Garage labour charges.

Cartus

Cartus

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My seven year old VW needed a 10k mile interim service as well as a new boot latch.

For years I have used a trusted 'back street' garage until last year their quote for a major service as well as a gearbox lubrication was so high it resulted in me ringing my local VW main dealer for a comparison quote which turned out to be £50 cheaper than the 'back st' garage. I went to the main dealer who gave a prompt and excellent service including cleaning the car inside and out for no extra charge.

This year I found another local VW specialist garage to do the minor service etc and found their labour charge to be an eye-watering £90/hr plus Vat, ie £108/hr. This seems very expensive to me, a look online indicates an average overall labour charge of £68/hr for Gloucestershire. (This is from 2017 and includes all garages, main dealers as well as 'one man bands').

Does anyone know how much they pay for mechanic's labour charges?
 
Just had my Seat’s cam belt changed, £75 an hour, ex employer Kia, £90 per hour, these are not city centre locations, plus vat of course.

If my mate does any work for me, I assist, £20 charge, back pocket tip though.
 
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My workhorse Corolla (a few years ago) needed a new clutch. Main dealer quoted 680. Found a local guy who did it for 225 incl new fluids/oil etc. Used him for all our cars ever since.
Main dealers are for company cars.
 
Cockney said:
My workhorse Corolla (a few years ago) needed a new clutch. Main dealer quoted 680. Found a local guy who did it for 225 incl new fluids/oil etc. Used him for all our cars ever since.
Main dealers are for company cars.
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That’s good and what I have found in the past, only now I’m finding the 'local guys' are charging main dealer prices it seems.
 
Cartus said:
That’s good and what I have found in the past, only now I’m finding the 'local guys' are charging main dealer prices it seems.
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Not in my area thankfully. :confused:
 
Cartus said:
That’s good and what I have found in the past, only now I’m finding the 'local guys' are charging main dealer prices it seems.
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if it were me and the local guy was charging the same as the main dealer, I'd still use the local guy, IMO the local guy tends to do a more thorough job. I have a Transit custom crewcab, the engine management light came on and as it was still under warranty it went back to a Ford main dealer. It turned out that a seal had gone and allowed fuel oil to mix with the engine oil ,they fitted what ever they had to and as a gesture of goodwill they carried out the 1st service. Now 2 months later I drove the van to France with a few friends and before leaving I got the tyres checked with a local guy, he also checked the oil etc FOC, the oil level was apparently low and the coolant needed changing, OK I didn't pay for the service with Ford, but it was still not up to much.
 
popcorn said:
I've just double checked my tripod is in the cupboard as I was up at Curbar earlier in the week!
Good to see someone go to the effort of reuniting the owner with his gear.
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Cartus said:
My seven year old VW needed a 10k mile interim service as well as a new boot latch.

For years I have used a trusted 'back street' garage until last year their quote for a major service as well as a gearbox lubrication was so high it resulted in me ringing my local VW main dealer for a comparison quote which turned out to be £50 cheaper than the 'back st' garage. I went to the main dealer who gave a prompt and excellent service including cleaning the car inside and out for no extra charge.

This year I found another local VW specialist garage to do the minor service etc and found their labour charge to be an eye-watering £90/hr plus Vat, ie £108/hr. This seems very expensive to me, a look online indicates an average overall labour charge of £68/hr for Gloucestershire. (This is from 2017 and includes all garages, main dealers as well as 'one man bands').

Does anyone know how much they pay for mechanic's labour charges?
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I had a similar situation recently. The local VAG specialist garage was asking more for a standard Skoda service than the main dealership, several £ difference.

We had a issue with one of the cars not starting properly during the lockdown period. The main dealership would have charged just for a diagnostic. I went to a local backstreet garage who I used when I was running older cars and they charged nothing for the diagnostics, which took a matter of minutes and the labour rate for replacing the motor was I think £54 + VAT per hour. This is Berkshire.

There is no logic to the prices.
 
My mechanic in Warwickshire charges me £40 an hour, he isn't VAT registered either. Normally picks the car up and brings it back after he's worked on it too, so cannot argue!
 
I use a garage which opened up directly behind a place I used to work at and I've used them since day 1. They're very good and sometimes they say "No charge" but I always give them something (£10 or £20 maybe) for sarnie at break time, the Christmas fund or a pint later but I do have one complaint... They don't seem to want me to spend my money. This is a problem as I have a 2001 MX5 which is beginning to show its age and actually it started showing its age some time ago. I'd like to keep it in as new a condition as possible as I have the money, that's not a problem, but time after time they do things on the cheap or no charge at all. They're no better with my newer Hyundai hatch back but thankfully that's not showing its age as much as the MX5 as it's newer.

