Absolutely. First brake job I did took a few hours for one side. Now I’ll rip all that’s shit off and be flying in comparison. And I’ve only done like 5 axles worth of brakes.
Watched your videos a couple years ago when I was first starting. I learned to combine things to earn as much as possible while working and going to school. Long story short I was 6 month in and hitting 120-124% weekly definitely shocked people including the regional manager who came and shook my hand personally ... Everything your saying is very helpful to new techs keep it up!
As a tech who has only been turning wrenches professionally for 7 months. These tips and others have helped me start putting up 50 plus hour weeks very consistently with time to leave early on ridays. Thanks for all the info.
Dealerships typically are set up for inefficiency. Worst one I worked at had us looking up warranty times. The only bone they would throw your way was a 30k 60k or 90k service. If you tried to up sell one it would go to the next tech up for a service. I see more and more dealers finally upping their pay rates due to lack of body’s to fill the shop. Independent’s seem to be stuck in the 90’s with pay rates around here. Glad I’m off the line and have a job in turf maintenance.
I am a dealership technician in Los Angeles, and average 130 % monthly , but for the past months we have averaged 180 to 200% there has been lots of work , last week I got the record for a single day billed hours (36hrs. for this year.) For those guys out there it is possible , but as The Flat Rate Master says it is management and how it is set up for you guys to Work. other key Items are discipline on how you work ( Do it right , no comebacks , and streamline so your efficiency goes up). ps: we California techs don't deal with rust that much , I think efficiency does go down if rust is present and shops should charge accordingly. Thanks Flat Rate Master keep up the great advice and tool review videos.
I do it the other way around - cool mornings are for working, and afternoons, when the heat index is well above 100°, is for driving cars in the ac and light work.
Was a 20 year Honda dealer tech had many 60 plus hour weeks and even had my share of 100 hours. And as far as rust, in Illinois we build that into repair cost
When I was working at a Toyota dealer there was a Master Diagnostic tech I worked with that could do the Tacoma frame jobs in 2 days. And a timing cover in one day if he was left alone. And that was along with 10 diags and multiple recalls.
Totally agree you can"t be on your phone and expect to make hours, it don"t work like that.Yep Terry agree why some of these service managers just don"t get it you diagnose first then like mike said you wait till you have the parts before you start tearing down i just don"t get it.Great video mike and advice keep them videos coming, stay safe everyone we will get thru this.
Great advice and great video. I never ran a shop, but I did run the commercial end of a parts store. You could always get the jist of how a shop was run when working with these garages daily, and it was easy to tell the mismanaged ones. You could usually tell who was going to go belly up.
last dealership i worked at i had to be the porter,parts runner,custodian,customer liasson,plus mechanic it was a cluster customer pissed,manager pissed,parts people pissed 🤦♂️🤦♂️ and everyone blames you 🤷♂️
Man I've been at a dealer for a few years, and I wish we had the "diagnose in the morning, fix in the afternoon" system. I always seem to get nothing but waiter diags, weird unusual diags and then my foreman wonders why im only at 35 hours at noon on friday.
That's the worst. "Hey, I know you're busy, but can you see what's going on with this one? The engine light is on and the passenger window doesn't go down. Oh, and sometimes their call quality isn't good with Bluetooth on their iPhone 6."
My last shop manager stacked the shop against 5 of us, & fed 2 techs daily (the 3 are friends). Ruined me for flat rate, now I work hourly & get by. If I ever work flat rate again it will be for myself.
Flat rate 20 years, once I realized I was the only one in my way that things really clicked and the money came. Be confident and learn from the mistakes, and you'll succeed. Thanks FRM!
Makes a huge difference when the shop owner plays the role of shop foreman too. When you have owners with just business degrees that had their business handed down from their father, stuff gets out of whack quickly. “It’s just right there” is the sentences can’t stand to hear 😂 but I agree, If you can successfully implement your strategy for efficiency then it’s golden.
i was a lube tech last year and made $45,600 ish at my shop but i also perform general repairs. Im inefficient but work tenaciously and this year im going to try my best to increase efficency. i just purchased a milwaukee m18 3/8ths compact and its making me money because i made 40 hours this week as a lube tech and doing general repairs. i got my start in automotive at this shop as a lube tech 18 months ago. My mom kicked me out of the house and i was a delivery driver till my truck needed a lot of repairs then i went into an auto shop to buy parts and get coolant and oil etc. i ended up staying. i hope i can get 50 to 60 hours atsome point this year when other technicians quit or leave etc just to know if i have a future in this career field.
I bill 1 hour diag if any kind of scan tool gets involved. Turns a simple job that could pay less than half an hour to a little gravy. It's a dealership anyway.
The guy at the parts house told…. “Your not working on an Ambulance, So calm down. We’ll be there soon”!! Don’t see him around anymore…….SMH some people’s children
Enjoy your videos....I was a car hop at a Chev dealer in H.S...drove / parked about 125 cars a day. Drove some Corvettes back to school and hung out for time. Service writers test drove through the neighborhood too, saw us....never heard a thing ?
My service manager usually wants me to start tearing down equipment for repairs without parts ( I work in the equipment rental industry) . Can't stand it especially when, during these times, most of the parts are back ordered for a week to a month..
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Then they tell you, well just put itback how it was....?
It's doable to do 120h and work around 60h in 2 weeks, I have done that but I also had a lot of luck with customers having deep pockets and actually fixing or maintaining their cars. Also being a level C tech that literally only does Oil changes as a main part of the paycheck sucks but it can also be good if your shop allows you to do the work you sell.
All you gotta do is is diag a car get ut outside and keep doing that, and you need to be quick about working on cars. I look at what part I need to replace and run through how I'm going to remove it in my head before I start working on it
How do you know what part you are going to replace just by a basic visual inspection/before working on it? Are you just doing broken parts and obvious fluid leaks?
It depends on what type of repair whether you can order parts and move the car out on to next one. sometimes you don't know what parts you need until you get into it!
