Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-13
Barney0 ld6fe!d says:
THE FLAT RATE REPAIR PLAN

Copyright. 1893. by King Feature Service
The industry is slowly coming to
realize that the future of the automo-
bile depends IN the service that il
rendered to the owners of cars. AL
ready. such concerns as Packard. Chew
ro!et. Marmon. Ford, and many more
Of doing repair work. This means that
q given job is done at a given price.
For example. if you own a Hupmo-
lille and you want the front wheels
lined up, the charge will be a half
hours time. 1t is expressed in hours
because the rate per hour may vary
in different sections of the country.
On the Marmon the price in dollars
is used. For example. adjusting brakes
and oiling brake connections is sched-
uled at 81; refining hand brakes. S1S.75'
The equivalent time in hours is given
so that if the cost per hour varies.
the, charge is altered to suit. but this
difference is never very great. Ford,
], believe, was the first to institute
this form of repairing and special tool
the shops throughout the country could
meet the time charge set down by the
factory.
Unless the tool equipment is right
the shop will be unable to make a profit
on the flat rate plan. The factories,
and in some cases the dealers them
selves, are publishing flat rate sched-
ules, SO that every owner may know
beforehand just what it will cost to
have certain work done. In some in
stances every possible operation is list
ed, from the removal of a cotter pin
to overhauling the entire car.
Under this system there is little ex-
cuse for a car wner taking his work
the work and lets the charges fall
where they may. If only such shops
are in the vicinity. al owner should
get the time schedules and make the
repair shop agree to charge the same
amount. 1t will not be long now be-
fore automobile owners will get ac-
quainted with this new money saving
plan and thus force all repair shops to
adopt the flat rate plan.
Get in Touch With Factory
The flat rate schedules in most in
stances do not give cost of parts, be-
cause a parts book will give this. In
the. service station of the automobile
company there is no chance of taking
repairs. but in some independent shops
with which / have had experience. if
the profit is not enough on the flat
rate. they will add parts to the bill
but never install the parts. For this
reason it always is advisable to have
the old parts returned to you. which
is 4 sort of check. though not abso-
lutely convincing
Some of the manufacturers state in
the flat rate schedules the exact OPP
erations performed. others include ma
terials under certain operations.
Every automobile owner should get
in touch with the factory that built his
car and get the flat rate charges and
| am sure service costs will drop ap-
probably. | am listing below some ex-
amples of service charges for given
work on representative makes which
have adopted this method.
MARMON
Installing aud adjusting Hour Cost
standard fan belt. O.S $3.50
'A-Remove old fan belt.
B-Install and adjust new
Standard belt.
2-Adjusting brakes and
oiling brake connections % $500
A-Take up slack to per-
NIT both brakes to func-
ton properly.
R-Eree and oil all hrake