Cost of 50 hr and 100 hr service

mark.r · Mar 3, 2008

The more that I think about it I am acutally kind of pissed off. What's the whole reason of calling ahead if the real quote comes back twice as much?

JoelD · Mar 3, 2008

I find costing out work a tough thing. You've got to remember, these guys (mechanics) have big money into tools, shop space, training, health insurance, retirement plan, property insurance, computers, etc., etc., etc. All the same things any other company has. When you do the math, time, fuel, tools, consumables, etc. Even $100 per hour does not add up to a whole lot. Not to mention rework for work either not correct the first time or for the customer who's just never quite happy. In corporate America $200-$500 per hour is no longer outside the norm. Blended rate for an accounting firm to audit your books is in excess of $200/hr. Majority of those hours are first and second year college grads (obviously their pay is something under $200, but that's what the firms invoice out at). I've often considered repair work on the side, but would need to bill serious dollars to make it close to worthwhile (when all costs are considered).

My approach is, if I can do it myself I do, if I have the correct tools, time and knowledge (can usually acquire that from the web). If I don't have the correct tools and it's cost prohibitive to purchase the tools, or time prohibitive to acquire the knowledge then I go to my mechanic. Classic example is A/C work on my autos.

Think long and hard before you criticize a person's labor rate, there is a whole lot of cost within that rate, and not nearly the margin you'd think.

My two cents

mark.r · Mar 3, 2008

What you are saying may apply in certain situations and in other situation it may not. There is going to be some "flex" in what one dealer charges for a specific service vs. other dealers. However, when that "flex" is 100% there is a problem. Based on my research done after the fact the original quote I was give is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more inline with other dealers charge.

Now if I had been quoted $400 dollars from the outset than I would have done the job myself because it would have been worth my time to do so. At $200 dollars it was worth the cost to take it to the dealership and have it done. The point is you cannot make educated decisions if you don't have accurate information.

mark.r · Mar 3, 2008

JoelD said:
Think long and hard before you criticize a person's labor rate, there is a whole lot of cost within that rate, and not nearly the margin you'd think.

My two cents

Joel, I think this important to put out there. My dealer is literally a 1/4 mile up the road. EVERYTHING I buy from them has been more considerably more expensive when priced against other dealers/shops. They actually wanted to charge me for pickup or have in the past offered me "free" pickup as an incentive. I live a 1/4 mile down the road!!!! I'll drive it to you for christ sakes. Keep in mind this is for products or services that I am already paying more for when compared to other Kioti dealers. So as the consumer I am seeing it as charges just piled on to the item/service that I actually wanted.

Now this is not a knock against Kioti in anyway because the tractor has been solid. Secondly, the majority of the work I can do myself. But that said, my next tractor, which we are already looking for, will likely NOT be a Kioti. If it IS a Kioti it will come from a different dealer because I am assuming the price can be negotiating better simply based from my past pricing experiences. But that is not the main issue. The issue is the long term ownership experience. Days like to today are days that made me wish I still had my Ford/New Holland.

So for you to say think very hard before you critcize a person's labor rate etc, etc. I say tough luck, that is a part of opening a business whatever it maybe. It's called overhead and all businesses have to invest in their start up cost to do just that. If you think gouging your customers is the appropriate way to compensate for that then we aren't going to see eye to eye on that issue. AND as I said before, the other dealer I talk to said that service should be much closer to 200 bucks not over 400. I run a facilities management business and my father runs a government IT contracting company, both started from the ground up. So I am very familiar with having to find a balance between being competitive and paying the bills and what I say today was not and example of that.

IslandTractor · Mar 4, 2008

A 100hr service is a pretty routine matter at a dealership. That is to say they do them (and similar 150, 200 hrs etc) every week or so. They clearly should be able to give you a verbal estimate within 10-20% of actual. If the invoice comes in much higher they really owe you an explanation. With a new tractor it is unlikely there were any non warranty parts they needed to fix so I'd say you should give the dealer a call and ask him to explain himself.

mark.r · Mar 4, 2008

IslandTractor said:
A 100hr service is a pretty routine matter at a dealership. That is to say they do them (and similar 150, 200 hrs etc) every week or so. They clearly should be able to give you a verbal estimate within 10-20% of actual. If the invoice comes in much higher they really owe you an explanation. With a new tractor it is unlikely there were any non warranty parts they needed to fix so I'd say you should give the dealer a call and ask him to explain himself.

EXACTLY. That's why I called a week and half prior to get an idea of what it cost (just as I said in an early post). The receptionist was not sure off hand so she had one of the shop guys call me back, which he did, and gave me a price of "around" 200 bucks. Now, that sound like a number I had heard before so I though nothing more of it and said I would make an appointment the following week. Now for the skeptics and the "Mr. Perfects" out there I am sure I could have asked for the quote in writing but as far as I was concerned there was no need to. This my local dealer who I purchased the tractor from and done business with before. The prices ARE typically higher then others (which ticks me off) but they have never changed a quote or charged me more than they originally told me so no real reason at that point for me to get it in writing.

At any rate to Island's point. I sent the owner an email yesterday asking for and explanation and expressing my disappointment. I have not yet heard back. If I don't I will let him know when I go to pick up the tractor.

mark.r · Mar 4, 2008

I had a call from the owner of the shop today and he rectified the issue. Apparently some of the lubricants/fluids included in the ticket were at the levels of the 50hr service and not the 100hrs service. The new price is much more inline with my inital quote. I'm glad he was reactive to my email that I sent him.

JoelD · Mar 4, 2008

I agree totally with the point that there should generally be very little variance between quote and actual, unless something unforeseen came up, at which time a revised quote would be required. My only point was around hourly shop rate. some would think 100/hr to be a lot of money. When you load that up with cost and probably something less than 100% chargeability, there is not a whole lot left in the end. The great thing is we at least have choices.

IslandTractor · Mar 5, 2008

JoelD said:
I agree totally with the point that there should generally be very little variance between quote and actual, unless something unforeseen came up, at which time a revised quote would be required. My only point was around hourly shop rate. some would think 100/hr to be a lot of money. When you load that up with cost and probably something less than 100% chargeability, there is not a whole lot left in the end. The great thing is we at least have choices.

I for one have no trouble at all with $100/hr for accurate, efficient, skilled mechanical work by someone who has skills or equipment that I don't have and who through good judgment and careful work is really doing a lot more than simply turning wrenches. Solid work deserves solid pay. I'm not made of money but that would seem to be funds well spent. On the other hand, I don't at all like the idea of paying a dealer $100/hr or even $50/hr so a part time poorly supervised high school student paying more attention to his iPod than my tractor just empties fluids and through either inexperience or lack of attention misses things or botches the job.