Questions and Answers

Labor Time Guides Q. Vince: I have enjoyed your articles on the web. I have a question that has bothered me for some time. I would like to know if there is some standard manual that sets auto repair labor rates (ie muffler takes 1.5 hours). I got into a dispute with a mechanic about a labor charge that I thought was excessive.

The mechanic told me that the labor charge is set by some manual based on the work performed (and how long is usually takes according to the manual) rather than how long it actually took (which was much less). However, I wound up paying it anyway.

Do you know what he is talking about? If so, where would I find a copy of this manual? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John

A. I know exactly what he is talking about John. I use it everyday. These manuals are called Parts and Labor Estimating Guides and are published by Chilton and Motor Manuals. They give the standard times for just about every repair on a vehicle. A typical entry looks like this:

Labor	Skill Level	Warr.	Std.
Manifold Pressure/Vacuum Sensor, Replace	A	0.5	0.8

The Warranty time is what the factory pays the dealer for a specific repair and the Standard time is much closer to the actual time it takes to do the job. The times are arrived at by averaging out the times for doing the job fast and doing it slowly.

Most often mechanics can do the job in less time than the book says simply because they have done it so many times. You get good by sheer repetition. Sometimes the book does not allow enough time to do a job, hence the expression "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." When I first started out in this business I worked for an old German Mechanic and he used to say You pay me for what I know, not what I do. And it is true, years of experience will allow mechanis to beat the time guides.

You can purchase these manuals but they are very expensive, over $1500.00 to $2,000.00 for a complete set.

Alldata offers a DIY subscription service that has all the repair information, TSBs and labor times for individual vehicles.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA