They could charge 6 hours labor on that easily.
At a real VW dealer you are looking at up to $ 1,000 for a 'full vanagon
brake job' .

what I find in the real world..
all the shop manuals, and the labor books act like the vans are say 4 years
old, and everything is clean, not corroded to death, govered in grim,
deterorated from age etc.

I've seen rear wheel drums and flanges that took hours to get off they were
so screwed up from age and corrosion.  Doesn't usually happen, but can.
 It all depends.
a figure like Six hrs is kinda 'theoretical' .

and ..the only way to be really save with an up front quote is to
overestimate.
I work on vanagons exclusively full time of course ..
rare is the day when it's a straightforward 'clean' brake job like books
would reflect..
the oldest water cooled vanagons are now 29 years old.
 A lot can sure happen in all that time and miles.
Corrosion is almost the main thing I fight. Fortunately where I am it's very
dryish and I have numerous vansgons with absolutely zero rust on them ..
but they can get SO bad you wouldn't believe it ..
especially syncro's , since their driven in winter and crude more .  Parts
you can't even recognize.
 What is .......say, the book labor fee to replace ALL the brake lines and
hoses .......
and the proportioning valve ? Dending on how bad things are ...that could be
a LOT of hours.

so 'it depends' .
A typical VW dealer these days might not even be able to find the brake
fluid resevoir on a vanagon.  And that is not that much of an exaggeration.
  You're going to get your best work at a vanagon speciaist.

next best ....which I hesitate to suggest ...... is place that do lots and
lots of shocks/brakes/tires/alignment type of work.  They will be far more
versed in 'just brakes' than other types of general shops, or even vw
dealerships.

 heck ..I would never even use 'price' or 'estimate' as a way to decide who
should work on my whatever. I would be interested in quality and service and
above all...excellent workmanship ( and that is not a give *at all.* ) lol.

scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "T Collins" <tonycollin@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 5:22 AM
Subject: is there a resource to find out cost of labor?

> Hello folks,
>
> I wondered if there is there is a cost of labor scheme that I could look
> at
> for potential repairs.
> For instance, I took the Vanagon to my local dealership for a brake job
> all
> around.
> I need to know what is the estimated amount of hours for a job like this?
>
> Thank you,
> Tony
> --
> 82 Scirocco "Rodolfo"
> 85 Vanagon "El Guapo"
> http://groups.google.com/group/wash-co-vws2<http://groups.google.com/group/wash-co-vws2?lnk=gcimh>
> (new)