What's the news?
Warranty Direct has found the UK's most expensive mechanics in its annual study of garage labour rates. Taking in both franchised and independent premises the survey looked at over 10,000 cases to compile the figures.
Unsurprisingly, the most expensive place to have your car repaired is at a franchised dealer in London. One West London dealer charges its mechanics' time at £215 per hour and two other dealers were also charging over £200 for 60 minutes work. Overall the average labour rate for the capital was £91.99, with Surrey and Middlesex having the second and third highest charges at around £85 per hour. South Glamorgan in Wales is fourth in the list with an average hourly rate of £83.43 and is the only area in the top ten most expensive that isn't in the South East of England.
Scotland and the North of England are the cheapest places to have your car repaired, with an hour's labour in Angus costing £58.46 on average. County Antrim in Northern Ireland and Cornwall were also in the top ten as having the least expensive garages.
On average, across the UK, for both franchised and independent garages the hourly charge is £74.33. Although prices in some areas rose by as much as 15% other areas had a fall in charges with Warwickshire experiencing a 10% reduction.
Anything else?
Warranty Direct also looked at the difference in cost between main dealer and non-franchised garages. On average it costs 44.9% more to have work done at a dealer (£92.11) compared with an independent garage (£63.56). Over the past eight years the gap between the two types of garage has closed; in 2006 it was 83.6% more expensive to visit a franchised mechanic.
John Lambert - 10 Jun 2014