Spark Plugs

Remember, what is fair is not dictated by the shop that performed the service. It is dictated by you, the customer. Shops only charge the rate set my the market. You as the consumer, have the power to reduce prices. If enough customers refuse to pay $13.78 per plug and $64/hour for labor, the shops would reduce prices.

Supply and demand.

Z

Besides salary, rent and insurance:

When your car is brought in, As soon as it is brought in, there begins administrative costs: ie writing or computer generating a work order, tracking the parts from the invoice to the work order, marking them up.

Having the technician punch in on the work order, after you got the flat rate time from your flate rate book or software, Then cross refferencing to see if the technician beat or worked slower than the flat rate time.

Not that I would mark up a plug to more than double, I have to make a living, so I use 25% to 40% depending on the particular customer. I have a tier built into my software.

But some people have more overhead and have to make more, have you seen the land prices on the strips? $10,000.00 per square foot!

Refinish King

utilities

'hazardous waste' disposal

tools

software for scan tools

replacements for voltmeters and other measuring instruments that get used and abused

reference materials

subscriptions to tech services

cost of a 'shop vehicle'

reserve for the inevitable 'rework necessary' jobs

two weeks (minimum) non-productive time per year per employee (vacations)

cost of sending employees to schools

accountants and lawyers

Even if you weren't overcharged, being billed $13.78 for $5.99 plugs gives the *perception* of being ripped off. The best advice I could give would be to get a written estimate next time or at least ask what the expected total will be. If it seems too high, have him break it down for you. H

Good point there my friend!

Refinish King

The customer never sees our $100.00 a week Snap On payment either, the $229.00 a month plus tax for the Mitchell On Demand, The scanner updates, the Vantage update card, ect, ect!

Ok, figured I'd add in my 2 cents to this topic. First off, if I remember correctly, the OP had said that the mechanic went to the dealer for the part, so the $5.99 price that has been talked about may be irrelevant since I think that was AZ's price. As a reference, I own a 91 Audi 200TQ with a 20 valve engine, dealer price for the spark plugs are around $32 each. Second, what was the grand total cost? This is probably more likely to happen at a larger chain than at a local garage, but, companies have different financial indicators they use to judge performance. Therefore, the mark up on the plugs may be inflated but the mark up on something else may be cut, so the individual pieces match the focus from some CEO who hasn't gotten his hands dirty on a car in decades. I assume you got a price before you had the work done, and it must have seemed fair or you wouldn't have done it. Did the final price match what was given? If so, then the mark up for the plugs is kind of moot.

Enjoy Bill

91 Audi 200TQ ($350 tune up, done when I was stupid and had more money than time) 96 Chevy Z71 K1500 (will be doing my own tune up when it comes due)

"Hairy" wrote in message news:c1rvjr$1mdu3c$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-223602.news.uni-berlin.de...

THIS IS THE BEST ADVICE (ANSWER) SO FAR!!!!