Garage dispute advice needed

[Elke54]

Hello
I recently asked a garage to pre mot and safety check my car.. We also decided a service wasn't needed but they would do an oil change. Just had a rather larger bill than anticipated. How many hours should this take approx?
And advice welcome

Thank you

[ManyMinors]

It is impossible to know without knowing exactly what they did. What is a "safety check" anyway? If you're asking a reputable garage to assure you that an old car is "safe" I would expect them to have removed and checked all the wheels & tyres and then removed the brake drums front and rear to check the condition and operation of all the brakes - and everything else that is covered in a service really. Did they just change the oil? Or the oil and filter? Did they lubricate all the grease points? You cannot really do that too often. You'd probably have been better off simply having a service and an MOT Because I would expect a really thorough check to take at least 2 hours and quite possibly more - particularly if you wanted the results written down and/or discussed at length? Did they find a few small jobs which needed doing and fix them as they went along? Then it depends upon their hourly rate of course which will vary quite a bit between garages.

[diggerjones]

I've just paid £50 hr for my modern vehicles plus vat

[philthehill]

Always ensure that a quotation for the work to be undertaken is obtained and received before the work starts.
As important as the quotation is the need to discuss with the service manager what work is to be undertaken and the parameters of variation (without additional authority) to that work as some times it is better to let the mechanic do the job than put it all back together and then get additional authority to do the additional work - as the old adage goes 'Time is Money.

[Lurch]

When I saw the title Garage Dispute I was going to suggest paying them a visit with 2 beefy mates and a hammer !!!

[SteveClem]

My local,old fashioned,garage charge £35 an hour plus vat. They estimate the duration of a job and are usually right. If it goes a bit t@ts up(rarely) they ring me and we talk about it. Sometimes it doesn't take as long as they thought and I get a nice surprise when they bill me.
Probably helps because they think I know a bit about old cars...