Morris Minor Owners Club

Just looking through the website of a well-known, long-established Minor repair/restore and upgrade centre, and was astounded to see the prices being charged for upgrades. The sad thing is that some people will happily pay these prices and think they have a good deal.

Some examples:

Electric washer kit - over £82 plus VAT
Rear fog lamp - over £40 plus VAT
Manual reversing lamp - as above.
Cigar lighter - £50 plus VAT.

Hell's teeth!

OK not everybody is mechanically minded, but a DIY fog lamp job can be done for under £5, cigar lighter even less, and as for an electric washer kit at £83??

The prices you quote include supply & fitting and as with anything, not just upgrades, if you're paying someone else to do the work for you then it is obviously going to cost quite a bit more than if you did it yourself, especially with labour rates at £40 and upwards per hour. If people would rather pay someone else to work on their car rather than do it themselves it's up to them, and better to be safe than sorry where electrical work is concerned if you don't feel confident about doing it yourself.

Point is well made by Lou. The average labour rate at garages now is £45 ph. (Note average). So £5 worth of parts and an hour labour and you have £50 for even the simpliest of jobs. No one works for free (wages / overheads etc) so why do some people expect to get someone else to work for them for nothing....?

My thoughts are if you cant fit a fog light,washer kit etc you shouldnt be owning a car

irmscher wrote:My thoughts are if you cant fit a fog light,washer kit etc you shouldnt be owning a car

my thoughts as well
go by bus

irmscher wrote:My thoughts are if you cant fit a fog light,washer kit etc you shouldnt be owning a car

That's a bit harsh!

My thoughts are - why would anyone WANT any of these extras on a Minor ??? It works perfectly well without them!!

By the same logic people shouldn't be allowed to use computers unless they can write software.
Seems rather harsh to me.

JOWETTJAVELIN wrote:Electric washer kit - over £82 plus VAT
Rear fog lamp - over £40 plus VAT
Manual reversing lamp - as above.
Cigar lighter - £50 plus VAT.

Hell's teeth!

OK not everybody is mechanically minded, but a DIY fog lamp job can be done for under £5, cigar lighter even less, and as for an electric washer kit at £83??

I too fear that the original poster may not have been aware that these included fitting.. These prices would be ridiculous if for just parts, but as said above, including fitting, not all that bad really. For example rear lights require wiring threading neatly through the car and securing, eg under carpets, behind side panels maybe etc. And lighter sockets will need brackets making up, and securing to the car somewhere. Suitable electrical connectors used, and wiring threaded through bulkhead, power taken neatly off terminals etc, where a lot of these things may be done a lot more cheaply, and sometimes crudely by an amateur.

I am well aware of garage labour rates and the fact they have to make a charge for a job, but at what labour rates? £40 an hour, with fog lamp at fifty odd quid equals an hour's job to fit a fog lamp. Hmm. I can do it in 15 mins tops and I'm an amatuer, so a professional should take even less time.

15 minutes??? Hmmm. First you would need to carry out a Risk Assessment on the car, then in conjunction with the owner discuss exactly where said fog lamp is to be sited (remember - must be in pairs.....unless used with headlamps...which negates the whole purpose of a 'fog' lamp) and then further discussions re switch placement, and if to be wired to be on with sidelamps only, or with headlamps (and consider if with dip or main beam, or both..) and then write up a Method Statement and have the owner sign off on this. Then consider Safety Gear to be worn (eyes/ears/breathing/hi-viz/gloves) and draw necessary equipment from store. Then select tools (check for current PAT certificate on any electrical equipment) - move the car to designated area and erect protective barriers and signs around the vehicle. It's now lunch time . Return after lunch, draw the new parts from stores and proceed to fit to the car. Now this part may well take only 15 minutes if working well and nothing goes wrong..... Then agree aiming of lamp with owner and set to his wishes. Finally, remove barriers - move vehicle out of repair area, and road test - completing Quality Assurance form on completion. Owner then to inspect the work and sign off the Quality form if satisfied. Bill to be made up and presented to owner along with Customer Satisfaction questionnaire - to be filled in and returned before vehicle is removed from premises. Should take most of a day I would think !!

No tea breaks! You'd die of thirst!

Very few traders - certainly in London / South East - seem to charge for 'fractions' of an hour so even a quick fifteen minute job will attract a minimum of an hourly fee (as I discovered when I had to call a plumber out recently )

LouiseM wrote:Very few traders - certainly in London / South East - seem to charge for 'fractions' of an hour so even a quick fifteen minute job will attract a minimum of an hourly fee (as I discovered when I had to call a plumber out recently )

thats the problem living in london here we have a couple of old time garages where the guys charge £30 an hour, the job. lets say fit a new head light. then if it took 15 mins would charge £7,50 for their time.

I agree those prices sound steep for simple jobs but Morris minor specialist prices are insignificant compared to Moderns.
Your main dealer wouldn't fit a light bulb for less than £25.00.
I was quoted £280 + VAT to change the glow plugs in my wifes car, job cost me £18.98 in parts and took less than an hour.
Rich

work on my x3 bmw 2 months ago £120 plus vat per hour,and I bet even the most experienced in the workshop was a fitter rather than a mechanic,with the worst case a young lad/lady working unsupervised on monkey money ,with work just signed off blindly

They wanted £90 plus vat to plug the blooming computer in

The thing with modern cars is that you cannot, as a rule, repair parts. All that's involved is removing the defective part and replacing it with a brand new one, and a computer tells you what, where and why it has gone wrong.

Really, because there is no imagination or ingenuity required above and beyond replacing a part supplied by the manufacturer, labour rates should be cheaper.

Still, dealers can charge what they like when you come in with a faulty ECU, dual-mass flywheel, diesel particulate filter or turbo-boost hyper eco i-drive because you can't repair the damn things yourself (or even locate it on the car).

That's why I am never going to have a modern car again. True you can't beat a modern motor-car but they're so boring and in many respects not even well-designed.

In my opinion, the period that produced the best ever automobiles was the late 1980s to late 1990s.

Talking of labour rates,I popped into our local gents hairdressers (barbers for you old ones).
It is a small shop staffed by one person,the owner. I was in the chair for no more than ten minutes..cost £9.00.

If on a Saturday morning he brought his car round to my workshop at home and I say checked his water and oil level or inflated his tyres..would he pay me nearly ten pounds for doing that.?
I am the sort of person who repairs,builds and restores everything myself...I must learn how to cut my own hair.!!

Morris Mike

Morris Mike wrote:Talking of labour rates,I popped into our local gents hairdressers (barbers for you old ones).
It is a small shop staffed by one person,the owner. I was in the chair for no more than ten minutes..cost £9.00.

If on a Saturday morning he brought his car round to my workshop at home and I say checked his water and oil level or inflated his tyres..would he pay me nearly ten pounds for doing that.?
I am the sort of person who repairs,builds and restores everything myself...I must learn how to cut my own hair.!!

Morris Mike

Wait till you need a plumber!
But see what the Plumber says when you charge him £50 call out fee and £150/hour to change the head gasket on his van!
Rich

JOWETTJAVELIN wrote:True you can't beat a modern motor-car but they're so boring and in many respects not even well-designed.

very true, my 53 plate ZT-T 260 V8 is as dull as dishwater, no wonder the critics panned it when it was launched

designed early noughties on a shoestring