I need to work with you. I work for Isuzu/chevy dealer. My shop is an outdated turd. We been on "guarantees" hourly pay for years. They recently changed us to flat rate. We are all loosing. They are gonna lose all of us. The shop is not setup to run flat rate & they just don't get it. My pay has been awesome for a long time as foreman. But when they told me we are going flatrate I put in my 2week notice, They gave me my hourly pay back plus a raise. I also noticed they have been buying new equipment for the first time in years! They are making the technicians pay for there "updates". Messed up
One of my pet peeves learned over time is not taking things apart until parts are in my hand. Diag, diag, diag, approved repairs parts in stock *Boom* repairs done, diag diag, ect. Making sure to ask parts if in stock or sop and eta. Relaying that to advisor and/or foreman. Knowing your flow comes with experience and desire to learn that flow.
You should come manage dealers in the Bay Area. The ones I worked they always expect you to finish everything in half the time it’s billed for. The shop foreman piles a stack of tickets on your desk in the morning and expects everything to be finished the same day. Talk to the service advisor about having the car held overnight expect to be yelled at
I totally understand! I work for a Ford Dealer in San Jose. I have piece of shit advisors who tell me all the time that cars need to be done by the end of the day. I end up killing myself and staying late. The next day back at work, what do you know? The car that had to go out is still parked at work. What a load of shit!
That (no lunch no breaks) is a good way to get yourself hurt and then you are out three months and what is your percentage then. 190% with breaks and without fatigue and accidents and injuries might be better in the long run.
I love how this guy shows up half sweaty flushed in the face, it looks like he has just taken apart a transmission to talk to us. That’s dedication. Plus he looks like he would kick my ass. Makes me listen to the man! 😮
It is really hit or miss in a German dealership. This morning I made 1.8h. Some morning I hit 7.5h. It really depends if our part dept fucks up or not, and if the advisors write everything up properly.
FYI some places warranty time actually pays fair. If that weren't true you wouldn't see some techs staying with certain brands long considering the volume of warranty/campaign/recall work that is required. Enjoy your videos!
Awesome video. What you’re doing with your shop and how your shop is set up resonate with me and are what I believe are necessary to optimize shop efficiency and productivity. I also like the idea of the manager being the master technician. I think that’s ideal and helps both the techs and service writers to develop, assuming that person is top notch like you.
Most dealers here in the UK do a 1 to 3 minute video and fill out electronic health check. The customer gets it e mailed straight away so they can see for themselves.
I’m a new Foreman, this is the first time I’ve had to really worry about other guys that I work with. In a time where it is hard to find good help, how do you deal with guys that just don’t care. Late everyday, won’t work hard, ok with the 38-40 hours a week. Again, they can’t be replaced right now. The catch is the problem guys are older than I am. Thanks
Working on deisels id probably not show up the next pay period if I did 125% efficiently. That aside, so many valid points in thid! Very good content and long time watcher! Keep up the good work.
I guess it depends on the situation. We can normally have our parts in a out 15 or 20 minutes if they are in stock. If I have say a pickup truck in for brakes, you won’t know if you need calipers unless you take them off, you won’t know if you need park brake shoes until you take the rotors off. Maybe you will find a slightly leaking axle seal when you get the rotors off. By the time you have the vehicle in, on the hoist, wheels off, brakes all off, it seems like a waste to put it all back together. So would you assume you need everything and have it on hand or? Sometimes I can tear down a car, order the parts and have the parts show up so they are there after a break. Unless you are charging the customer for that time to put the car back together I don’t see how it always is better. I can see it better sometimes, but sometimes it must be advantageous to fix the car right away when its in for diag.
In Australia, there is a ballpark goal of four cars per day per hoist. The hours booked are job dependant , if you are efficient, you can make the hours easy . We don’t have a rust belt , but we have a coal industry, which is just as bad, but we book it.
I’ve got one lift. I’ll be on a 2 day job, finish it then spend the next day checking out cars to fill my cue again. Spend the next 2-3 days repairing those cars, rinse and repeat. So I’ll have 3-4 days per pay period that no hours get flagged.
Very useful video. We limit oil changes to a certain number and morning times for the same reason. It’s tempting to fill you day with appointments, but you just shoot your self in the foot, with lost discovered services and ability to get a quality job out.
I kinda think alot is dependent on the shop and the team enviroment. FRM probably works in a top tier inde shop where everybody is rowing the boat in the same direction. Alot of shops operate in a trial by fire mentality
As tech: how my efficiency will be high if mostly doing diagnostic, checking finding getting precise from parts send to writer jumping next complain. Warranty all of the above plus I have to open case than call factory representative report everything they approve than order parts. After let say I received transmission and replace it there is form I have filled up return part to part department find warranty time up code and next to me some one just doing regular maintenance bring a car in and out and getting pay less than me but taking home more money than I. His efficiency is way higher than my. This is 99.9% all dealers I can say in USA Lots of favorites going in all dealers… I don’t know what dealer you working or running. All car dealers service writers and management are like fast guys they don’t care they do the job right or service right. Let’s be honest I’m not new in this business. I know you know and who ever is in this business they know what I’m talking about.
Oh the rust is great. Up north if you get a 20 year old truck rolling in for an exhaust manifold, you just pull the truck in, roll the torch over and get to work, down south, you get that same northern truck in, you’re gonna try to get it with a ratchet, then you’re gonna try to get it with a bigger ratchet, then you’re gonna try to wiggle an impact in there, then you’re gonna spray PB on it, then you’re gonna snap a bolt, then you’re gonna get the torch. Northern mechanics blown it off in 15 minutes, southern mechanic screwed with. For an hour then did the same thing…and if you’re up north and you roll the torch over before you pop the hood, nobody bats an eye, if you’re down south, the service manager has an aneurism. :p
Working on one make at a dealer is definitely an advantage. Its much easier to become extremely efficient even with warranty work. I've been a Mercedes-Benz tech for 10 years and there's no job I've done that I can't make money on. I've had many weeks over 100 hours but unfortunately not everyone can do it. You kinda either have it in you to be a great tech or you don't, and you should know after about 5 years if you can be one of those top techs in the shop.
