Average UK earnings = 23,750 pounds = 29,700 euros ( 2007 Survey of Hours & Earnings)
Average Spanish earnings = 23,400 euros
i.e. 79% of UK rates
Average UK garage labour hourly rate = 75.17 pounds = 94 euros per hour
My last service labour rate (VW Group dealer) = 35 euros per hour
i.e. 37% of UK rates
Probably in the category of proving anything with statistics, but for a large job it may be worthwhile doing it on holiday!
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One London garage was reported to be charging £192 per hour. They must specialise in footballer's cars.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 03/09/2008 at 21:32
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Average labour rates really don't give a good measure - the median is a far more useful measure. That said, in this example if you're looking to compare labour rates in a specific sector then the average pay for someone doing that specific job is valid.
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The average pay (ie what the guys with the spanners get) is a indeed a useful measure but I very much doubt it comes anywhere near to tracking the increase in dealer charge rates in the last ten years.
UK rates partly reflect high land costs etc but the apparent willingness of the (captive?) market to go on paying has also been a factor.
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I was quoted £480 for a service which they said involved 1.8 hours of work!
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I was quoted £480 for a service which they said involved 1.8 hours of work!
The price would include overheads (as well as parts) and the garage may have had high overheads.
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The interim services for my sadly missed E46 BMW M3 were 200 Euros at the BMW Main Dealer in Munich and 700 Euros for the very extensive "Service 2" which requires something like 4 hours of labour. From various BMW forums I learned that the more expensive service costs something upwards of 1,100 Pounds (1,400 Euros) in the UK, so double the german price.
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Do dealers elsewhere in Europe resemble the retail palaces that we see in the UK?
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Not in my experiance. Took the new Bravo to Italy in May, got the first (18k miles) service done over there. Took it to a shiny Fiat dealership with large well equipped workshop. The labour charge for 1.5 hours was 18 euros! Parts were slightly cheaper but not a great deal. (1.5 hrs labour at my local dealer here is around £100, or 120e)
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Do dealers elsewhere in Europe resemble the retail palaces that we see in the UK?
I don't know what dealers look like in the UK any more to be honest. The Mercedes and BMW dealerships in the larger german cities these days are enormous glass palaces. The Mercedes dealership in the west of Munich is apparently one of the largest enclosed spaces in Germany. Apart from restaurants, conference rooms and a theatre there is the Maybach presentation area which is spectacular. Apparently they also sell cars!
It would be interesting to know how much the dealer earns from car sales and service and how much from "events".
Not wanting to be outdone on home turf, BMW are renovating their big dealership in the north of Munich and have built a "BMW World" conference centre/ restaurant complex opposite the factory where the 5 Series is built. If you have 500 spare Euros sloshing around in your pocket, you can pay to collect your new BMW from there rather than from your dealer. The payment includes a tour of the BMW museum and of the factory where your car was built. Assuming you have just bought a 5 Series of course. The 3 Series is built elsewhere;-)
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The Mercedes and BMW dealerships in the larger german cities these days are enormous glass palaces. The Mercedes dealership in the west of Munich is apparently one of the largest enclosed spaces in Germany.
True enough. But one thing I noticed is that once out of town there are a lot of smaller 'plainer' dealers, some of which only do servicing. Presumably these are much cheaper to use?
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The majority of main dealers have 'luxury' premises, so I imagine their overheads are high. The VW dealer we used to use reside in palatial surroundings, normally with more staff on the reception desk than in the workshop.
I can't imagine that the repair man's wage bears much relationship to the labour rate charged by the garage. Its a bit like when you eat in a restaurant. £2 worth of ingredients supplied by people on minimum wage but you pay £20 for the 'ambience'.
One thing I have noticed on European travels is that their dealers often have less glamorous premises than ours, maybe that accounts for some of the difference?
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There's a business opportunity here for someone.
-identify a geographical area that has a high proportion of more expensive cars
-get orders for 10 'luxury' cars that need serviced
-hire a car transporter
-pick up cars
-customer receives optional courtesy car
-take cars to their nearest, cheapest European accredited service centre
-get cars serviced and returned to customer
It might even be possible to do this for less-expensive cars, if the numbers are right.
tt
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I am pretty sure the spanish or italian garage does not have to do health and safety assesments, method statements, environmental impact assesments, equal opportunity process to ensure ethnic disabled women have the tools to change oil, install lifts and ramps for the disabled customers, noise abatement, crime statistics, CRO and sex offenders check in case a mechanic has to fix a child seat, and 15 HR directors to ensure al the above is followed.
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A friend of mine who lives in south London always gets his Merc serviced when he visits his holiday home in North Wales.
He reckons he gets a much friendlier service and substantially cheaper labour rates.
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Do not campare London with anywhere except New York or Tokyo or Berlin or Paris.
For the bleeding obvious reasons.
Our local independent charges £15 per hour.
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I can't comment on Spain or Italy, but I few years ago I did a six-month 'exchange' with a counterpart in Germany. It seemed to me that they have much the same legislation as we do in the UK, and the Germans are quite ruthless on enforcement! They were certainly very keen on access for disabled and safety measures. One thing I noticed from watching TV was that they were very keen to root-out 'illegal workers', I doubt you'd get the proliferation of 'hand car washes' that you do in the UK. Big mistake to think that the British are the only ones that follow the rules.
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