from chain shop to dealership

[Matt]

So I have come to a dead end in my current job. The independent shop I am currently working for decided to become a franchised chain shop. No more benefits and now headaches from corperate big wigs.

I always worked independent in the past but as technology gets more complicated the indy shops have never been able to keep up on equipment and training. I am a ase master tech with state smog license.

I have a deal on the table to work for a very busy honda dealer. My main concern is I have never worked for a dealer and dont know what its going to be like trying to hang with the current honda techs.

I want to focus on one brand and get factory certified. I want job security and my benefits back. I dont want to struggle working on a kia one day to working on a 750i bmw the next.

So am I making a wise choice? Im under 30 and have been the lead tech for 4 years of my ten year career. Im looking at this as its now or never to give a dealer a shot. I feel like im going to be held back and never be a top tech sitting at a national chain shop or even the independents.

Topic

[Joe]

there are some things you’ll like about moving to a dealer and some things that you won’t. The paperwork is a headache and dealing with warranty work can be a PITA. Not to mention that even though you’re going in as a master tech you’re still the new guy. You’ll be competing for work with guys that have probably been there for years. Don’t expect to get work tossed your way simply because of seniority.

Also going from an independent/chain shop to a dealer expect the bar for your work to be much higher. People pay a premium to have the dealer service their vehicle and in return they expect premium work. Stuff like reinstalling splash guards and plastic trim, replacing fasteners, etc. will be more important than ever.

On the plus side you have a much more narrow field of cars to deal with for the most part. There are still probably going to be used vehicles that need to be serviced to put on the lot and such but for the most part you’ll be working on a fraction of the models that you’re used to.

Not only that but you’ll have access to all of the factory specific equipment, parts, fluids, and tools. You also have the benefit of having all of your parts in-house. So no more having to deal with places like autozone and such to deliver the right parts in a timely manner. You also don’t have to deal with systems like on-demand or alldata anymore as you’ll have access to honda’s dealer network which will have CORRECT specifications and up-to-date TSBs and recalls.

Aside from that the rest is dependent upon the dealer shop itself. Stuff like personnel, management, and how well everything runs around there is really just independent of that particular dealer.

[Matt]

Well they offered me 14 flat rate an hour…ill stay with my chain shop with 70k salary…i dont even know why i wasted my time thinking i would jump into a dealer and make somewhat the same amount….14 flat rate….wow.

[Pat61]

[quote=”PsychoticMechanic” post=103832]Well they offered me 14 flat rate an hour…[/quote]

At $14/hr they’ll get a monkey, not a mechanic. It tells me that 90% of what they wanted you to do must have been low return warranty work. It also tells me they make all of their money off the backs of salesmen (who probably don’t last too long either)

[Joe]

I agree with Pat there. Sounds like they just threw an insulting number at you just to see if you were dumb enough to take it. Either that or the dealer is in a pretty bad way and they just don’t have the money to hire a legitimate tech at a decent wage. Either way good for you for walking away from it.

You could check around a few other places as well. Not even necessarily in auto repair. Places like Fed Ex and UPS have great pay and benefits packages for their fleet mechanics. The guys that work on school busses and federal mail vehicles have it pretty good as well. Just some food for thought.

[Author]

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