Re: Is adding air conditioning an unobtainable myth?

Posted by BH On 2011/9/9 16:52:08

The factory flat rate schedules, regardless of manuafacturer, are developed using time studies of actual operations. However, those studies were conducted under the most optimal of conditions - that is, with vehicle already in the bay and all necessary parts and special tools laid out on a table (like in a hospital operating room).

Surely, no one believes any automaker would ever give even one nickel away.

However, the publisher's of third-party/aftermarket flat rate books often simply arrrived their times by applying a percentage bump to the factory schedules - to help sell books.

Back when I worked for Chrysler, I had a dealer convinced to use the factory labor times for BOTH warranty and retail work, but adjust their hourly labor rate (and techinican pay) to accomodate for the lower times. With a little fine-tuning for older vehicles with rusty fasteners - it worked.

That said, the factory flate rate manuals do give some perspective on what it takes to do the job, but you also have to allow for the fact that these aren't brand-new cars anymore and there's no place for a modern technician to plug in a "scan tool".