Adjust to a justifiable time; dealers in our FDO survey on shop rates seem a little shy about...

* TYPICAL dealers charge a shop rate around $21 an hour, realize it's too low, but find lots of reasons for charging their customers even less.

Those are among the revelations of an I&T For Dealers Only survey that ran in the April issue asking about "You and Your Shop Rate."

One dealer who charges $27 wrote that it "needs to be $37 to come out." Another asked, "In light of what we make on whle goods these days, don't you think it's about time we start charging $35 per hour, as other service organizations do?"

That's a darn good question, especially from a dealer whose shop rate just went to $24 an hour this year who, like two out of three dealers, finds some way to modify his labor charges downward when the customer's bill is tallied up.

"If the work takes longer than we can justify," explained a $28-an-hour dealer, "We will adjust to a justifiable time."

Virtually all the 68 dealers who said they modify the number of hours charged out after jobs are completed mentioned using a flat rate or experience as a guide to changing customers' bills.

Some have fixed rules, like "maximum of flat rate plus 150 per cent," or "close to flat rate with a 20 per cent over-allowance to mechanic."

Others said they "usually charge for less hours than used to complete job," and that the final customer bill was "usually lower amount (than shop rate) if job is over two hours."

Yet there are some who adjust bills upward, adding 5 per cent or more for shop supplies, charging extra for diagnostic time, and for equipment cleanup.

The majority of responding dealers, 61 of 105, said they also charge extra to recover the cost of special tools, such as dynamometers, electrical testers or welding equipment.

Obviously, all dealers will have some reasons for altering the customer bills, as one dealer explains: "Sometimes extenuating or unusual job. If we made a quote and were way off, mechanic errors, or special customer situation."

Another dealer explained how he tracks variations. "We list hours worked and hours actually charged on customer work order. We bill extra hours to a separate account."

That seems like a good idea, since that special account should spot whether the shop is bleeding red ink because of efforts to be nice to customers.

The survey had some good news for those purists who insist that every job going through the shop should be treated equally, on the theory that a mechanic works just as hard, and gets paid just as much, whether the machine belongs to a customer or is a trade-in owned by the sales department.

Not all dealers answered that particular part of the survey, but enough did to provide some interesting results.

Of 89 dealers, 60 charge the same for reconditioning trade-ins, while 29 charge less. And 55 of 85 charge the standard shop rate for preparing new equipment, while 30 charge less.

Even maintenance work done on company vehicles and premises is billed at standard rate by 52 of 83 dealers.

There's some good news for factory people, too. Only seven of 89 dealers charge more than standard rate for warranty work, while four actually charge the factory less.

Outside customers also get a fair deal, with only four of 91 dealers charging them more than standard.

The attitude of dealers toward their shop rate was summed up tersely by one dealer who charges the same $25 an hour regardless of the source of the job, but who finds himself adjusting customer bills: "Try and be fair."