[masraum]

Originally posted by wludavid
I always hear about the 'book rate' but I've never seen any book. The shop I take my car to charges $95/hr which is a little higher than average around here, but I trust that they do good work and they support the local BMW club chapter. I've accepted that when the charge me for 3 hours of labor, they aren't actually spending 3 hours on the car; I just wonder how much extra they are charging and what those standard flat rates are.

Does anyone know of a good resource?

I've seen the "book". It used to be a book, now it's a CD.

Many times the guys can do the work much faster than the book says. They usually still change what the book says.

All in all I usually figure that a mechanic is at least partially a rip-off. That way when I find a decent one (they are out there, but few and far between) it's a pleasant surprise. I prefer to just do my own stuff because I can't always find the good ones.