What does collecting a car really cost your garage?

What goes into the cost of collecting a car?

A collection takes longer than the drive itself. Count everything until your people are back at work:

1. The drive to the customer, the key handover and the drive back to the garage.
2. A second person with a second car, if the first has no other way of getting there or back.
3. The interruption: the job in progress waits until both are back.
4. The same again when the car goes back to the customer after the work.

What does that time cost?

A mechanic who drives for an hour adds no labour to any invoice in that hour. That is the largest part of the cost: the work that is not billed during that time. You pay the wage in both cases, so it does not belong in the comparison. Added to it is the way back, when a second car follows with a second person.

How much that comes to depends on your business. If the workshop is fully booked, every hour away counts at your hourly rate. If someone without billable work drives, such as an apprentice or the office, only the wage for that time counts. That is why we give no amount here: the sum only works with your own hourly rate.

How do I compare my own cost with an outside driver?

Our page for garages, which the button below this article leads to, has a calculator for this. It adds up what the rides cost you today: the working time not billed and the way back. Next to it are our price for the same rides and the amount you save per month. Without your figures it uses the average hourly rate of the Swiss car trade. With your own figures the calculation is right for your garage.

When is it not worth it?

The comparison is only fair if everything is counted. Pick-up and return are two rides, and so is taking a car to the inspection (MFK). If the driver waits for more than 15 minutes, CHF 10 is added per 15 minutes. With a low hourly rate, few rides a month or someone who is free anyway, doing it yourself can cost less. The calculator shows that result too. The photo report created at every handover is not part of the sum, because it cannot be put in francs.

What does a ride with us cost?

A single ride costs CHF 65. With a monthly subscription a ride costs less than CHF 60, and less than CHF 54 with the largest subscription: subscriptions start at CHF 599 per month for 10 rides, and the Plus subscription includes 25 rides per month for CHF 1’349. The first ride is free. All prices are for rides up to 10 km, excluding VAT.