Owning my own “professional” business and being a boat owner. I really don’t think that’s high. The service on the motor seams low. I just spent almost $200 on the parts for a complete service on my motor. That’s just parts. Parts for the garmin install, parts for vhf install. Plus labor. That all adds up to about $1000.00. It’s a lot of money, yes. $300 to fill my boat with fuel. $1000.00 for that work doesn’t sound like you got screwed to me.
For comparison the annual maintenance on my 70 HP Yamaha 4 Stroke is about $200 materials and labor. The small shop I take it to (not a dealer) does great work. They’re always professional and do the job asked for on time as promised. I think the price is really good. I asked the big marine shop one time just to check and they said it would be $300 to $400 for the same job.
I don’t know his hourly rate but I assume it’s less than $99 probably about $75.
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Originally posted by Manamanawell…just p/u my boat and looked at the invoice. this shop’s rate is $99/hr…basically, the installation of the VHF charged 3 hours, the installation of the Garmin was 3 hours,and the 20 hour service was $275…plus tax, etc, that equaled the $937. After seeing the invoice, I don’t necessarily feel as shocked as I did when I first heard it over the phone. I’m sure these techs do these all the time and can probably complete the job in 2 hours or less, but I know if they go 2.1 hours, you get charged for 3. But I know there is no way I could have done both of these in 4 hours if I was doing in my driveway on a Saturday. Knowing my abilities, probably would have taken me 2 weekends, and highly doubt it would look as good as they do now…so all in all, lesson learned. Hopefully now I won’t have any other issues until it’s time for the 100 hour service. And when that comes around, I’ll probably have watched a video or two on how to start doing this stuff myself.
Unless I quoted the job if a tech has 2.1 hours in it that is what you got charged for. Before a new system was put in place you’d have been rounded up or down to the nearest .5 hour.
I don’t like how some dealerships will flat rate a job at lets say 6 hours and put a good tech on it that can do it 2 hours and still charge you for 6.
“Why Bruce?”
The dealer has overhead that must be accounted for. They also have the liability and insurance to cover screw ups, mishaps, and accidents. Keep that in mind when you choose the “guy down the street”. I have a relationship with a marine mechanic who took his skills to the marketplace, and started a marine service business that comes to you. He doesn’t have overhead from a large building, employees, taxes, etc. He has his van, his tools, his knowledge, his professionalism, and his honesty to represent his pricing, and it’s less than the dealer. He’s my boat guy forever.
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Originally posted by bulldog1The dealer has overhead that must be accounted for. They also have the liability and insurance to cover screw ups, mishaps, and accidents. Keep that in mind when you choose the “guy down the street”. I have a relationship with a marine mechanic who took his skills to the marketplace, and started a marine service business that comes to you. He doesn’t have overhead from a large building, employees, taxes, etc. He has his van, his tools, his knowledge, his professionalism, and his honesty to represent his pricing, and it’s less than the dealer. He’s my boat guy forever.
Hey bulldog are you up for sharing your boat guys contact info? Is he in the Charleston area?
Dear Steel…Happy to. Just PM me and I’ll give you his information. Great guy.
My buddy just got finished getting his boat serviced and it was around $600 over at seels