Variation in dealership hourly rates

[dabaldie]

ANyone else come across this?
I work 50 miles away from where i live in Plymouth.
My local citroen dealership (who currently have my car to replace the gearbox) charge £62 +vat for labour.
yet near where i work the dealership charge £42 +vat for labour.
HOW CAN THAT BE?
same training. same kit.. same manufactuer.
surely i have a case against citroen for this. I only took it to the local one cos i cant drive the car far enough with no gears!!!

incidentely my nearest normal garage only want £32 +vat

what are the coing rates where you live?..reckon its worth a letter to citroen head office?
i wouldnt normall baulk at the labour costs but when the work involved 15 hours of labour it makes a big difference!!!

 

[david and julie]

In the case of Citroen many of the garages are actually owned and run by Citroen themselves rather than a franchise. It wouldn't surprise me if the franchise was cheaper. You also need to take rent and rates etc, into account, one area may be more expensive overheads than the other. does sound a big difference though.

Why don't you have your car recovered to the cheapest garage? you should get 50 miles for around the £80-£100 mark.

 

[dabaldie]

ive had bad experience with some garages, so i tend to play safe and use main delaers for major works.
plus i needed the gearbox done quickly and i trust these guys.
i guess the rates issue might be a factor as one is in plymouth the other in cornwall..also the cheaper one is a main citroen dealer with hyundai garage as well. the expoensive one is citroen only. sound like the franchise issue might be the excuse.
but as you say..£20 an hour is a BIG difference.,..
i might write a letetr and see what they have to say to defend the issue.

 

[david and julie]

Whilst your at it ask about the 15 hours to change a gearbox as well. I've never worked on Citroen's and I know some of them are quirky but nearly 2 days to change a box when you have the training, proper kit and facilities sounds an awful long time to me.

I could understand it if they removed yours and stripped it down but not just to change it.

 

[dabaldie]

sorry. it is 15 hours to remove, strip, rebuild and refit the box. apparently its 5 hours just to remove and refit.
thought i might as well replace the clutch at the same time only 1/2 hour extra.
bloody sub frames

 

[Quick Fit]

In the case of Citroen many of the garages are actually owned and run by Citroen themselves rather than a franchise. It wouldn't surprise me if the franchise was cheaper. You also need to take rent and rates etc, into account, one area may be more expensive overheads than the other. does sound a big difference though.

Why don't you have your car recovered to the cheapest garage? you should get 50 miles for around the £80-£100 mark.

Hi David & Julie
I’m sorry but I have to disagree. All Citroen garages are franchised apart from Citroen UK. They are still main dealers but under contract from Citroen UK.
We have 5 Citroen dealers down this way all are run from private garages though be it Sterling and Flemings the other 3 are small garages compared to the other two who are under contract from Citroen UK.
Don’t mean to be rude guys, just thought I would let you know how I see it……….
Regards
QF

 

[keyplayer]

so i tend to play safe and use main dealers for major works.

Questionable logic there mate....

 

[dabaldie]

yeah well. lets put it this way. last garage i had major work done with, when i called in on the off chance the guy was testing the glow plugs.
he had one jump lead from the battery to the plug, the other from the plug to the concrete.
i was puzzled. he then said there is your problem., your glows are knackered.
i asked him shouldnt the other end of the lead connect to the battery.. he said. and i quote

nah thats the ground mate

i'm dead serious.
only cos my engine was in 1000 bits and had the head off did it stay there..
and i wonder why i ended up going to court when the head gasket blew again after 1000 miles and he blamed me...
i know main dealers tend to be a rip off.. but at least they are usually trained and should use genuine garanteed parts.
if i coulkd find a garage down here in the wilderness that i could trust then i'd use them.. but unfortunately one bad experence is enough for a few years.

 

[ninebob]

Taking any citroen to a main dealer is a Bad Thing (TM) - they will rip you off every time.

Take a look here: http://www.andyspares.com/discussionforum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=3

If DIY repairs are within your scope they'll tell you how to do it, if you can't they'll point you at a good independant to do it for you at a fraction of the cost.

