They need to decouple STAR from the BAR97

[His_Stigness]

The ESP Gen 3 machine is the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen. They come up with the most clever fuck ups on it. There's a clear disconnect from what the BAR wants, and what Opus can do. It does me no good to have this machine if I either can never test cars because it's always broken, or it takes me twice as long because the piece of shit freezes or otherwise causes delays.

It's just bullshit in order to have a STAR license you have to spend a shit ton of money per month on what amounts to a paperweight. It's no wonder so many shops refuse to do older cars anymore. IF they pull it in they'll inevitably have it fuck up and cost them several 2000 and newer smogs in the process.

[FiendFX]

True dat.

[none]

It could be worse, You could have bought the POS ESP BAR97 out right thinking you were going to save money in the long run only to have the savings eaten up by expensive service calls.

[No One]

none wrote

It could be worse, You could have bought the POS ESP BAR97 out right thinking you were going to save money in the long run only to have the savings eaten up by expensive service calls.

iM SO GLAD I DIDNT BUY THE GEN 3.

[His_Stigness]

I didn't even know there was an option to buy the Gen3 from ESP. When the rep came around back in 2012 they said it was lease only. At the time I thought that was BS since over time the machine will pay for itself. But now having worked with the Gen3 I can see how leasing is way better.

[BasicTech678]

His_Stigness wrote

I didn't even know there was an option to buy the Gen3 from ESP. When the rep came around back in 2012 they said it was lease only. At the time I thought that was BS since over time the machine will pay for itself. But now having worked with the Gen3 I can see how leasing is way better.

go world wide zero problems 5 year service plan with purchase included, i guess there was a reason it was 10 k cheaper

[none]

BasicTech678 wrote

go world wide zero problems 5 year service plan with purchase included, i guess there was a reason it was 10 k cheaper

I looked into WW and was seriously considering it. The service plan is only as good as the service tech in your area and I heard some not so good things about WW service times in my area. They also charge for updates I heard.

[laziiee]

I went with WW too, still a piece of shit machine but atleast i don't have to pay for service for 5 years. But the damn dyno just broke down and cost me 2 weeks and almost 2k tho, yea i hate the bar 97 machine too, barely do like 5 cars a week on it sometimes but cost so much.

[BasicTech678]

none wrote

BasicTech678 wrote

go world wide zero problems 5 year service plan with purchase included, i guess there was a reason it was 10 k cheaper

I looked into WW and was seriously considering it. The service plan is only as good as the service tech in your area and I heard some not so good things about WW service times in my area. They also charge for updates I heard.

yes very tru i have a great service tech few hours from him so it dose take a day or 2 , however when i had spx and opus bought them out. my opus tech told me WW was offering more and his coworkers were jumping ship to join WW. ive had zero problems and also you get rid of the zero air bottle and machine if you have one. they also include one set of bottles and toner per year!!!!

[No One]

laziiee wrote

i hate the bar 97 machine too, barely do like 5 cars a week on it sometimes but cost so much.

This is why i charge $80 and up for bar97 smog checks

[Evil Morty]

how much do you charge on ois?

[No One]

Evil Morty wrote

how much do you charge on ois?

Currently $60 with cert. I really want to bump it up to $70 next year, but im trying to stay competitive. Guys around me are charging $45-80 for ois with cert.

[FiendFX]

Its $40 with cert here.... you must have good location.

[xcinlb]

Why so cheap? $40 barely makes any money. Got to charge at least $50 to make a living.

[No One]

FiendFX wrote

Its $40 with cert here.... you must have good location.

$40 makes you money when you are not getting the type of customers i get who are constantly asking if i can prescan their cars which usually goes along with them continuing to waste my time on with their micky mouse repairs. Honestly think I'm going to charge $70 for OIS starting next year    

[Evil Morty]

i charge 20 for prescan unless its a loyal customer you know for years

[FiendFX]

Prescan is free here.

It is hard when you are in a plaza with 3 smog stations. Very competitive.

[none]

I pre-scan for free too. I figure it saves me time and builds trust with the customer. I do half price retests within 30 days so I would rather just do two full price smogs than one at full price and one at half price. I get most cars back for a test after they have run the monitors and it seems to have helped my FPR too.

[Evil Morty]

a lot of cheapskates where i work they ask for a free prescan then go to the shop down the street

[none]

I want to raise my prices again. I raised them $5 for OIS in July and I think I will try to go up $5 at the begin of summer again when we start to get really busy again.

I am $39.75 + cert for OIS now.