New technician ?

Received  an application from a prospective new technician today, who says he has 'tons of experience', and used to work in the aviation industry. 
To hire, or not to hire: What do you think?

Customer quote of the day:

“The $2,500 we paid today to put my car back in top shape is less than the sales tax would have been on a new car”

( husband of happy customer )

A new headlight costs how much ?!!

How much will it cost to replace one headlight on my Volvo?

Well, that depends....

In the best case we install a new “long-life” bulb and we’re done ( <$40 )

However, starting around 2004, some cars came equipped with bi-Xenon, high intensity discharge (HID) lighting systems, and these bulbs are $125 each.

However, Volvo has a service bulletin regarding rapid bulb burnout that introduces a resistor kit, so if you don’t already have one, it may be a good idea ( $150 with 2 new non-Xenon bulbs)

However, we will always check to see if the reflector that surrounds the bulb is not broken. If it’s broken and wobbling then again expect rapid bulb burnout ( and $525 for one new headlight assembly)

And lastly, one or two time a year  we discover the ECM ( electronic control module ) that sends the signal to the headlight has also failed.  If so, then after about an hour of diagnosis, $750 to $1,250 ( per side)

Our suggestion for smart maintenance is : 
    a) replace faulty headlight parts as soon as possible    
    b) always change bulbs in pairs
    b) install the headlight resistor kit where applicable