European main dealer labour rates

[Fox-]

I've no idea where to ask this, so General Gassing will do.

Does anyone know what the average main dealer labour rates for BMW dealers are in the Czech Republic and Hungary? Or where I'd find out, other than struggling with the language barrier?

[frosted]

Probably half of what we get here, not sure tbh

[cheeky_chops]

iirc, my parents use a renault main dealer in Spain and are approx 40euro ph

[Fox-]

cheeky_chops said:

iirc, my parents use a renault main dealer in Spain and are approx 40euro ph

Some context - I'm off on a Euro roadtrip in the Summer and need a contingency plan for when the 530i expires at the side of the road in the middle of Hungary or something. With the obvious issues with language barriers etc etc I'm thinking the most prudent thing to do would be to just take it to a main dealer under the assumption that I'd end up paying about what I'd pay a decent indy here in the UK anyway.

But to confirm said logic I need some indicative pricing

[dcb]

Fox- said:

Some context - I'm off on a Euro roadtrip in the Summer and need a contingency plan for when the 530i expires at the side of the road in the middle of Hungary or something. With the obvious issues with language barriers etc etc I'm thinking the most prudent thing to do would be to just take it to a main dealer under the assumption that I'd end up paying about what I'd pay a decent indy here in the UK anyway.

But to confirm said logic I need some indicative pricing

I really don't follow your logic: if the 530 has a tantrum in
the far back of beyond, what else, but get it to a local dealer,
are you going to do ?

It's not like you are going to drag it to somewhere 300 km away
that is E10 an hour cheaper is it ?

Anyway, the Hungarians could do with the money. Mr Hungarian
Mechanic will be talking for weeks about the broken English 530
he had in for repair.

I see the money in Hungary is the Forint. I bet you will be much
better off taking Euros and I suspect the Hungarians will offer a better
rate.

[Fox-]

dcb said:

I really don't follow your logic: if the 530 has a tantrum in
the far back of beyond, what else, but get it to a local dealer,
are you going to do ?

Faff about finding independants/random local garages/wherever the ADAC tow you too etc I'd imagine. The first course of action for most people with an older car isn't recover it to a main dealer and say 'just fix it'. In this country thats a receipe for a 4 figure bill

However if it transpires that labour rates are sufficiently cheap, then it becomes an easy, no hassle, viable and non wallet-destroying no-brainer. Not something that could be said for dropping your car off at the nearest UK main dealer and asking for diagnosis. They are good for routine servicing where you can haggle the price, but repairs get silly very fast at £100+ an hour.

Edited by Fox- on Thursday 22 March 22:39