ADealerTech

I see, that seems much more reasonable. This wasn't a comeback. The person was last in, in September when I did a tire rotation. Then they came in this week for new tires and that is when one of the lug nuts stripped out. They (the service manager and tech) stated that since I was the last one to touch the car when it was here, it must have been something I did since I had the wheels off. They didn't even check to see if he had been elsewhere. They simply told the tech to fix it and deducted 1 hour from my total flagged hours for the week. Which is disappointing because I was on pace to beat my best week (50, would have been 50.9 without this). In the 7 months I have been in the dealership (and industry) I can list all my comebacks. - Brakes squeaking on a brake job I did nearly 6 months prior (squeak just started according to customer and ended up being caused by the brakes having a lot of sand in them and needed cleaning, no fault in my prep or installation). If I hadn't been there that day they would have paid someone 1.0 hours to clean them and docked me the 1.0 hours. I even tried to fight this, saying I should be paid, because my work is warrantied and nothing I do can stop the car from driving through sandy roads in the winter. - Car came back today, supposedly I only finger tightened the oil drain plug. I guess it's possible, but I have never forgotten stuff like that before. Those are my only comebacks. Then there is 3 lug nuts stripped (including the one discussed here), all 3 of them were found by this tech, no other techs have ever had this issue with any car I took and put wheels on with (plus I have the 100 ft. lb torque stick from SO that the dealership requires we all have). None of those were comebacks, just cars coming in for their next service when they were found. The only other complaints I have gotten, is when I first started, I left a grease stain on the door handle and I did tires that the customer requested he keep the old tires so he could try to sell them and he said he was in a rush and had to be out by 10. I wasn't thinking and put the tires into his compact car where I could, two in the backseat and two in the trunk, but I didn't put them in bags and sand got in his car. That's all in the span of 7 months, and I feel those are very minor and learning experiences. I have not repeated any of them and apologized for them personally when they happened. I can tell you that I have less comebacks in those 7 months than all the other techs, so I don't feel like I am a chronic issue. I just feel like the whole point of owning a company is that you assume a lot of the liability and in minor instances like these lug nuts, where you cannot even guarantee I was the last one to have the wheels off that I should not lose 33.00 (3 hours times my 11.00 rate) for work that I was paid 9.90 total for.

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this, but do any of you who run flat rate shops do backflagging? For instance, in September I did a tire rotation (pays 0.3) and then the car came back in yesterday for tires, first time back since the tire rotation in 7 months. One of the lug nuts was stripped, according to another tech who was doing the tires. The shop charges and pays 1 hour to replace a stud. So my total hours for the week got deducted by 1. Despite the whole fact that there is no way to even prove I was the last one to actually touch them (and that no one else in the shop has ever had a problem with wheels I put on, just this one tech, three times now). I had to give up an hour of pay to pay the technician who replaced the stud an hour. Just wondering if any other shops do this...and I guess, is it even legal?

Supposedly I have a 30 hour guarantee for 3 months starting back on 2-26 when they finally bumped me to 11.00, but I haven't turned under 30 since then. Problem is, I can't pay the minimum bills off this kind of money. I average, we will say 32 hours, so that's 352.00 a week, even with the bare minimum of taxes taken out that is still around 310.00 take home. My rent alone is 775.00. I have to work for 2.5 out of 4 weeks just to cover rent. Nevermind electricity, gas, food, insurance. Maybe if I was 18 and just fresh out of school and living at home with my parents I could do it. I think the writing is on the wall, time to leave the field. I was making 16.50 an hour answering phones for the lottery.

