Mechanic's labour charge

[xantiagreen]

What would be the minimum/maximum labour charge for the work below:

Remove alternator and refit (bearings replaced from Auto electricians)
Fit new alternator belt
Fit new pulley tensioner
Fit new ABS reluctor rings front offside and nearside
Diagnostics for side airbags, unclip clean and lube up connections under passenger and drivers seat.

Alternator bearings replaced for £30
Alternator belt £11.98 (Gates)
Pulley Tensioner £37.50 (Dayco)
Reluctor rings x 2 £29.98 (Ukpartsdirect) - 10 year guarantee, pro coat corrosion protection


Thanks in advance.

[Northern_Mike]

What would be the minimum/maximum labour charge for the work below:

Remove alternator and refit (bearings replaced from Auto electricians)
Fit new alternator belt
Fit new pulley tensioner
Fit new ABS reluctor rings front offside and nearside
Diagnostics for side airbags, unclip clean and lube up connections under passenger and drivers seat.

Alternator bearings replaced for £30
Alternator belt £11.98 (Gates)
Pulley Tensioner £37.50 (Dayco)
Reluctor rings x 2 £29.98 (Ukpartsdirect) - 10 year guarantee, pro coat corrosion protection


Thanks in advance.

About 3 hours, depending on where you are, that's going to be anything from £100 to £195 from my experience, plus the VAT.

Where in Lancs? I'll be up there in a couple of weeks once I'm fit. I can read your airbag diags from your car..

[addo]

Yes, three hours should cover it, to the state of delivering a tidy car free of fingerprints and having had a basic look-over everything else. If a car came in with corroded ABS rings you would be remiss not to look at the rest of the brakes.

If you rushed, less, but you'd then be catching your breath/tidying up before the next job so it's a false saving.

[xantiagreen]

[About 3 hours, depending on where you are, that's going to be anything from £100 to £195 from my experience, plus the VAT.

Where in Lancs? I'll be up there in a couple of weeks once I'm fit. I can read your airbag diags from your car..[/quote]



Was charged £120 inc VAT (Sorry drivers side reluctor snapped causing braking fault and passengers side was good but had it replaced with the pro coat ones)

Would you say £70 inc VAT to take alternator out and refit is reasonable (that was where most of the cost was billed)

I'm up in Preston.

Cheers Mike

[xantiagreen]

If a car came in with corroded ABS rings you would be remiss not to look at the rest of the brakes.

Sorry the drivers side ring snapped and passenger side was in good condition, but replaced both with pro coat versions.

Cheers mate.

[RichardW]

So about 1 hour to do both the ABS rings, which is about right - wheels off, crack hub nut, split bottom ball joint, pull shaft out of hub, remove remains of old ring, clean the shaft up, heat ring and slip it on, reassemble.
And about 1.5 hours to do the alt (and tensioner I think?). It's not that easy on a 110HDI: ECU and box out, intercooler outlet pipe off, oil filter off, relieve aux belt tension, move some of the cable ducting a bit to get access to the bolts, undo 4 retaining bolts (one through wheel arch, so liner needs to be pulled back), undo the wires, wiggle the alternator out past the PAS pipe (not easy!). Changing the tensioner then requires some engine up/down activity AFAIK, so engine mount needs to be undone.

[Rhothgar]

That's cheap.

You been charged £120 for all that work and you're now isolating the alternator removal and refit to see if that aline is too expensive.

If you can't do the work yourself then it's a bargain. Christ alive! You've paid £40/hour if 3 hours is the scheduled repair time.

Next time take it to Citroen. You'll feel much better off when you receive their bill.

[Northern_Mike]

Was charged £120 inc VAT (Sorry drivers side reluctor snapped causing braking fault and passengers side was good but had it replaced with the pro coat ones)

Would you say £70 inc VAT to take alternator out and refit ...

That's a bargain. 3 hours work for £120 inc vat? Even our cheapest local Independent charges £65 per hour *plus* vat.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Rhothgar]

Exactly. My best mate charges £45+VAT an hour. I don't know how he does it so cheap.

He's often buying a £20k piece of equipment here and £10k diag kit there!

[xantiagreen]

That's cheap.

You been charged £120 for all that work and you're now isolating the alternator removal and refit to see if that aline is too expensive.

If you can't do the work yourself then it's a bargain. Christ alive! You've paid £40/hour if 3 hours is the scheduled repair time.

Next time take it to Citroen. You'll feel much better off when you receive their bill.

The chap that carried out the work is a citroen specialist, trust his work and never argue over pricing. No harm in getting views on the matter, back in '91' or '92' I was charged £20 for less than 5 mins work, the damn recovery truck was parked opposite. I had reversed the bx into a high kerb at a service station off the M1 and bent the tailpipe (inexperienced young driver) recovery chap noticed us staring at the rear and shaking our heads and must have thought kerchingg. Any way he stuck a crowbar in and opened it up and robbed us. when we got back home to lancashire i got the rear box changed at kwik __t £35 or so as i knew if my dad saw the modified tailpipe i'd be dodging a barrage of slippers like Mr Bush (my dads laser sighted strikes never missed a target)

Lesson learned, never take out your wallet/purse unless you've agreed a final price, or in this situation get in the car and do a runner.

Cheers.

[flying clutchman]

You didn't pay £20 for five minutes work. You paid for his Knowledge and ability and use of his equipment. I'm glad you don't live in essex!

[xantiagreen]

You paid for his Knowledge and ability and use of his equipment. I'm glad you don't live in essex!

knowledge and ability my a**e, more of I can milk £20 from them. It's not as if we called him over he came over and offered to help and then charges as if he'd struggled at it.

Aye Aye Clutchman

[qprdude]

You were perfectly at liberty to refuse his help then. He had a crow bar, you didn't.

[xantiagreen]

You were perfectly at liberty to refuse his help then. He had a crow bar, you didn't.

Point is if someone offers to help without you asking them then their should be no financial gain, unless you have asked for their help. The recovery chap knew he was going to charge and didn't say so before he started the 5 minute work out. If I've offered my help to someone without them asking me it would be stupid of me to then say that'll be £50.
It negates him "helping" us because he charged us (underhanded manner) car was ticking over without any problems even with the tailpipe bent.

Cheers.

[Northern_Mike]

I'm with Xantiagreen on this. If the chap had said "I'll fix it, it'll be £20", then fair enough, it's £20. If he just offered to help, then said "thanks, that'll be £20", it's out of order.