Dealer rounding labor up?

**cascade** · 07-01-2011, 08:09 PM

Long story short, brought the car in for a quick job. Car was in the bay for 45 minutes. Labor invoice said they started at 4:16, ended at 5:01. They charged me for 1.0 hours of labor. I insisted that it should be 0.75 hours of labor, and they told me they charge based upon what the book estimates, and that I should be happy it got done faster. I said, "your sign says $80 an hour, you worked for three quarters of an hour. There's nothing up there about flat rate prices. Their general manager said "pay it or we keep the keys." Called the police, police said it is how it is, they can pretty much do what they want. Who can I go to in order to address this?

**FORD RECOVERY EXPERT** · 07-01-2011, 08:12 PM

first, read over what you signed with a fine toothed comb......

**cascade** · 07-01-2011, 08:13 PM

I never signed a thing. I gave them the keys, they took it in and did the work. This is a large chevrolet dealership.

**FORD RECOVERY EXPERT** · 07-01-2011, 08:14 PM

hmmm. I've ALWAYS had to sign the Work Order at the stealership.....

**Smittro** · 07-02-2011, 03:18 AM

Not too many Lawyers gonna take a $20 dollar case.
Polly cost you 100 times that in fees just to get some ball rolling on it..

Caulk it up to lessons learned, and don't go there ever again.. imho

**werewolf** · 07-02-2011, 06:07 AM

The mechanic gets paid for how long the book says the job will take. if he gets the job done faster and can do more work per day he makes more money. if he takes longer he loses money and they shouldn't charge you more. The only time they charge exact time is for troubleshooting the problem if they don't know what is wrong with the car. This is common at almost all shops that I have dealt with.

**importhater81** · 07-02-2011, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by cascade

Long story short, brought the car in for a quick job. Car was in the bay for 45 minutes. Labor invoice said they started at 4:16, ended at 5:01. They charged me for 1.0 hours of labor. I insisted that it should be 0.75 hours of labor, and they told me they charge based upon what the book estimates, and that I should be happy it got done faster. I said, "your sign says $80 an hour, you worked for three quarters of an hour. There's nothing up there about flat rate prices. Their general manager said "pay it or we keep the keys." Called the police, police said it is how it is, they can pretty much do what they want. Who can I go to in order to address this?

You pay based on what book time calls for,not how long it takes the tech to do. Everybody should understand this when they take their car in for repair.

Being fast and good is how a tech makes money. You have no case and really shouldn't even be complaining.

**cascade** · 07-02-2011, 08:31 AM

I brought it in because I had a busy schedule and didn't have time to do it myself. It was simply changing one hose. I've done it before in about twenty minutes, and I'm far from mechanically proficient. I'm not sure why the book estimates that a trained, professional technician takes an hour to do it.

**BrntWS6** · 07-02-2011, 08:36 AM

Didn't they give you a price before hand? Always ask how much it's going to be...assume nothing.

**M-1000** · 07-02-2011, 10:52 AM

almost all dealerships are flat rate. youre going to pay for an hour labour. deal with it. there is no way around it.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 07-02-2011, 11:30 AM

As stated, book rate is what the vehicle manufacturer has determined how long it will take to perform a given task. This is what dealers charge for that given task. Unless they are working for flat rate this is also how the tech is paid. Some techs are more skilled/proficient than others. Faster work means more hours booked means higher pay for less hours.

It's been like this since I can remember. Unless it's been stipulated that it's a flat rate job (chasing down electrical demons, etc) then you're going to pay book rate.

**oharam** · 07-02-2011, 11:30 AM

It depends on the shop. My shop charges 85 an hour, and they charge for actual time. Each shop has its own set of rules, and if they want to charge for an hour, and it only takes 3/4 of the time, thats what they charge.

**cascade** · 07-02-2011, 01:54 PM

That's fine, I'll never go back. Poor decision on the manager's part, as now I can simply write a few poor reviews online and tell all of my friends, and they will lose a lot more than $20 worth of business.

**Naaman** · 07-02-2011, 02:44 PM

Dude, everyone here is saying the same thing I learned in Auto shop: there is a universal "book" that explains how long a job should take. That is the cost of the job whether it takes longer or shorter, you pay the same.

The reason that it's like this is so that shops CAN'T rip people off for stupid stuff (you bring your car in for a 1.0 hour job, and they let it sit all day and charge you 8 hours of work).

Time to get over it, man. You didn't get ripped off.

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 07-02-2011, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by cascade

That's fine, I'll never go back. Poor decision on the manager's part, as now I can simply write a few poor reviews online and tell all of my friends, and they will lose a lot more than $20 worth of business.

So if it reallly took an hour and a half. Would you pay the extra??

Think about it from the Tech point of view.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 07-02-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Naaman

Dude, everyone here is saying the same thing I learned in Auto shop: there is a universal "book" that explains how long a job should take. That is the cost of the job whether it takes longer or shorter, you pay the same.

The reason that it's like this is so that shops CAN'T rip people off for stupid stuff (you bring your car in for a 1.0 hour job, and they let it sit all day and charge you 8 hours of work).

Time to get over it, man. You didn't get ripped off.

It's not a universal book so much as a manufacturers time study to determine how long things take to do.

Usually the pilot cars that go down the line are also disassembled and used by the manufacturer to determine the time it will take to do repairs.

**importhater81** · 07-03-2011, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by cascade

That's fine, I'll never go back. Poor decision on the manager's part, as now I can simply write a few poor reviews online and tell all of my friends, and they will lose a lot more than $20 worth of business.

Poor reviews online about what? They quoted you a price and you agreed to it.

No dealer or repair shop can perform un-authorized work.

**oharam** · 07-03-2011, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by Ed Blown Vert

So if it reallly took an hour and a half. Would you pay the extra??

Think about it from the Tech point of view.

It could take 8 hours to do a job, if the tech is on flat rate, then he is only getting paid for what the "book" says the job is going to take.

Honestly, it is $20. If it was $200, then I could see having an issue, but $20? Honestly, you've probably wasted $20 in gas just driving around, or showing off your car. I know I have!

**cammed goat** · 07-03-2011, 10:02 AM

The dealership I work for doesn't rip people off. However we HAVE received negative feedback for upselling work the customers NEEDED(fluids, tires, brakes). And it is true, if I do a job that pays 8 hrs and I get the job done in 2.5(which I HAVE done), then I get paid for the 8 hours. Then...on to the next repair.

And...I am flat-rate. Start looking for another dealership OP. If you did, in fact, give negative feedback for that dealership, that shop CAN refuse work. Even if you have your car towed there. They can refuse to work on it.

**Naaman** · 07-03-2011, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by 67CamaroRSSS

It's not a universal book so much as a manufacturers time study to determine how long things take to do.

Usually the pilot cars that go down the line are also disassembled and used by the manufacturer to determine the time it will take to do repairs.

By "universal," I meant, per car.