Garage labour cost £52/hour - what does YOURS charge?

twiglet98

My old Land Rover failed its MOT mainly on rusty sills. The garage guess at 10 hours labour to sort it, £52 per hour, plus VAT. The car has always been serviced and repaired by a local guy for cash and no paperwork so I don't know his hourly rate, but he doesn't do welding. It's years since I've used a proper garage for anything but the MOT, and nearly fell over when they said their rates. Before I put the car on eBay for spares or repair, is this an average sort of charge or is it worth ringing around? Obviously if I take it elsewhere I'll have to pay for a retest but could it be worth it?

s_b

didnt know land rovers had rusty sills
i knew they got rusty outrigers and everything else known to tinworm but this is a new one on me
arent they made of aluminum?

mikey72

Mine charge £40 an hour nominally, I had a sill patched, in the end it was £100 all in, for probably 3 hours work, but I took it away and undersealed and painted it, put the carpets back etc.

mikey72

For that price, I'd buy a welder and give it a go myself, thinking about it.

steveshakes

Rate sounds about right. I pay £49+vat for my mechanic. A cheaper one charges £38+vat, but isn't as good.

s_b

not many mechanics can weld these days anyway
its always best to find who the trade send their welding to and speak to the owner for best rates

PasturesNew

£100/hour. Although I know a man that does work from his home garage for £35/hour, but I use the dealer for service/MoT once a year at a fixed price.

mikey72

s_b wrote: »

not many mechanics can weld these days anyway
its always best to find who the trade send their welding to and speak to the owner for best rates

Very true. I remember the good old days when any garage could weld a patch on for you, nowadays they get someone in to do it for them. My local one has a classic car repairer, who fills his time doing a bit for the local garages.

mikey72

You can look in yellow pages for mobile welders, they are reasonable, and a lot will either come to you, or have premises they can work in if you can't get them on your drive.

twiglet98

s_b wrote: »

didnt know land rovers had rusty sills
i knew they got rusty outrigers and everything else known to tinworm but this is a new one on me
arent they made of aluminum?

It's a 97 Discovery 300TDi.

Fail cert reads "(offside and nearside inner sills at rear in) Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings"

...and "(offside and nearside inner sills at front of) .....ditto.....

I'm sure they said bits tend to break off the sills when they take them off. Perhaps I've misinterpreted what they were trying to explain - typical female - this place has done the MOT for the last four years, though the guy who services it has always taken it up there for me. They're not a dealership and seem to be well respected - I guess I should ring around, though I do realise the cheapest may not be worth trusting. I don't want to scrap the car but I just don't have the money for this.

s_b

twiglet98 wrote: »

It's a 97 Discovery 300TDi.

Fail cert reads "(offside and nearside inner sills at rear in) Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings"

...and "(offside and nearside inner sills at front of) .....ditto.....

I'm sure they said bits tend to break off the sills when they take them off. Perhaps I've misinterpreted what they were trying to explain - typical female - this place has done the MOT for the last four years, though the guy who services it has always taken it up there for me. They're not a dealership and seem to be well respected - I guess I should ring around, though I do realise the cheapest may not be worth trusting. I don't want to scrap the car but I just don't have the money for this.

sorry us in the trade dont call discoveries land rovers
thats the problem here:)
before you do anything do get another opinion because these rust really badly in the place you describe and it usually gets lots lots worse once you go in