UK garage labour rates. Out in the open.
Search your postcode to see what local garages charge per hour — and whether it's above or below the regional average. Free to search. Free to contribute.
Nearby garages
Green Tyres Service
SW1A
Capital Motors
SW1V
Pimlico Auto Centre
SW1P
Data sources
3 independent · updated weekly
Nearby garages
Green Tyres Service
SW1A
Capital Motors
SW1V
Pimlico Auto Centre
SW1P
Data sources
3 independent · updated weekly
Opacity creates suspicion. Transparency creates trust.
The car repair industry has a trust problem — but it isn't caused by dishonest garages. It's caused by invisible pricing. We fix the visibility, not the garages.
Garages aren't the problem.
Most mechanics are skilled professionals charging a fair price. But because repair pricing is invisible — no posted rates, no standardised bills — a large invoice is impossible to evaluate. That opacity creates doubt, even when the work is good.
Complexity is.
A timing chain replacement at £1,400 is hard to evaluate without context. The hourly rate your garage charges — and how it compares to others nearby — is the one number that's consistent across every job. It's also the one number that's never on the invoice.
Show the working. End the doubt.
When you can see the hourly rate your garage charges — and how it compares to every other garage in your area — the number makes sense. That's what the Labour Rate Index does. The full repair breakdown is coming. The rate data is here now.
The part of your bill nobody talks about.
Labour rates are set independently by each garage. They're not advertised, not regulated, and rarely questioned. On a 5-hour job, a £50/hr difference between two garages on the same street is £250 — before a single part is counted.
The GarageRates Labour Rate Index is a free, community-maintained dataset of verified hourly rates from garages across the UK. Every rate is sourced from a real invoice or direct submission. Every entry is compared to the regional average so you can see at a glance where your garage sits.
Current coverage — updated as submissions arrive
London
£85–£141
South East
£70–£110
North West
£65–£90
Yorkshire & The Humber
£55–£85
North East
£45–£70
Benchmark averages. Actual rates vary by garage — search your postcode for verified local data.
How the index grows
Search your postcode
Find what garages near you charge per hour, colour-coded against the regional average.
Submit your last invoice
Got a repair bill? Upload it. We extract the labour rate and add it to the index — anonymised, with your garage's location.
Everyone benefits
Your submission makes the index more accurate for every driver in your area. The more data, the more reliable the benchmark.
A higher rate doesn't mean a garage is overcharging. Rates vary for legitimate reasons — specialist expertise, location, equipment. The index shows you what's typical. You decide what it means.
What repairs typically cost
More tools — coming into focus
The Labour Rate Index is the foundation. Built on top of it: a full repair estimate generator and a quote comparison tool that breaks down every line of your invoice against UK benchmarks. Both require data partnerships we're finalising. Both are partially live — and fully free when they are.
Repair Estimate
Get a full itemised breakdown before you visit a garage — hours, rate, parts.
Try the estimateCompare a Quote
Already have a quote? Upload it and see how every line compares against UK regional benchmarks.
Compare a quoteNot sure what
the repair is?
Describe what your car is doing. We'll identify the likely cause, the repair it typically points to, and — once you know what to ask for — you can search the Labour Rate Index to see what local garages charge for it.
$ describe symptom
Analysis output
Based on 847 similar cases in UK garages
Questions about the index
01 / 07
How accurate is the rate data?
Start with the rate.
Everything else follows.
Search the Labour Rate Index for free. No account. No cost. Just the data.