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[raywilb]

I recently approached a local garage . I am supplying all the bits, timing kit, cam cover & timing chain housing gasket. also a oil seal. he told me that he had never done one before but looked the job up & he told me the job should be a 3hour task. then he told me that he could only charge for the amount of hours his data said the job should take. when he gave me a price £240, I left. nearly forgot I was supplying the locking kit too.

[05omegav6]

Three hours for summat that might take them a couple of days sounds like a fair deal

That said, why not diy?

[raywilb]

Three hours for summat that might take them a couple of days sounds like a fair deal

That said, why not diy?

  reading up on what the job entails it would probably take me all day that is if I had the bottle to attempt. I,ve never done a chains before and its years since I replaced an odd belt. mainly 1.9 pugs.  which if memory is right a couple of m10 bolts locked all.

[raywilb]

just thought, online a website called ClickMechanic based in London but state they will find somebody in your area to do the work. also will quote price & time it  will take.  I tried them once before but nobody turned up. though I did it myself & the time they said it should take took me less than a hour than what I would of paid them for.  how that works - you fill in exactly the work required , when you want it done . they then tell you how long it will take and a bank transfer will be arranged on satisfaction & completion of work.

[Webby the Bear]

I'm not surprised you got a high labour rate. After all you've done the garage out of the opportunity of marking up the parts. Tis life I'm afraid 

[Lazydocker]

I'm not surprised you got a high labour rate. After all you've done the garage out of the opportunity of marking up the parts. Tis life I'm afraid 

Wot young bear says... Garages have a lot of overheads to cover and parts mark up contribute towards it.

[STEMO]

So....a three hour job...£240? £80 an hour is what I'd expect to pay.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

So....a three hour job...£240? £80 an hour is what I'd expect to pay.

£30 an hour sounds better to my ears.

[BazaJT]

£80 per hour is not really so very far away from main stealer rates.Suppose it all depends on what kind of garage set up it is i.e. Fred in the shed down the road or larger set up.

[Webby the Bear]

Dealer round here will set you back £120 per hour.

In the op's case most garages would overcharge because in reality they wouldn't want the hassle for a mere £250 and as taxi says it will realistically take longer. They could get roughly that for an hour and halfs work doing a service. Plus the opportunity to upsell tyres, brakes etc.

Call me a moron lol but if someone came in and said I'll supply parts I'd instantly add a couple of hours on to the labour time. Again, harsh but it's a business.

[Nick W]

Dealer round here will set you back £120 per hour.

In the op's case most garages would overcharge because in reality they wouldn't want the hassle for a mere £250 and as taxi says it will realistically take longer. They could get roughly that for an hour and halfs work doing a service. Plus the opportunity to upsell tyres, brakes etc.

Call me a moron lol but if someone came in and said I'll supply parts I'd instantly add a couple of hours on to the labour time. Again, harsh but it's a business.

The other reason why businesses hate fitting parts supplied by someone else is when things go wrong. If a part you supplied fails, why should they fix the problem? Buy the parts from the person fitting them, and any issues are their problem.


And £80 an hour doesn't sound unusual to me.

[Webby the Bear]

Exactly. A grey area as to whether the part failed or the fitting of said part caused the failure.

My garage would be honest and if it turned out we'd cocked up we'd rectify it. But I know of some that would see it as a get out clause for any of their shortcomings. My point being is you may save a buck in the short term but it might not be the way forward. Imo

[05omegav6]

Exactly. A grey area as to whether the part failed or the fitting of said part caused the failure.

My garage would be honest and if it turned out we'd cocked up we'd rectify it. But I know of some that would see it as a get out clause for any of their shortcomings. My point being is you may save a buck in the short term but it might not be the way forward. Imo

Hence the diy suggestion... covered in the Vectra manual iirc

[Webby the Bear]

Exactly. A grey area as to whether the part failed or the fitting of said part caused the failure.

My garage would be honest and if it turned out we'd cocked up we'd rectify it. But I know of some that would see it as a get out clause for any of their shortcomings. My point being is you may save a buck in the short term but it might not be the way forward. Imo

Hence the diy suggestion... covered in the Vectra manual iirc

;y

[raywilb]

Exactly. A grey area as to whether the part failed or the fitting of said part caused the failure.

My garage would be honest and if it turned out we'd cocked up we'd rectify it. But I know of some that would see it as a get out clause for any of their shortcomings. My point being is you may save a buck in the short term but it might not be the way forward. Imo

Hence the diy suggestion... covered in the Vectra manual iirc

  will pick a nice day & have a go I think. there are various reasons I prefer to supply goods, & it basically is most garages will buy the cheapest part to fit. I would rather be given the choice to decide which part.

[serek]

Exactly. A grey area as to whether the part failed or the fitting of said part caused the failure.