The MX5 will be going back to them soon and I will try and get the message across a bit stronger but it's difficult as they think they're doing me a favour, and they are and it's appreciated, but I wish they'd just be a little more willing to let me spend my money. Just because the car is worth peanuts doesn't mean I'm not willing to spend more than peanuts on it to keep it in as good a condition as possible. It's not as if I can buy a new one as they don't make them like that any more and to be honest I prefer mine to the new ones.
 
Stu Meech said:
My mechanic in Warwickshire charges me £40 an hour, he isn't VAT registered either. Normally picks the car up and brings it back after he's worked on it too, so cannot argue!
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On the whole, I have found independent mechanics and garages better than main/authorised dealers. I have had an Alfa GT for three years and touch wood, it has got through the MOT's without any problem. The MOT, full service and cambelt/water pump change in 2018 cost under £400.
 
Finding a good reliable independent mechanic/garage can be hard too; we have had a couple that started off ok but then let us down badly. On one occasion they forgot to tighten the wheel bolts on a wheel of my daughters car and 3 out of the four had dropped out by the time she got home. On another occasion a different garage tried to charge me for replacement track rod ends having failed the cars MOT test two successive years running with the same fault. When I pointed out they had been paid to replace them the year previously the car miraculously passed its MOT Test without needing any further work.

When I have had issues with main dealers they are usually more keen to protect their name & reputation when you have issues.....especially if you discuss the possibility of escalating the issue to the manufacturers customer service team.
 
yesterday my daughter took her car to the garage of dad the hourly rate was a quite reasonable cups of tea and bacon sarny and made a nice curry dinner for the rest of the family ( i don't eat curry )
jobs to do was clutch replacement , lower wishbone , track rod ends and a cv boot and to cap it all off i ended up paying for the parts

Kids eh , who'd have em :(

v2ozOPy.jpg
 
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My daughter came round last week to use our car washing 'service' with free water, detergent ,wash mitts & towels. Oh and the labour (mine) was free too. My 7 year old granddaughter was in charge of the hose for rinsing & keeping her grandad cool....
 
cosmicma said:
I draw the line at washing her car :)
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I used to do all the servicing & repairs for her when she lived at home but now she uses a garage for most repairs (I did however replace her wiper blades a few weeks ago) so I don't mind washing it. . I do a better job than the automatic car wash does.......
 
I used to do side jobs for people as a side income, but I found it very troublesome getting money out of people, I would charge for parts and much less than any garage would charge (double my hourly rate) and I would even be happy to make them drinks whilst they waited. Now I just do stuff for my family for nowt. It works both ways I find, you can have horror stories of shady mechanics, but for every bad mechanic you’ll find a good example or two of a terrible customer.
 
Cartus said:
My seven year old VW needed a 10k mile interim service as well as a new boot latch.

For years I have used a trusted 'back street' garage until last year their quote for a major service as well as a gearbox lubrication was so high it resulted in me ringing my local VW main dealer for a comparison quote which turned out to be £50 cheaper than the 'back st' garage. I went to the main dealer who gave a prompt and excellent service including cleaning the car inside and out for no extra charge.

This year I found another local VW specialist garage to do the minor service etc and found their labour charge to be an eye-watering £90/hr plus Vat, ie £108/hr. This seems very expensive to me, a look online indicates an average overall labour charge of £68/hr for Gloucestershire. (This is from 2017 and includes all garages, main dealers as well as 'one man bands').

Does anyone know how much they pay for mechanic's labour charges?
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That's probably all they did :D

In my experience main dealers are absolutely awful and dishonest. They have the big manufacturer sign above the showroom, whereas with the local garage reputation is everything.

Quite some time ago I had a Honda CRV which was making a strange noise from the engine bay. For three months the Honda main dealer couldn't figure it out, even replacing the clutch and flywheel (under warranty). This dealership even had a resident Honda MasterTech. They eventually gave up and said I should let it develop. I took it to a local garage where the owner was a qualified and experienced engineer and they also build rally cars. He jumped in the passenger seat and I kid you not, less than 10 seconds into the drive he said it was the turbine shaft in the turbocharger. Gave me a written report and I took it Honda. They sent the turbo away and it was indeed bad.

I've got loads of these stories, like my brother's Civic being serviced at a different Honda main dealer for eight years and we discovered the oil, filters etc had never been touched the whole time.

Very recent example, if you disconnect the battery in my car for a period of time the central locking can lose its coding or something along those lines, preventing the car from locking with no manual override except for opening the windows and locking with the doors shut and then remote closing the windows with the fob. Ridiculous system but there you have it.

