Labour - how much is too much?

[UnluckyTimmeh]

Hi guys,

Just wondered what your thoughts were on labour costs for bike dealers?

Obviously dealers will naturally carry a higher labour cost than indys, due to overheads etc but I was curious as to how much you guys expect to pay per hour?

I'll be completely honest, I work at a BMW dealership (as some of you know), which I guess has one of the higher labour rates of all the brands of just under £100 per hour. But then we have other BMW dealers not too far away charging in excess of £120 per hour.

But then we have Honda, Triumph, Yamaha and Ducati dealers to name a few charging anything between £40 - £95 per hour.

I always though the going rate was around £60 per hour but was surprised at how many people pay over that.

Just curious as to what you thought and (if you're willing to say) what you pay an hour.

Cheers,

UT.

P.s. Happy new year to you all and all that jazz

[crofty1984]

35-45 of consider acceptable for normal work. Servicing, basic repairs etc.

[theshrew]

Labour rates in car main dealers change a lot depending on where they are.

Id guess the average for the country would be around £80, Id imagine bike rates would be similar.

[UnluckyTimmeh]

theshrew said:

Labour rates in car main dealers change a lot depending on where they are.

Id guess the average for the country would be around £80, Id imagine bike rates would be similar.

I guess city centre I.e. London and Manchester etc would be higher.

I just wonder how they're decided, approximate income/wealth of their catchment area....

[UnluckyTimmeh]

crofty1984 said:

35-45 of consider acceptable for normal work. Servicing, basic repairs etc.

Interesting. Is that from a main dealer or an independent?

[Sogra]

What is often forgotten is that a dealer charges standard time for the job along with specialist tools needed and often the time is much shorter than a non dealer who will charge the time it takes them. For example most dealers do not charge for diagnostic time if they do the work. They work on book times that the manufacture says is the time for the job

The only way to truly compare is on comparable jobs

I work for a manufacture

[obscene]

I think my local Honda is £65 from memory and it only goes there when it's a job I'm unable to do. Needless to say, they seem very efficient with their time and keep labour costs to a minimum. I hate to think what it's going to cost when the Ducati needs its belts done.

[Biker 1]

I believe my local multi-franchise dealer, P & H Motorcycles, Gatwick, charge £55 + VAT per hour.
They seem efficient, helpful, stick to pricing estimates, & seem to know what they're talking about - never had any issues in some 8 years, & I'll definitely be a returning customer. Seems fair enough to me.

[podman]

Im more interested in the overall cost of the job and the quality of the workmanship than the labour charge, no use paying £50 an hour for 5 hours poor work if the chap down the road who charges £100 an hour can do the same job in an hour.

Reputation/knowledge first and foremost IMHO.

[HairyMaclary]

The Honda dealer I use charge £51 per hour.

There is another near by that charges £85!

[UnluckyTimmeh]

podman said:

Im more interested in the overall cost of the job and the quality of the workmanship than the labour charge, no use paying £50 an hour for 5 hours poor work if the chap down the road who charges £100 an hour can do the same job in an hour.

Reputation/knowledge first and foremost IMHO.

You sir, are the ideal customer.

I always take my Suzuki 750 to the local dealer because I'm paying for their expertise and up to date training and special tools etc. I'd rather pay £60 per hour for a proper job than £30 per hour for a that'll do.....

It's interesting to me how many customer we have who accept an estimate via email or on the phone, who when then come in and see it written down and see a large proportion is labour cost, then complain.

I suppose it's a value for money question.

I also wonder if there is a premium brand & experience = premium rate expectation. So for Harley Davidson, Ducati, MV Augusta and to some extent BMW for example....

[vonhosen]

I've seen different rates for different brands all at the same multi franchise dealer. (i.e. £70ph Honda, £90ph Ducati & Triumph.)

[Condi]

I guess the point is when someone is paid £20 for their job, paying 4 times that for someone to service/repair a bike is a little painful!

