I've been trying to get in contact of some honda techs from different areas/dealerships.
I'm trying to find out their work conditions and relations to service advisors. *ok here goes. most dealerships don't acknowledge their techs, but loves to flaunt how they are the backbones of the dealerships (which they are) to customers and such. The service advisors takes all the percentage of upsales and splits it within themselves for not doing much, and with little knowledge of the cars and parts they are selling. Meanwhile the techs gets no piece of it. Does anyone know of a dealership or works in one that does share percentage of upsales? Don't mean to be whining, but this has been a big issue at my workplace and several dealerships in the similar area.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by samsneeze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've been trying to get in contact of some honda techs from different areas/dealerships.
I'm trying to find out their work conditions and relations to service advisors. *ok here goes. most dealerships don't acknowledge their techs, but loves to flaunt how they are the backbones of the dealerships (which they are) to customers and such. The service advisors takes all the percentage of upsales and splits it within themselves for not doing much, and with little knowledge of the cars and parts they are selling. Meanwhile the techs gets no piece of it. Does anyone know of a dealership or works in one that does share percentage of upsales? Don't mean to be whining, but this has been a big issue at my workplace and several dealerships in the similar area.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not sure i get your question!

Up sales? Up sales are important for us the techs, we dont get a "percentage" of the up sale, we get Hours from the upsales they sell.....

Are you a flat rate tech? im thinking not, since your complaining about theup-sales...

As a tech I make alot of money on the "up-sales" I initiate to the writer....

???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by onepoint6i &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Im not sure i get your question!

Up sales? Up sales are important for us the techs, we dont get a "percentage" of the up sale, we get Hours from the upsales they sell.....

Are you a flat rate tech? im thinking not, since your complaining about theup-sales...

As a tech I make alot of money on the "up-sales" I initiate to the writer....

???</TD></TR></TABLE>
i agree. flat rate is a wonderful thing. upsell a brake job and alinment on a 90k w/t-belt and theres your bonus.

don't know bout you guys but i work bout 8 hours daily and average 13 flat rate daily

 

Sorry for not being so clear, and i do apologize if this topic does not belong here. Yes i've been flat rating for 6 yrs. In our dealership the amount of upsale (dollar wise) is counted each month, by accontants of course, and say 10-15% of that money is distributed among the advisors every month outside their regular salary. Parts department also makes percentage of total sales each month, kinda like incentives. I'm asking is there any dealerships that does this with their techs? everyone gets a piece expect for us and yes you make your hours but it's hours you put in and worked for.

 

never heard of rewarding a technician for the sales a service writer makes.

usually a good technician gets their rewards for being efficient and being able to flag more hours per day than they are present at the shop.

 

i'll drop this subject, since it appears not all dealerships do this. By the way don't insult my work ethics and as for 'services' you are surely not in this business. the techs do a lot more work than you think besides diagnosing and repairing cars. If you had any idea what goes on behind the scenes, you will know how unfair this practice is. The level of education and knowledge is ridculous. It takes a service advisor less than 6 months to be certified 'platium/100%' from honda, I have not seen one single tech with less than 10 years of experience be 100% and up to date. ahhhh f-it seems i'm in the wrong place.

 

nope i guess i am not in this businesss. I will let the coportation that i work for know that their dealership, salvage yard, body shop, and 2 repair facilities are definitely NOT automotive related.

A service writers job is jsut as important as a technicians. Being a manager who gets to write service tickets, and then turn around and do 1/4 or more of the technician work that goes on in a business...well sometimes I sure wish i was able to make an hour of pay in the 1/2 hour i put into a job. I would love to be able to flag 60+ hours a week with 38 on the clock.
One of the service writer's jobs is to convince the customer to spend more with upsales and additional work, the technicians job is to do the work, and to communicate with the service writer about what else needs to be done. Coming from both sides of the fence its an equitable situation to me. My technicians get hours flagged as well as a base salary. they are rewarded for being more efficient workers. They dont spend time whining about the bonues I make for profitibilioty cause they know that the way for them to make more is flag more hours in less time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by samsneeze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'll drop this subject, since it appears not all dealerships do this.</TD></TR></TABLE>
You don't need to drop it, but you might want to think about targeting your queries to specific personnel at dealerships in the New Orleans area.

It seems to me you have a specific problem related to how one dealership in that area is handling its technicians. I think you might be better served by trying to talk to technicians at other dealerships in your area about your specific issue.

 

I suggest the jobs be done but as far as i'm concerned the advisor is the one selling it to the customer. Doing the extra work is money in my pocket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by samsneeze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sorry for not being so clear, and i do apologize if this topic does not belong here. Yes i've been flat rating for 6 yrs. In our dealership the amount of upsale (dollar wise) is counted each month, by accontants of course, and say 10-15% of that money is distributed among the advisors every month outside their regular salary. Parts department also makes percentage of total sales each month, kinda like incentives. I'm asking is there any dealerships that does this with their techs? everyone gets a piece expect for us and yes you make your hours but it's hours you put in and worked for. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow, I have never heard of that...I now see your whole point of this post though...

That is very unfair of what they are doing.....Giving parts dept and writers an "extra" percentage of income and not you techs, is just wrong...

It should be distributed equally...I totally agree...

have you guys suggested anything to the manager at all?

 

im a honda nut. i work on 40s and 50s cars. like wraiths. but its all good as long as you know the barrier. 50 50. remember that,.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uplink &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im a honda nut. i work on 40s and 50s cars. like wraiths. but its all good as long as you know the barrier. 50 50. remember that,. </TD></TR></TABLE>
huh????

