I recall there was only 1 Toyota dealership in the area, so I guess they'd have had a monopoly on parts.Now I live in the Boston area and usually get my repairs done at a shop in Roslindale, at a 2-man shop that's been around forever and that the locals who have lived here for decades use. They don't use OEM parts. It's a working-class neighborhood and customers may be less willing to pay OEM prices there. I assume that if you have a
12/12,000 parts/labor warranty on your work then you need to use somewhat decent parts, otherwise it'll cost you in free re-do's.A few times I've had work done in Brookline, which is a much wealthier neighborhood. Once at a "foreign motors specialist" type place where they double-charged me on labor (replaced the inner tie robs and then also tacked on a couple hours extra labor to replace the rack and pinion boots, which had to have come off anyways to do the tie rods). A couple months later I saw the shop owner's name in the local newspaper-- he was arrested on 5 outstanding arrest warrants! Don't know what the outstanding warrants were for. The shop is still open; I have no idea if he's still in charge there. A couple other times I've gone to another shop in Brookline that means well, but I don't trust their work as much as the place in Roslindale. E.g., when the waterpump was rumbling, they insisted it was the front exhaust pipe leaking so they replaced the front exhaust pipe (water pump seized
1000 miles later).The '89 Corolla SR5 is doing great these days and running like it just rolled off the boat from Japan yesterday. I'll remember to touch base with you if/when I need to unload it someday...
John