Shocking variation in garage rates uncovered

Labour costs can vary by more than £50 an hour in a 10-mile radius

- JOHN EVANS

Motorists anxious to M save money are being advised to shop around for servicing after a major survey found huge variations in garage labour rates around the UK.

The survey, by What Car?, compared the hourly labour rates of 279 independent garages around the UK, all of them members of the Independent Garage Association.

It revealed that where some garages are only a few miles apart, their labour rates can differ by more than £50 an hour. For example, the most expensive region to have a car serviced is within the M25, where hourly labour rates among the areas surveyed average £105. However, motorists who shop around can save £51 by driving just 10 miles from south-west London - at £141, the UK's most expensive area to Sutton, where an hour's labour costs £90.