Em Bee Lover

I live in a county w/ but one MB dlr. w/in 100 miles. The whole county's population is under 250,000, so not at all urban.

While in for warranty work, I asked the MB dlr. SA to rack the car and ck. the alignment. I was told it'd cost about 50 bucks just to ck. If an alignment was called for, it'd be $175. I said okay. A couple hrs. later I am called and told the caster was bad and the bolt pkg. would be needed. I had little option bt to get it driving straight.

My question is bill rates. Their shop rate is $150/hr. To do the caster was one hr. ($150) + fifty bucks for the vaunted bolts/screws pkg. The complete alignment cost $390.

Is the hrly. rate the norm? High for a non-urban area? Reasonable, for all purposes? Is $390 reasonable for an alignment? I know MB fixes aren't Kia fixes, but were my charges pricey?

I'm just trying to get a read, for my own baseline. Input's appreciated. Thanks.

2014CL600

Well, your labor rate in about $25.00 more a hour than ours in BH and PS. As for the bolt package they are usually about 35.00, so they have a big mark-up in your parts Dept. As for alignment, my dealer does them for about 345.00 including bolts if needed. So, It depends on your dealership. Sounds like they have you over a barrel and if you get an extended warranty and use that dealership, expect the rate not to be fully paid. Your dealership knows, since they are the only game in town, that they can rape you as long as they want to. If another couple of dealerships come into play, then all that changes. Remember, just because it is under warranty, it doesn't mean you have to have things of that nature done at a dealer, i.e. services and alignments. Use as much warranty as you can before it runs out. If yours isn't a CPO it might not have much warranty time remaining.