Do mechanics significantly over charge for the time to change a part?

[4570Man]

So my truck needed a master cylinder put on the clutch. I’ve heard horror stories of bleeding a clutch so I decided to let a shop do it. The quoted 1.5 hours at $80 an hour. I did want to pay that so I did it myself. It took maybe an hour to put it on and that’s with a lot of screwing around with the roll pin. They make a lot better tools than a punch and hammer that I had to do it. Next problem was bleeding it. Once I determined that pumping the clutch and or using the bleeder screw was hopeless and moved on to vacuum bleeding it went pretty easy. Knowing what I know now ( which the professional shop should already know ) and having the proper tools for the job ( which the professional shop should already have) I could easily install and bleed it in 30 minutes. Ok moving truck inside shop, installing cylinder, removing truck from shop, and writing up ticket maybe an hour. I remember thinking the same thing when I split my tractor. I don’t remember what the shop manual said but given a few attempts I could do it in a day or so.

 

[tomplum]

In most cases, it is not the technician. There are several factors really that affect the labor you pay and what the tech makes on a job. Most likely, you were quoted from a program using flat rate labor tables in their service program. So the 1.5 labor quote could have been cut and dry or embellished with other time valid or not. Or maybe they anticipated an issue and quoted extra time,whether they would have charged in additional or not who knows. They are there to make money and certainly not there to take it on the chops should something go wrong. You're correct in assuming that it takes a variety of people to make a repair happen in addition to the tech. Someone takes the appointment, writes the service order, stocks or orders the part, takes your money and those that manage the whole thing. Yep, and they all do it for money. They know the DIY guy is not their bread and butter and their system is simply not set up for that individual.

 

[4570Man]

Well, the $120 they quoted isn’t that bad.If they’d have just left it at that I’d have felt a lot better than with the inflated time estimate. Before I started this thread I did a quick google search with the quotes being a lot worse than mine. $3-400 was the answers I came across. And 80 an hour probably isn’t enough to support a shop. With only one full time technician that’s around $160k a year gross. Add the 2 part time workers and we’re at 320k. Probably still not enough to support the shop and make any money. But that’s not my problem. If $80 an hour isn’t enough than don’t put up a sign that says shop rate $80 an hour.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I had a friend that worked as a mechanic for a local Ford dealer ... some years ago.

His jobs were quoted from Ford rate tables that specified labor hours for everything you can imagine. He made his money by beating the tables. His pay was based on labor hrs quoted for his jobs, not clock hours. A good mechanic could make a lot of extra money.

 

[goeduck]

In most cases, it is not the technician. There are several factors really that affect the labor you pay and what the tech makes on a job. Most likely, you were quoted from a program using flat rate labor tables in their service program. So the 1.5 labor quote could have been cut and dry or embellished with other time valid or not. Or maybe they anticipated an issue and quoted extra time,whether they would have charged in additional or not who knows. They are there to make money and certainly not there to take it on the chops should something go wrong. You're correct in assuming that it takes a variety of people to make a repair happen in addition to the tech. Someone takes the appointment, writes the service order, stocks or orders the part, takes your money and those that manage the whole thing. Yep, and they all do it for money. They know the DIY guy is not their bread and butter and their system is simply not set up for that individual.

The labor to set the appointment, process payment, order parts, etc. should be part of the overhead of the tech and the overhead of the parts. They certainly do not pay the tech the shop rate and I do not pay what they pay for parts. At least I sure hope I am not paying shop rate for every person in the place that is somehow involved. If I was, I would want a lower shop rate.

 

[RandyT]

Something else to keep in mind is the flat rate tables are generally not for a specific model and year of whatever you are working on. Your model may take 1/2 an hour, the model two years ago could of been 1 1/2 hours, and next model year because of some change takes 3 hours. The flat rate table won't get updated every year to reflect changes. So from a dealer warranty side of things when that new model comes in that takes 3 hours, the dealership will only get reimbursed for the 1 1/2 hours.

 

[oosik]

Exact example. I bought a complete set of seat covers for the Taco Wagon. Was quoted 1 1/2 hours labor to install. Paid it all in advance. Job completed - looks great. Two months later I get a bill from this business for $115 for labor. They say the added $115 was for the extra time it took to instal the seat covers.

This matter has been resolved to my satisfaction - so I will not belabor this point. The point being, the estimated instal time was in error, maybe?? I just wonder if this is the way this business hopes to make money. NOT from me, they won't.

 

[fried1765]

Exact example. I bought a complete set of seat covers for the Taco Wagon. Was quoted 1 1/2 hours labor to install. Paid it all in advance. Job completed - looks great. Two months later I get a bill from this business for $115 for labor. They say the added $115 was for the extra time it took to instal the seat covers.

This matter has been resolved to my satisfaction - so I will not belabor this point. The point being, the estimated instal time was in error, maybe?? I just wonder if this is the way this business hopes to make money. NOT from me, they won't.

I sure hope that you did NOT pay the $115 billed.... after you had..... "paid in advance".

 

[crazyal]

There's a lot that goes into the price. You also have to pay the person in the office's time as well. Even a one man shop will require them to stop what they are doing to assist you. That usually means looking up the correct part needed so they can get a price to use to quote you. Then there's the small little things that can come up that might add an extra 15 minutes. For example is my wife's Rav4. There's multiple parts that have more than one part number. Places like Autozone will tell you things like "90% use this part number". If the shop gets the wrong part that can eat up time. I'm not sure if a customer would be happy if the tech says the job should of taken an hour but Joe's auto parts sent me the wrong part and my bay was tied up for an extra half hour so I'm going to charge you more than I quoted.

 

[K5lwq]

To answer your question, no they did not over charge you. When I had my shop the price I would quote came from the service manuals. Then look for ways to make the job go easier and faster than quoted. It is the only way to make it as a mechanic. Even then, it is very difficult. Especially when you are a small shop.