Mozart’s Garage - Our Policies and Advice (Read this; we expect that you will and we require your awareness!) Welcome and thank you… We appreciate your business… Our shop rate is $98.75/hr. This is par in Santa Fe for European imports. We do not accept any kind of normal electronic funds transfers (e.g.: credit or debit cards) as payment for services. Please do not show up and with your ride gone, expecting to pay less than what you have been told, or attempting to negotiate a payout at the last minute. If you treat us with such obvious lack of respect, it is almost fair warning to us that you are either not able to pay or have no intention of paying. That puts us all in a very tight spot. Please be organized enough to advise us ahead of time of any problems. * If you trust us with your vehicle, we trust you for the bill. We just do not like credit card companies and the associated fees, deposit delays, red tape, data mining, or middlemen. We like direct. * As partial compensation for us not transacting electronic funds, Mozart’s Garage offers free comprehensive service & safety Inspections and Second Opinions on any of the car lines that we service, time permitting! This includes first-pass computer diagnostics and fault code retrieval and inspection of all known weak points. This insures that your vehicle needs are prioritized wisely and that possibly critical issues are not ignored. This is also a normal part of any in-shop repair job. * Except for in-office conversations, cursory inspections, and the like, all actual in-shop work will involve a minimum 1-hour charge. This covers office overhead and start-up & cleanup time and labor. In the case of larger jobs, you may expect charges for intensive problem-solving diagnoses, disassembly inspection, shop supplies, waste disposal fees, etc. PLEASE NOTE: In the case of vehicles 15 years older or more, ALL repair estimates are provisional, regardless of any written “estimate” (which are always only that and nothing more). Expect unanticipated charges. A whole new world of things to go wrong happens with older cars which were not designed to last this long and which were assembled with either cheap or craftsman-grade hand labor. The same thing goes for grey-market cars which do not have the same manufacturer support as cars sold through the dealer franchise system. We may be willing to take on such a particular repair job, but be prepared for the unexpected. * In the case of bounced checks or excessively delayed payment, we If you worked on it first, we charge extra. (ha ha) If you watch while we work on your vehicle we charge double. (not so ha ha) Please stay out of the work area. If we are distracted while we work, we screw up (not ha ha at all). It’s all about focus. Our shop space is open, but please do not attempt to follow us around or attempt to engage us in conversation while we’re trying to get the jobs done; it is unsafe and invariably you/we will find that you are smack dab in our traffic pattern or stepping on creepers or into oil catch pans. This is not good for anyone. INSURANCE WORK Your warranty coverage or insurance policy may pay for the work that you request. We will discuss your policy paperwork with you, confirm provisions, provide you and them with all the documentation necessary for processing your claim, and other wise assist you to the extent possible. HOWEVER: Ultimately it is up to you to determine if you are willing to pay for the work you request. We do not bill insurance companies on your behalf; you may get reimbursed by them for your expenses with us. Mozart’s Garage stands behind its work. After your vehicle is returned to you, you are more than welcome to talk to us at any time on a priority basis, or drop by without appointment to inquire about any issues that you might have, old or new. We want to hear from you first, no matter what it is – and not just complaints! Many people call or come by to tell us how much they appreciate our work. If this is the case, let us know. We attempt to be diligent in making follow-up calls, but all too often its “No news is good news” and we have to assume all is OK if we don’t hear from you after you pay and leave. If we know you’re happy, that makes us happy and the wheel keeps rolling. In most cases there is a formal warranty from the parts manufacturer or through our parts distributors, and usually that is honored by going directly through us. If you want to know the details, please ask. General PARTS We use only top-grade manufacturers’ parts. Often we are asked: “Do you use real Mercedes (or BMW) parts?” The full answer is: “It’s not as simple as it sounds!” Mercedes and BMW themselves make only a very small proportion of the parts that make up their vehicles. Most everything is outsourced from subcontractor suppliers, e.g.: Mahle, Bilstein, Bosch, etc. Entirely proper replacement parts can come either from the dealer, in which case they will come in a vehicle brand logo-ed box and you will likely pay extra for that, or they can be obtained