Why Corvette Labor Guides Aren’t Always Accurate for Older Models

There are many, many variables that Corvette labor guides don’t take into account when estimating how long a job will take.

When you own an older vehicle, trips to the shop become more and more frequent, which makes sense given the fact that the components used to make that vehicle wear over time. Unless you’re a shadetree mechanic, that means you likely have one, whether that be a dealer service department or a local option, and they use labor guides to determine how much that job should cost in terms of hours. However, as Lyle of C&S Corvettes points out in this interesting video, those Corvette labor guides aren’t always terribly accurate, especially for older models.

This is true because those Corvette labor guides are based on a series of assumptions. Problem is, those assumptions don’t always apply to older vehicles. Here, Lyle uses a 1971 model as an example – if the labor guide says a power steering pump replacement takes 2.6 hours, it assumes that the vehicle you’re doing a replacement on is fairly new, that it’s unmodified, there’s no rust anywhere, and that it’s being worked on at a shop with all of the tools (and parts) one needs to complete the job.

This is true of newer cars that visit dealerships, where all of the tools and parts they need to work on that specific model are typically nearby, easy to find, and ready to go. But this isn’t necessarily true of independent shops, which can either focus on one particular type of car or many different kinds. Oftentimes, those shops may not have the specialty tool they need for an odd job, and certainly not all of the parts required for those things – it’s just not feasible to do so in many instances.

Corvette labor guides don’t account for any of these things, of course. Lyle also notes that he sees a lot of Corvettes come in the shop that have things like aftermarket fasteners installed, which may not seem like a big deal, but it can easily add time to a job that may not have been originally accounted for – as can be the case with rusty bolts that are more difficult to remove.

These things can add up and transform that 2.6-hour job into a 10-hour one. But as Lyle points out, communication is the key here – a shop should let the customer know, as quickly as possible, when they run into issues like this that could make jobs more expensive – not after the job has already been completed. This may seem like common sense to most, but given the number of shops that don’t take the time to communicate through this process, it’s definitely worth repeating.

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