I disagree, expecting a tech to turn 40 hours in a 40 hour work week and expecting quality repairs is laughable. With all the crap we deal with, helping the the young guys, being asked to do a million little jobs throughout the day that don’t pay (hey throw this bulb in, hey pull codes on this, hey swap out this battery etc) Also pulling in cars just to look at them only to pull them out then in again is a huge waste of time. It’s also the reason why are bodies are falling apart. Setting up the lift, pulling wheels etc is hell on your knees and back.
If your service writer is having you do any job that is not what you are clicked on for, they should pay you for it. The solution, I feel, would be to tell them to do it or to have an hourly person do this work.
It bugs me a lot... I spend A LOT of time either waiting for parts or customer authorization... and then I’m told to tear it apart without having parts which pisses me off!!! I’m hourly but I don’t care, I want to get jobs done and cars GONE!!!! no one at my shop seems to understand that. I’m usually half time on almost every job I do, but there are some jobs I get my a$$ kicked. I can say I win more than I lose.
we have a tech that turns over 100 hours a week in the summer. He refuses to do warranty work and picks and chooses what he works on. and if any one complains about him they are told to worry about themselves. he also over charges for most things. express van 5 hours for under hood fuse block that pays no more than 1.0
When I worked at a Chevy dealership I would Bill between 65 and 80 hours. People also have to remember the ones that go to the dealership have money to spend.
To make your $28.00 per hour you have to drive 3 hours per day in hot bumper to bumper traffic, that is 18 hours per week almost a part-time driving job, plus gas on a V-8 truck, and wear and tear on a 4-wheel drive truck. You have to take all that off your take home paycheck.
How to nail 125%: Have a good shop manager who lines things up well so you can bang em out. Efficiency. Also bill for diagnostic. Last small shop: “how about we do flat rate?” Me: “no thanks”. Shop manager: *procedes to forget to order parts. Orders wrong parts. Waits to check parts availability until car is apart.* Definitely affirmed that flat rate would have sucked hard for me there.
the reason why your getting 125% efficiency is because of you and your shop set up, i would say most shop is set up against the tech which is why techs hate flat rate.
Frm really hit every point imo I also hate shops who won’t let a guy stay late like I work on the truck shop and my boss says it’s cool to stay late but it took getting the main shop service Magee chewed out by the owner of the dealership to get him to leave me alone like for 3-4 days In a row I was basically told the next day I’d be gone even tho I’m the highest flagger with no come backs and I have almost the most in tools ⚒️ but I digress there are a lot of reasons you can’t always flag at full potential so u really gotta make sure you behave to the right people in the shop to make sure when you go to war you’ve got back up that’s worth their weight in gold. My shop manager weights 350 before breakfast 🥞
Warranty is not all that bad, as long as you are highly skilled and knowledgeable from self learning you can make hrs and efficiency. I personally make 200plus% efficiency a day, and average 80 to100hrs a week. On great weeks over 120
Be very organized, STAY AWAY from your cell phone, even when you're tired, push yourself to learn and be skilled at repairs. Know when to rest up your body after a shift. Read ahead of time, just like if you were in school.
Working efficiently makes you more money, the shop more money, and (should) save the customer money as you should be able to charge a little lower labor rate than the competition.
I legit did 32hrs on one car in 7 hours when way back in my early 20’s when I worked for saturn for a few years before they closed. I don’t remember everything I did but it was a s-series head gasket, subframe, struts, brakes, tires, alignment, a/c condenser and some other stuff I can’t remember. The dumb ass service writer called the lady and she flipped out saying we were scamming her all that work can’t be done you said it was 32hrs and I dropped it off at 8am it’s 4:30. She came with her husband and we put on a lift and he said yeah it’s all done. I said you guys gotta understand that the s-series was made till 2002 and never changed much it was the only car Saturn made till 2000 and we only have a couple other cars now that’s all we work on every day is a few cars it’s like working in a factory it’s the same every day that’s why we are so fast. The lady was still rude and thought it was a scam. She came back for an oil change on another Saturn she had and apologized to myself and the service manager she actually brought the car to another Saturn dealer that was 100 miles away they checked it out and she had a conversation with the service manager who said something my service manager should have brought up, he said I had 2 car this week both needed cylinder heads same identical job that calls for 8 hours one of his techs took 15hrs and another tech did it in 4hrs now imagine it’s ur car and the slower tech did the job would it be fair of me to charge you 15hrs when it calls for 8hrs? I’m sure you wouldn’t like that. She said when he told her that she finally und
When you sell work to a customer you give them a price not a hour amount .when they agree to it that is how it is done if they feel they are being taken advantage of they can leave and get another opinion .keep in mind if a flat rate tech takes longer than agreed to time he loses out that is the business of flat rate. This idea of taken advantage of people happens unfortunately . The rust thing is not that big of a deal we have dealt with it for years. On equipment when I would sell work on a 20,000 combine repair you build in a contingency if you need it ,you have it if not the customer saves money it helps building confidence and your reputation.Great video
I see some of the comments regarding not having parts before tearing it down ... to some exact that’s some what true at least in my experience, sometimes there’s other parts that can break while re assembling also sometimes it’s in that instant another part can go bad so in some cases yes definitely a good thing to have your parts right then an there but sometimes you do have those exceptions.
Eliminate bullshit and focus only on your job. Forget about weak thinking Be a warrior and annihilate the job. Find out who's clearly the best and use him as a guide post
Nothing like dropping your vehicle off for 3hr and getting charged for 5hr labor... like wait, I dropped it off at 2, picked it up at 5. 3hrs have passed, why am I billed for more hours then my car was there total? Pretty hard to convince the consumer their not being ripped..
The book pays 5 hours to do that job. After many years of experience I can do that job in three hours. Why should I be punished for being good at my job and doing it faster than expected?
