Garage charges

Cpt_Spalding · Post by **Cpt_Spalding** » 03 Sep 2007, 17:26

I normally use a guy near my sister's house to do my repairs & maintenance but had to use someone closer to my own home this time round. Not impressed with his time on the job or the mark-up on parts. What do you think?

Anti-roll-bar drop links, I can buy for £12 each, they charged £18

Hand brake cables, I can buy again for £12 each, they charged £25 each.

Surely a 10-20% mark-up is much more acceptable on parts?

They also say it took them 3 hours to replace the items. Is this fair?

Please don't lecture me on DIY as I don't have the time (young family etc) to do this sort of maintenance any more. I do though want the garage not to rip the p*sh when carrying out my repairs.

Your feedback would be appreciated.

Stewart

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 03 Sep 2007, 18:22

That doesn't seem too bad to me, but I live in Surrey where everything costs twice as much. Did they use genuine Cit spares? Cheap £12 drop links last about 10k miles the better ones are about £18 from GSF, well they were last time I bought some.

The handbrake cables I've never changed but it looks like a swine of a job so maybe 3 hours for them and the links is about right. It would be interesting to find out what a Cit main stealer charges for the same jobs.

mpr1956 · Post by **mpr1956** » 03 Sep 2007, 18:25

Hi Stewart, It's difficult to comment on workshop charges, as they can differ quite widely. The charges you quoted would not seem wildly out of the ordinary ( I know it's easy for me to say as I haven't had to pay them! ) The cheaper droplinks for example can be false economy as they can fail much quicker than the OE type. And if the Citroen service book says it should take 3 hours total for the job, then they can (and will!) charge that time quite legally.. although you and I know the job can be done much faster using the little shortcuts... - I would expect to change both droplinks in much less than an hour on my driveway, - Handbrake cables are a different matter however -but in a workshop I would expect the job to be straightforward.

Final comment ?
If they have padded the bill a bit then they have lost what could have been a valuable repeat customer. -It might be worth giving them a ring and let them know your concerns, it may be they had to spend time freeing off seized parts etc. Best wishes, Martin

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 03 Sep 2007, 19:09

On a business course, I was told markup should be about 30-35% but obviously you can do what you like.

The lesson to learn is to always get an estimate first and in writing, that way no-one can complain afterwards. Sorry if it sounds like a lecture but you did ask for feedback.

deian · Post by **deian** » 03 Sep 2007, 19:26

I would say the prices seem reasonable.

Post by **RichardW** » 03 Sep 2007, 20:33

You were done for 3 hours labour though - on a lift both h/b cables and drop links should be about 1.5 hours (unless you had the centre cable done as well) - provided you just wade into the drop links with an angle grinder

They probably just added up the book times, which means doubling up for taking off the wheels, the exhaust heat shield etc. When I did a h/b cable on my previous Xantia that I had been putting off for ages (because it looked like a pain) I was surprised when I did it in <1 hour - and that included jacking the Visa up to get the axle stands back

Cpt_Spalding · Post by **Cpt_Spalding** » 04 Sep 2007, 08:54

Thanks for that guys.

Feeling a bit better about it than I was over the weekend. I may still have a word about the time if only to express my disappointment. I can't imagine I'll get anything other than a sore throat trying to argue that one.

Thanks again.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 04 Sep 2007, 10:35

Fitting parts may sound straight forward until you try! Often something is seized or breaks, multiplying the scheduled time by a lot. Yes, garages are expensive, but that doesn't sound bad. I am not going to lecture on DIY, but you can se why we do it. It depends entirely on your time v money situation.

Post by **philhoward** » 07 Sep 2007, 20:57

If I took a car to a garage for work (only happened once ever..), I'd expect to pay retail price for parts - irrespective of what we can get them for. If I order the wrong part, its my cost - if they do, I don't pay!

Knowing a couple of one-man-bands, they know they can't realistically charge 3 hours for a one hour job - even if they also spend £20 on plus gas and oxy-acet to free off the old bits! If they make a couple of quid on the parts, it saves me the time and hassle of getting them. Being ripped off is another matter! I'd be unhappy at being charged main dealer prices for aftermarket bits - but if they'r charging £25 for a £20 part i wouldn't be too worried. The only thing to consider is that most garages won't fit "customer supplied" parts as it can affect insurance claims should the worst happen..

THELABMAN · Post by **THELABMAN** » 15 Sep 2007, 19:47

My local garage charges approximately £80 to supply and fit both handbrake cables and £30 for a drop link which isn't to bad I don't think.

They have in the past even fitted parts I have supplied, front & rear spheres, front discs and pads and even a drop link, the main problem with this is if something fails to last as long as it might be expected who's to blame the garage's work or a faulty part, at least if they supply and fit and say a drop link goes again afetr a couple of thousand miles you take it back and they fit another free of charge.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 15 Sep 2007, 21:07

if the customer supplies the parts you dont get any waranty if they fail sooner than they should
regards malcolm