Labour rates... rip of Britain !!!!

MrLapou

MrLapou

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Popped my car into local specialist outfit.
Car is having work done under a 3rd party warranty. Cover allows for up to £200/hr.

Chatting about the work, it seems warranty companies always screw the garages down on labour rate.

Examples of chats I've had:

Audi normal labour rate £96 (going back a few yrs), warranty company would only pay £30.

Delivery driver who was only 17yrs old, was thrilled to get a pay raise to £6.35. He's worked on customers cars doing spark plugs, filter, cambelts, oils etc..

I believe most techs only paid between £7 and £15 /hr.

S-tronic oil change. Should need only 5 litres of oil (which includes a little wastage), was charged 7 litres (approx £25 more).
I know how much oil is needed as I've done a few DSG boxes.

So are we, the punters being ripped off? IMHO, I think so.
 
my dad as a registers specialist for merc et doesnt charge even half the costs of the dealer even when he has the same tools gets updates etc direct from merc themselves so in short yes you can chop 60% by ignoring dealers and often your car is cared for more.

Bit like buying milk at a petrol station imho
 
There's plenty of qualified dealer techs and mechanics that'll do cash jobs for a fraction of the stealers rates, and they still come out on top too. No idea how Audi can justify £100 an hour (or more, in some places once you add in VAT). Absurd.
 
audi upgrades
The trouble is they have that many non productive staff behind the scene the need to charge that to pay everyone!
 
Recently had some work done by a garage that deals with top quality cars, they charged £60 + VAT and I thought that was high until I took the car to Audi dealership in Leicester for transmission oil change last week - labour = £110 + VAT. What was even more shocking was that sister co. (Sytners) BMW charge £130 + VAT.

Looks like they got you by the short & curlies, particularly if want the service history up to date.
 
Nam1 said:
Recently had some work done by a garage that deals with top quality cars, they charged £60 + VAT and I thought that was high until I took the car to Audi dealership in Leicester for transmission oil change last week - labour = £110 + VAT. What was even more shocking was that sister co. (Sytners) BMW charge £130 + VAT.

Looks like they got you by the short & curlies, particularly if want the service history up to date.
Click to expand...

That's absolutely ridiculous. I urge anyone in the area to deliberately avoid that place, and tell anyone they know with a BM to do the same. Solicitors don't charge that much!
 
Full service history doesnt have to be at the dealer. Its just what everyone likes.

I work at a Toyota main dealer. We charge 85+ vat i think.
As said, most techs are on average wages, compared to other trades. Yet most will have to buy own tools etc. I have around 10k of tools inc box.
I do as many cash jobs as i can, its the exact same service, by the same guy, for a fraction of the cost.
 
audi upgrades
Must admit the only reason I took the car to Audi dealership was due a fear of multitronic gearbox going wrong if not dealt with properly & the fact that I have an AA warranty, so to avoid any issues (mind you with the warranty they don't stipulate that it should be serviced by main dealer).
 
i work for an airline. for bigger checks we charge £40/hr :eek:
no we dont count cars as a big check LOL
 
As mentioned, your also paying for admin staff, supervisors and managers, as well as overheads to cover cost of premises and equipment. When you've got that many people taking a cut your bound to be paying a lot... Once your out of warranty get away from them and find a nice independent you can trust for £30-40ph.
 
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