A friend in the office took his N reg 280 Sport in for a service and asked for one faulty dasboard bulb to be changed.
Itemised Charge for £101.88 labour and £1.99 parts! +VAT
When car was collected he found that bulb had been changed (renewed?) but another bulb had gone out!
Having taken the car back today to complain, they apologised! and replaced all the bulbs in about 20 minutes! while he waited.
This computes to workshop rate for the first job of about £300/hr. Almost lawyer rates :).
Does any one know if standard times/rates apply or had a silmilar experience.
pmh (was peter)
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That's frightening!
I think I'll set myself up in business, changing Merc bulbs. I'm going to charge a flat rate of only £50+VAT, including parts! I'll make a fortune...
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That's frightening! I think I'll set myself up in business, changing Merc bulbs. I'm going to charge a flat rate of only £50+VAT, including parts! I'll make a fortune...
How many Merc bulbs do you reckon will need changing? Do your business plan and then estimate the real cost of your business, and you will probably need to charge £1000 per bulb to make enough to live on even assuming you were given sole rights by Merc to change Merc bulbs in your locality.
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They probably charge minimum 1 hour for any job. Takes into account time to book in and take keys/details. time to enter job on computer and print job card, give card to fitter, fitter go finds car, puts on seat cover, brings car to workshop, does job, completes job card, takes car back out, gives in job card, office enters job card details to complete operation, print invoice.
As it was already there for the service you would have thought they would have charged a modest amount, but I guess he got caught in the 'system'.
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Er?? Didn't he ask cost before, during or after the job was done?
Which part of the world was it? (Then other Volvo owners can avoid)
Mark
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Whenever I have had a dash lamp go or similar I pop up to my local M.B. dealer and they do the job while I wait and never charge.
I would tell your friend to change dealers.
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Shouldn't Mercedes owners be avoiding this dealer as well? Given that Volvo owners are likely to carry on to the nearest Volvo dealer, all things considered... :-)
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I am not suprised my father was charged £125 for an oil and filter change at Mercedes-Benz of Hull.
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Not that I agree with the £125 charge but I think you'll find that MB carry out a 'thorough visual inspection' of sir's car as part of the maintenance service.
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The £125 was just for an oil and filter change and not for a maintenance service.
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Rates for BMW in central London is £85/hour + VAT. Can't imagine that MB is much over £100/hour + VAT.
Let us know whether your friend complains about the charges and what they say when pointing out that it was done 2nd time round in 20 mins.
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Volvo Dealers in the south seem to charge £73/hour, some of them discount for Volvo owners club. I get the labour for £63/hour with this discount
Not sure what Ford Labour rates are, but overall they are considerably cheaper. I'm not sure how 'prestige' dealers can justify the extra cost.
When I had a Nissan Primera in the early 90's the oil/filter change service was timed at 40 mins Labour and the price varied between £45 in Camberley to £120 in Oxford. The same dealer chain (davenport Vernon, became Evans Halshaw) charged £60 in Reading and £90 in High Wycombe. If the mechanics get the difference surly they'd drive a short distance to pick up significantly more money!
cheers
Durelli - son of a famous Italian tyre maker
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Durelli said >>"I'm not sure how 'prestige' dealers can justify the extra cost."<<
Easy Answer: Its all in the overheads. Posher premises, posher dress codes, top qaulity diagnostic tools, special servicng tools, high rents in expensive area, higher council-rates for bigger premises, health and safety checks, pension and sick pay, holiday pay, higher wages for better qualified staff, extortionate insurance for public-liability, etc.; and to top it all higher "franchise" fees to priviledge of using the Corporate logo/colours/style/printed-paper/advertising. Its not easy running a business with customers thinking they have the right to buy cars at a price lower than that the dealer can afford - I know it is hard, which is why I spend my time posting here.
I only wish we had a situation whereby we could pick up trained "asylum seekers" technicians who wait by the roadside every day and work on the cars on an hourly-rate or job-rate and work on cars in a free council car park. Instead we have to use use fully qualified tax-paying full-time employees in proper premises.
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I only wish we had a situation whereby we could pick up trained "asylum seekers" technicians who wait by the roadside every day and work on the cars on an hourly-rate or job-rate and work on cars in a free council car park. Instead we have to use use fully qualified tax-paying full-time employees in proper premises.
Ermm .. they ARE available .. ermm I imagine .. hrmmppph
Okay on the old 190E but not on the S280 thank-you .. ermm .. I guess
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I forgot to include the following costs which also go in to the make up of the hourly workshop rates:
postage, telephones, water, electricity, heating/air-con, cleaners, valeting, secretaries, receptionists, lawyers, accountants, security, time-wasters, test-drive requests, brochure-collector-anoraks, freeloaders, and the list goes on. If only running a business was simple.
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It's always interesting when the issue of labour rates comes up.
No-one is forced to buy a Mercedes, BMW etc. Same people don't mind driving round in a 'prestige' car, but don't want to pay prestige labour rates. If you don't like the rates, either buy a car from a dealer that charges less, or do the work yourself. If you do it yourself, don't moan about no lift/special tools/knowledge etc.
I wonder how much these moaners earn themselves, and how much it costs their employer to employ them? If they push paper around a desk and earn £30K, then it probably costs their employer about £60K in direct employment costs, plus overheads. That works out at about £33/hour just to pay them, plus the overheads of the company. Pretty soon you're up to £70/hour in total costs that all gets passed onto your customers. So how on earth do you think a garage can fix your car for £5/hour??
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>>higher wages for better qualified staff
I have yet to find this from any main dealer. I trust the independent specialists to do the job properly.
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>>higher wages for better qualified staff I have yet to find this from any main dealer. I trust the independent specialists to do the job properly.
The main dealer has to commit to a rigid programme of regular training for his technicians, and the time has to be paid for out of "unproductive" hours. The independent can do, and usually does, a good job but he does not have to submit to Corporate HQ standards of any kind (premises, training, uniforms, image, etc.).
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The main dealer tends to just swap old parts for new parts until the problem is fixed.
If the dealer deals with mainly small cars like Punto's. When you go along with a Coupe 20V Turbo they have no idea of what to do. However the independents know the rarer cars better than the main dealers.
The uniform doesn't do anything for me btw :)
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