You might need to pay £215 an hour at a mechanic’s workshop to get your car fixed as figures by Warranty Direct annual labour rates show a new record high rate. Overall the cost of the UK’s average labour rate, for main and non-franchised dealers combined, currently sits at £74.33.
Warranty Direct looked at more than 10,000 cases and found that London is the most expensive place to get a car repaired with an average of £91.99 an hour which is a three per cent rise on 2013. The priciest work was done at a franchised workshop in West London which incurred a bill of £215/hr. This was the highest labour cost ever recorded in the 11 years since Warranty Direct has been carrying out the research. It also found two other garages that were charging more than £200 per hour for work.
According to the study, South East leads the top ten most expensive regions, with Surrey in second place at £85.83 and Middlesex the third costliest at £85.17. At the lower end Scotland and the North of England were the cheapest to fix a car.
The cheapest average rate was £58.46 per hour in Angus in Scotland, followed by East Lothian at £60.28, while County Durham was the third cheapest at £62.45. In the meantime, the gap between the cost of the franchised and non-franchised has also closed dramatically. In 2006, the gap between the cost of the Franchised and non-franchised was a massive 84 per cent. However, in 2014 that gap had closed to 45 per cent.
Warranty Direct managing director, David Gerrans, said; “The shrinking price difference between main dealers and non-franchised workshops could be due to the increasing popularity of dearer fast-fits and auto centres that seem to be taking business away from less expensive independents, as well as the advent of manufacturer schemes that offer discounts for older cars and help keep the overall franchised rate down.”
