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Driving a hard bargain



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Published Date: 06 September 2008
Whilst I appreciate that Robert McNeil's article "Nanny state should give car mechanics a slap on the wrist" (2 September) was tongue in cheek, I feel, nevertheless, a duty to clarify for your readers the true cost of labour rates at dealerships and independent garages in the UK and, specifically, Edinburgh.
According to data recently released by a leading insurer, the average franchise dealer in the UK is currently charging £94.70 an hour, compared to £87.91 in 2006 – up 7.7 per cent. In comparison, the average hourly rate at an independent garage has gone up over the same period from £48.43 to £55.63. In this survey of almost 2,000 garages, Greater London is the most expensive region at £94.26 an hour (average of franchised and independent) which falls to £68.70 for the city of Edinburgh, £78.81 across Merseyside and £78.01 for Cornwall. London was home to the most expensive dealer at £198.86 an hour.

I trust your readers will agree that these charges, other than those of the London dealer, are a far cry from the charge indicated by Robert McNeil of £200 an hour.



DOUGLAS ROBERTSON

Chief executive

Scottish Motor Trade Association

The Loan

South Queensferry, West Lothian



The full article contains 214 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 05 September 2008 11:28 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

lou from niagara,

Niagara Falls Canada 06/09/2008 00:56:51
Mechanics must be driving about in Rolls Royces. They used to get a third of the rate the garage charged. I don't see them getting thirty odd pound an hour. Surely the garage is grossly overcharging
2

Upbeat,

06/09/2008 08:33:01
While Douglas Robertson responds fairly to point out the disparity of labour charges levied by garages, the whole mechanism used by garages to charge their customers does indeed deserve greater outside scrutiny.

The use of ' manufacturers standard times' for meaintenance operations instead of itemised time sheets for each mechanic showing how much time was actually taken to carry out the task is one way that bills can be 'massaged.'

Another area for potential dispute is the supply of parts, whether genuine manufacturers' replacements are used, or some alternative cheaper reproduced component..billed as for genuine... or when perhaps some part is cleaned up and reused - the customer billed for a new genuine one etc. Whether the correct grades of transmission and engine oils are used in the correct quantities ( under filling can produce spectacular cost savings ).

So much happens within garages that the layman customer will not be able to witness or understand the whole system should be more open to scrutiny.

There is only, in my opinion, one way to get actual value for money on car servicing, and that is to be trained to do the job yourself....Clearly this cannot be right. The industry does require better regulation.


 

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