Is my local garage taking the piss!

[Sam9769]

Hi,

Brought my car into my local garage yesterday as a speed sensor needs to be replaced.
The speed sensor is £40 plus VAT but they are charging £90 plus VAT for labour which they say will be approximately and hour and a half.

When I queried the hourly rate the young girl behind the counter said that this was cheap and the "industry standard is £150 per hour!"

AIBU to think that £90 plus VAT per hour is excessive?

Yep, all for the cost of a Haynes manual 😂

Absolutely this.

Pay for the years, not the hours.

So bloody what? that piece of kit cost my husband about £5000. Why shouldn't he charge to use it?- it's a diagnostic tool that gives precision and accuracy.

Also, do you realise that subscriptions for manufacturer information have to be updated every single YEAR to even use it- so you have to pay out every single year for the information from the manufacturers so its not even like its a one off cost for the diagnostic computer and then that's it,- it has ongoing expensive costs.

Its ridiculous to think you can get the same quality info from an £8 amazon seller 🤣

I’ll tell you what @Sam9769. Park your car up. Go to college and learn car mechanics. Get the right tools, diagnostic instruments etc to do the work. Then do it yourself. Or pay someone who has!

The alternative is that you

Take it 2 or 3 other garages for a quote

Find a "friend" who can do it for mates rates

Do it yourself

Personally, it seems like a reasonable price

I wish i got paid 60 pounds per hour

Dd is an apprentice technician for vauxhall. Diag is £150 there.
Dh is self taught and has rebuilt several cars. He's saved thousands doing things himself. Dd is amazed at the prices the garages charge because she's used to her and dh buying parts online and doing the labour themselves. Somethings are an easy fix with a bit of a Google and a haynes manual. I'm not a mechanic and even I could source the 'bastard' O2 sensor dh has so many problems with, and probably fit it with the help of the Internet.
You are at the end of the day paying for their expertise. Snap the hand off the mechanic who's quoted you that price! Its good.

The mechanic won't be earning £60 an hour.

The garage may get paid £60 per hour but that's not what they earn from it, as in profit.
Decent technician, £20-24ph, rent, rates, insurance, tools etc have to come out of the £60.
If the garage are lucky they will be 'making' £15 per hour

Surely you realise that it's not all going to the mechanic- you do realise that in any business there are costs involved?

There's rental costs for the garage, equipment that needs constantly updating, ramps, supplies, insurance, etc

Of course. But its still a lot of money.

That depends entirely on what their costs are! if their costs are high then they won't be getting much for that £60 per hour

Wait till you see how much solicitors charge an hour :)

Not really. My hair stylist charges £100 for a cut and blow dry and that takes about an hour, and is a far less physical job than a mechanic.

As a PP said, we had to recently use a solicitor and they charged £300 per hour.

I had some work done on my car last year and they charged me £50 an hour and gave me a courtesy car to take home

More fool you. Sorry.

There is no way I would pay 100 pounds for a cut and blow dry.

I cut my own hair.

I never understand people paying 80 to 100 pounds for a haircut, when it is so easy to cut our own hair.

sounds entirely reasonable…

Why? I can afford it and I like doing it.

If you dont want to spend that much, then dont. No-one is forcing you to. I am merely responding to the idea that £60 is somehow outrageous - it isnt, not for a garage, many charge way more and so do other businesses.

il do it for a tenner!

Is for main dealers. Some are £200 plus vat too.

Take off overheads like garage electric specialised equipment etc thats def cheap

I think women are foolish to pay one hundred pounds for a haircut in a discriminatory system.

They charge men 10 pounds for a haircut. They charge women 80-100 pounds.

Its called the pink tax.

Im not participating in a discriminatory system

Might I suggest that you never buy a Mercedes/BMW/Audi and take it to a main dealer for servicing!
£90 an hour is very reasonable

YABU- that's normal price for a garage.

Also, I am a bit fed up of people moaning that businesses are somehow being immoral by wanting to make a profit.

I run a business - I built it up from scratch, got a loan to start it which was secured on my own house so it was a huge and massively stressful risk.

Thankfully, it paid off and its now successful. I didnt go through all of that stress just to break even, I am now making a profit and I deserve to after all the years of back breaking hard work and risk. If you dont like that then go elsewhere but I am not going to apologise on behalf of businesses for making money- we already contribute to the economy.