The Ultimate Guide to Automotive Repair Labor Times

Are you the proud owner of an auto repair shop? Then you would know that having a strong grip over auto repair labor times is critical for success. Actually, many people in the auto repair business would urge you to work on your auto repair labor times, in order to taste success.

But if you are wondering what auto repair labor times are, how they work and how you can put them into action, you are in the right place.

In this ultimate labor guide for mechanics, you will find out everything you need to know. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in.

What Are Auto Repair Labor Times?

Labor times are one of the most important things that auto repair shops sell. Labor time basically refers to the amount of time spent by technicians on performing car repairs or maintenance for customers.

This in turn translates into billable hours that determine the earnings of an auto repair shop. The hourly labor rate is simply multiplied by the number of hours of work performed, to arrive at the figure of total earnings.

For example, if your shop’s labor rate per hour is $100 and the repair took 3 hours, your total earnings from labor will be $300.

Are High Labor Times Better?

After reading the above example, you must be wondering that the answer for this one is really simple – higher auto repair labor times would mean more earnings. But the answer is not that simple.

Customers don’t like to swing by auto repair shops very frequently for auto repairs. In fact, they would prefer to have a minimum number of trips to the shop. This means that a longer service time could actually work in your favor.

There are two main benefits of doing this:

• Customers will be able to save time and have their cars serviced soon. This efficiency could turn them into repeat customers for your auto repair shop!
• In terms of business, a longer one-time service is going to be more efficient than numerous short service times.

While this is a general rule of thumb, figuring out the right labor times for your independent repair shop can be tricky.

You need to have a service time that is short enough to keep your customers satisfied but there is no compromise on quality.

The service times will also vary with the nature of repair jobs and also the capabilities of your team. For example, experienced mechanics will be able to perform tasks much sooner than mechanics who are completely new to the field of repairs.

The bottom line is that you should try and opt for shorter labor times but also keep your finger on the pulse of quality. Excellent service quality is what will help your auto repair shop stand out in the market.

This also brings us to our next question, how do you even measure labor times correctly? Remember getting the time right is critical to calculating labor costs and profits correctly.

How To Measure Labor Times for Auto Repair Shops?

Accurate labor times, labor hours, and labor rates will help you understand the price that you need to charge your customers. To start off with the basics, how do you generate accurate estimates for labor times?

There are actually quite a few ways mechanics and auto repair labor owners can calculate this including:

1. Use a Labor Guide

An auto repair labor guide is an excellent tool to give you an estimated repair time, especially when you have less experienced mechanics, fewer specialty tools, and a lack of available parts.

Because of this, there will be a dearth of information on the labor times and labor rates. Since car repairs have not been previously timed, an auto repair labor guide will provide an estimated amount of time it takes to perform these repairs.

Some of the famous labor guides for calculating car repair times include:

• Real-Time Labor Guide
• MOTOR Auto Mechanic Labor Guide
• Chilton Labor Guide

These are only some of the most prominent ones. However, feel free to do a deep dive into labor guides if you are new on the curb and find the best ones.

Remember, in the end, the labor cost is calculated based on the labor guide time and the mechanics are paid accordingly.

2. Track Time While Performing Repairs

If you have been running an auto repair shop for a while now, you should opt for this method. It’s actually very useful to track your time while doing repairs. In fact, you no longer have to do this manually since the advent of technology and software in this day and age.

An efficient and up-to-date method to track your time is through auto repair software. Auto repair shop software is specifically designed for shop owners, managers, and technicians to automate and streamline their day-to-day operations.

Some of the best car repair shop software has a time tracking feature that clocks time for each repair job performed by your team.

Basically, the person who is on duty starts the clock when the car repair job starts and stops it once the job is complete.

The software adds the time to the invoice automatically, calculates the labor cost, and logs in the data for the future. The software also maintains a database of service history, so you can retrieve data for any job to calculate labor cost and time in the future.

This can also be done manually but if you have the budget, the software will very easily remove the burden from your shoulders. It also minimizes room for errors and offers better accuracy which can improve your margins, in the long run.

A shop software also offers many other benefits that can help you double down on your car repair journey time, from scheduling to actual repair.

For example, some of the features include automatic service scheduling, reminder notifications sent to customers, and order allotment to mechanics. Since all of this is done automatically, it makes the process of booking an appointment for your customer much easier.

3. Specialized Software to Generate Labor Times

In addition to shop software, you can also benefit from specialized software that generates estimated labor times. Some examples of this specialized software include AutoLeap, RepairsTracker, Maintenance Pro, and Hellotracks.

All of this software comes packed with powerful features that make the process of running and operating a car repair shop for owners and managers much easier.

Some of the additional features that this software has, include:

• Repair Reports
• Maintenance (+/- 1000 miles) reports
• Full Maintenance reports
• Upcoming Maintenance reports

The automated generation of these reports helps business owners and managers make informed decisions for their setup.

Understanding Labor Costs: Flat-Rate Labor

Another important thing that you need to know about when it comes to the business of car repairs is the cost of labor.

Arriving at the final labor rate can be tricky but is quite important too.

Let’s see how you can arrive at the estimated cost of labor using an example:

Replacing the starter in a car may take a certain amount of time, depending on the specific car brand, age, and condition of the vehicle.

It takes around 15 minutes to three hours to change a flat tire. Depending on the year, make, and model of your car, it can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours to change the tire.

Let’s suppose that a service guide says it will take 3 hours to change the starter. If that is the case, then the customer pays for the new starter plus 3 hours of labor to install it.

If the battery isn’t damaged and hasn’t lost its charge during the process, the charge stays the same regardless of how long the technician takes to replace the starter.

This is good for the customer if it took three hours for the technician to install, but what if he could get it done in an hour?

This is where you will pay for the resources and training you provide to your team to become qualified technicians to perform the task.

Two hours of labor are still applied to the repair bill.

Why? Technicians are paid on average $10,000 for the tools they have to buy for themselves.

A broken tool can ruin your day, and this is especially true if you work in a shop where you have to use that tool for regular tasks. This is also why it is important for you to ensure that the auto repair equipment for your labor is in working order.

This example also demonstrates how flat-rate labor and automotive repair labor guides keep the repair facility in business. It’s a profit source for the repair facility.

Calculating an Auto Repair Estimate

If you are a first timer and are wondering how you can generate an auto repair estimate, here is the step-by-step process:

1. Conduct A Thorough Assessment of the Vehicle

A reliable estimate for car repairs requires detailed assessments of client vehicles.

If you’re planning on making your automotive repair shop a growing business, then a vehicle inspection will be crucial.

You need to look at the whole car, including its undercarriage, in order to make the best possible decisions when choosing parts.

In a larger-scale job, you may want to perform a diagnostic scan, so that you get more information about the problem.

2. Calculate the Cost of Damage

Labor catalogs can help figure out how long it will take to fix a vehicle. These guidelines may assume you install aftermarket parts in a car that is in mint condition.

Understanding the damages to the vehicle is an important part of your initial assessment.

Take the number of hours you will spend fixing it and multiply it by your hourly labor rate to arrive at the estimated cost of repair.

3. Determine the Tools and Parts Required

You will need to order the parts and materials required for repair before you can start putting your estimate together. If you want to make sure you get compatible materials, use the vehicle’s VIN while placing your order. You can add the cost of the auto parts and materials you need to the labor rate you calculated once you know what you need. The total cost of repairs for the job will be calculated with that.

4. Create the Estimate

Use the calculations above to arrive at the final cost.