 

[david and julie]

In the case of Citroen many of the garages are actually owned and run by Citroen themselves rather than a franchise. It wouldn't surprise me if the franchise was cheaper. You also need to take rent and rates etc, into account, one area may be more expensive overheads than the other. does sound a big difference though.

Why don't you have your car recovered to the cheapest garage? you should get 50 miles for around the £80-£100 mark.

Hi David & Julie
I’m sorry but I have to disagree. All Citroen garages are franchised apart from Citroen UK. They are still main dealers but under contract from Citroen UK.
We have 5 Citroen dealers down this way all are run from private garages though be it Sterling and Flemings the other 3 are small garages compared to the other two who are under contract from Citroen UK.
Don’t mean to be rude guys, just thought I would let you know how I see it……….
Regards
QF

I don't understand your logic, you said all Citroen garages are franchised apart form Citroen UK. I said some of the garages belong to Citroen, is that not the same thing?

I cannot speak for your area, but in Manchester, Citroen themselves opened their own dealership and subsequently bought another from Dean Smith group and renamed it Citroen south. They also went on to buy others of which I know little about. All I can say is I subbed to both of these garages for nearly 10 years and my cheques came from Citroen, on no occasion did they have a third parties name on them.

 

[breezer]

just a thought, perhaps the overheads are different, so more / hour for laour

 

[dabaldie]

interesting. i asked the manager last night how come teir costs were more. i quote

there is nothing i can do about the labour rates, they are set by citroen head office

hmm...

i know main dealers will cost more.. but not necessarily cos tehy are ripping you off.
i'm paying 220 for a brand new genuine citroen clutch.Fitted. thats not bad.
and i'm paying 366 for the gearbox to be removed and refitted.(thats expensive)
then 700 for a full overhaul and rebuild of the box.(independant gearbox specialist)
ok yeah thats a grand, but another garage has quoted me 1200 for a full over haul. thats 400 for the overhaul and 800 ijn labout.. they quoted me 14 hours labour for the overhaul.
citroen claim 11 hours..including the clutch.
they are also refunding me the hours labout to investigate the cause in the first place, which was abouit a month agao. ultimately they didnt have to do that!

plus i get a nice little C2 VTR to drive about in in the mean time!

 

[david and julie]

"dabaldie"interesting. i asked the manager last night how come teir costs were more. i quote. there is nothing i can do about the labour rates, they are set by citroen head office

Yes and the manager is correct, because the garage you are using is probably part of Citroen UK. As I said earlier some of the garages are franchises and some are part of Citroen themselves. The ones belonging to Citroen are usually called Citroen retail world or centre and the private ones have their own name along with a Citroen Logo and the red and white signage, they all look the same otherwise. Here is an example of one of the garages that belongs to Citroen themselves, I picked this because I used to go there.

Citroën London West have been in Brentford since 1997 after being re-located here from Hammersmith.
We are part of the Citroën Retail Group, a wholly owned subsiduary of Citroën U.K. Limited

Quote is from this link and then press about dealer.
http://www.citroenlondonwest.citroen.co.uk/
It may pay you in future to seek out a franchise that begins with a private name rather than Citroen and then ask them for a quote. I suspect the one you mentioned near work is a private franchise and hence the difference. The warranties are unchanged which ever one you use.

plus i get a nice little C2 VTR to drive about in in the mean time!

This was always a ploy used by the dealers to try to sell cars, if you went in with a brand new car they know you aren't looking to change, so would loan you a basic model. Whereas if your car has done a few miles or is getting on a bit they give you a top spec or faster one. This is done to make your own look worse! and to make you want to buy a new car, it works in many cases too.

 

[dabaldie]

funny you should say that. the manager phoned me yesterday to ask me how i was getting on with the c2 and 'it's a nice little car isnt it'.. typical sales speil...
hehehe
not going to work. C2 is too small... now if they'd lent me a C4 or a new C5 different story...

 

[Quick Fit]

I don't understand your logic, you said all Citroen garages are franchised apart form Citroen UK. I said some of the garages belong to Citroen, is that not the same thing?

Not quite the same thing. Citroen UK has 7 Sub-run garages run by Citroen UK. The rest are Franchised. In the main most are independent on a franchised contract. Anyway as long as the OP got a result does it matter.lol
QF