Customer Reviews

Nichols' Chilton Labor Guide Manual 2000 : 1981-00 Domestic Cars, Light Trucks, Vans & Suvs; 1981-99 Import Cars, Light Trucks, Vans & Suvs) (Chilton's Labor Guide Manual, 1981-2000)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a CHILTON book. It is NOT a CHILTON book. It is a NICHOLS book. I have used the Chilton Labor Book for 25 years. This book is not what I have been using. The layout is completely different. The paper it is printed on is like toilet paper. The labor times do not jibe with all my other Chilton books. This book does not even look like a Chilton book. I was informed that this company "Nichols" has never made a labor book before. Nichols said they made this book by researching "on their own" 20 years of every labor operation on every car and truck produced in the last 20 years. They said they did this all within 6-9 months. How is that possible? I don't think I can trust this product. It doesn't have the (factory time) listed. It even states in the front of this book that no "times" in it are from previous Chilton editions. What does that mean?

This is a no-nonsense labor guide. Despite the problems listed here by other reviewers, you won't find this information at a better price! This book is a great value for the information included!

I have owned every brand Labor guide in my 30 years in the Automotive repair business. Motor, Mitchell, Chilton. This Nichols Chilton book is obviously not made for me or any Professional Technician. It is printed on the cheapest paper I have ever seen. It looks like they tried to make it look like a real Professional Chilton book but it doesn't. The spine of this book looks like it would last all of 2 weeks in a shop environment. To top it all off Nichols has NEVER made a Labor Guide before this one. If your a backyard mechanic and want to see how much time a job should take this book is OK. If you are a Professional Technician you should pass this one up.

Nichols is trying to convince professional customers that it is the Chilton Company, and that is just not so," "It is falsely claiming to be the `World's Original Automotive Repair Company' and `founded in 1922' when in fact Nichols has been in the industry for only a few years. While Nichols did acquire certain Chilton assets associated with the publication of do-it-yourself books, assets of Chilton's Professional Division were acquired by Motor, including copyrights in the original Chilton times published over the years in Chilton's Labor Guides

As a service tech I found this book to be totally useless. It had no Factory Times for comparison and several of the indexes were missing. When I tried to contact whoever is printing this book Nichols/Chilton about an incorrect time I was put on hold for 1/2 an hour. I quickly hung up and called MOTOR and got the correct time.

I have reviewed this book and found it to be as reliable as the old Chilton Labor Guide. It's quite obvious that most of the reviews about chilton's new line of books are written by thier compeditors. The truth is that the information is as dependable as it always was. I have found out that the core employees at W.C. Nichols are the same ones that have been producing Chilton books for the last 20 or so years. My advise is to preview the books at the library before your purchase if you have any doubts. You may end up saving a lot of money by purchasing a new Nichols/Chilton book.