Bananaman Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Rang up Willimams BMW Manchester yesterday to get some prices for upgrading from single electrics to twin and fitting an Ipod connector to my new (to me ) X5.. £277.50 for upgrading to twin electrics, parts are £75, so i asked the question how come it's £202.50 for fitting, answer was it could take 1.5 Hrs @ £135/Hr..... Ipod connector was £400....£130 for parts and 2Hrs@£135/Hr. Think i'll be contacting local Auto Electrician....... Just phoned a guy and he can fit the lot for £90.... Quote
Martin Keene Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Feck me... I didn't think labour rates had got that high in London yet! I'd be *very* interested to know how much the technicians get. I'll bet it's a long way from 10% of that. In fact I wouldn't mind betting the younger guys are probably more like 5% of that... Quote
peterg Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Highest I'd heard about in London was £120/hour but that was PLUS VAT so if yours included the dreaded then I'm not too surprised, especially as Manchester is vying to be the "second capital of the UK" and with so many stupidly paid premiership footballers around the area who'll happily pay whatever it cost Quote
Hammy Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Rip off ! Ford rates around my way are £40/hr which I thought steep. Once had a Merc 280E main dealer quoted £500 for 12k service which comprised oil, filters, plugs, check everything else. Local garage did it for £130. The "hidden" cost of fancy cars I guess, and the reason BM etc can afford smart premises. Quote
Johnson Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 The BMW dealer I worked at in London used to charge £90+vat four years ago. When I started there 18 months prior to that my starting wage was £18.5k a year lol. This was because I was not a BMW technician even though I have full City and Guilds etc and at the time 15 years plus experience in the motor trade in other main dealers. The final nail in the coffin was when my apprentice who had done the full BMW Apprenticeship scheme passed his fourth year exam and was put on £21k a year (BMW exams mean "BMW" technician status)but still had to work with me as the Service manager and workshop controller didnt trust him to work on his own . Its a sad state of affairs in the motor trade I have to say. Most of the senior techs I met at BMW used the point at the most expensive part and replace method of diagnosis,and to be honest none of them understood the technology they were dealing with anyway. J Quote
worldwidewebs Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Andy, it's £50/hr for the time on your car. The rest is for as much coffee and biscuits as you can manage Quote
Bananaman Posted February 16, 2007 Author Posted February 16, 2007 Andy, it's £50/hr for the time on your car. The rest is for as much coffee and biscuits as you can manage Are you saying that i can eat £85's worth of Coffee & Biscuits in an Hr..... Quote
JeffC Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 I normally manage 3 cups and a handfull of the shortbread biccys dipped in so they go mushy Quote
cast iron Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 With your History Nanas I'm suprised you trust a BMW dealer with a towbar Quote
rm163603 Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Don't you have an E46...? If you have the oem towbar the electics are already twin electrics... do you have the euro plug or the normal electrics plug? Also in terms of the ipod adapter, don't get the bmw interface, there are much better ones out there such as the Denison products which you can get from halfords. It's also very easy to install yourself.... Drop me a PM if I can be of any help as I've done both jobs on an E46 touring... BMW towbar electrics (nightmare) and denison icelink. Quote
Norman Verona Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 The root of the high labour rates are the "tasks" loaded onto the dealerships by the manufacturers. When I ran workshops in the 70's I had 4 mechanics to one admin. (Manager and receptionists). The receptionists were technical (therefore men). Now the manufacturers contracts with the dealer means they have more admin staff in the workshop than mechanics. Top mechanics, say in Audi dealerships, in the sourth are on £50k. They have to sign a contract to pay back their training costs to get to master technician stage as the training course is, if I remember correctly, 16 weeks at a very expensive daily rate. Quote
Johnson Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 I would be very surprised if they are on 50k these figures are often bandied about but I have yet to meet anyone who admits to earning that. Hell I work for Toyota GB now in there Technical Centre and we dont get paid that by a long way.My day normally consists of fixing the cars that the dealers have messed up fixing or cannot fix. J Quote
JeffC Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Its 11 years since I worked in a main dealer bodyshop but wages then and now are still sh*te For some reason Paintsprayers were always on slightly less hourly than the spanners.. Quote
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