Pulsar
Diamond Member
- Mar 3, 2003
- 5,224
- 306
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It seems you're assuming that shops charge labor by actual time spent repairing the vehicle, which is almost wrong in ever instance.
Instead, shops charge by the time quoted in the Motor Labor Guide Manual....below is an example of a copy.
Each part/repair on every vehicle on the road has a time value assigned to it in hours it should take to do the job. And while true most every job can be done much quicker by a competent mechanic than what's quoted in the Motor's manual, shops still charge by the book value, hence the exorbitant labor rates.
For instance, my brother, an ASE cert'd mechanic working in Northern VA, moolights weekends at a Mercedes dealership---think it's a Penske dealership, if I'm not mistaken.
Anyway, when an MB needs a heater core replacement, the dealership has a single mechanic who does the job. Why? He does so many of them he can complete the repair in under 5 hours....the book quotes something like 12 hours for the repair. But, since the mech does so many, he knows every shortcut to do the job and does it fast, giving a huge profit in labor to the dealership.
And it works that way in every repair job. When you're quoted an amount for labor for any job, the shop looks up the repair in the manual, multiplies their rate ($XX/hr) by the quoted time and charges you that....no matter if they do the job in 1/2 the time, which is typical.
And I'd like to find independent ASE cert'd shops charging $50/hr for labor. Even around here, SE GA, the local shops are already at $75/hr....dealers are even higher.
I'm aware of the manual, but usually the manual isn't insanely far off. I feel pretty confident saying it doesn't say 8 hours for a rear break job in the manual =).
As far as the labor rates, the mechanics I use locally are $50, $60, and $75/hr. The $75 is a tranny specialist shop and is known to be more expensive than most around here. Perhaps it's because I'm in Michigan: I'm really not sure.
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