@MongooseGA I think you may be confused at how a small shop operates. ACC doesn't charge more because they have too much work. They have hourly rates and charge what they do because of their expertise in a niche field. They don't have the staffing resources of a dealership operation either. It's just 5 people including the owners. They don't adjust their rates based on who is calling or how busy they are.
I understand supply and demand. If they didn't have consistent business, their pricing would be lower to ideally achieve an equilibrium. GAS is the owner, his wife as admin occasionally and 3-4 techs. My intent wasn't to badmouth ACC as I know plenty of people who swear by them, but when they received my call they just didn't earn my business. The woman who answered was friendly enough but seemed a bit flustered, no biggie though- not a deal breaker. Pricing was $1600 vs $1200 at the dealer (infamous for high rates)- that's a 30% premium for a maintenance item and to have scheduled with ACC would have been weeks, not 'whenever you'd like'. I also had a $600 premium for them to install my DT headers vs my indy. I was really anxious to have work done at ACC as I know they're a sort of hub for all things Cruiser in the area, but I didn't need to meet them that badly.
Absolutely. Custom fab work, full custom vehicles or turn-key builds- that's specialty stuff and someone could be shooting themselves in the foot by taking that kind of project to a regular technician. If I were doing an SAS on my 100, ACC would get it. For maintenance, I'm OK.
