Mechanics/garages - how much do you charge for labour?

samsemtex

Just wondering how much the mechanics on the board here charge for labour. Was in Johnson and Perrott there and they charged me €102 for one hours labour. Needless to say being a jobless student i was none too please considering all they had do was put my car on the diagnostic machine and looked underneath it. Now according to the man at the desk this is a reasonable rate and he claimed BMW Kearys charge €155 per hour. I rang a Volvo dealer in Belfast who told me it would be £45 for an hours labour with them on that car. Ive heard many similar stories here before of how Irish dealers are far more expensive than their northern counterparts. Part fitted in J&P would have been €290 and the part fitted in the North, by another Volvo main dealer, is £135. Even without the weak sterling that is still a huge difference. There is no logical reason that i should be charged twice the price in the south.

So what i want to know is how much does your garage charge and for what brands of cars?

pred racer

citroen dealer (down the country) 50 per hour, put my car on the diagnostic comp, changed the ride height sensor, test drive etc etc and only charged me a half hour, (I was chatting to him for longer than that) very happy!

samsemtex

Thats pretty good to be fair. Having a premium brand seems to be nothing but an excuse to shaft you on part prices when in reality the parts they use are no different to what your Citroen garage probably uses and its mechanics are probably just as(in)competent.

L-M

I thought there was a standard charge for putting a car on the diagnostics?

I know someone who recently got a bill for his car
Nut 45c
Washer 56c
Labour 159

It depends on what they did to your car for the €102

samsemtex

Limerick man wrote: »

I thought there was a standard charge for putting a car on the diagnostics?

I know someone who recently got a bill for his car
Nut 45c
Washer 56c
Labour 159

It depends on what they did to your car for the €102

They looked under it and saw that there was broken cable. when i pressed him more on it he couldnt tell me that they did anything more to it than that.

L-M

samsemtex wrote: »

They looked under it and saw that there was broken cable. when i pressed him more on it he couldnt tell me that they did anything more to it than that.

Well, i'm assuming you sent you car in for a problem to be diagnosed, and that's what you got.

Darragh29

samsemtex wrote: »

Just wondering how much the mechanics on the board here charge for labour. Was in Johnson and Perrott there and they charged me €102 for one hours labour. Needless to say being a jobless student i was none too please considering all they had do was put my car on the diagnostic machine and looked underneath it. Now according to the man at the desk this is a reasonable rate and he claimed BMW Kearys charge €155 per hour. I rang a Volvo dealer in Belfast who told me it would be £45 for an hours labour with them on that car. Ive heard many similar stories here before of how Irish dealers are far more expensive than their northern counterparts. Part fitted in J&P would have been €290 and the part fitted in the North, by another Volvo main dealer, is £135. Even without the weak sterling that is still a huge difference. There is no logical reason that i should be charged twice the price in the south.

So what i want to know is how much does your garage charge and for what brands of cars?

This is the kind of crap that is giving the industry a terrible name. If your charging more than 70-80 Euro as an Indy, I think you are doing something wrong. As for 100-150+ Euro authorised operations that are paying 2nd year apprentices less than the minimum wage, don't get me started...

Seth Brundle

samsemtex wrote: »

Just wondering how much the mechanics on the board here charge for labour. Was in Johnson and Perrott there and they charged me €102 for one hours labour. Needless to say being a jobless student i was none too please considering all they had do was put my car on the diagnostic machine and looked underneath it. Now according to the man at the desk this is a reasonable rate and he claimed BMW Kearys charge €155 per hour. I rang a Volvo dealer in Belfast who told me it would be £45 for an hours labour with them on that car. Ive heard many similar stories here before of how Irish dealers are far more expensive than their northern counterparts. Part fitted in J&P would have been €290 and the part fitted in the North, by another Volvo main dealer, is £135. Even without the weak sterling that is still a huge difference. There is no logical reason that i should be charged twice the price in the south.

So what i want to know is how much does your garage charge and for what brands of cars?

Its not fair to compare a service charge between what are effictively two countries.
Belfast is much cheaper to work in (for heat, electricity, etc.) than Dublin so straight away there will be a huge difference in prices.
Insurance will be cheaper there also.
If you like the prices up North then go there but remember all of this when you go looking for a job after college! Hopefully you can tell your boss that you will work for the equivalent NI rate!

VolvoMan

You're paying for their big fancy Mahon Point showrooms I'm afraid.

What model is it by the way?

Darragh29

To bring down labour rates down here, someone needs to make an executive decision to go to ESB, Eircom, all these utility companies, co councils, etc, and get a 20% reduction in the cost of doing business with them. It's hard to see this happening when the ESB this week gave themselves a 3.5% pay increase...

The costs of running a business in this country is just criminal, paying through the nose for paper pushers in governent depts and semi state back offices and c*nts getting paid 100K a year to walk corridors and organise meetings and dream up stupid woodenheaded schemes... I'm not surprised we are economically fu*ked, it's hard to see a country less competitive than us from where I'm standing...

samsemtex

kbannon wrote: »

Its not fair to compare a service charge between what are effictively two countries.
Belfast is much cheaper to work in (for heat, electricity, etc.) than Dublin so straight away there will be a huge difference in prices.
Insurance will be cheaper there also.
If you like the prices up North then go there but remember all of this when you go looking for a job after college! Hopefully you can tell your boss that you will work for the equivalent NI rate!

It is not double the price to do business here than it is in the North. Its more expensive yes, probably somewhere in the region of 10-20% more expensive overall and thats even being generous. How does that explain a 100% premium on the charge for one hours labour? You wont guilt trip me into feeling pity for Johnson and Perrot, nothing but a pack of cnuts and i probably should have learned from my last dealings with them.

Plug

Ford are €75 an hour and I believe VW are dearer again. are all main delaers the same price in the republic or does it vary?

Plug

kbannon wrote: »

Its not fair to compare a service charge between what are effictively two countries.
Belfast is much cheaper to work in (for heat, electricity, etc.) than Dublin so straight away there will be a huge difference in prices.
Insurance will be cheaper there also.
If you like the prices up North then go there but remember all of this when you go looking for a job after college! Hopefully you can tell your boss that you will work for the equivalent NI rate!

Also the tax difference is quite big, good post there:cool:

Seth Brundle

samsemtex wrote: »

It is not double the price to do business here than it is in the North. Its more expensive yes, probably somewhere in the region of 10-20% more expensive overall and thats even being generous. How does that explain a 100% premium on the charge for one hours labour? You wont guilt trip me into feeling pity for Johnson and Perrot, nothing but a pack of cnuts and i probably should have learned from my last dealings with them.

I never said that it was double here - I never made any comparison on the ratio!
However, we pay more for service charges (ESB, insurance, etc.) and the sterling difference is making NI much more attractive. However, when sterling recovers, wait and see the difference!