Diagnostic charge

[Noel]

I understand that different shops charge different amounts when it comes to diagnostics such as check engine lights and ABS. Be it a flat rate charge of $65-$120 or minimum of one hour.

Depending on the shop we work for, and how much we are “trusted”, we as techs have the leeway in some cases to ask for more time if there are 10 codes or we feel it will be a difficult diag.

My question is, how do you other techs handle these situations? Are you forced to stick to the flat fee your shop charges no matter how much time it takes you? Do you charge per code? Do you charge straight time?

My shop has recently cut all diag time to .50 flat rate. I have the ability to “ask” for more time, but after losing many diags waiting for approval or the customer just asking for their keys back because “that’s not what you quoted me,” I have started to just do complete diags for less than half of the original fee of 1.2 flat rate.

I didn’t get into over $20K debt and buy expensive tools to do $10 diags!! Just wondering if the rest of the industry is seeing this happen across the board or if it’s just my corner of hell.

I posted about this a year ago when it started at my shop, just wondering if it’s spreading like wildfire yet.
There’s an unlimited supply of employees available so figure it’s just corporate greed as usual.

Raise the shop hourly labor rate, while dropping the labor time, to shift more money out of the techs pocket and into the company slush funds.

Topic

[John Hugon]

When I left (2012 Chevy dealer) .5 diagnostic charge@ $115 per hr. per complaint; you couldn’t ask for more time. If diagnosis was wrong you were back flagged and the time for the repair and diagnosis was removed from your time. I made $29.00 per hr…. if… I made the 40 hr. weekly guarantee. 29/2= $14.50 for diagnosis per complaint.

Stanger87 stated
I didn’t get into over $20K debt and buy expensive tools to do $10 diags!! Just wondering if the rest of the industry is seeing this happen across the board or if it’s just my corner of hell.

I posted about this a year ago when it started at my shop, just wondering if it’s spreading like wildfire yet.
There’s an unlimited supply of employees available so figure it’s just corporate greed as usual.

That started for me years ago…. Now since I have retired…those tools that I paid so much for are worth pennies on the dollar….that’s if someone wants them….

[none]

I think I eventually got a little lucky with my shop’s politics on the diag time.

My shop is part of a national chain that’s only recently begun to get into OBD service repairs. They hired me and one of my class mates from school to start providing that OBD service. It’s been a painfully slow crawl trying to build up that part of the business. They charge $80/hourly on diag while the standard shop rate is about $105/hourly for repair work. I have no idea why they do this, I just accept it. Our customers are starting more and more to approve one hour of diag time, and we’ll have no fear in asking for/selling more time up front if we feel we need it. Sometimes, we’ll sell that first hour and advise the customer we may have to call and ask for more diag time. We have to give ourselves that flexibility just because we’re working on every make and model we feel we can.

Now me, I get paid hourly plus commission. The commisions vary per job classification and I make 25% on diag time. My problems started when one of my service writers in particular started handing me work orders with that hour of diag time which would disappear after I performed the diag. I’d still get paid labor to install whatever part I diagnosed, which was usually a .3 hour labor install. That install might not pay 25% commision so I’d lose $20 on diag time to get $5-%10 to install a part. My service writer complained that I wouldn’t or shouldn’t get the diag because it only took me 15 minutes or it was necessary for some bullshit customer service reason and would try to justify it as he’s losing money too.

That was one of many reasons I accepted a job offer at another shop. I put in my two week notice and then I hurt my back a week later. I felt I was in a vulnerable position to lose two jobs in the same week so I talked to the next shop and told them I had to decline the job and stay with the old one. I couldn’t risk the possibility of getting fired on my first day because I literally couldn’t even turn my own wrenches. That first week of the injury left me uncertain I’d still have either job in a month anyway. I told my boss I’d guarantee another year to let me stay and he was happy to keep me. Before any of this happened, I did complain freely and fiercely to my boss about the money I lost on the diags, but I never told him it was one of my reasons for quitting. I’m kinda guessing that he figured it out for himself though. Ever since this event, I’ve had no problem with getting paid anymore for my diags. I still get along with my boss and the service writer I had the complaint with. We’re heading into a busy time of the year for us and it seems as though we might be finally starting to build a customer base just for the OBD diag and repair. I feel more hopeful I can afford to keep working there.

I’m still worried that some day, a corporate policy will come down trying to chop diag time down where you other guys are. Not that I think .5 hours diag time is good for anybody, but it’s something I especially don’t think fits any shop that tries to service every make & model. Just trying to get used to everybody’s wiring diagrams eats up a lot of my diag time some days. Then try and find all eight pages of that diagram on something like Alldata. I hope whoever dreamed up track style wiring diagrams burns in hell. It was probably the same guy that dreamed up Alldata.

[Author]

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