@@firstlast--- not the consumers fault the pay scale is crap. The consumer is paying for the job. How is the consumer supposed to know what “book time” is, and if it’s correct? Especially if you charge me 6hr of labor, and call me in 3hr to say the job is done, yet charge me 6. Or if the book says 6, and you take 12. Yeah maybe it’s all in good faith, but why would the consumer take your word for it? Especially if the mechanic makes an mistake, hides it and just charges you the spent time. It’s not the consumers problem how the mechanics get paid. That’s my point. Also, it’s not the consumers problem if the book is right or wrong. The consumer pays a high fee for each hour spent working on their vehicle. Unless you charge by the job and not the hour, there’s no honest reason to charge the customer more time then was actually spent. That’s lying and unethical. Especially when the charge to the customer is presented as “ X amount of hours $X per hour. Yet the amount of hours charged, aren’t accurate. Then for the mechanic to hide behind “that’s what the imaginary book says”, as a defense for misrepresenting time charged. Also, mechanics are first to tell you, just how often the books are wrong. It’s completely arbitrary to base what you charge the customer off a book the customer can’t see and doesn’t have basic access too, as a customer. Just taking your word for it. But who would do that in good faith, when you can see you’re being charged for more time then your vehicle even spent at the shop. Also, the customer is paying you for your knowledge/skills. Hence the $80-$200 per hour charge. Regardless of what the mechanic gets from that, that’s what the consumer sees and pays. If you have a problem of your pay for work, take it up with the employer, not the customer who is paying a very fair price.
@@goinhot9133 How is the customer supposed to know the book time is correct? The customer is supposed to go to several places and get a quote from each shop, it's a free market and you are allowed to do that. Obviously the outliers should make you skeptical. Do this until you find a shop you can trust. I get what you're saying about it not being the customers fault how we got paid, and you're right, but that's just how it is. You're going to have a real hard time finding a good shop that pays techs by the hour. I'm getting the impression the whole reason why you're feeling ripped off is because you can't personally verify how the shop came to the conclusion of what to charge you. You can buy subscriptions by the day for services such as alldata identifix Mitchell etc type in a repair and it will give you a guide on how much labor to charge, if you are really that bothered by it go ahead and buy a subscription for a day you'll see what I mean. The reason why I said guide is because you can punch in the same job on three different services and you'll probably get three different book times. Ultimately it's up to the shop to decide how much labor to charge based off what the "book" says. I'll stand by what I said. I spent years learning how to fix cars efficienctly and correctly, not to mention the thousands of dollars I've spent on tools. I worked my ass off to get where I am now. There is absolutely no way I'm going to take a pay cut just because you didn't like how fast I fixed your car. If you don't like it go somewhere else, better yet why don't you pick up a wrench and do it yourself?
@@goinhot9133 you are being charged by the job. Also when a tech finishes early you should be happy he has the experience to do so. When you take your car to a shop your not only paying for the hours but experience.
Lmao I started this tech Joint about a year ago im knocking 70-90 hours a week. You just have to be honest about things the car needs and can be able to prove it needs it, but its deff Possible people
Labor guide is a GUIDE if a job calls for 3 and I choose to sell it for 6 because I’m F-ing good at it.Stealng from a customer is Selling unnecessary repairs/services.Generally Speaking none of us sell jobs like that it is difficult to sell jobs at double the rate when you already taxed off your loyal customers
I run 100%+ I don’t push myself at my age, you learn the tricks of this trade to take it easy, if you young and want to run fast, if you know what your doing 200% can be accomplished here, out of my 10hr day I work 6-7hrs flagging 12-14hrs
In the body shop we tear down for estimate and weight weeks on parts with cov19 sometime months it sucks
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Yeah but that makes sense, most body panels or any crash bars ect will need to be ''special'' orders where it's gonna take a bit. In automotive MOST parts can be there that day, the next day or like a week max if it's out of country.
Am I have some good weeks and I have bad weeks but sometimes it's really difficult with warranty I think it also depends in the area that you live in it's really hard to sell cash jobs but alot of times those same cash jobs that refuse come back cause it wasn't done right wherever they take it to have the work done but when possible the way you explained is how I try to do it
Please tell me no data time is a guide there & not the rule. Your writers are allowed to use their brains (if applicable ,usually NOT) . R&R engine ,transfer of parts included. 2.0 hr. ? Yeah sounds reasonable!
Most writers I've met, haven't spent 5 minutes in a shop. I took a job as a writer thinking my schooling would help sell jobs. That lasted a month, I'll be back in the shop on Monday.
I believe it's a persons confidence and 2nd guessing that slows them down.
100% once I got more confident and felt better about myself I sped up 10x my work also improved
Absolutely. First brake job I did took a few hours for one side. Now I’ll rip all that’s shit off and be flying in comparison. And I’ve only done like 5 axles worth of brakes.
Confidence is that feeling you sometimes get before you fully understand the situation.
@@VashthStampeede lol, love it.
Guilty
Watched your videos a couple years ago when I was first starting. I learned to combine things to earn as much as possible while working and going to school. Long story short I was 6 month in and hitting 120-124% weekly definitely shocked people including the regional manager who came and shook my hand personally ... Everything your saying is very helpful to new techs keep it up!
As a tech who has only been turning wrenches professionally for 7 months. These tips and others have helped me start putting up 50 plus hour weeks very consistently with time to leave early on ridays. Thanks for all the info.
Dealerships typically are set up for inefficiency. Worst one I worked at had us looking up warranty times. The only bone they would throw your way was a 30k 60k or 90k service. If you tried to up sell one it would go to the next tech up for a service. I see more and more dealers finally upping their pay rates due to lack of body’s to fill the shop. Independent’s seem to be stuck in the 90’s with pay rates around here. Glad I’m off the line and have a job in turf maintenance.
I am a dealership technician in Los Angeles, and average 130 % monthly , but for the past months we have averaged 180 to 200% there has been lots of work , last week I got the record for a single day billed hours (36hrs. for this year.) For those guys out there it is possible , but as The Flat Rate Master says it is management and how it is set up for you guys to Work. other key Items are discipline on how you work ( Do it right , no comebacks , and streamline so your efficiency goes up). ps: we California techs don't deal with rust that much , I think efficiency does go down if rust is present and shops should charge accordingly. Thanks Flat Rate Master keep up the great advice and tool review videos.
I do it the other way around - cool mornings are for working, and afternoons, when the heat index is well above 100°, is for driving cars in the ac and light work.
