labor rates at my local motorcycle shop

[Iahawk]

I was in my local motorcycle shop earlier this week picking up a filter and some other items...and they had a paper with their labor rates written down on it, posted for all to see. This isn't to complain about labor rates but merely to comment that I don't recall seeing a 'tiered' system of charges.

It read:

$119 / hr tires and scooters

$129 / hr maintenance

$149 / hr for diagnostics and repairs

[NorWeWa]

One of the reasons that machines are "totaled" when an accident happens.

Art 

[rjs987]

I do remember seeing the sign showing their labor rates when I was in that shop (same shop as Iahawk) but don't remember it being tiered labor rates... just one rate. But that was 10 months ago. Looks like the scooter labor rate went down a little from what I remember seeing.

[randyo]

gosh, Im not sure, the service manager always says this is what it is with "your discount" and I think my discount isn't a specific %, but rather the mood of the day, between 15% and 25%.  as an example, I got my '22 AK550 for $8k otd

as a land use consultant, I have saved the owner serious money over the years

[NorWeWa]

I will say for the maintenance and valve adjustment, the Kymco Downtown 300, is far nicer to work on than any of the other scooters I have owned. The Burgman 200 was a real pain.
Nice to know what I am saving with my own maintenance.

Art

[randyo]

I will say for the maintenance and valve adjustment, the Kymco Downtown 300, is far nicer to work on than any of the other scooters I have owned. The Burgman 200 was a real pain.
Nice to know what I am saving with my own maintenance.

Art

saving $ by doing my own maintenance..... nope, I get more/hr doing what I do than what they charge

[airshot]

I have an auto repair shop close by that I use and recomend.  He is a small independent shop, does great work and hasvtreated me very well over the past 10 years I have used him.  He charges 80 per hour and is making money hand over fist, always busy and pays his people better than any other shop in the area except the big dealerships. He has stated he doesnt understand how these service shops get away with charging so much, he has the same overhead, same computor diagnostic equipment, same pay for employees etc. Yes...he is always busy where the more expensive shops have far more free time which is probably why they charge more to cover the free time !!  No winder people are doing so much leasing nowadays....just keeping the vehicle thru the warranty period so there are no repair bills then turning the vehicle back in before repairs begin!!  Dealers are pricing themselves out of business, no way can they justify the 125 bucks per hour when they only pay their help 25-30 per hour if that !!  The machine shop where I worked can only get 100 per hour for labor and they have nunerous quarter million dollar CNC machines to pay for, I dont see any quarter million dollar pieces of equipment at an auto repair center !!   The charge that rate because they can !!  No wonder people are learning to do their own repairs !!

[NorWeWa]

I would still do maintenance on my scooters, even if the local dealer charged $2.00 an hour.

Art 

[randyo]

no way can they justify the 125 bucks per hour when they only pay their help 25-30 per hour if that !! 

having run a small business, I strongly disagree.  Any successful business plan, charge rates will be 4x minimum of pay scale, 5 or 6 x if you ever plan on retiring

[Viper254]

I used to use a shop that charged lower rates for scooters, albeit not much. I'm not sure why. The engines are simpler usually, but the bodywork is more troubling in a shop situation.

[Neil955i]

I used to use a shop that charged lower rates for scooters, albeit not much. I'm not sure why. The engines are simpler usually, but the bodywork is more troubling in a shop situation.

Maybe because they know that the market demographic here is (generally) less affluent?

[rjs987]

Anyone who knows anything about running a business and even just having employees KNOWS that what the employee gets paid is only a fraction of what it cost the business to even HAVE that employee. What with taxes (SSA in addition to state and fed), insurance, training, medical (YES, the employer pays a big part of that even if the employee also pays some) as well as a few other costs besides the payroll that the employee actually gets. So any business that has employees has to pay at least 3 times the wage that is actually paid to each employee just to keep them there. And then that business still has to make enough profit to stay in business.

[CROSSBOLT]

Yikes! The average person cannot afford that! Those rates one would expect the repairs would be right every time.

[Stig / Major Tom]

In 2013 when I brought my new LIKE200i (440 miles on it) back to the dealership to have a set of City Grips installed - I paid $130.
This was my first experience with the dealer's maintenance dept.
They did a good job - had it ready the next day.

They swapped tires for my Liberty for @$35 ea. when I removed the wheels.
Messed up the tire valve on one and added scratches to the black painted rim.
My old Vespa dealer R&R'd (with their press) a bearing in the Like's rear fork and put a new tire on the Kymco wheel for $40.

I imagine their prices are higher now for the same work, since a head of lettuce has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, too.

Stig

[randyo]

Anyone who knows anything about running a business and even just having employees KNOWS that what the employee gets paid is only a fraction of what it cost the business to even HAVE that employee. What with taxes (SSA in addition to state and fed), insurance, training, medical (YES, the employer pays a big part of that even if the employee also pays some) as well as a few other costs besides the payroll that the employee actually gets. So any business that has employees has to pay at least 3 times the wage that is actually paid to each employee just to keep them there. And then that business still has to make enough profit to stay in business.

years ago, you could use a 3x multiplier, no more, as I posted earlier, 4-5x or more, you have to add in the overhead that is there whether you are working on a customer's job, utilities, insurance, taxes, and interest on debt, for the building and infrastructure.