Shop Labor Rate - Pre-1975 Cars

[bantar]

@JerryK  Hi Jerry, in the Shop Labor Rate thread, you posted 3 labor rates, regular, euro and Pre-1975 cars.    I find it interesting that you've set your labor rate very high for these cars.   It either means that you don't want those, or it's more expensive to work on them, so you charge more, or it is a specialty skill set that you possess and thus it's a more valuable service, or you are building in an inherent storage fee due to the extended time it takes to get parts, etc or ?   I'm interested to understand your thinking regarding this particular rate.   Also, why is 1975 the cutoff date?

We've been working on a number of older cars, and I've taken the approach that it's a time and materials job.   If it takes me 3 hours to remove the stuck drums off of your old car, then your brake job will cost more.  If I above-normal spend time looking for parts, then this is billable time too.    We shouldn't absorb the added difficulty of rust, age, etc.   Maybe I'm approaching this incorrectly.   I took in a 1984 project car on Friday... non-standard engine, but newer, bubba's electrical wiring mess, etc, but overall in good shape.    We started with 5 hours of labor to assess and possibly fix.   It's partly a test to see if he's serious on fixing the car.  

 

P.S.  I live in Plano, but my shop is in McKinney.    In my previous life, I worked not far from your shop.