Inflated labour costs, my opinion and having obtained a main dealer quote, Alma road - 2 hours labour, main dealer - 45 minutes labour.
Following a failed mot test, Alma road Garage gave me a parts and approx. labour quote to replace a power steering pipe on my vehicle, they estimated that the labour costs would be 1 and half hours to 2 hours at a rate of £50 plus vat per hour.
I live very near to the garage and observed work being carried out on my vehicle bout 25 minutes later i asked the mechanic "was it all sorted", and I was told that it only needed to be tested to make sure all was ok. I asked about labour time and was told "roughly an hour and half"
The subsequent invoice was for 2 hours labour, bearing in mind that I felt that even an hour and half had been exaggerated, I asked the mechanic to explain/ clarify what exactly the job entailed and also asked for the old part, he gave me the part and I was told by him that, " he had worked on it after lunch and again when I saw it being raised up., also he mentioned that it included the mot retest and for the invoice to be typed up!
The office administrator came out to see if I was ok and she mentioned she could get the manager, I declined as to be honest it was my observation/ opinion against his mechanic and I didn't see the point.
She was extremely good and my review in no way reflects on her at all, as she was most helpful and very professional
I subsequently got a quote from the main dealer and the labour time allocated to this particular job was given as 45 minutes and the overall cost to do the job was infact less than Alma Road Garage had charged me!
Moral of the story, either watch over repairs being done so you can time labour costs or go to the main dealer as although they may charge more per hour it would have worked out less for me in the long run.
Rant over and put to bed now as life is too short! needless to say I will not be using this garage ever again. read more