Hit 65 hours last week in 45 hours. Everything just worked out great! Lots of gravy and easy diag
Cmon bro you didn't give us specific tips on hitting 125% lmaoo I NEED THIS
Was a 20 year Honda dealer tech had many 60 plus hour weeks and even had my share of 100 hours. And as far as rust, in Illinois we build that into repair cost
When I was working at a Toyota dealer there was a Master Diagnostic tech I worked with that could do the Tacoma frame jobs in 2 days. And a timing cover in one day if he was left alone. And that was along with 10 diags and multiple recalls.
I’m at the shop 90 hours and get 60 lol
Damn I work 6 days 6 to 6 and get 100 to 110 a week it ain’t easy though
Totally agree you can"t be on your phone and expect to make hours, it don"t work like that.Yep Terry agree why some of these service managers just don"t get it you diagnose first then like mike said you wait till you have the parts before you start tearing down i just don"t get it.Great video mike and advice keep them videos coming, stay safe everyone we will get thru this.
Great advice and great video. I never ran a shop, but I did run the commercial end of a parts store. You could always get the jist of how a shop was run when working with these garages daily, and it was easy to tell the mismanaged ones. You could usually tell who was going to go belly up.
last dealership i worked at i had to be the porter,parts runner,custodian,customer liasson,plus mechanic
it was a cluster
customer pissed,manager pissed,parts people pissed 🤦♂️🤦♂️ and everyone blames you 🤷♂️
Man I've been at a dealer for a few years, and I wish we had the "diagnose in the morning, fix in the afternoon" system. I always seem to get nothing but waiter diags, weird unusual diags and then my foreman wonders why im only at 35 hours at noon on friday.
That's the worst. "Hey, I know you're busy, but can you see what's going on with this one? The engine light is on and the passenger window doesn't go down. Oh, and sometimes their call quality isn't good with Bluetooth on their iPhone 6."
@@matth9359 🤧😞
Same story at my dealership
My last shop manager stacked the shop against 5 of us, & fed 2 techs daily (the 3 are friends). Ruined me for flat rate, now I work hourly & get by. If I ever work flat rate again it will be for myself.
Flat rate 20 years, once I realized I was the only one in my way that things really clicked and the money came. Be confident and learn from the mistakes, and you'll succeed. Thanks FRM!
Makes a huge difference when the shop owner plays the role of shop foreman too. When you have owners with just business degrees that had their business handed down from their father, stuff gets out of whack quickly. “It’s just right there” is the sentences can’t stand to hear 😂 but I agree, If you can successfully implement your strategy for efficiency then it’s golden.
i was a lube tech last year and made $45,600 ish at my shop but i also perform general repairs. Im inefficient but work tenaciously and this year im going to try my best to increase efficency. i just purchased a milwaukee m18 3/8ths compact and its making me money because i made 40 hours this week as a lube tech and doing general repairs. i got my start in automotive at this shop as a lube tech 18 months ago. My mom kicked me out of the house and i was a delivery driver till my truck needed a lot of repairs then i went into an auto shop to buy parts and get coolant and oil etc. i ended up staying. i hope i can get 50 to 60 hours atsome point this year when other technicians quit or leave etc just to know if i have a future in this career field.
in my opinion, speed is key!
I bill 1 hour diag if any kind of scan tool gets involved. Turns a simple job that could pay less than half an hour to a little gravy. It's a dealership anyway.
Yessir
At 47 I think I'm only running at about 90 percent efficiency. When I was younger I could get the jobs done faster.
The guy at the parts house told…. “Your not working on an Ambulance, So calm down. We’ll be there soon”!!
Don’t see him around anymore…….SMH some people’s children
thank you for addressing the rust issue with repairs effecting time of repairs.
Enjoy your videos....I was a car hop at a Chev dealer in H.S...drove / parked about 125 cars a day. Drove some Corvettes back to school and hung out for time. Service writers test drove through the neighborhood too, saw us....never heard a thing ?
My service manager usually wants me to start tearing down equipment for repairs without parts ( I work in the equipment rental industry) . Can't stand it especially when, during these times, most of the parts are back ordered for a week to a month..
Then they tell you, well just put itback how it was....?
we have a system too. Shop foreman sits on the ro's for days and then dispatches them at 3:30 Thursday.
I had no problem getting 125-150% on subarus but I'm at a GM dealer now and I'm struggling to even hit 100%. Thanks for the video
You are very experienced and over time you get quicker .
Man I wish my shop was set up like that. I’d turn a lot more hours.
It's doable to do 120h and work around 60h in 2 weeks, I have done that but I also had a lot of luck with customers having deep pockets and actually fixing or maintaining their cars. Also being a level C tech that literally only does Oil changes as a main part of the paycheck sucks but it can also be good if your shop allows you to do the work you sell.
All you gotta do is is diag a car get ut outside and keep doing that, and you need to be quick about working on cars. I look at what part I need to replace and run through how I'm going to remove it in my head before I start working on it
How do you know what part you are going to replace just by a basic visual inspection/before working on it? Are you just doing broken parts and obvious fluid leaks?
Good Info. Definitely going to apply to my shop.
The shop I work in only likes their golden boy to make money while the rest of us scrape for crumbs.
I hear ya. I'm in the same boat. When X tech isn't at work I'm flagging good hours. When X tech is at work I flag shit hours. They feed him well.
same, i need to find a new shop
It's time to find a new shop if that's the case. No need to stay around in that environment.
Man when I did work for a dealership they had their golden boy and his fiancé was the service writer, the rest of us definitely got scraps!
It depends on what type of repair whether you can order parts and move the car out on to next one. sometimes you don't know what parts you need until you get into it!
Cool thing about flat rate is that you get to make your own hours you can leave early if you bill a good day.
I need to work with you. I work for Isuzu/chevy dealer. My shop is an outdated turd. We been on "guarantees" hourly pay for years. They recently changed us to flat rate. We are all loosing. They are gonna lose all of us. The shop is not setup to run flat rate & they just don't get it. My pay has been awesome for a long time as foreman. But when they told me we are going flatrate I put in my 2week notice, They gave me my hourly pay back plus a raise. I also noticed they have been buying new equipment for the first time in years! They are making the technicians pay for there "updates". Messed up
One of my pet peeves learned over time is not taking things apart until parts are in my hand. Diag, diag, diag, approved repairs parts in stock *Boom* repairs done, diag diag, ect.
