Auto repair & detailing
Mechanic Hourly Rate Calculator
Set the hourly rate a mechanic's time is sold at, starting from the income the business needs rather than from what others charge.
Result
The billable share is the number most people get wrong. Quoting, driving, chasing parts and fixing warranty callbacks are all paid and none of them are billed, which is why the honest figure is rarely above two thirds.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Target income and the hours genuinely available to earn it.
- Overhead, which for a mobile mechanic is different in shape from a shop but is not smaller.
- Travel time between jobs, which is paid and unbillable.
Where this one goes wrong
For mobile work, forgetting that travel eats the day. Two jobs an hour apart can consume more unbillable time than a third job would have taken to complete.
Questions
About this calculator
Should a mobile mechanic charge more or less than a shop?
Different rather than automatically less. There is no premises cost but there is travel, limited equipment and jobs that cannot be done roadside. Price from your own costs rather than by discounting a shop rate.
How should travel be charged?
Either as a call-out fee or built into the rate, but not absorbed silently. Absorbed travel is the most common reason mobile work looks profitable per job and is not profitable per day.
What if a job cannot be completed on site?
Decide in advance what happens and say so when booking. An unfinished roadside job with no agreed position is unpaid time and an unhappy customer.
The formula
rate = (income + overhead) / (working hours x billable share)
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How to use this calculator
- Income you need per year ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $85,000.
- Annual overhead ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $252,000.
- Working weeks per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 48.
- Paid hours per week. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 40.
- Share of hours you can bill (%). Travel, quoting, admin and warranty calls are paid but not billed.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to rate you need to charge, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Income you need per year | $85,000 |
| Annual overhead | $252,000 |
| Working weeks per year | 48 |
| Paid hours per week | 40 |
| Share of hours you can bill | 62% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Rate you need to charge main result | $283.10 |
| Billable hours per year | 1,190 |
| Total to recover | $337,000 |
| If every hour were billable | $175.52 |
To take home $85,000 after $252,000 of overhead you need $283.10 per billable hour. Charging $175.52, the figure you get by ignoring unbillable time, leaves you short every week.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only income you need per year, this is what happens to rate you need to charge. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Income you need per year ($) | Rate you need to charge |
|---|---|
| $42,500 | $247.40 |
| $63,750 | $265.25 |
| $85,000 example above | $283.10 |
| $127,500 | $318.80 |
| $170,000 | $354.50 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Income you need per year ($)
- A money amount, starting at $85,000.
- Annual overhead ($)
- A money amount, starting at $252,000.
- Working weeks per year
- A number, between 0 and 52, starting at 48.
- Paid hours per week
- A number, between 0 and 100, starting at 40.
- Share of hours you can bill (%)
- Travel, quoting, admin and warranty calls are paid but not billed.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Rate you need to charge | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Billable hours per year | A number. |
| Total to recover | A money figure. |
| If every hour were billable | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.