Is Ford Servicing just a giant scam?

System

motorguy wrote: »

Because you'll pay at least 3-4 times the price that your local mechanic will charge and your local mechanic wont charge you undiscounted main dealer prices for parts.

The difference in labour per hour between my local main dealer and a local garage I trust is less than £15/hr.

The mechanic i use charges £12 an hour, uses a decent but sensibly priced motor factors for the parts and doesnt drum up work because hes been "targeted" by his manager to hit a particular revenue target for that month.

Mechanics aren't given revenue targets at main dealers. They get a bonus when they go over a certain number of "book hours" work a month but the quickest way to get to that figure and get the bonus is to do services, not repairs. You can do a service with a book time of 1.5hrs in say 1hr without scrimping and its going to take that every time. Any repair you do has a book time but quite often a repair has a nasty habit of becoming more involved. For example a seized rear calliper can very very quickly grow from simply replacing the calliper to having to replace a brake pipe as well because quite often the unions are seized into the calliper and you end up cutting the pipe so your book time goes out the window and with it your bonus.

As a mechanic I'd not even apply for a job paying £12 an hour, I was on £10/hr in the late 90s, I used to earn that driving a lorry so yours must be really desperate for work and be unemployable to be charging that. At £12 an hour with business overheads if he has his own place he'll be working for less than national minimum wage. I doubt he can even afford disposable steering wheel and seat covers so your car gets blathered with oil and grease. So you're either lying about the £12/hr or you're using some random bloke off the local council estate who does it on your drive or the side of the road using a cheap set of tools, has done the odd few jobs on his own motors and is doing jobs on the side/cash only. Probably fine for doing stuff like basic servicing and simpler repairs like brakes, suspension, alternators and starters but is most likely to fall flat on his face doing anything that involves electrical, engine management and fuel systems costing you an arm and a leg as he randomly replaces stuff to try to fix the problem. There's also a high chance that even the servicing isn't done properly, just done well enough that someone who hasn't been a mechanic wouldn't know the difference.

shopbot

motorguy wrote: »

Because you'll pay at least 3-4 times the price that your local mechanic will charge and your local mechanic wont charge you undiscounted main dealer prices for parts.

The mechanic i use charges £12 an hour, uses a decent but sensibly priced motor factors for the parts and doesnt drum up work because hes been "targeted" by his manager to hit a particular revenue target for that month.

The question I'd ask is my is he only charging £12 per hour, when if he has the skills he should charging more than double that.

If he was doing a standard PAYE job thats £23,400 a year. He's not though, he's going to have overheads on top of that like insurance, capital costs before you even get into things like premises, a vehicle etc.

Is this a sideline for him?

motorguy

Tarambor wrote: »

The difference in labour per hour between my local main dealer and a local garage I trust is less than £15/hr.

Sorry you havent been able to find a local cheaper mechanic you trust in your area.

Tarambor wrote: »

Mechanics aren't given revenue targets at main dealers. They get a bonus when they go over a certain number of "book hours" work a month but the quickest way to get to that figure and get the bonus is to do services, not repairs. You can do a service with a book time of 1.5hrs in say 1hr without scrimping and its going to take that every time. Any repair you do has a book time but quite often a repair has a nasty habit of becoming more involved. For example a seized rear calliper can very very quickly grow from simply replacing the calliper to having to replace a brake pipe as well because quite often the unions are seized into the calliper and you end up cutting the pipe so your book time goes out the window and with it your bonus.

Mechanics might not be, but service departments are. Lets be honest, its where they make their money

Tarambor wrote: »

As a mechanic I'd not even apply for a job paying £12 an hour, I was on £10/hr in the late 90s, I used to earn that driving a lorry so yours must be really desperate for work and be unemployable to be charging that. At £12 an hour with business overheads if he has his own place he'll be working for less than national minimum wage. I doubt he can even afford disposable steering wheel and seat covers so your car gets blathered with oil and grease. So you're either lying about the £12/hr or you're using some random bloke off the local council estate who does it on your drive or the side of the road using a cheap set of tools, has done the odd few jobs on his own motors and is doing jobs on the side/cash only. Probably fine for doing stuff like basic servicing and simpler repairs like brakes, suspension, alternators and starters but is most likely to fall flat on his face doing anything that involves electrical, engine management and fuel systems costing you an arm and a leg as he randomly replaces stuff to try to fix the problem. There's also a high chance that even the servicing isn't done properly, just done well enough that someone who hasn't been a mechanic wouldn't know the difference.

I have no reason to lie, and i'm telling the truth.

He charges me £12 an hour. He operates from his own garage at the side of his (own) house, has a full blown car lift in the garage, has a decent amount of proper full blown Snap-On diagnostics equipment with all the code cards, and knows a load of other decent mechanics he can call on at main dealers for specific problems.

Hes always busy, does a decent job and i've been using him since my days in the motor trade. Puts his hand to electrical work too, so very handy for central locking problems, door windows not working, etc. Also sorted out a load of electrical problems and trickier stuff with code faults etc that werent easy sorted. He does a bit of bodywork too, but i personally wouldnt use him for that as hes not fantastic at it (nobodys perfect, eh?)

If its particullarly heavy duty stuff - he'll probably offload it to someone else who'll he recommend, although i've only seem him doing that once with a car i left him in.

I've probably put maybe 150 cars through him over the years (most of those trade), and all my family have used him for years too.

Not sure where you're getting working for less than the minimum wage from - even if he charges EVERYONE £12 an hour (and i'd say if you just come in as a one off or arent a regular he charges a bit more), does an 8 hour day, 5.5 days a week, and works 48 weeks a year, then thats £25,000. On top of that hes probably getting a back hander from the motor factors he uses and sells the odd car too.

He has no advertising costs as hes well known in the area.

I'm sure its hardly a surprise to you that the self employed dont pay tax at the regular rate, btw. I know i dont as an IT contractor.

He knows his stuff, is reliable, easy to pay and seems to have a comfortable enough lifestyle, just stepping outside his house everyday and not working any evenings.

motorguy

Ill also add - i dont give a monkeys if he could earn more elsewhere - the point is, there are loads of decent mechanics all over the country, who dont charge an arm and a leg and who can be relied upon to do a decent job, rather than being stiffed by a main dealer at full dealer rates like seems to be happening with the O/P for work that sounds questionable in the first place.

As i said in my original post on the subject, with main dealers charging £80-£100 an hour, its not hard to find a decent local mechanic who'll do a good job for a fraction of that.

motorguy

shopbot wrote: »

The question I'd ask is my is he only charging £12 per hour, when if he has the skills he should charging more than double that.

If he was doing a standard PAYE job thats £23,400 a year. He's not though, he's going to have overheads on top of that like insurance, capital costs before you even get into things like premises, a vehicle etc.

Is this a sideline for him?

As i said in my subsequent post there, he might not charge everyone as little as that, but i know even for non regulars he doesnt charge a fortune.

Whilst he may have (very small) overheads (he works from home) hes not going to be paying tax at a regular PAYE rate. Also he has no travel costs to and from work either.

He has a comfortable lifestyle, a young family and has been doing it for years.

Hes not the only mechanic around here that charges those rates. Theres another guy i used to use - well established, big custom built garage at the side of his house, charges simlar. Semi retired now so really just does servicing and the more regular stuff - wouldnt be in to electricals or stuff like that.