Making sure to ask parts if in stock or sop and eta. Relaying that to advisor and/or foreman. Knowing your flow comes with experience and desire to learn that flow.
I find alot had to do with the shop and your confidence. The second takes experience
You should come manage dealers in the Bay Area. The ones I worked they always expect you to finish everything in half the time it’s billed for. The shop foreman piles a stack of tickets on your desk in the morning and expects everything to be finished the same day. Talk to the service advisor about having the car held overnight expect to be yelled at
I totally understand! I work for a Ford Dealer in San Jose. I have piece of shit advisors who tell me all the time that cars need to be done by the end of the day. I end up killing myself and staying late. The next day back at work, what do you know? The car that had to go out is still parked at work. What a load of shit!
I was 200% last month the only master tech in the shop .you need to keep moving no lunch no breaks
That (no lunch no breaks) is a good way to get yourself hurt and then you are out three months and what is your percentage then. 190% with breaks and without fatigue and accidents and injuries might be better in the long run.
40 years going strong no major injury
Rather do 150-175 and not be making stupid mistakes because I'm hungry and tired.
@@JMKady76 yeah screw not eating money isn’t worth more than my health.
I love how this guy shows up half sweaty flushed in the face, it looks like he has just taken apart a transmission to talk to us. That’s dedication. Plus he looks like he would kick my ass. Makes me listen to the man! 😮
Must be nice to be able to get parts from worldpac in an hour I can't even get parts from o'reillys and an hour
Absolutely...then when they do get there half the time they ain't even right lol.
😂
It is really hit or miss in a German dealership. This morning I made 1.8h. Some morning I hit 7.5h. It really depends if our part dept fucks up or not, and if the advisors write everything up properly.
You are one of the best all around tech s I've ever seen why don't you have your own place by now you can do it
FYI some places warranty time actually pays fair. If that weren't true you wouldn't see some techs staying with certain brands long considering the volume of warranty/campaign/recall work that is required.
Enjoy your videos!
Do you wear that special shirt just for the video?
Awesome video. What you’re doing with your shop and how your shop is set up resonate with me and are what I believe are necessary to optimize shop efficiency and productivity. I also like the idea of the manager being the master technician. I think that’s ideal and helps both the techs and service writers to develop, assuming that person is top notch like you.
Most dealers here in the UK do a 1 to 3 minute video and fill out electronic health check. The customer gets it e mailed straight away so they can see for themselves.
Sounds good man. Best system I have ever heard of.
I’m a new Foreman, this is the first time I’ve had to really worry about other guys that I work with.
In a time where it is hard to find good help, how do you deal with guys that just don’t care. Late everyday, won’t work hard, ok with the 38-40 hours a week. Again, they can’t be replaced right now. The catch is the problem guys are older than I am. Thanks
Working on deisels id probably not show up the next pay period if I did 125% efficiently.
That aside, so many valid points in thid! Very good content and long time watcher! Keep up the good work.
I guess it depends on the situation. We can normally have our parts in a out 15 or 20 minutes if they are in stock. If I have say a pickup truck in for brakes, you won’t know if you need calipers unless you take them off, you won’t know if you need park brake shoes until you take the rotors off. Maybe you will find a slightly leaking axle seal when you get the rotors off. By the time you have the vehicle in, on the hoist, wheels off, brakes all off, it seems like a waste to put it all back together. So would you assume you need everything and have it on hand or?
Sometimes I can tear down a car, order the parts and have the parts show up so they are there after a break. Unless you are charging the customer for that time to put the car back together I don’t see how it always is better. I can see it better sometimes, but sometimes it must be advantageous to fix the car right away when its in for diag.
In Australia, there is a ballpark goal of four cars per day per hoist.
The hours booked are job dependant , if you are efficient, you can make the hours easy .
We don’t have a rust belt , but we have a coal industry, which is just as bad, but we book it.
It’s just parts for me and not wanting to have thing apart because of weather
I’ve got one lift. I’ll be on a 2 day job, finish it then spend the next day checking out cars to fill my cue again. Spend the next 2-3 days repairing those cars, rinse and repeat. So I’ll have 3-4 days per pay period that no hours get flagged.
Very useful video. We limit oil changes to a certain number and morning times for the same reason. It’s tempting to fill you day with appointments, but you just shoot your self in the foot, with lost discovered services and ability to get a quality job out.
I kinda think alot is dependent
on the shop and the team
enviroment.
FRM probably works in a
top tier inde shop where
everybody is rowing the boat in
the same direction. Alot of shops
operate in a trial by fire mentality
At most new car dealerships, you have a lot of waiting customers. That ruins the flat rate system.
You might want to talk to UA-cam about the closed captioning they keep saying "I am the Fly Rape Master" figured you might want to know
Lmao!!!!
You cappin, but that is funny
As tech: how my efficiency will be high if mostly doing diagnostic, checking finding getting precise from parts send to writer jumping next complain. Warranty all of the above plus I have to open case than call factory representative report everything they approve than order parts. After let say I received transmission and replace it there is form I have filled up return part to part department find warranty time up code and next to me some one just doing regular maintenance bring a car in and out and getting pay less than me but taking home more money than I. His efficiency is way higher than my. This is 99.9% all dealers I can say in USA
Lots of favorites going in all dealers… I don’t know what dealer you working or running. All car dealers service writers and management are like fast guys they don’t care they do the job right or service right. Let’s be honest I’m not new in this business. I know you know and who ever is in this business they know what I’m talking about.
Oh the rust is great. Up north if you get a 20 year old truck rolling in for an exhaust manifold, you just pull the truck in, roll the torch over and get to work, down south, you get that same northern truck in, you’re gonna try to get it with a ratchet, then you’re gonna try to get it with a bigger ratchet, then you’re gonna try to wiggle an impact in there, then you’re gonna spray PB on it, then you’re gonna snap a bolt, then you’re gonna get the torch. Northern mechanics blown it off in 15 minutes, southern mechanic screwed with. For an hour then did the same thing…and if you’re up north and you roll the torch over before you pop the hood, nobody bats an eye, if you’re down south, the service manager has an aneurism. :p
What shop management software do you guys have? Thank you for all of the hard work Mr. Flatrate Master!