Thanks for all the comments. I do light repair work, but they won't kick me timing belt, head gasket, engine R&R and transmission R&R jobs yet. Everything else I do, suspension work, alignments, minor and major services, warranty work, brakes, interior, electrical, and some diagnostics. I am by no means master tech level when it comes to diag work, but I understand enough of the basics to know how to search out proper procedures and then complete them, interpret the data and if needed, make model specific alterations to my methods to get a good clear diagnosis. I don't know if that makes me a C or B level tech. In September I become eligible to take ASEs, that's 1 year experience for school and will be 1 year experience in the field. I already have my P2 from working at an AutoZone part time and I guess I could get my C1 anytime I want. As for business, that's my long term goal, if I stay with this field. From my previous life (career) I have a finance degree, and a series 7 and 63 certification for investment banking work I did. I have managed most of my working life (call centers and retail) since I was 19 and got my first management promotion (I will be 29 in April). Independent shops around here specifically state in their jobs advertisements that they want 5 years minimum with so many ASEs, they don't even call me back on my resume. I have another dealer wanting to interview me, but I don't see things improving too much by jumping around. I don't want to swap parts or use the shotgun method to fix something, I want to know things to the core, understand the science behind it all and use that to confidently fix it right and fix it the first time.

What do you mean, minimum salary? I get paid 11.00 per billable hour, and my paycheck is however many hours I flagged x 11.00. There is no minimum salary. If I flag 20 hours I make 220.00 that week and if I flag 30, 330.00, and so on and so forth.

Hi Everyone, I am not a shop owner, though, until recently it was a long term goal of mine. I graduated last year from a technical trade school (local school not one of those diploma factories that you always see advertising for techs and making big promises). I am 28, almost 29 years old, this is a career change for me, since I was laid off from banking in 2010. I have a wife and a kid. I am here for one last desperate attempt to convince myself to stay in this industry. I have 6 months in, almost 7 at my current dealership, I have completed all but 3 of the factory training courses, and while I do not have enough experience and time under my belt to be a master diagnostician, I am not afraid to try any diagnostic line on any RO handed to me. I use to love working on cars. I have my state inspection certification in both safety and emissions, my EPA 609, a certificate in an RMA approved tire repair course. A very nice collection of professional level tools for someone with my experience, and a box to put them in. As of today, I don't want to do this anymore. I am making 11.00 flat rate hourly, I was hired in at 10.00 flat rate hourly, with only the first 2 weeks guaranteed at 40. It took me nearly 6 months to get that 1.00 raise, and everyone in the industry tells me that I am being screwed, with the exception of the service manager of course. I can and have turned 40+ hours, I do everything shy of major overhauls, timing belts and head gaskets already. I do not need to be babysat and I am not. There is not enough work coming in to flag 40 for most guys in my dealership (and the other dealerships in the area). I average 32-38, with my best week being 46.5 and my worst was 14.2. I can't support my family. Flat rate is a bull crap scheme designed to skate labor laws. I am required to be there for 50 hours a week, but don't get paid close to that as there is no work to really make that off of. My service manager doesn't care that I am drowning, trying to hold 3 jobs and getting 4 hours of sleep on average a day. I sat down with him and told him that I felt 13.00 to 14.00 flat rate would be fair for my level of experience and he came back and gave me just a dollar. Other dealerships want guys with 2-3 years experience and the independent shops don't want to touch new guys. No one wants to properly train up techs. And since I am being forced to try to make 40 by doing all the waiter oil changes, state inspections or rotates, I cannot even help out senior techs and learn from them. I feel like my learning opportunities are downright stalled. I have contemplated, seriously, just pushing my tool box over to the tool man and telling him to just have it all to wipe out my tool box debt (I own all the tools) and just going into retail or to a call center or hell even manage a fast food joint, because it all pays better. So, I ask you, auto shop owners, what do I do to find one of you who cares enough to know I need to support my family and doesn't make me sit on a stool making 0.00 3 days in a row because no work came in. One who wants to turn me into a driveability tech, someone who can diagnose with the best of them. Heck, I am not even afraid to get into automatic transmission work and diagnostics. I know I an rambling and probably a little whiny, but I seriously need perspective from the people who pay the checks and not the masses of grumpy and grumbling techs on forums like FlatRateTech.com. Thanks in advance. - A Fed Up Soon to be Ex-Technician