My garage would be honest and if it turned out we'd cocked up we'd rectify it. But I know of some that would see it as a get out clause for any of their shortcomings. My point being is you may save a buck in the short term but it might not be the way forward. Imo

Hence the diy suggestion... covered in the Vectra manual iirc

  will pick a nice day & have a go I think. there are various reasons I prefer to supply goods, & it basically is most garages will buy the cheapest part to fit. I would rather be given the choice to decide which part.

in my place customer make decision what parts we fit to his car. I fit parts supply by customer but they fitted at their risk
hourly rate in Huntingdon £35-70 not inc. dealer

[Stargazer57N]

Ok having been a mechanic for over 30 years I have come across this many times and now explain to customers about Book time, or did until I started working for the council on their fleet vehicles, no customers to worry about now. So this is a totally unbiased view. The book time is the time the manufacturers state it will take to do a certain job, but that does not include any problems that may occur along the way, i.e seized/ broken bolts worn bolt/nut heads. Or the worst of all owners modifications by which I mean they have had a go themselves and realised they can't do it and put  it back together with cable ties and duct tape, or half the bit of the engine is in the boot. Don't laugh it happens.

You must also realise that the main dealers are mostly working on the same makes and models every day so get to know the jobs and more importantly the short cuts. This is why they can give you a fixed labour price for a job as it's more than likely they will get it done in the time stated. But, you are charge a premium labour rate for that privilege which covers the dealer backside should they come up against any problems.

Please cut your mechanic a little slack as he probably didn't charge you for all the time he was working on your vehicle anyway. Plus just imagine is you had to pay a mechanic the same rates as say a plumber or electrician, which in my mind they should be charging. As if a plumber mucks up he/she may float your house. If a mechanic mucks up he/she may cause an accident, or worse may kill someone.

[dbug]

Dealer round here will set you back £120 per hour.

In the op's case most garages would overcharge because in reality they wouldn't want the hassle for a mere £250 and as taxi says it will realistically take longer. They could get roughly that for an hour and halfs work doing a service. Plus the opportunity to upsell tyres, brakes etc.

Call me a moron lol but if someone came in and said I'll supply parts I'd instantly add a couple of hours on to the labour time. Again, harsh but it's a business.

Jag main dealer in Northampton charges £100 ph incl vat 

[Webby the Bear]

Dealer round here will set you back £120 per hour.

In the op's case most garages would overcharge because in reality they wouldn't want the hassle for a mere £250 and as taxi says it will realistically take longer. They could get roughly that for an hour and halfs work doing a service. Plus the opportunity to upsell tyres, brakes etc.

Call me a moron lol but if someone came in and said I'll supply parts I'd instantly add a couple of hours on to the labour time. Again, harsh but it's a business.

Jag main dealer in Northampton charges £100 ph incl vat 

Then that's a better price. I'm sure a customer of ours mentioned he was charged £120ph. I'll try and find out where.

As for supplying cheap parts, you can specify what make you want and we'd order that for you. We had a chap in who was adamant he wanted genuine Kia service parts. We ordered from Kia. And I think it cost him an extra £20 on top of our normal price using Mann filters. 👍

[henryd]

Dealer round here will set you back £120 per hour.

In the op's case most garages would overcharge because in reality they wouldn't want the hassle for a mere £250 and as taxi says it will realistically take longer. They could get roughly that for an hour and halfs work doing a service. Plus the opportunity to upsell tyres, brakes etc.

Call me a moron lol but if someone came in and said I'll supply parts I'd instantly add a couple of hours on to the labour time. Again, harsh but it's a business.

Jag main dealer in Northampton charges £100 ph incl vat 

Then that's a better price. I'm sure a customer of ours mentioned he was charged £120ph. I'll try and find out where.

As for supplying cheap parts, you can specify what make you want and we'd order that for you. We had a chap in who was adamant he wanted genuine Kia service parts. We ordered from Kia. And I think it cost him an extra £20 on top of our normal price using Mann filters. 👍

Probably because the car was still under warranty so owner trying to preserve that

[aaronjb]

Ooh there's a thought. I'm moving to Northampton soon.. Webby, you might come in handy..

[deviator]

Ouch. After reading this, I am glad I do all my own work. It may take me longer than 3hours, but as a hobbyist mechanic, I don't care - my time is cheap for me!

[Marks DTM Calib]

If Raywilb fancied  drove to nottingham I would fit it for him

[biggriffin]

Ooh there's a thought. I'm moving to Northampton soon.. Webby, you might come in handy..

Are you grooming, our little bear, to do you favours .
Be close enough for hoof'land curry nights

[Webby the Bear]

Ooh there's a thought. I'm moving to Northampton soon.. Webby, you might come in handy..

Are you grooming, our little bear, to do you favours .
Be close enough for hoof'land curry nights

Haha if he likes his car he will leave my garage alone. We can be found on who can fek my car up.com