Shop Rate book

[CivicSpoon]

A couple years ago, when shopping at a local Pep Boys, I saw a couple books on their discount rack. It was a book that listed makes and models up until a certain year (printed on the cover). It gave an estimate of how many hours a particular job would take, and an estimate of what the charge. I'm not positive on the how much to charge thing; it's been a couple years since I've seen one of the books. Basically it's something that every dealership has; whether theirs is a book or done through a computer.

My friend's are talking about starting their own shop now, and that kind of book would interesting to have for reference. The problem is that I can't remember the name of the book, or who prints it, and a web search hasn't turned up anything. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Edit: Nevermind, I just found it. It's Chilton's Labor Guide

[wafrederick]

Most do it on the computer,Alldata and Mitchell are two that do this including how to repair side..Plus the book is not always right on labor.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by wafrederick

.Plus the book is not always right on labor.

Agreed.
Be careful when using these labor guides. In my experience, some are accurate, but some simply are tools for mechanics to rip off and piss off customers.

The General Motors guidebooks seem to be fairly accurate, as I remember.

However, NAPA provides a labor guide for independent mechanics to use, on-line. From what I have seen, the NAPA guide provides far more time for many jobs than is actually required. Some unscrupulous mechanics use this NAPA guide to inflate the customer repair bills. In the long run, such gouging can ruin a shops reputation.

For example, I used to use a mechanics shop for many repair jobs because I was too busy at work to do the work myself. He used to charge me his actual time and materials and all was good.

However, about 2 years ago, he started to use the NAPA on-line guide for estimates and billing. If a customer questioned the bill, he would call up the NAPA guide on-line and show the customer the time for the job.

I got completely pissed-off when he tried this with me. I could see NAPA inflated the times frequently. For example, they called for 6 hours to change a heater core on my '97 Cad Deville. I did the job in 80 minutes, first time. If I was to do it again, it would take me about 50 minutes.

So how the hell could NAPA, and thus my mechanic, justify an EXTRA 5 HOURS at $70/hr ??? It was $350 of pure rip-off, imo!

Needless to say, I stopped using that mechanic. I also don't use any shop that bills me by any labor guide other than that provided by an auto manufacturer.

[knelleken]

I would almost be willing to bet that in your case, they looked up the wrong application or model. in my experience, standardized labor times have been dramatically cut over the years. the problem is, warranty companies and manufactures do not like paying technicians, AT ALL for their work.
so, manufacture labor times are hacked and warranty work alone will dround any flat rate tech, peroid..
now, as for Michiel on demand. they must be taking laber times from the captin crunch warranty companies(along with piles of cash) and/or taking oem labor times and adding x% in order to come up with there labor times.
my point is, the only people gitting screwed by (most) standerdized labor times is the technician working on the car.
not always the case but its a good 50/50. I have personally taken it in the shorts more then a few times with michiel on demand. I am a bit courous about alldata, wounder if its a better program?

[wafrederick]

I can prove it.For example the book says to remove a transmission in 3 hours and I can do it at least an hour.The book is sometimes wrong

[knelleken]

so your telling me that you expect a technician to R&R 8+ transmissions a day just to make a living?
ya, in some vehicles you can pull a transmission fairly quick. the problem with your statement is that you don't consider the time it takes to diagnose a problem, getting the vehicle in a workable spot and position, repairing the problem, re installing the transmission, and test driving the vehicle to insure that it is safe for the customer. technicians generally have degrees, 30+k invested in tools, and continued education that they must pay for just for the privilege to work on your car. they are only paid on hours flagged and i guarantee you that no sane person would ever R&R any transmission for 15-25 bucks. especially after buying thousands of dollars worth the tools to do it.
if you(or anyone else for that matter) are upset because of high repair bills, blame the industry,not the repair guy. he doesent set the 100.00hr labor,the 50%-300% parts mark up, the outragous shop suppily charge, chemical additives that are not even needed in flushes,etc,etc,etc,......no, they are paid 15-25 dollers per flat rate hour. trust me, we (in general)are not making a killing at this job.infact, we watch everyone else make a killing on the backs of us.