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I would like to hear your opinions on flat rate versus hourly pay in the industry. Personally I do not have a problem with flat rate if the business is generating enough customers every week that each technician has the opportunity to flag at least 40 hours.
I would like to know how other technicians cope when they work on flat rate in an environment where flagging 40+ hours isn’t always an option. Do you work other jobs?
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When I moved out here and applied for jobs all I got offered was 14-16 an hour or 18-22 flat rate. I was lucky and found a job where I would be the only tech in the shop and make 20 a hour with OT, only bad part of this is I dont have anyone to ask for help in the real brain stumpers, if I dont have the tool for that make and model I have to get it somehow. I compare myself to the pay of others and I feel good knowing I have a guaranteed income and I dont wake up every morning wondering how many hours I will flag today or if i can make rent this month.
When I moved out here and applied for jobs all I got offered was 14-16 an hour or 18-22 flat rate. I was lucky and found a job where I would be the only tech in the shop and make 20 a hour with OT, only bad part of this is I dont have anyone to ask for help in the real brain stumpers, if I dont have the tool for that make and model I have to get it somehow. I compare myself to the pay of others and I feel good knowing I have a guaranteed income and I dont wake up every morning wondering how many hours I will flag today or if i can make rent this month.
I have to totally disagree In my 40 years as a tech I have never seen any thing good with flat rate.
All flat rate has done is made the techs dishonest . Today most good tech do not like flat rate and as I said before the dealerships around philly are having a real hard time finding techs They are finding that NO one will work for flat rate any more.
The good jobs are fleet work. I worked on a large fleet and I made more money than any flat rate tech in a stress full dealership. Hell 14 years ago I made 25 an hour and I always got any were form 10 to 18n hours over time a week and I did not have to play the games that the dealerships techs do And the best part was I knew how much money I was making every week . Plus the benefits were WAY better than any dealer ship There was NEVER a slow time in fleet We had a 170 ford vans just in philly alone that averaged 5 to 6,000 miles a month for each van. Just PMs alone kept me busy
Today i am 62 and retired but if I had to do it over again I would only work for a fleet department and NEVER work flat rateI have to totally disagree In my 40 years as a tech I have never seen any thing good with flat rate.
All flat rate has done is made the techs dishonest . Today most good tech do not like flat rate and as I said before the dealerships around philly are having a real hard time finding techs They are finding that NO one will work for flat rate any more.
The good jobs are fleet work. I worked on a large fleet and I made more money than any flat rate tech in a stress full dealership. Hell 14 years ago I made 25 an hour and I always got any were form 10 to 18n hours over time a week and I did not have to play the games that the dealerships techs do And the best part was I knew how much money I was making every week . Plus the benefits were WAY better than any dealer ship There was NEVER a slow time in fleet We had a 170 ford vans just in philly alone that averaged 5 to 6,000 miles a month for each van. Just PMs alone kept me busy
Today i am 62 and retired but if I had to do it over again I would only work for a fleet department and NEVER work flat ratei just want to tell you guys about where i worked for about two years,they paid by the hour and at frist it was good place to work,iam a forklift tech,they closed a warehouse north of columbus so they had two extra techs so they sent them to our shop in columbus,the one worked at a ford dealer and thought he was gods gift wrenchs,and i think he licked the bosses balls,well after a while he talked them in you only got a certain amount of time to do a job or get your ass reamed out and this guy would stab you in the back whenever he could,to make him look good,after a while i quit 😛
i just want to tell you guys about where i worked for about two years,they paid by the hour and at frist it was good place to work,iam a forklift tech,they closed a warehouse north of columbus so they had two extra techs so they sent them to our shop in columbus,the one worked at a ford dealer and thought he was gods gift wrenchs,and i think he licked the bosses balls,well after a while he talked them in you only got a certain amount of time to do a job or get your ass reamed out and this guy would stab you in the back whenever he could,to make him look good,after a while i quit 😛
[quote=”stingray66″ post=31849]Ok Than I have a good question. Why do todays techs accept this flat rate crap?? My thing is if no one will apply for a job that is flat rate them maybe jobs would open up to the right labor rate. I am 60 and retired but if I was younger there is NO way I would ever go to flat rate. All Flat rate is good for is for sloppy work done fast and most of the times NOT done right. In the 45 + years that I have been a tech I have seen the bad side of flat rate. And to this day I just don’t get it. I made more money hourly than most tech did on flat rate. And I also took the time to do the job right the first time with out the pressure
of a flat rate pay. When I worked at a chevy dealer ship all they kept giving me was warranty work and back then warranty work only paid haft of the book labor rate HELL there was weeks I worked 50 hours but got paid for 25 hours. Needless to say a month of that and I walked out .I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO FLAT RATE
I think that in todays market flat rate should just die[/quote]hello, senior tech.
