Garage labour rates soar

Garage labour rates are soaring in certain parts of the UK, according to a study by Warranty Direct.

The survey of independent and main dealer workshops reveals that the UK’s average garage labour rate now stands at £74.33 per hour. Although that average rate has risen by only 0.3%, in some regions prices are up more than 10% year on year, with the most expensive hourly rate being recorded at a colossal £215.

Backing up findings from What Car?’s own findings earlier this year, London and the South East of England represent the most expensive places to get a car serviced or repaired, with three garages charging in excess of £200 per hour. The only area outside this to trouble the list of most expensive areas is South Glamorgan in Wales, which includes the city of Cardiff, which will have hiked prices.

Scotland and the North of England were the least expensive places to fix your car, with County Antrim in Northern Ireland and Cornwall also figuring in the most frugal 10.

Warranty Direct also found the difference between main dealer and non-franchised workshop pricing had narrowed to almost half of what it was in the first year of the survey in 2006, when the average difference in price was 88%. Now the difference is 45%. The survey reveals that much of that difference comes from steep price rises at independent premises, up around 25% over eight years. Over the same period, ain dealers have remained more steady, increasing less than 2%.

You can find full details of What Car?’s own findings on price variation in main dealer premises across the country here.