Working on one make at a dealer is definitely an advantage. Its much easier to become extremely efficient even with warranty work. I've been a Mercedes-Benz tech for 10 years and there's no job I've done that I can't make money on. I've had many weeks over 100 hours but unfortunately not everyone can do it. You kinda either have it in you to be a great tech or you don't, and you should know after about 5 years if you can be one of those top techs in the shop.
I disagree, expecting a tech to turn 40 hours in a 40 hour work week and expecting quality repairs is laughable. With all the crap we deal with, helping the the young guys, being asked to do a million little jobs throughout the day that don’t pay (hey throw this bulb in, hey pull codes on this, hey swap out this battery etc)
Also pulling in cars just to look at them only to pull them out then in again is a huge waste of time. It’s also the reason why are bodies are falling apart. Setting up the lift, pulling wheels etc is hell on your knees and back.
The only thing i will do for free is put air in a customer's tires, nothing else isn't free, if the writers want it for no charge they can do it
If your service writer is having you do any job that is not what you are clicked on for, they should pay you for it. The solution, I feel, would be to tell them to do it or to have an hourly person do this work.
It bugs me a lot... I spend A LOT of time either waiting for parts or customer authorization... and then I’m told to tear it apart without having parts which pisses me off!!! I’m hourly but I don’t care, I want to get jobs done and cars GONE!!!! no one at my shop seems to understand that. I’m usually half time on almost every job I do, but there are some jobs I get my a$$ kicked. I can say I win more than I lose.
I know I can work over 100% I've done it many times. If I'm not at least 100% I'm finding a new job or telling them to get their shit straight.
we have a tech that turns over 100 hours a week in the summer. He refuses to do warranty work and picks and chooses what he works on. and if any one complains about him they are told to worry about themselves. he also over charges for most things. express van 5 hours for under hood fuse block that pays no more than 1.0
How does management let him get away with it is he related?
When I worked at a Chevy dealership I would Bill between 65 and 80 hours. People also have to remember the ones that go to the dealership have money to spend.
To make your $28.00 per hour you have to drive 3 hours per day in hot bumper to bumper traffic, that is 18 hours per week almost a part-time driving job, plus gas on a V-8 truck, and wear and tear on a 4-wheel drive truck. You have to take all that off your take home paycheck.
I’d sell you a 25 year old Toyota Corolla with ice cold A/C for $1000 just for a commute beater, leave the truck at home
Thanks for the explanation.
How to nail 125%: Have a good shop manager who lines things up well so you can bang em out. Efficiency. Also bill for diagnostic.
Last small shop: “how about we do flat rate?” Me: “no thanks”. Shop manager: *procedes to forget to order parts. Orders wrong parts. Waits to check parts availability until car is apart.* Definitely affirmed that flat rate would have sucked hard for me there.
the reason why your getting 125% efficiency is because of you and your shop set up, i would say most shop is set up against the tech which is why techs hate flat rate.
I’m guessing you filmed that during a heat wave last Summer. 😉
Eric O - The Rust King! Bring out Big Nasty and The Smoke Wrench. 😂👍🔧
Thank you for the advice.
Great video as always, this is how we flow our shop too. Can you cover your QC program sometime?
I work at a Mazda dealership as a Auto Tech 8 years I do around 70 to 80 hours a week it possible
I call that the stealership
The One Its called upsell!
Frm really hit every point imo I also hate shops who won’t let a guy stay late like I work on the truck shop and my boss says it’s cool to stay late but it took getting the main shop service Magee chewed out by the owner of the dealership to get him to leave me alone like for 3-4 days In a row I was basically told the next day I’d be gone even tho I’m the highest flagger with no come backs and I have almost the most in tools ⚒️ but I digress there are a lot of reasons you can’t always flag at full potential so u really gotta make sure you behave to the right people in the shop to make sure when you go to war you’ve got back up that’s worth their weight in gold. My shop manager weights 350 before breakfast 🥞
Everyone at the shop has a key to the shop, we will never require anyone to stay late but you can if you want
This is how the master tech I apprenticed under ran his shop.
Want to be 125% efficient.....never do a lick of diagnosis. Diagnosis eats efficiency. Stay a parts changer.
Warranty is not all that bad, as long as you are highly skilled and knowledgeable from self learning you can make hrs and efficiency. I personally make 200plus% efficiency a day, and average 80 to100hrs a week. On great weeks over 120
Do you have any tips?
Be very organized, STAY AWAY from your cell phone, even when you're tired, push yourself to learn and be skilled at repairs. Know when to rest up your body after a shift. Read ahead of time, just like if you were in school.
Working efficiently makes you more money, the shop more money, and (should) save the customer money as you should be able to charge a little lower labor rate than the competition.
Great advice!
I legit did 32hrs on one car in 7 hours when way back in my early 20’s when I worked for saturn for a few years before they closed. I don’t remember everything I did but it was a s-series head gasket, subframe, struts, brakes, tires, alignment, a/c condenser and some other stuff I can’t remember. The dumb ass service writer called the lady and she flipped out saying we were scamming her all that work can’t be done you said it was 32hrs and I dropped it off at 8am it’s 4:30. She came with her husband and we put on a lift and he said yeah it’s all done. I said you guys gotta understand that the s-series was made till 2002 and never changed much it was the only car Saturn made till 2000 and we only have a couple other cars now that’s all we work on every day is a few cars it’s like working in a factory it’s the same every day that’s why we are so fast. The lady was still rude and thought it was a scam. She came back for an oil change on another Saturn she had and apologized to myself and the service manager she actually brought the car to another Saturn dealer that was 100 miles away they checked it out and she had a conversation with the service manager who said something my service manager should have brought up, he said I had 2 car this week both needed cylinder heads same identical job that calls for 8 hours one of his techs took 15hrs and another tech did it in 4hrs now imagine it’s ur car and the slower tech did the job would it be fair of me to charge you 15hrs when it calls for 8hrs? I’m sure you wouldn’t like that. She said when he told her that she finally und
When you sell work to a customer you give them a price not a hour amount .when they agree to it that is how it is done if they feel they are being taken advantage of they can leave and get another opinion .keep in mind if a flat rate tech takes longer than agreed to time he loses out that is the business of flat rate. This idea of taken advantage of people happens unfortunately . The rust thing is not that big of a deal we have dealt with it for years. On equipment when I would sell work on a 20,000 combine repair you build in a contingency if you need it ,you have it if not the customer saves money it helps building confidence and your reputation.Great video
I see some of the comments regarding not having parts before tearing it down ... to some exact that’s some what true at least in my experience, sometimes there’s other parts that can break while re assembling also sometimes it’s in that instant another part can go bad so in some cases yes definitely a good thing to have your parts right then an there but sometimes you do have those exceptions.
