lil_1_2002

Okay this is a little rant i guess. So i went to get my car estimate for the side-swipe because i wanted to cash out. The guy did the estimate and it was about i dunno 21 hours worth of work or so. But the damn hourly rate here in the Santa Barbara county is $38 an hour average. That is abserd because if i would have gotten the estimate done in northern cali, they would have given me a rate of between $55-70. That is like almost half which sucks ass. I was gonna do it back home too but when i went there tehy had my info ****ed up and couldnt find my claim because they miss-spelled my name. Oh well either way i walked away yesterday with a check for $1876. Which isnt tooo bad i supose.

So why the hell do the rates change? and why are they cheaper in so-cal? You would think they are the same both being large areas and the cost of living is maybe the same? I know here in SB atleast the cost of living is pretty high so why is the rate so low? Even when i went to a small mechanic shop they charged 60 bucks an hour for labor. ANd back home my brother's shop charges 85 and thats pretty cheap. weird....

owen996

good question, I know Mass labor rates are all over the place as well, I don't know what they are in different counties cause we only have like 10 different counties. Usually it just goes by what the shop feels like charging.

LT

it varies with the "skill" level of the shop, what kind of "specialty" they have, etc.

lil_1_2002

Hrm that doesnt sound right. That would mean taht the skill level in northern california is much higher then in southern california? something doesnt add up there. There's gotta be a reason why labor costs are cheaper in so cal...

owen996

better shops charge higher rates

Epoch

Shoulda gone to Hughes like I told you h:

What shop did you end up taking it to?

RB

cost of living is much lower in some other countries as well.

Epoch

county /= country :reechy:

lil_1_2002

i did take it at 1st, but then i realized i didnt want to fix it and i wanted to cash out, so i had to have a special farmers adjuster look at it and make the estimate.

Mandi

Did you take it to a privately owned shop or some big time place that your ins co made you go to?

I've gotten estimates for things within my county at different shops, private ones, and they all ranged. It depends on the skill level and specialties, like LT said. You only went to one shop in 2 different counties... I'm sure if you wouldve went to numerous ones in each county you might have seen varied estimates within the same county.