at a service facility we however muddle up the equation when it comes to the quality of these engineers and this is primarily because the labour rates are nowhere near the international benchmark the average hourly rate for automotive technical repairs is close to 70 which means a good technician gets to take home close to 500 a day or rs 23000 a figure most indian technicians do not make in a month so in effect we sell global products in a simulated global environment but fail to attract the best techniciansthe technical training structure to educate this manpower also seems lacking in quality and is far behind global standards in fact if it was not for manufacturers initiative to train repairmen we would be seriously short of skilled technicianswhat we now require is a governmentled automotive technology programme wherein people are trained on current automobile technology trends by quality faculty this is what will enhance the level of skill currently availablemany car owners replace highpressure fuel line pipes with plastic pipes meant to be installed in water tanks and tap a vehicles electrical circuits with no regards to its load capacity an average indian would not shy from replacing expensive critical parts of the motor with cheap spurious ones alternate fuel kits are installed by every tom dick and chottu with no understanding of its various cogs and wheels and its intended use which again leads to leakage and fire hazardsthe other major contributor to the poor health of cars on road is the flourishing market of spurious spares unless there is an effort by the administration to check this evil most unsuspecting car owners will continue to pay quality money for poor parts and keep driving a virtual graveyard on indian roadsas we gravitate towards a valueformoney package in terms of cost of labour and spare parts we overlook the basics are we getting the value for our money somehow the number of unexplained car fires seems to suggest otherwisethe author is a delhibased automobile expert