All that is needed is to plug in the computer, a couple of clicks and keystrokes and reset the appropriate module. £60 later at a indy specialist and you are all done.

Take it to the Jaguar main dealer and it's "sorry sir, you need a new control module which will cost £800+ and we will also have to reset it with our computer". You have to bring your own Vaseline.
 
gman said:
That's probably all they did :D

In my experience main dealers are absolutely awful and dishonest. They have the big manufacturer sign above the showroom, whereas with the local garage reputation is everything.

Quite some time ago I had a Honda CRV which was making a strange noise from the engine bay. For three months the Honda main dealer couldn't figure it out, even replacing the clutch and flywheel (under warranty). This dealership even had a resident Honda MasterTech. They eventually gave up and said I should let it develop. I took it to a local garage where the owner was a qualified and experienced engineer and they also build rally cars. He jumped in the passenger seat and I kid you not, less than 10 seconds into the drive he said it was the turbine shaft in the turbocharger. Gave me a written report and I took it Honda. They sent the turbo away and it was indeed bad.

I've got loads of these stories, like my brother's Civic being serviced at a different Honda main dealer for eight years and we discovered the oil, filters etc had never been touched the whole time.

Very recent example, if you disconnect the battery in my car for a period of time the central locking can lose its coding or something along those lines, preventing the car from locking with no manual override except for opening the windows and locking with the doors shut and then remote closing the windows with the fob. Ridiculous system but there you have it.

All that is needed is to plug in the computer, a couple of clicks and keystrokes and reset the appropriate module. £60 later at a indy specialist and you are all done.

Take it to the Jaguar main dealer and it's "sorry sir, you need a new control module which will cost £800+ and we will also have to reset it with our computer". You have to bring your own Vaseline.
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Jaguar dealers seem to think their customers are walking wallets. When we had an XF I had to use the main dealer for servicing for the first two years because it was part of the purchase price.

First service “good afternoon sir, your car has a coolant level issue, would you like us to sort it out?”. I assumed this would be done under warranty and FOC, so I ok’d it. When I collected it I got a bill, but all they’d actually done was topped up the coolant tank about half an inch. 15 minutes labour charge plus £10 for the coolant thank you very much.

Second service they wanted to change the windscreen wipers “because we can see excessive smearing on the windscreen”. I turned that one down. When I got it home I checked the blades. They were fine, it was just a squashed bug on the glass.

When the service plan expired I did everything myself including replacing all the front and rear brake discs and pads. That job took me half a day and set me back £300 all in for parts, but that also included the cost of buying a trolley jack, a caliper retraction tool and a special sized hex key. Jaguar wanted £1200, plus VAT.
 
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boogie man said:
Jaguar dealers seem to think their customers are walking wallets. When we had an XF I had to use the main dealer for servicing for the first two years because it was part of the purchase price.

First service “good afternoon sir, your car has a coolant level issue, would you like us to sort it out?”. I assumed this would be done under warranty and FOC, so I ok’d it. When I collected it I got a bill, but all they’d actually done was topped up the coolant tank about half an inch. 15 minutes labour charge plus £10 for the coolant thank you very much.

Second service they wanted to change the windscreen wipers “because we can see excessive smearing on the windscreen”. I turned that one down. When I got it home I checked the blades. They were fine, it was just a squashed bug on the glass.

When the service plan expired I did everything myself including replacing all the front and rear brake discs and pads. That job took me half a day and set me back £300 all in for parts, but that also included the cost of buying a trolley jack, a caliper retraction tool and a special sized hex key. Jaguar wanted £1200, plus VAT.
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haha crazy stuff isn't it! Your last bit about the brakes is a common one, ridiculous what they want. I did my own pads and sorted the slide pins as well on all corners and will be doing the discs soon as well. I enjoy working on cars, it's a nice change of scenery. Bloody sneaky that about the hex key, that odd size is never in the standard packs! 9mm I think from memory and if you've got the larger discs on front I'm sure it's 11mm for that - so another individual key to be bought!
 
Which garages in Gloucestershire are you using?
A lot of them are my customers and I get to see “behind the scenes“ as it were. Hence why my cars don’t tend to ever visit a garage!
 
TCR4x4 said:
Which garages in Gloucestershire are you using?
A lot of them are my customers and I get to see “behind the scenes“ as it were. Hence why my cars don’t tend to ever visit a garage!
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Most recently I’ve used Stroud Rd garage, Gloucester a lot (and when it was in Bedford St), Inchcape, the main VW dealer in Cheltenham and last week went to Challenge motor repairs for the first time, an independent VW garage In Cheltenham who I felt overcharged me. I used to use a mechanic called Colin Moore nr Tewkesbury, he was excellent but has since retired.
 
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