from the manufacturer through an independent wholesaler, in which case they will come in the manufacturer’s box. The part will be the same. There are fraudulent and substandard parts out there. We take especial care – and you pay us for it - to ensure that we obtain and install only the best. Sometimes upgrade parts are available, or improved next-generation versions from later-model cars are retrofittable. We may either install these as a matter of course, or give you the option, depending. We save all replaced parts for you to inspect or retain, if you care to. If you don’t ask about them or for them, this will be your declaration that you do not want them and they will be disposed of promptly upon your leaving. When you go, they are gone. This is a retail establishment. We buy parts at variable wholesale and sell at list retail, with some upward adjustment for shipping charges, inventory maintenance, hassle factor for doing business in Santa Fe, or downward if the markup is excessive, etc. “List price”, even “Dealer list” is also a variable figure, depending on source and date. The bottom line is that we guarantee applicability and the quality of the parts we install and we charge accordingly. We cover core and returns costs, warranty charges, and many other incidentals. Therefore we do not try and compete on parts pricing with sources that sell cheap parts directly to the customer, or with anyone else at all. Cheap is usually exactly that: cheap. We do not do “cheap.” You will get what you pay for from us. Only in very rare cases do we allow you, the client, to supply your own parts for our work, and we certainly cannot advise you on how to do it yourself. If we did, who would take responsibility for a comeback? If you were capable, you wouldn’t need to ask. Possibility of confusion, delay, and failure is too great and we would not be able to warranty our work. We are glad to obtain parts for you to install, new or used, as you wish. If you do wish to try and ‘beat the system’ you are welcome to try, but we cannot get involved in trying to help you. If you would like to buy our business, make us an offer. Oil change intervals in this environment can easily be 3,000 – 4,000 miles. The bottom line is: Check your oil, and if it is dark and opaque (you can’t see through a drop placed on a reflective surface), it needs to be changed. Period. Under laboratory conditions, the default oil-lamp-indication of a ~15,000 interval might be OK, but on the road in New Mexico, its a lot less. Oil molecules are basically eternal, but the oil additives do get used up and it will get dirty from all the dust in the air here – even with the best of air filters, which are also frequent replacement items. Expect your air filter to need replacement as often as your oil and its filter. To be on the safe side, plan on changing your fuel filter every year and using a high-grade fuel injector cleaner every now and then (we have several varieties in stock). Fuel frequently comes dirty and your fuel system must be surgically clean in order to function properly. With a cleaned-up fuel system, your mileage, overall response, reliability, and ease of diagnosis for any fuel-injection related problems will improve! As previously mentioned, time permitting, whatever the other specific requests, we will do a complete service and safety inspection on your vehicle, checking your brakes, steering, belts, hoses, tire condition and air, external lights functions, accessible fluids, etc. at no charge. TIRES Tires are like shoes – there’s a world of options out there. Similarly, you no longer ask for a “shoe” or a “beer” (a recent New Yorker magazine has a cartoon showing a bewildered citizen looking at an extensive rack of shoes. One section is shoes for blogging.) You must choose. The variation in performance characteristics and the balance between different brands and styles under different conditions is vast. We can advise you on this. Ask about how it might be possible to finesse your car above and beyond normally scheduled maintenance and service as well as its originally manufactured condition; frequently extra attention to the fuel injection, suspension and tires can make a remarkable difference for the better. Let us advise you on how good your vehicle can get!!! Noises There are many different kinds of noises: “rattle”, “clunk”, “squeal”, “knock”, etc. These are items in a precise technical vocabulary; a lexicon developed over long ages of craft work, from the first wheel to the Space Shuttle. Try and be precise, please, but slang is frequently much better than technical. J Happy Trails, and /Vaya con Dios/ Stephen Clarke - owner Mozart’s Garage, Inc. PS - the Fine Print: if we need to expend time and effort to collect on any overdue payment, all associated costs will be yours to bear, including legal fees. Your signature on our Repair Order signifies that you have read this Policies and Advice packet and agree to this final provision.
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