Yes, yes, there is tools, training, expertise, yada yada yada, but when you see 'labour - £80/hr' you think 'fk me, thats a lot'.

[DuraAce]

podman said:

Im more interested in the overall cost of the job and the quality of the workmanship than the labour charge, no use paying £50 an hour for 5 hours poor work if the chap down the road who charges £100 an hour can do the same job in an hour.

Reputation/knowledge first and foremost IMHO.

The only way to look at this surely?

[DJP]

My thoughts on labour costs? Dunno, but I think I paid too much for mine.

First (600 mile) Oil Change on my new steed was £102 all in.

Now, given that I can buy the same oil & filter retail inc VAT for £35, means that I just paid £50 for half an hour's labour and paid VAT on top.

So that extra £60 did feel a bit steep for something I can do myself, without leaving home, in 20 minutes.

But like I said, dunno.

I used to run a business so I'm not oblivious to the costs involved, but to the retail punter £120 per hour has to feel expensive.

[mak]

quote]You sir, are the ideal customer.

I always take my Suzuki 750 to the local dealer because I'm paying for their expertise and up to date training and special tools etc. I'd rather pay £60 per hour for a proper job than £30 per hour for a that'll do.....
[/quote]


Unfortunatley paying more doesn't mean a better job, I would rather pay £30 an hour for a proper job than £60 for a that will do bulst job. It is all about knowledge and trust not price.

[Superhoop]

Biker 1 said:

I believe my local multi-franchise dealer, P & H Motorcycles, Gatwick, charge £55 + VAT per hour.
They seem efficient, helpful, stick to pricing estimates, & seem to know what they're talking about - never had any issues in some 8 years, & I'll definitely be a returning customer. Seems fair enough to me.

I had a quote from P&H for a 2nd year service, including belts and valve clearances, they came out with an eye watering number of £950 but said that I should expect it to me closer to £1100 by the time they'd finished - it was done by Laguna in Ashford for £670 including a fuel pipe that had been rubbing and wasn't in stock, so they happily kept my bike for a further 14 days whilst I went on holiday...

[crofty1984]

UnluckyTimmeh said:

Interesting. Is that from a main dealer or an independent?

Indies. This is in Norfolk for cars, I do my own bike work.

[theshrew]

UnluckyTimmeh said:

I guess city centre I.e. London and Manchester etc would be higher.

I just wonder how they're decided, approximate income/wealth of their catchment area....

Yeah London and southern areas are the most expensive. You could easily pay a main dealer £100 more than you would pay up in some areas of Scotland.

When I worked for a manufacturer the labour rate we paid for Maintenance / Warranty work was worked out on a percentage of the dealers retail labour rate, the retail rate is fair chunk higher.

Edited by theshrew on Saturday 31st December 23:29

[theshrew]

UnluckyTimmeh said:

podman said:

Im more interested in the overall cost of the job and the quality of the workmanship than the labour charge, no use paying £50 an hour for 5 hours poor work if the chap down the road who charges £100 an hour can do the same job in an hour.

Reputation/knowledge first and foremost IMHO.

I always take my Suzuki 750 to the local dealer because I'm paying for their expertise and up to date training and special tools etc. I'd rather pay £60 per hour for a proper job than £30 per hour for a that'll do.....

Special tools - Dealers buy the bear minimum to meet dealer standards and fly the flag over the door. You hardly ever need them anyway.

Training - Dealers don't want to send people on the courses and the guys who have to do them don't want to go. Again they just to what's required to be a dealer. Truth be told in the main they are complete rubbish anyway.

I do my own work just because If I do it myself I know its done right. Unless it was warranty stuff I wouldn't take anything to a dealer unless I really had to. You really are paying extra for no reason. Pick someone who actually does a good job and cares about what they do.

Having said that the days of this are getting smaller and smaller with the latest bikes its happening to, you will have to take it to a dealer for more and more stuff electronic suspension etc. The funny bit is the fkers in the garages wont know how to fix it anymore than a independent