Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Originally Posted By: kingrob
It seems like the shops here charge 75.00 an hour labor here, which I find unreasonable. I think 55.00-65.00 is in the "fair-ish" range. (Actually I think 20.00 an hour straight labor is more than fair, but auto mechanics have always pulled in the big bucks). When I say "straight labor" I mean the guy doing the grunt work is worth 20.00 an hour,
I don't think I should have to pay for the shops overhead, tools, and accesories (which more than often you're billed a separate "materials" charge anyway).
Who do you think should pay the shop overhead, taxes, environmental and permit fees, insurance (health, liability), etc, etc, etc for the job done on your car?
Surely the customer is paying the whole freight on everything. There is no other source of income to the enterprise. Easy enough to see.
Like many things, automotive service is in a "collision" between needs and reality that isn't going to be pretty. The Critic is a neo-generation participant and doesn't much know any better. He sees nothing wrong with spending upteen $$ on a brake job that should never have to be performed.
So, you've got leading edge shops having to charge more and more for technological evolutions that never needed to occur out of anything other than complicating the wheel. Each and every service provider plays their own version of Pontius Pilate and
's and says "Not me. ..it's the tools I have to buy or the the car manufacturer ..the emissions requirements ..the CAN vs. OBDII ..etc...etc.
Then some trade magazine posts an article "Shop material and disposal fees...a wave of the future??" as a title ..and then everyone starts adding this to a bill that's already covered this stuff from the beginning of time. Heck, it works for one customer ..it works for all, right? So now you've just added another nick in someone's wallet out of "rationalization".
Remember what the tool dealer told you ..cause it's the same thing his sales manager told him (since he's a "customer" too), "Not only do you need that $5 in that guy's wallet, you DESERVE IT!".