There such a thing as honest car audio shops?

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

What I meant is know how much the materials really go for. For example, you go there to buy a box and they say 65 bucks; just show him your not a chump and bust out the facts. The wood [3/4 MDF] itself only cost 20 bucks and you use a fraction of the board to produce the box not to mention you buy in bulk. Carpet, Glue, nails, and caulk only cost you a maximum of 15 bucks. So give them 35 bucks and call it a day.

Does the shop not charge labor? DO they not charge for the use of the tools they had to buy in order to build the boxes? Do they not charge for the time it takes them to go to the store and get the mdf that they need? Not all shops buy in huge quantities. They may not make a ton of boxes.

The shop needs mdf, tablesaw, screws, glue, carpet, terminal cups, and labor.

If somebody "busted out' your "facts," I am afraid they would be laughed at.

Your example indicates that a shop should sell a box for exactly the same as what a person could buy the supplies for, themselves. Not sure about every business, but that situation doesn't happen very often.

I suppose everybody should get equipment at dealer cost too? I mean, the shop actually making ANY money doesn't seem to be of concern.

 

[Below 30 10+ year member]

Good point-of-view about the shops to stay in business. Basically, if you have used a jigsaw and a drill (usually in shop class in school), you should seriously consider do it yourself.

For those who never use tools, then the added cost of retail is actually balanced out. Just make sure your in control of the situation when it comes to customizing and fair pricing.

 

[packerfan 10+ year member]

I WAS going to have a shop install my shit back in the begining of summer because i wanted a system in time for summer and i thought it would take to long to do myself. But a friend on a forum told me what to do while i was doing it, which was very very very helpfull...if i got confused, id just run inside, ask him and go back out and do it. It only took 4 hours to do everything encluding drilling a hole in the fire wall for powerwire. And the shop i go to is very truthfull, ive boughten both of my decks from them and they only charge me $25 for install of a deck...not bad IMO.

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

Closest thing to a coherent and useful post this guy has made yet. Of course now he says that magazines are good sources of info but technical books, "novels" was the word he used I think, don't know anything about audio.

lol...let bygones be bygones!

 

[mattj 5,000+ posts]

I WAS going to have a shop install my shit back in the begining of summer because i wanted a system in time for summer and i thought it would take to long to do myself. But a friend on a forum told me what to do while i was doing it, which was very very very helpfull...if i got confused, id just run inside, ask him and go back out and do it. It only took 4 hours to do everything encluding drilling a hole in the fire wall for powerwire. And the shop i go to is very truthfull, ive boughten both of my decks from them and they only charge me $25 for install of a deck...not bad IMO.

25 Bucks isnt a bad price at all. Berettas **** at installing decks in because the lack of space really gets it hard. If you dont have skinny hands, you are going to cut them up trying to get that deck to fit right. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to put a deck in after everything is hooked up and ready to go just because of the fiddling i have to do. If that 25 bucks is worth for you not doing, then it isnt too bad.

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

The thing most people don't undestand is that shops are not just paying for the product. They have to cover the wage of the installer, the OVERHEAD of the shop (never cheap), the cost of having things in stock (the intital startup capital is HUGE), insurance, etc etc. Expect a large markup when you go to a store, the smaller the store, the higher the markup, it's just the way business tends to work. Of course you will come across the occasional shop that has had a great week, or month and can cut you a break, but the fact of the matter is this - they are not trying to rip you off, they are trying to make some money.

 

[Gauntlet 5,000+ posts]

^ On-point.

Rest assured that most shops could give a fu*k less if you think they're honest or not. They didn't enter the business to make friends and have a little group of car audio enthusiats, they entered the business to make money. We on this forum are in the minority, and the shops don't cater to us. They cater to people who have no problem spending $50 to get a head unit installed. For them, $50 is worth the installation price. To those people, the shop is a great place and they have no problems with it. To us, it may be considered "dishonest." But we aren't the primary consumer, so it doesn't matter. The shop makes money, their customers are happy. Bottom line.

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

Does the shop not charge labor? DO they not charge for the use of the tools they had to buy in order to build the boxes? Do they not charge for the time it takes them to go to the store and get the mdf that they need? Not all shops buy in huge quantities. They may not make a ton of boxes.
The shop needs mdf, tablesaw, screws, glue, carpet, terminal cups, and labor.

If somebody "busted out' your "facts," I am afraid they would be laughed at.

Your example indicates that a shop should sell a box for exactly the same as what a person could buy the supplies for, themselves. Not sure about every business, but that situation doesn't happen very often.

I suppose everybody should get equipment at dealer cost too? I mean, the shop actually making ANY money doesn't seem to be of concern.

I did forget to mention labor but everyone knows that comes into account. What I really meant to say is as long as you show them you know what your talking about, they won't view you as the "average Joe." If a guy comes into the store asking what an amplifier does of course the store is gonna take advantage of them and overcharge them. Just let them know your a pro and not to give me a over inflated price.

 

[EarDrummin. 10+ year member]

Supplies, making profit, labor, costs.. overhead in general - very true. This obviously needs to be taken into consideration. The fact remains, however, that shops are businesses, and therefore are driven by money. Some will go to a further extent than others in making money, which includes ripping people off. To say that one would "need to act like they know what they're talking about" should be completely irrelevant. That's a form of profiling. Scam artists are out there, even in car audio shops. Watch yo' back! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

I know best buy isn't really a audio shop, but I feel so stupid. When I first got my car, the week after, I just went up there and said, I got $250 - I want some front and back speakers...And of course what I endt up buying was more than $250 (when the labor+installation+parts stuff was included).

I was too eager - I wish I would've found this site before I went to best buy cause then I would've learnt some stuff and could've went in knowing exactly what I was looking for. So I guess I'm just tryin to say like everybody else has, is to know your stuff (or at least enough) and do some research before you spend even a dollar!

Before I had my car I used to think of all the guys that had loud systems and stuff, they went to some shop and spendt like a million dollars to get stuff done - then I find this site and learn it's not really that hard to do/you don't have to be a rocket scientist.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

well shops around here put the deck in free of charge if u buy one from them, and they usally hook up small stuff if u know them. My local shop is tight, and lets me do payment plans, so i just go in, get what i want and pay them back later