I can say from personal experience there is NO money in the Motor Trade, that is one of the reasons I got out of it, I know some can charge upwards of £50 an hour which is a heck of a lot, I don't know where the money all goes, but I know its not to the staff! Average mechanic wage I think was about £12k ish.

£60 for a door handle, well if they charged £50 an hour that would figure, can be a fiddly job, removing all the trim panels and everything else that's behind there, but I agree that is a bit steep, but not uncomon.

Its one of those things, if you know how something works you can appricate how long a job will take and how difficult it is, if you have no clue how a car works, you just think, oh that's not hard just chuck it in and then get surprised at the bill, something I used to witness on a regular basis.