Many employers consider three hours ago as the labor rate in labor rates and labor costs. Unfortunately, many consumers don’t realize that labor rates have changed. The old ways of determining the average American’s labor are no longer accurate, and companies are starting to notice.
How has this changed? Well, for starters, auto dealers have always given a more affordable estimate than other car companies. But two hours ago, when you walked into a dealership to purchase a vehicle, the labor rates were drastically different from today. Before you even stepped foot into the lot, the hourly labor rates were already adjusted according to how long it would take you to get your vehicle in the lot and back. Today’s labor rates are based on how long it would take you to get to the dealership, on average.
If you drive a new vehicle, you can expect to pay up to $200 more in automotive repair costs than you would have been previously. This is because labor rates are no longer based on how long it takes you to fix your vehicle. They are now based on how many hours it would take you to fix the vehicle. If your car was just returned to you and it requires only a few hours’ worths of labor to be fixed, your mechanic may tell you that you are being overcharged.
So, you’re being overcharged, and you have no idea because your labor rate was based on the total estimated time required to fix the car. Now that the labor rate has been changed, how is the estimated reading time determined? Most people don’t know that the estimated reading time used to be derived by using your car door opener. Today, mechanics use a computerized vehicle information system (VIS) to determine your estimated reading time. Your estimated reading time now depends only on the VIS and no longer on the door opener.
Why is the labor rate increasing? Since VIS has figured out how long it takes to repair a vehicle, it is able to calculate your repair costs. This allows them to charge you less. Why did the automotive industry make this change? Because they realized that more people would rather pay less for their repairs if they did not have to deal with long hours.
Are you surprised that your mechanic thinks that charging you less now is a good idea? Not only is your labor rate being increased, but your repair costs are too. You are now paying to repair something that you were able to get done with only a few hours ago? Now, instead of charging you what it would cost your car to be fixed, your mechanic is trying to get more money out of you by charging you a lower rate.
Why is the automotive industry trying to reduce labor rates now? In the past, they have overcharged their customers and then given them warranty labor rates in order to cover themselves. Some car dealerships have even been sued because they have overcharged their customers. How does this affect you? It could force you to go back to your dealer, where you had your car fixed for warranty purposes. If that happens, you could lose thousands of dollars.
The car dealers are using these changes to reduce labor costs to you and me. Does the dealer know that it is cheaper to fix a car that has one hour of labor costs than it is to repair a car that needs two hours of labor costs? So the dealer will try to convince you that you should pay them more money. Well, all of us should really take a hard look in the mirror before we decide to buy from any particular car dealer. If you are buying from an online retailer, make sure you check out their customer pay values. If the retail store has higher labor rates and they are not offering any warranty or extended service plans to their customers, you might want to check into other retailers. For more information on dealership labor rates, be sure to visit Warranty Part.