Dealer hourly rate

Rollnhome wrote:
Phoenix area average $129 plus shop supplies: rags, soap, etc.

RV dealers charge that rate. I tend to take my trailer to one of the many RV service shops around metro Phoenix. They do a far better job, faster and their rates average around $90-$100.

BUSSINESS 101.

Dealers have cost, overhead and profit.

Dealer who does not make a profit goes out of business.

Who do you get your next TT or repair from?

Dealers who get greedy loss business to other dealers.

Anyone can try their hand at steeling the greedy dealer’s business. It is called the free market.

parcany wrote:
I thought that out of the per hour deal the mechanic gets a percentage of that. Had to replace shocks on wifes car, dealer wanted $220.00 to change both rear shocks. Asked why so much and was told that the mechanic has to do the job by hand, no power tools at all. I changed the shocks in 30 minutes so saved that money. Was told that the mechanic gets 40 Percent of the labor, which would have been $88.00 for 30 minutes of work. They get the price out of a labor guide. Also some of that money has to go to obama care.

A buddy of mine was a gm tech until about 5 years ago, according to him if the book said a certain repair took 6 hours for example, say he finishes it in 3 1/2, he gets 6 hours of pay but at the 3 1/2 mark when he is done with that job he starts the next job, so in a 8 hour day he might have 10, 12, or more hours on his time card.

My accountant charges about $300 an hour. That is to make sure I don't cheat the feds or state and mostly to make sure I don't end up in jail because of an oversight. My annual Accountant charges are $8000 and up. I do my own payroll and withholding but doing the quarterly reports is just to critical to do them myself. We do our own sales tax reporting but that is another issue itself.

Sold a piece of my business that I invented, designed, developed, marketed and then had to pay 1/3 of it to the Feds and State for taxes. They also penalized my regular income because I was supposed to know I would close this sale and should have pre-paid taxes on that income.

Makes me sick thinking how big that check was that I sent to the feds. Yep, another greedy corporate business owner here.

Thought I was done. Guess not.

Oasisbob wrote:
That is totally insane to pay an RV tech that much. I thought $60 an hour was outrageous.

You are not paying the tech at a dealership. You are paying the dealer.
People forget that a reputable service facility has other expenses and overheard such as unemployment taxes, FICA taxes, advertising expense, liability insurance, employee benefits, utility bills, and on and on.
Rather than ragging on the service industry, let's talk about attorney fees.............

Phoenix area average $129 plus shop supplies: rags, soap, etc.

YC 1 wrote:
OCPH, Overhead cost per hour. Then a calculation to obtain a reasonable profit margin.

The overhead in a service center is horrendous. State Comp, Liability, shipping, parts, tools, training, sick leave, vacation, paid holidays, non-productive overhead (clerks, accountants etc),. Being a service manager and service business owner for 40 years the $120/hour rate is what has to be charged. Quality service people are very talented individuals and it takes years to train them. One of the most stressful jobs is being a service manager. You get it from both ends. I finally walked away from my business last year. the stress was getting to be too much.

For the pleasure of being a Corporation in California the base rate is $800 a year. If you incorporate on Dec 31, you get to pay the $800 again on Jan 1.
I felt I was mostly a tax collector. Sales taxes, employee income taxes, corporate taxes, business license tax, etc. And then there are all the regulations that make you crazy. Try keeping a can of spray paint in a locker. Or have a service tech drive their service vehicle home.

Blood pressure going up. Spent my two cents.

I agree 100% Been there. If you think the rates are too high, open your own shop, charge $35.00 and hour and see if you last more than a month..

B.O.

Most small business, are not getting filthy stinking rich. I understand how people can think they are, when they look at rates etc. But unless you have ever run a small business, with all respect you have no clue as to how high the overhead really is. And what they need to charge to keep the doors open.

I am much less concerned with the hourly rate, as opposed to, are they honest? do they do good work? Do they not do work that is not necessary? Do they stand behind their work? Those are the things I feel are far more important, than the rate alone.

YC 1 wrote:
Profit is NOT a dirty word. All the traffic will bear is also not a dirty word. I own a service business with 17 employees at one time. I live in a normal neighborhood and not in a mansion. I am responsible for shoes. All those shoes. Seventeen pairs of them to start and then their families shoes too.

If you have never run a business, owned a business, then you really have no right to decide what the dealer should charge. You have a choice, vote with your checkbook and buy elsewhere. Lets pick on dentists and doctors now.

Being responsible for all those shoes entitles me to earn a bit more than my lead tech.

So what is a reasonable income for a business owner? 50K, 100K,150K,200K. Guess you might want to ask Bill Gates or Donald Trump.

When you come to these forums you find many service people providing thousands of hours of free advice so you don't have to go to those service people.

Anyway, I have vented now. Thank that small service business person for the jobs they provide and the taxes they send to the government. You might want to ask them how many donations they are asked to make through the year too. Every other day some organization is asking for a small donation. It adds up. I spend about 5K a year on little league, soccer, police and fire support, make a wish, and you name it.

Excellent response
Most simply don'y understand all of the cost involved. Most have no idea how overhead cost impact the final price.

I agree. I used to know a Toyota tech. and he also said that the good techs do the work in a fraction of the book rate. Customer gets charged for the full rate and the tech. gets some of that. I remember him saying that the top techs also did the work in about 50% of the time and were making up to around $60K a year and that was in the late 80s.

Years ago, we took a Toyota pickup to a Toyota dealer to get the clutch replaced (unrelated to the above). On the way back home, the tranny was making strange noises. When I got home, I discovered that there was NO oil in the tranny. I don't know why they had to drain the oil out and don't know if it was deliberate or negligent. After a lot of arguing, the dealership took the tranny completely apart and claimed that it was fine, but it never did seem to run right after that. Could very well have been a consequence of a tech racing through a job to get a bigger paycheck.

dickcarl wrote:
My older brother has done automotive electric work for years. He laughs at the "book" rate for how long it will take. He's usually at 50% or less of the time quoted.

Most techs in the auto world get some percent of the quoted book rate -- so if they can do it faster, they get more money. And if they run into trouble, it COSTS them money. So they learn tricks of how to "cheat" -- what really has to come off, special tools they make, how to snake things into impossible spaces.

When I'd watch big brother do a complicated job all I'd see was parts flying everywhere, he never even LOOKED at a socket or wrench -- just knew the size -- and his manuals all stayed up on the shelf.