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Dear Car Talk

Jan 27, 2015 (Archives)

7 Comments

parents

Dear Car Talk:

My 15-year-old son replaced the bulb for my rear turn signal on my 2011 Buick Enclave. He researched it on the Internet, completed it in a timely manner and cleaned up after himself. He wants to be paid $35 for this work. His father, an economist, thinks he needs to justify this fee. I think this is a good question for you. And by the way, what would you charge to replace this bulb?

-- Anne

Well, we have two prices, Anne. If it's a regular customer of ours, we'll do it for nothing; it's just a service we provide to our regulars. They can stop in and get little things like that taken care of. We figure we'll have a chance to make it up when we gouge them for a transmission rebuild someday.

I guess your son doesn't see you as a potential long-term customer, Anne!

If someone comes in and they're not a regular customer, we'd probably charge $35 or $40. The bulb itself probably is five or six bucks, and it's a 10-minute job for someone who's done it a thousand times. But we have to pay for rent, tools, salaries and benefits, not to mention the bad coffee in the waiting room. 

But your kid is a freelancer. He has no expenses. He probably used your tools. And your Internet service to do the research. So his rate should be lower. 

And he's charging you for his education, too. You're paying him to learn how to do this. Remind him that in about three years, he may be looking to you to contribute a very large sum toward his educational expenses. So he may want to cut you a "good customer" break this time. 

Tell him you'll give him 20 bucks. And mention that if he doesn't moan and groan too much, you'll also throw in his continued free room and board for now. And Internet. 

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• 7 comments
• Car Talk
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Mur • 3 days ago

Anne: Both you and your husband could have used the internet to learn how to replace the bulb, you did not. Give him $20 and thank him for his time on learning how to do the job and not break anything, and you not having to go to a repair site and have it replaced.

• 6

Art B • 2 days ago

If he does not get an allowance, give him $20. If he gets an allowance, call Wal-Mart and ask their price. Double the Wal-Mart price.

• 1

clack jr • a day ago

Well if your anything like most parents today, you will make over him like hes just discovered a solution for world peace.... Give him a cookie and say thank you! If he gives you any lip, tell him how many miles you had to walk in the snow just to get a light bulb and how grateful you were to be able to fix it for people who gave you life!

George_San_Jose • a day ago

This is a tough one. On one hand you don't want to seem ungrateful; on the other, you need this teenager to understand that to receive a fee, he (the service provider) and the other party (the person who benefits from the service) must first agree on the appropriate fee, the actual service to be done, the time schedule allotted, and that all this has to be by mutual consent before any work is started. If you decide to give him the $35 in cash anyway, be sure to tell him this is the last time that will happen unless mutual consent is achieve prior. I might be inclined in this case to not fork over the cash, and instead add $35 to a savings account that will benefit him in the future, like a college savings account.

cwatkin • 2 days ago

Now this may be a little different but I work on computers and was getting flooded with requests from friends and family to fix them. Unfortunately this starts to cut into the time for paying customers so that is an issue. Either you have to charge money or put it in the "low priority" category. These sometimes sit around for a month or more taking up space and the owner begins to get impatient so I figure it is best to just charge for the services. If at a lower rate, a slightly lower priority but not completely on the back burner like before.

dvdlgh • 2 days ago

How about the next time you fill up with gas you ask him for half the cost! If he paid for the bulb, I'd pay him for that flip him $10. Then explain to him that there are some things that family and friends just do for each other.

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CMR • 2 days ago

Give him the $35 - as a credit on his room and board bill.