How much to charge for a Carb Cleaning?

[ScooterTrashRK]

Greetings,

I found a local moped owner on craigslist that needed some help on his scoot.  Well, he brought it over to me, wouldn't start, so I checked a few things and cleaned out the carb.  Turns out he was running 15% ethanol, I told him to quit that and only put Premium in.  All in all took about +45mins.  Ran perfectly after that.

 I wasn't going to charge anything if I couldn't get it running.   I told him $15 because this was my first time fixing someone elses scooter, so I figured $15 + the experience was worth it to me.

My question is how much should I have charged him?

[scooter 49]

As much as you could rake in from the poor sap!
Just kidding!
An auto mechanic usually gets from 60 to 70 bucks per hour. At least thats what the owner of a repair shop will charge you.
Scooter mechanic ----same thing. Why not?
45 minutes of your time and a happy customer= about 60 bucks if he had taken it to a regular scooter shop, probably more.
P.S. never fix anything for free or you will have every idiot out there clammering at your door expecting something for nothing.

[fiveliter]

Seeing how you got his scooter running, he should have offered you $25-30 without you even asking for money.  You saved him a trip to the mechanic, who would have charged hiim $75-100 without blinking an eye.

[chris-bob]

I am a mechanic by trade.  When I work on my friends cars, I charge then $20 an hour with a 1 hour minimum and they have to pay for the parts themselves.  They love the price, especially since they could take it to the dealership and have me fix it at $98 an hour.  For people I do not know, I charge $40 an hour.  I also pick and choose the jobs I do.  For the people in my scooter club, I assist them in spring tune-ups for free.

[Marleyfan87]

Where I live, the prices vary; however they are a MINIMUM of $65/hr and that's a mechanic that owns a car shop but also knows how to work on scoots.

The actual scooter "shops" charge anywhere from $72 to $105/hr. Just throwing out numbers for you from my neck of the woods.

I work on cars and larger motorcycle engines for my friends and they happily pay $30/hr plus parts and such.

If you do good work people are willing to pay, not saying you should try to take advantage of that fact, but make your money. Your doing a job like anyone else.

[scooter rebel]

It kind of depends on your qualifications. But if you are a "good mechanic" don't be afraid to get a fair wage. The $15.00 was way too low. You should have got double that amount.

[fiveliter]

Well, I just my scooter back from the dealer a month and half after dropping it off at their shop.  They tried to charge me $165 for a "carb service".  They said it needed the service since "it sat so long without use".  I kindly reminded them that I bought my scooter this past June, had driven it almost everyday since it was purchased and that it is under warranty.  The $165 charge was removed and I got my scoot back.  They also re-routed a ground wire and said that I the battery needs to be fully charged in order for the push button start to work.