 

lol

 

The dealership I work for is like that. All incentives go to the service writers. Its bloody hell for a tech to get even a cost of living raise. I havent had a raise in 2 yrs because " Well we just opened the new dealership and we cant afford to be giving raises right now". Actual quote from my manager. Yet they spent almost $2000 putting up Christams lights on 3 trees, and who knows how much on lawn mulch. Oh and not to mention the posters telling me to smile. All that money could be used to get raises for the techs, but NO! Its not in the budget. It seems like the harder the job is, the less one gets paid. But atleaset I get 1 on average 150 hours a pay period ( 2 weeks).

 

How big is everyone's shop? That's quite a lot of hrs u logged, we have total of 19 flat rate techs working each day, and no way in hell can we get 150hrs in 2 weeks. Business has been slowed down considerably since 2004, you're lucky to get 60hrs a week or even 50hrs. Other smaller dealerships just keep 1 or 2 techs at work while others go home. In our work place, work is assigned by an assistant, and he has his "buddies" to take care of 1st why others get the scarps. ***** sake, raise? you'll get every excuse to not get one. Every year there's 2 new flatrate techs added on, while less work is provided. There's your raise. I know there are many techs who can't even get 10hrs day.
*this has been brought up many, many times to our manager and owner (our manager is just a puppet) and each time "we'll look into it" "we don't want to blaze a trail if no other dealerships are doing it" and that last quote is my main reason for the post in the first place. v4lu3s u clearly did not read into my post or just single minded.

 

we have 4 flat rateguys and 3 hourly. we average 60 a week easily.

 

Most of the guys at my place get 70-80 hrs a week. I'm not flat rate, so I get all the "weird" stuff, like squeaks, rattles, electrical, etc. I don't mind though. And most of our guys are 100% on their tests, it's not that difficult. As for how they treat the techs? Last year we did well, so they rented out the entire karting facility in town and we all went and kicked each others asses for 3 hours.

 

The way i get paid is hourly but if i make so much in labor per week i got a certain percentage of that based on how long i have been there and my ase certifications

 

all the flatrate guys do services only or what? dam we are out this bitch by the end of this year! we are all 100% on test, but overall including modules is near impossible to complete since we get sent down to school once every 2 years. boostinaintez, that system you have there, now that's fair, keeps you motivated. our work is slow so flat rate techs gets EVERYTHING, squeeks/rattles, transmissions, EVERYTHING. Most of the time hourly guys just stand around, quick lube department alone has 9 guys doing express and accessaries, pdi's. our shop is big, and has loyal customers, but our management is a mess. thanks everyone

 

sounds like a mess...thats what happens when the only thing the "uppers" are worried about are the bottom line #'s. I'd shop around a bit

 

reasons like this is why I refuse to work in dealerships.

I make almost twice the money in a private shop CHOSING what I want to work on and I usually get "incentives" for doing the job faster than 60% of the paid time. Like today, I did a R&R engine on a 93 Lexus ES300 in about four hours. I got paid my 10.3 hours plus an extra hour because of the amount of profit made on the job. I am making about 24 bux an hour after taxes flat rate and it totally kicks ***.

The only thing I have to complain about is the fact that we do not have painted floors so that when there is a spill, we have to use oil dry and it makes a tremendous mess. Between the **** getting spread all over the place, the dust gets all over the place including on my tool box and inside my drinks.......it really pisses me off.

I often get to spend 30 minutes at a time on the tool trucks just shooting the **** and talking about when the tools I ordered will be in.....impatiently like a little child

From experience, I reccomend that <U>when</U> you are efficient and knowledgeable enough that you find yourself a busy and tightly knit private shop and rake the money and fun that you will get from it.

 

Not <U>all</U> dealerships are like that though. You can make alot of money working for a dealer, plus you work on mainly one brand of vehicle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by samsneeze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">flat rate techs gets EVERYTHING, squeeks/rattles, transmissions,</TD></TR></TABLE>

Getting paid 6 hours for a 2 hour trans swap is cake. Squeaks and rattles... not so much.

 

getting paid 10 hours to replace a dash skin in a 2005 Acura TL sucks *****......

Easily a 15 hour job for someone that has done it before.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drdisco69 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Getting paid 6 hours for a 2 hour trans swap is cake. Squeaks and rattles... not so much. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i hate squeaks and rattles, but try doing body shop work for insurance companies... its the worst...

our Honda manager is the body shop manager. Not all the time, but sometimes he gives us bullshit body shop work, we have to remove bent *** sub frames etc for less pay than what honda warranty pays.....****** blows....

But hey, I love being a tech most time....


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DirtySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">reasons like this is why I refuse to work in dealerships.

I make almost twice the money in a private shop CHOSING what I want to work on and I usually get "incentives" for doing the job faster than 60% of the paid time. Like today, I did a R&R engine on a 93 Lexus ES300 in about four hours. I got paid my 10.3 hours plus an extra hour because of the amount of profit made on the job. I am making about 24 bux an hour after taxes flat rate and it totally kicks ***.

The only thing I have to complain about is the fact that we do not have painted floors so that when there is a spill, we have to use oil dry and it makes a tremendous mess. Between the **** getting spread all over the place, the dust gets all over the place including on my tool box and inside my drinks.......it really pisses me off.

I often get to spend 30 minutes at a time on the tool trucks just shooting the **** and talking about when the tools I ordered will be in.....impatiently like a little child
</TD></TR></TABLE>

There are advatages to working at a delarship and advantages to private shops...

We shoot the **** all day and still clock 130hrs a pay period from mostly gravy not back breaking labor....I'll will admit i have seen some dealer team leaders rakeing in over 100K a year...But It was really,really busy they would put in like 300 hours a pay period....

Plus i dont have to buy half the tool truck just to make a living....All the tools I need I already have....1 type of car, certain amount of tools needed..thats it

i use to work at an "all car" shop and i didnt like it, maybe in the future I'll consider it....or not..