Yours isn't the only one. The one near my house has dropped it as of New Year this year. Sucks.....

 

Hey, sometimes your time is worth more than $75/hour. That's what you've got to figure. If you've got it, and time with your kid is worth more than that, smile and happily pay!

Of course, this assumes your mechanic does good work. I love my indy mechanic, and have no problem paying him for jobs I don't have time (or expertise) to do.

+1 BTW on unscratches with unstripped fasteners!! I can do just about anything....but doing it without jacking something else up is sometimes another story!

 

They're telling you what it will cost before they do the work. They aren't "ripping" you off.
Flat rate/book time is just that - an estimate for the average amount of time to do the work. The estimate comes from the factory, not the mechanic at the dealership.

I could beat flat rate on everything I did regularly, sometimes by half or more - depending on the job.

If they tell you $300 and then try to make you pay $400 because a bolt broke *THEN* they'll be ripping you off.

If you don't want to pay what they're asking you have two choices: DIY or INDY.

 

My local dealer ( the one I don't go to) charges $85.00 per hour. Your dealer's rates seem OK to me.

 

If you are loyal to your dealer and have used him for mods from time to time you should talk to your service manger and ask for a discount.
My guy gives me 15% off labor and 20% off parts every time. Even oil changes.

 

4 hours sounds about right. It's not that there's truely alot involved but all those little knick knack things become time consuming.

On a side note I can't believe that little fold out license plate bracket is $170 from HD. I threw mine in the trash thinking it was just junk, had I know it was worth it's weight in gold I would have put it in a glass case on sold it on ebay.

 

just my opinion,
i used to work in a place that charged for labour time, and in saying that ill say this,
charging a flat rate from a labour guide line, like others have suggested, ensures that next time when you wanna get your fender removed, and your bolts are rusted out and their mech. cant budge them, they dont charge you the extra 2 or 3 hours to let them soak in rp7[or whatever they use in the states] to get them to move. It is often about consistent charging rather than charging for every second they do, or dont, spend on your bike.

im not sure if that makes any sense.

 

I use a local shop, not the dealer, for all of my work. Here's a quick example to show you how much you can save by using a good local shop, if you can find one that works similar to mine.

The dealer wanted to charge me 5 hours labor to install part "x". Would have come to almost 700 bucks I think.

Asked my local shop how long it would take them to do the same job. They didn't look at a book that told them how long it would take, they knew off the top of their heads that it would take them under two hours to do it all, so they charged me for two hours labor.

I ended up saving about 400 bucks by using a shop that doesn't go by a set rate based on what a manual tells them.

Of course, if you do find a shop like this, get a price quote before they do the job so you know how much you'll be paying when you pick your bike up.

The Harley dealers are just like any other car dealerships out there. All they care about is making a buck. The smaller shops care about making money, of course, but they'll cut you enough of a break to keep you as a loyal customer.

 

You're not getting ripped off if you don't have the time or experience to do it. $75 an hour for labor isn't bad at all when compared to other shops. My Toyota dealer charges $95 an hour.

 

I think $75/hour really isn't too bad for a shop rate/
That said, grab some of your mechanicly inclined freinds and have at it. Guys shootin' teh ****, and getting your bike upgraded, sounds like win to me.

Oh, and let your kids in on it too, if father time is what's lead you to ahve it done by others. Give tehm minor trinkets to play with, so they feel like tehy're part of teh crew.