100% agree with efficiency
Eliminate bullshit and focus only on your job.
Forget about weak thinking
Be a warrior and annihilate the job.
Find out who's clearly the best and use him as a guide post
Nothing like dropping your vehicle off for 3hr and getting charged for 5hr labor... like wait, I dropped it off at 2, picked it up at 5. 3hrs have passed, why am I billed for more hours then my car was there total? Pretty hard to convince the consumer their not being ripped..
The book pays 5 hours to do that job. After many years of experience I can do that job in three hours. Why should I be punished for being good at my job and doing it faster than expected?
@@firstlast--- not the consumers fault the pay scale is crap. The consumer is paying for the job. How is the consumer supposed to know what “book time” is, and if it’s correct? Especially if you charge me 6hr of labor, and call me in 3hr to say the job is done, yet charge me 6. Or if the book says 6, and you take 12. Yeah maybe it’s all in good faith, but why would the consumer take your word for it? Especially if the mechanic makes an mistake, hides it and just charges you the spent time. It’s not the consumers problem how the mechanics get paid. That’s my point. Also, it’s not the consumers problem if the book is right or wrong. The consumer pays a high fee for each hour spent working on their vehicle. Unless you charge by the job and not the hour, there’s no honest reason to charge the customer more time then was actually spent. That’s lying and unethical. Especially when the charge to the customer is presented as “ X amount of hours $X per hour. Yet the amount of hours charged, aren’t accurate. Then for the mechanic to hide behind “that’s what the imaginary book says”, as a defense for misrepresenting time charged. Also, mechanics are first to tell you, just how often the books are wrong. It’s completely arbitrary to base what you charge the customer off a book the customer can’t see and doesn’t have basic access too, as a customer. Just taking your word for it. But who would do that in good faith, when you can see you’re being charged for more time then your vehicle even spent at the shop. Also, the customer is paying you for your knowledge/skills. Hence the $80-$200 per hour charge. Regardless of what the mechanic gets from that, that’s what the consumer sees and pays. If you have a problem of your pay for work, take it up with the employer, not the customer who is paying a very fair price.
@@goinhot9133 How is the customer supposed to know the book time is correct? The customer is supposed to go to several places and get a quote from each shop, it's a free market and you are allowed to do that. Obviously the outliers should make you skeptical. Do this until you find a shop you can trust. I get what you're saying about it not being the customers fault how we got paid, and you're right, but that's just how it is. You're going to have a real hard time finding a good shop that pays techs by the hour. I'm getting the impression the whole reason why you're feeling ripped off is because you can't personally verify how the shop came to the conclusion of what to charge you. You can buy subscriptions by the day for services such as alldata identifix Mitchell etc type in a repair and it will give you a guide on how much labor to charge, if you are really that bothered by it go ahead and buy a subscription for a day you'll see what I mean. The reason why I said guide is because you can punch in the same job on three different services and you'll probably get three different book times. Ultimately it's up to the shop to decide how much labor to charge based off what the "book" says.
I'll stand by what I said. I spent years learning how to fix cars efficienctly and correctly, not to mention the thousands of dollars I've spent on tools. I worked my ass off to get where I am now. There is absolutely no way I'm going to take a pay cut just because you didn't like how fast I fixed your car. If you don't like it go somewhere else, better yet why don't you pick up a wrench and do it yourself?
@@goinhot9133 you are being charged by the job. Also when a tech finishes early you should be happy he has the experience to do so. When you take your car to a shop your not only paying for the hours but experience.
Lmao I started this tech Joint about a year ago im knocking 70-90 hours a week. You just have to be honest about things the car needs and can be able to prove it needs it, but its deff Possible people
Im at 52 hours with 41 hours being here and I’m just a c tech at firestone.
Labor guide is a GUIDE if a job calls for 3 and I choose to sell it for 6 because I’m F-ing good at it.Stealng from a customer is Selling unnecessary repairs/services.Generally Speaking none of us sell jobs like that it is difficult to sell jobs at double the rate when you already taxed off your loyal customers
I run 100%+ I don’t push myself at my age, you learn the tricks of this trade to take it easy, if you young and want to run fast, if you know what your doing 200% can be accomplished here, out of my 10hr day I work 6-7hrs flagging 12-14hrs
125% that’s where the mistakes happen too
In the body shop we tear down for estimate and weight weeks on parts with cov19 sometime months it sucks
Yeah but that makes sense, most body panels or any crash bars ect will need to be ''special'' orders where it's gonna take a bit. In automotive MOST parts can be there that day, the next day or like a week max if it's out of country.
How many waiter oil changes a day?
Am I have some good weeks and I have bad weeks but sometimes it's really difficult with warranty I think it also depends in the area that you live in it's really hard to sell cash jobs but alot of times those same cash jobs that refuse come back cause it wasn't done right wherever they take it to have the work done but when possible the way you explained is how I try to do it
I shoot for around 40-50 a week. We work 8-12, 1-5 no exceptions. If it doesn’t get done it doesn’t get done
Please tell me no data time is a guide there & not the rule. Your writers are allowed to use their brains (if applicable ,usually NOT) . R&R engine ,transfer of parts included. 2.0 hr. ? Yeah sounds reasonable!
seriously though! well said.
Most writers I've met, haven't spent 5 minutes in a shop. I took a job as a writer thinking my schooling would help sell jobs. That lasted a month, I'll be back in the shop on Monday.
Great video man
How do you get out of not feeling like you worked 70 hrs in 40?