"blanche cohen" wrote in message
...
Reputable car dealers have a book published by the manufacturer on the
amount of labor to repair something in the car. Sometimes it takes
less time, others a bit more time depending on the mechanic. But the
shop will charge the book rate either way.

The book rate has problems too.

Say you take you car in for a wheel balance and a brake job. Book rate says
2 hours for brakes, and half an hour for wheel balance. They are classed as
separate jobs, meaning you pay for them to take the wheel off twice, even
though it gets done at the same time. It is nothing for a four hour job to
turn into eight billable hours this way. I have never seen a book rate shop
negotiate a discount based on this either.