i agree part of it…i worked in mopar dealer where three out of 9 techs work honest and work properly…
yes, i was one of those techs fixed comeback of other techs…i had done work over 180 and made only 110 hours…i guess i was sucky technician wanting to do the job right..
i had done both union shop with hourly, indy shop with hourly, dealership work with hourly…
seems like working in our mechanical field is how it is…
[quote=”stingray66″ post=31849]Ok Than I have a good question. Why do todays techs accept this flat rate crap?? My thing is if no one will apply for a job that is flat rate them maybe jobs would open up to the right labor rate. I am 60 and retired but if I was younger there is NO way I would ever go to flat rate. All Flat rate is good for is for sloppy work done fast and most of the times NOT done right. In the 45 + years that I have been a tech I have seen the bad side of flat rate. And to this day I just don’t get it. I made more money hourly than most tech did on flat rate. And I also took the time to do the job right the first time with out the pressure
of a flat rate pay. When I worked at a chevy dealer ship all they kept giving me was warranty work and back then warranty work only paid haft of the book labor rate HELL there was weeks I worked 50 hours but got paid for 25 hours. Needless to say a month of that and I walked out .I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO FLAT RATE
I think that in todays market flat rate should just die[/quote]hello, senior tech.
i agree part of it…i worked in mopar dealer where three out of 9 techs work honest and work properly…
yes, i was one of those techs fixed comeback of other techs…i had done work over 180 and made only 110 hours…i guess i was sucky technician wanting to do the job right..
i had done both union shop with hourly, indy shop with hourly, dealership work with hourly…
seems like working in our mechanical field is how it is…
Was checking out the dealerships in my area to see if any positions were available and it seemed that the only place accepting applications was hyundai. I can only imagine it was because of the fact that they have the best warranty in the field and that the techs were mainly dealing with warranty work. Even if you’re an experienced tech, this warranty work is a complete killer. I was talking to a tech that works at ford and had to do a job on a f-450 i think it was.. can’t remember what the job was but it took him 5 extra hours to do a job that paid nearly half of what it should have been if he was paid non-warranty. Ridiculous.
Is the reason why we have warranty pay because the shop doesn’t make as much money off of the repair so they deduct the difference from the technician?
Was checking out the dealerships in my area to see if any positions were available and it seemed that the only place accepting applications was hyundai. I can only imagine it was because of the fact that they have the best warranty in the field and that the techs were mainly dealing with warranty work. Even if you’re an experienced tech, this warranty work is a complete killer. I was talking to a tech that works at ford and had to do a job on a f-450 i think it was.. can’t remember what the job was but it took him 5 extra hours to do a job that paid nearly half of what it should have been if he was paid non-warranty. Ridiculous.
Is the reason why we have warranty pay because the shop doesn’t make as much money off of the repair so they deduct the difference from the technician?
Auto mechanics have UNIONS in the USA??? Holy crap. How does that work? I’m not one for unions, but if there was any trade needing one, it’s ours. I even heard that German mechanics don’t have to buy their own tools. Blows my mind!
As for flat rate, here in Calgary, Canada, flat rate techs make way more than I do as an hourly tech. The few flat rate guys I worked beside during my time at the dealership (when I was apprenticing), were mostly pretty good and honest about what they did. Being a Toyota dealership, there wasn’t much warranty stuff for them to deal with.
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