[mark_roberts]

Heard on the radio today that theres going to be some sort of enquiry into car servicing charges by government as the big dealers their average per hour charge is around £80 while an independant is around £40 per hour.

Just wait till they get their hands on some of us

Mark

[therapist]

Interesting comment

r m

[John Kelly]

Before I went into business about twelvce years ago I too used to baulk at the charges for servicing a car. They used to charge around £11 an hour service charge and all the mechanics I knew were earning about £3 an hour.
Once I became self employed I then realised that this £11 per hour had to pay for all the overheads of the business, not just the mechanics wages.
So you can't really make a comparison with a main dealer operating from probably state of the art premises, reception, spares, sales and mechanical staff to pay for, with an independant garage probably working from a hundred quid a week back street garage.
It's the same as a carpet cleaning business, a one man band working from home can operate on a lot lower turnover than an operation with staff and premises.

[Ian Gourlay]

Ive got my guy down to £15 an hour

[Karl Wildey]

Interesting topic.

Surely its down to the client to know what he is paying before he pays it. We never clean carpets then give a price, its price first, then ok from client. If you want to pay £80 an hour then it has to be cos you what their service, as appose to using the back street mechanic at a cheaper price. Usually with no guarantees.

[mark_roberts]

Ian

Do you clean his carpets for £15 an hour

Mark

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

Some of the consultants at my local private hospital charge £150 for a 10 min consultation.

Allow 5 mins inbetween thats £600/hour

Think I'll put my prices up

Cheers,

Doug

[Ian Gourlay]

Mark,

No but if you look on The General Cleaning Board they are cleaning Houses and Offices for £8.50.

[john rees]

I had my haircut yesterday, took approximately 5 minutes and cost me £7.00, So even that works out at about £84.00 an hour I can feel a price increase on the way
                          I'll get my scissors
                                                       John