£576p/h labour rate

[mrmarcus]

The mrs takes her ford ka back to dogenham motors again to fix more issues that a 3 year old car really shouldn't have but anyway they sort it out on warrenty for free. So I look at the invoice and they have replaced a rear lightbulb too. The invoice states 1 brake light bulb £1.71. Labour £9.60.

Jesus h fking Christ what the fk!!! How long does it take to change a rear bulb on a fking ka. Unfking believable. What a bunch of wkers. That really is taking the fking piss! It's a one minute job. Absolute s.

[al1991]

Set up a stall next to the dealer, offering to change bulbs for a fiver a go

[g3org3y]

What do Halfords charge?

[Fatman2]

Just count yourself lucky that she doesn't own the old shape Renault Megane (the fat ass one). £300 odd all in!

But yes I agree, tossers.

[anonymous-user]

I wouldn't change a bulb for less than £10 either, why would you? Think of it as laziness tax.

[Fatman2]

Symbolica said:

I wouldn't change a bulb for less than £10 either, why would you? Think of it as laziness tax.

But surely it depends on how long it takes ? If garages get paid by the hour then the honest thing to do would be to charge a proportion of an hour. Fair enough it it actually took 10 mins or so but if it only took 5 mins then why wouldn't you charge less than £10 ?

[mrmarcus]

Symbolica said:

I wouldn't change a bulb for less than £10 either, why would you? Think of it as laziness tax.

car was in to get a problem with the heater fixed. They changed this bulb off their back. we didn't know it was blown if at all. Pity she didn't tell them to shove their labour and put the old bulb back in.

[Rawwr]

For £9, I'll show your missus how to change bulbs on a Ford Ka.

[Papa Hotel]

Wow, that seems steep, Halfords are only 80 quid an hour!

http://www.pistonheads.com/Gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

This thread has been done.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Yes, but it's a four-man job.

One to hold the bulb, three to turn the car....

[EDLT]

Maybe they've got a minimum labour rate so they don't earn 50p to change a wiper blade. Think of it as the automotive world's version of a call-out charge.

[HAG LS1]

might be a Ford thing, if you want a horror story try this:

The girlfriend went to a "reputable" Ford dealer in Leeds near the city centre a few years ago to put her Puma through an MOT, the call came back that it would need X Y and Z doing and that the bill would be......................£860, she told them to whistle and I took it to another dealer near the Ferrari JCT garage and got a bill for........£50, no problems.
I guess the first bill had nothing to do with a young blonde girl dropping the car of would it, that would be a terrible assumption to make seeing as I dropped the car off at the second dealer.

[corradoG60]

EDLT said:

Maybe they've got a minimum labour rate so they don't earn 50p to change a wiper blade. Think of it as the automotive world's version of a call-out charge.

Id expect so, covers the time to do the invoice etc as well.

[mrmarcus]

Symbolica said:

I wouldn't change a bulb for less than £10 either, why would you? Think of it as laziness tax.

oh I definetly pay enough of this tax already. as far as I'm aware it goes towards somthing called a benifits system.

[markcoznottz]

corradoG60 said:

EDLT said:

Maybe they've got a minimum labour rate so they don't earn 50p to change a wiper blade. Think of it as the automotive world's version of a call-out charge.

Id expect so, covers the time to do the invoice etc as well.

Yep its called overheads

[sday12]

[quote=Rawwr]For £9, I'll show your missus how to change bulbs on a Ford Ka.[/quote

I'll teach her to play the pink oboe for free

[steveo3002]

probably includes the tech waiting at parts for the muppet to look up a bulb , then going back 4 times to get the right one

[DannyVTS]

Wow that's terrible, just forwarding it to a friend who works at ford, see what he says

[tim2100]

I think £9.60 seems reasonable for this.

1 min to tell trained monkey to change bulb.
2 mins to find keys, get correct bulb, walk out and find car in car park.
2 mins to open boot, move coats & bags in boot and remove panel.
1 mins to replace bulb.
2 mins to replace panel, close boot, lock car, walk back into shop and tell his boss it is done & sign check sheet.
2 mins to type up invoice and print off.
5 mins to stand with customer and take money off them.

~15 minutes from start to finish.

>£40 per hour.

Although if you can change a bulb in a car in less than 1 minute including everything else, that is pretty special. Being able to change bulbs in 60 cars in 1 hour.

[louismchuge]

IT'S ONLY A TENNER