€70 per hr labour in Cork Garage?

Lee72

Hi all,

Had a breakdown during the week, had to take my car into a garage in Cork city to get a pedal box replaced and was quoted €650 for the job, parts being about €80 and the rest is labour. Am i being ripped off? €70 per hr for labour seems excessive????

Padraig Mor

Just had some work done last week in a main dealer. €60 + VAT / hr which roughly equals €70. I believe BMW charge €120 + per hr BTW...

green123

a couple of months ago i was quoted 95 euro an hour for labour in a fiat main dealer in dublin before vat :eek:

that garage closed down recently

it should be possible for garages to have labour at about 50 per hour and still make a profit surely.

20 an hour for the mechanic and 30 for the garage , no ?

ConsiderThis

Most garages have "invested" (ie borrowed heavily) in recent years to build fancy new showrooms and service facilities. Who can begrudge them charging €120 an hour for a mechanic whom the probably pay €15 per hour. How else are they going to keep up their payments on the millions they have borrowed to build all these fancy new facilities?

langdang

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Just had some work done last week in a main dealer. €60 + VAT / hr which roughly equals €70. I believe BMW charge €120 + per hr BTW...

Yup, BMW is twice what the OP is being charged. 60 per hour sounds like it's a dealer price. A good specialist garage is probably 40-50.

The amount of hours they are charging seems excessive tho!

Lee72

Yes I thought it seemed a lot, but was told because it's replacing the pedal box, they would have to remove the steering column and it was an awkward place to get into i.e. down where the pedals are? I don't know, maybe this is what's involved

Owen

BMW charge a lot more, think it's 150 + Vat an hour now.

Owen

ConsiderThis wrote: »

Most garages have "invested" (ie borrowed heavily) in recent years to build fancy new showrooms and service facilities.

Done to death on the Motors forum. No dealer in the right mind wanted to build the glass showrooms, or buy new sites to build on. They're prefer that money in the bank. The distrubutors themselves, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, etc insisted on them doing it - in other words, if you don't build these premises, we'll remove your franchise from you and give it to someone who will. Think about it for a minute, you own a profitable business, doing grand, and suddenly you have to put yourself 6 million in debt just to do the same thing in a nice new building. You probably wouldn't want to do it either.

green123 wrote: »

it should be possible for garages to have labour at about 50 per hour and still make a profit surely.

As someone who spent the last 7 years in Management in the trade before shifting job, honestly? No. Not a chance in hell.

Imagine a service counter in a dealership with 2 staff meeting and greeting customers. That's 2 wages. Then add in 8 mechanics. Then add in parts staff. Then add in a service manager. Then add in 8 workshop ramps, 8 diagnostic machines (The ones where I worked were about 40k each), a tracking machine (The one where I worked was 160k), all the manufacturer specific special tools which are expensive, sending staff overseas on training courses (Which has to be done quite regularly), employing valeting staff to clean the cars after and lighting and heating a very large workshop. It could probably be done for 80/90 an hour if the workshop was running at full capacity (Which it ain't going to be in a recession).

50 quid an hour is fine for the guy, on his own, working from a standalone workshop on an industrial estate with no staff, and no overheads. I'm not saying the more expensive labour rate is guaranteeing a better rate of work (In many cases, the less expensive independent mechanics are more careful with cars - they want to protect their reputations), but there are reasons main dealers are more expensive than independent mechanics, and it's not profiteering. If garages were raping the public, and making so much money, then why in the Motors forum is there a thread with a list the length of your arm of garages that have closed completely?

Flamed Diving

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Done to death on the Motors forum. No dealer in the right mind wanted to build the glass showrooms, or buy new sites to build on. They're prefer that money in the bank. The distrubutors themselves, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, etc insisted on them doing it - in other words, if you don't build these premises, we'll remove your franchise from you and give it to someone who will. Think about it for a minute, you own a profitable business, doing grand, and suddenly you have to put yourself 6 million in debt just to do the same thing in a nice new building. You probably wouldn't want to do it either.

And yet no one forced them. Mad world.

Owen

Flamed Diving wrote: »

And yet no one forced them. Mad world.

It was that, or have nothing to sell. Think about it ... you spend maybe like some garages I know 20 years selling a marque, then the distributor says to youto renew your contract, you have to invest 6 million (I know one place that had to spend 10, and it's not doing so well now at all). What would you do? Say no, and loose your customer base you spent 20 years building up to someone else who will? And damage your own reputation by loosing the brand you sell, and having the whole city talk in chinese whispers about you until rumours grow arms and legs and people think you're in trouble?

You know, this is going to be one of those threads, just like in Motors, where the people who work in the trade (And I don't anymore, I used to) offer explanations based on facts, and actual events, and the people who just want to nay say will dismiss everything and just keep flouting the old "Dealers are stealers" routine based on pub talk.

I'm out of this one.

Flamed Diving

PaintDoctor wrote: »

It was that, or have nothing to sell. Think about it ... you spend maybe like some garages I know 20 years selling a marque, then the distributor says to youto renew your contract, you have to invest 6 million (I know one place that had to spend 10, and it's not doing so well now at all). What would you do? Say no, and loose your customer base you spent 20 years building up to someone else who will? And damage your own reputation by loosing the brand you sell, and having the whole city talk in chinese whispers about you until rumours grow arms and legs and people think you're in trouble?

You know, this is going to be one of those threads, just like in Motors, where the people who work in the trade (And I don't anymore, I used to) offer explanations based on facts, and actual events, and the people who just want to nay say will dismiss everything and just keep flouting the old "Dealers are stealers" routine based on pub talk.

I'm out of this one.

How brave of you.

Flamed Diving

To anyone left reading, you shouldn't allow the argument of "you're not in the motor business" to put you off. This is a smoke & mirrors trick, pulled by all apologists for industry (even political parties or religions!).

The basic fact is this. If, as a businessman, you are pushed into a situation by forces bigger than you are, and it is demanded of you that you sign into deals that put the future integrity of your finances in danger, what do you do? Carry on as if the problem doesn't exist? Sign it and hope for the best? Or get the hell out of dodge while keeping your integrity intact?

The last option offers the least lucrative short-term benefits, but pays off when the **** hits the fan for everyone. No wonder so few took it during the last decade...

rebel.ranter

PaintDoctor wrote: »

.... a tracking machine (The one where I worked was 160k)....

Which unfortunately they cannot use properly Sorry for saying it!

Owen

lol, no. To be fair, they were pretty useless when it came to that

rebel.ranter

I couldn't get anyone to recommend someone to do the job, still can't & s/wheel is off centre which is driving me nuts.

Owen

I've tried 3 places with my works. Even fitting new spigot rings the last time, and I still have a tiny judder at speed. Drives me nuts when I'm out in it. How hard can it be to get someone who can do it right?