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$150/hr for Manhattan sounds pretty good, it is $135 in the Twin Cities. If you look around for a good Indie that does a lot of Volvo work, you will probably save $20/hr.
Dealers and thieving Indies use "book" hours to bill customers. Someone, somewhere, figures out how long it takes a novice/apprentice to do a job and this time is entered into a book. Obviously, a master mechanic can do the job much faster, but that doesn't count.
So when you go to a shop, drop off your car and pick it up two hours later, then read the bill and it says labor: 3 hours, you get all bent out of shape. But that is book time. The mechanic works on an hourly rate, plus a percentage of book time.
A local mechanic used to work part time at a dealer here, and he did nothing but 850/70 A/C evaporators. Book time = 10 hours. He did 2 cars in one 8 hour day! But the dealer charged each customer for 10 hours and the mechanic got paid for 20 hours, or so.
Timing belt? About 3 hours book. A good mechanic? About 1 hour actual time. DIY without a lift and great tools, about 3 hours.
That's why finding a good Indie and building a trust with him is so important. No book time for good repeat customers.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new
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