this is not a rant but rather an inquiry into why dealership labor rates are so much higher than the labor rates at independent auto service stations. insurance? licensing?
small shops have less employees, dont use OEM parts as much, dont have insanely expensive insurance policies, schooling, tools....sooooooooooooo many factors.
gotcha. i guess this isnt a case of how come the charge so much as it is a case of how can the small shops charge so much less. what are the rates in the twin cities area? here in fargo most dealerships are at 100/hour. not sure on the small shops since i havent shopped around as i do most of my own repair work and have a mechanic friend to help me out on the bigger jobs.
A: They can. People will keep coming because it is "the dealer." B: They need to make up for the minimal profits on warranty work. I've never had a really pleasant experence with the local dealer service (not parts, I've had good luck from all the area parts depts I've used) dept anyhow. Dealer shall remain nameless, but I'm sort of happy to be out of warranty so I don't have a reason to go there. There's many local shops who are more than qualified to work on subarus and will charge much less.
Two years ago Tires Plus was getting $85 an hour in the southwest metro. Think about the fact that a nice alignment rack costs $125k.
Can anyone post some of these shops up, or would that violate some sort of rules? I'm in need of some work and want to know the names of the good Subaru shops in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, preferrably ones that know about the differentials.
