Are you being stung by car mechanics because of where you live?

Motorists can be charged different rates for garage work depending on where they live, with the difference between the cheapest and most expensive being as much as £94 per hour, according to a new study.

The average labor wage is £76, according to the prices of 279 independent car garages across the country.

The cheapest is in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, where a mechanic charges an average hourly rate of £47. The most expensive area, on the other hand, is South West London, where technicians charge an hourly rate of £141, according to a What Car? report.

It also revealed that there can be significant differences in auto mechanic labor costs locally, with some wide variations in average rates in neighboring locations.

View the interactive table below to see how your postcode area scores…

While drivers in Huddersfield can have their vehicles serviced by a mechanic for an hourly wage of £47, motorists living just a few miles away are expected to pay two thirds (66 per cent) more.

In Leeds, which is just 20 miles up the M62, the average hourly wage for a garage was found to be £78.

And Oldham, which is about the same distance if you travel in the other direction from Huddersfield, is also £31 more expensive than the neighboring Yorkshire town.

At the other end of the spectrum, capital—unsurprisingly—dominates the list of the most expensive hourly mechanical labor rates.

The average cost in the ‘SW’ postcode is £141, while garages in the north and north west of London (postcodes ‘N’ and ‘NW’) charge an average of £112 per hour.

All but one of the top 10 postcode areas with the most expensive hourly rates are within the M25.

Oxford is the only other area to make the top 10, with an average rate of £91 per hour.

All 279 garages contacted by Which car? were all members of the Independent Garage Association (IGA) and listed on comparison website Trust My Garage.

The average wage costs per region are based on a minimum of three garages per postcode area where the data were available.

But which car? says that in some areas, data was combined with a neighboring location to get a robust sample size – we’ve highlighted it in the list below.

With the British in the midst of a cost of living crisis and experts predicting that a cut in oil production could soon lead to a rise in petrol and diesel prices, the consumer magazine says it’s vital for drivers to know if they’re overindulging. pay on labor costs just because of where they live.

The research results are also particularly relevant because a recent What Car? Research found that more than three-quarters of drivers (77 percent) usually don’t compare labor costs before choosing a garage, and nearly three in five (58 percent) drivers return to the same garage every time.

Which car? consumer editor Claire Evans said: ‘As the rising cost of living continues to stretch people’s budgets across the country, our research highlights the zip code lottery motorists face when it comes to garage labor rates.

‘However, you can often avoid paying too much for maintenance by looking around well in advance and comparing prices.

“The differences are so great that there are examples here where an hour’s drive can save you enough to enjoy a hotel stay and a good meal.”