Personal survey

Having been quoted an _extortionate_ figure for labour charges on my new
steed, I thought I'd do a personal survey to find the average going rates
for labour on the different Marques.

This particular Harley dealer, which so happens to be the most expensive
labour charge I can find to date, wants 81.00ukp/hr.

I'm negotiating my new bike through them, and got a reasonable discount (500
ukp on 16.5Kukp bike!), I was going to have a custom paint job on it so it
needs to be stripped down and rebuilt for the custom shop. During the
initial negotiations, we were talking 400 ukp for labour as it was a 8 hr
job. Fair I thought. Now that I have decided to commit to buying the thing
through them, the price has suddenly changed to over 600 quid!

Personally I think this a fucking rip-off!

Checked with a few other HD dealers and the prices are around the 50-59 ukp
+vat. Honda dealers seem to be better at 43 quid +vat and Yam a little
cheaper at 45 inc.

What would you think is a realistic price? I've kept to main dealers, not
independents.

Since I normally do my own work I'm very out-of-touch, but my SO's car is 48
+ vat/hr.

Just interested about how fucking expensive the uk labour market has got!
and most aren't qualified mechanics, normally 1 prof to a couple of monkeys
it seems per shop ;o/

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days (Probably also going?)

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

For my interests, all the Ducati dealers have the same price
for services rather than a per hour rate. Interesting list here:
http://www.motorapido.co.uk/ducati servicing.php

My local independant charges 40 quid per hour, which is
about the going rate for Ducati servicing, as I understand it.

The bill I got [1] for the 748 refresh was a staggering 1,293
quid, which included 10 hours labour, 3 new rockers and
two new fork bodies and the major service plus VAT in
that price.

If you want paintwork done then speak to one of my sponsors,
Chris, the owner of Essex County Choppers. His paintwork
is superb and he's done both the 748 and the 620 at various
points:
http://www.essexcountychoppers.net/

[1] which was not the amount I paid, thank ****!

 

Thanks for that.
It seems a Duke is expensive to service as a Harley! ;o)

The paint thing is worth me looking at, as I haven't decided for sure yet
what I want. I'll 'ave a chat with them.

Cheers.

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

The ex Stadium (Walthamstow HD) boys seemed to be rather pricey at 70quid +.
These prices are getting completely out of hand. It wouldn't be so bad if
the spanner monkey was getting a goodly chunk, but they're not, I mean if
you take and HD monkey working for a dealer charging 80 sovs/hr, he won't
get 20, will he. Nice if he can mind, 800 quid /wk is a nice income.
I know Harley training is _supposed_ to be better than most other, or so the
dealerships try and bullshit you with the likes, but I can't see why such a
difference.

Wouldn't go to London tho' for anything now. I managed to escape that
shit-hole a few years ago, I ain't never going back! ;o)

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days.

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

I don't want to diss your choices of either cost or manufacturer but I'm
kinda curious why you would spend £16k on a bike in the first place. I
see a lot of seriously well turned out HD's and customs for a *lot* less
than that.
I briefly flirted with buying new bikes, Yamaha/Beemer/Triumph/Ducati,
but being a porridgewog went on to concern myself over racking up high
mileages and with every cosmetic blemish.
I now find putting out £3-5K on bikes, still nice and rideable, I get a
lot more pleasure. Even something like a new B12 at £5.5k or a ZX10 at
£7.5k wouldn't make me sweat excessively as I know that once I've panned
60% of their value it isn't enough to hurt badly.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Greybeard belched forth and ejected the
following:

That's not that good. 10% should easily be attainable at this time of
year.

****, I got nearly 20 off my R1 last January!

 

For bike work? My local BMW dealer charges £125ph + VAT for the car. That
said, service work is usually done on a fixed price basis and you can
haggle.

 

Try it at a Harley dealership!
Most are so arrogant they won't give a penny off, including my local shop.
Having said that, they don't have to as there is a long waiting list for
them. There are none around at the moment and if I go for the same colour as
I had before it'll be the new year before it gets here.
Getting 500 sovs off was a major coup IMHO.

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days.

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

Most Harley dealers do services at fixed price.
If you have any workshop work done in the winter time, most HD dealers give
a fair discount on labour. I'm sure I should be able to get some discount as
the work would be done out-of-season, but no, it appears not.
Well, they have 2 choices at the moment, a discount on labour or no sale! I
could be shafted either way though, because I want my cake and eat it, kind
of, I've got a discount on the bike _and_ I want a discount on the labour.
Maybe I'm being greedy, but a 81 quid an hour, I'm sure they're taking the
piss.
Local Honda main agent 43 quid +vat! (%0 quid)

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days.

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

I think the formula works the same way. If it's got Harley anywhere on it,
then double the cost at least!

That Gold Wing is looking nicer by the minute! ;o)

--
Greybeard

FLHTCUI UK-07 96 cu-in (Written off after 3 days & 182 miles!) Courtesy of a
myopic female driver.
Trumpet Trophy 1200 -96, (The Barge) for rainy days.

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

I'm going all wistfull and teary eyed here.
Sure in the late 80's PL did everything by the book. Customer was
charged the "job rate". Puts the Techies under a bit of pressure of
course, no allowance for "the fucking cam cap bolt (1) is stripped out,
pass the trueserts". I had small/medium/large torque wrenches for this
reason.

Safe to say the Techies do not see the thick end of the hourly costs.

(1) probably why the cunts put them in for a dealer service in the first
place