There is a $125 Fee to come to your location for any repair or estimate. If you are not in the immediate Myrtle Beach area I will add additional money for the further travel. This should not be taken to mean that all estimates are $125. If it is an uncommon electrical issue that takes me 2 hours to find the cause you will be charged a higher amount. My time is valuable to me. If you have no money, "you're dead to me" , of course I am using an exaggeration to inject some lighthearted humor but you get the idea. I do what I do to make money and this is not a side gig for me, I do this full time every day uninterrupted since 1981 been diagnosing and fixing cars. If I come and check your car and provide you an estimate and you don’t have me do the repair, then you will pay me $125 right then. In a case where a quick diagnosis is made and a fix is made with no parts, (yes, this happens more often than you think) then your bill will be the $125.00 plus additional labor time @ $125/hr. To say this another way.....wow what a touchy subject money is.....I need to make sufficient money each time I show up and actually fix something. I am billing $125 an hour but lets say the cause of your problem is a no start because of a corroded battery terminal and I get there and fix it in 30 minutes and I needed just a battery terminal and I had it on the truck...Even though I was there for only 30 minutes I am still going to bill you about $200. The $125 fee plus an additional $75 to cover the terminal and some labor. This is not a menu price that applies to every vehicle and situation because there are many variables that can raise the cost. Each time I drive almost anywhere, even clients that are nearby, I have allotted a portion of my day to this client to leave time to diagnose the problem and fix it, and try to keep my schedule open to accommodate the timeline of the repair. At least one to two hours of each day is used to do the drive there, the diagnostic and research an estimate and then drive to my next job which could be well across town. Just for those few that may want to skip calling me because of that fee; just try to understand that I cannot drive around Myrtle Beach looking at jobs for free. Plumbers don’t, electricians don’t, other skilled trades don’t. I will waive the $125 fee if I cannot diagnose the cause of the problem you are having. Do not misunderstand what I just said. If I diagnose the cause of the problem I get paid. If I do not know the cause because of it being too complex for me to figure out, I will take -0- money. Another subject...Sundays and any day that is after 6:00pm I will bill higher. I will bill a $150 service call fee for sure plus I will bill at $150 per hour. This statement is flexible and is not engraved in stone. If you want your car fixed on a Sunday and you are shopping around for the best price, then skip me, I am not going to give you my time on Sunday or after hours and the best price.
Real quick - for the person inquiring about a new battery including installation: The average cost of coming and installing a new Die- Hard battery which I will purchase from Advance Auto Parts totals around $400. Now before you go "HOW MUCH FOR A BATTERY"? Understand that the battery will cost at bare bones minimum $219.99 - $259.99 plus sales tax of $18 to $21.50. So that is $243 to $291 just for the battery. That is what the battery costs at the auto parts store so I don't want to hear anyone whine at me. Now, for me to come and install your new battery including a service call fee I bill most times $160. If you are not local to my work area I will come but will bill higher as needed. So that means $393 to $441. Paying with debit or CC adds 3% for fees. There are times that I bill $175 to $200 because of other complications like needing new battery terminal ends or some cars have the battery located in a place that is not out in the open under the hood so yes I charge a little more, so there is $ math.
843-310-3000 Myrtle Beach
The most productive choice to hire me if your vehicle needs many services and you already know what you need is to hire me for the day and pay me $550. I will give you a work day that is from 11:00am to 6:00pm. A lot can be done in (about) 6 hours. Example – front and rear brakes and rotors, oil change, rotate tires, replace the serpentine belt and air filter, drain and refill the cooling system. The $550 will always be less money than if these jobs were done separately. (just an example) You can buy all the parts. I can even decide for you what to buy and where to buy from so that you get the best price on the parts. I have many sources and knowledge about sourcing parts.
I will always choose a go one place for the day to make my income over being a butterfly and going to 2 or 3 smaller jobs. Think about this offer.
People in business are always seeking what to say to capture the attention of future clients. I am no different. Potential clients wonder most about how expensive a service will be. Of course if you know what particular service you need you can contact me and ask what the bill will be BEFORE I come. This can be answered often PROVIDING that your diagnosis is correct. Additionally, I wanted to give you an inside look at how Kevin operates on a regular “typical” everyday situation. I do a lot of things for my clients for free. Typically I do these “free” things after I have already fixed your vehicle once or twice. I do these things just because the mood strikes me to give sometimes. And of course, I am already there at your vehicle and I have already made money. There is no other way to convey these things to you unless I detail some examples here while I have you reading about me for the first time. I have to make an impression on you that sort of gives you a “comfort zone” -- BEFORE you skip over me and call another service provider.
Recently I replaced a water pump on a truck. The pump was bad and obviously leaking. I had already done at least two prior jobs for this person without incidents. Two weeks later the client called me and told me that the water pump was leaking again. So I put off the job that I was about to do that day and I went to check that truck and if the pump was leaking I would replace it again. Now in this instance, the client had provided the water pump. I just installed it so the water pump replacement has no warranty. If the client provides his or her own parts, two things happen. One is that there is no warranty on the job for parts or labor. Two is that if the part the client provided that I installed fails, even if it was the next day, the client has to pay labor a second time. I discovered that the pump was not leaking and what needed to be done to solve the leak was simply tighten a hose clamp located on a component that previously had not been leaking when the water pump was done nor was this hose ever disturbed in any way by me. I was there for an hour and a half, 30 minutes to find and correct the leaky hose and then an hour more looking at other unrelated things the client asked me about and 15 minute drive there and back. I did not bill him a penny. Why? Just because he is my client and I do things like this all the time. He would have paid me whatever I asked if I had to replace the pump again and he knew that. In other cases with this same client I always supply the parts. This water pump was one exception.
Another example; a client had me do brakes on her car. One job for this person. A month after that job she was stuck at Walmart with a dead battery. I diverted where I was going and jump started her car. No bill. We gave each other a hug..
Another example; did brake line repair on a truck in Myrtle Beach. Finished job. Getting ready to leave. Noticed that the driver's side door was sagging badly when the door gets opened. Told client that door needed new hinge pins. He said I know, I bought them already because I thought I could do them myself but it is too difficult. I said let me see them. I spent 40 add'l minutes replacing them and the door was like new again. No bill. I said I did not do it for extra profit, I did it as a gesture of good karma.
I could go on and on but the point I am trying to get across is that I do these things often. Depends on the person, how they treat me, the feeling I get at the time etc. Hard to convey. These things I do so often, that I have to exploit them a bit here because like I said earlier, I don't want you to call someone else.
Do not call me and ask how much to install your part. I make money on parts and I give you a warranty, Skip me if that is what you want. When you go to the restaurant to eat, do you go there with 4 slices of bacon and two raw eggs and two slices of whole wheat bread and ask them to just charge you labor to cook your food do you? The answer is obviously no. You need an alternator. I will supply the alternator and the labor to install it and then I will warranty that alternator for two years for parts and labor. Yes I will make money on the part, but only what is an accepted industry standard. Like I said, I don't do installs of client purchased parts for other reasons besides the profit on parts. Often, you buy the wrong part or you buy a used part which could also be defective and then that changes the whole repair timeline.