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Techs with Limited Ability – Big Problem?
Techs with Limited Ability – Big Problem?
Who are we referring to? Of course, there are techs with greater and lesser abilities in general, but those are not who we are referring to here. We are referring to the growing number of techs who receive most or all their training from one of the manufacturers.
A few seem to be able to adapt well to auto repair overall regardless of make, but most appear to be limited to strictly that manufacturer. Suggest that they try to service a different make and they melt or run or both. Some say they resemble factory workers who have been taught a specific set of R&R functions.
As this type of training expands the well-rounded technician will become rare at best. Even now independents offering better pay, benefits and overall working conditions than many dealers can’t find techs because so many dealer techs would be incapable of functioning reasonably well in any shop other than a dealer for the make they were trained to service.
So, does this theory hold water – or has nothing really changed?
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6 Replies
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Long term I don’t see this as an issue at all. The independent repair business is gradually moving towards specialization as I see it anyway. Cars are just too complicated to be a master level of skill in more than a couple car brands. Shops will wind up only working on one or two brands or will gravitate to a model similar to ours. We have a twenty five bay shop with thirteen techs. We basically work on 6-7 brands in teams of two or three. Each team only works on one or maybe two brands. Thus, when a car gets dispatched it goes to someone who is trained and experienced specifically in that brand. The relative skill and efficiency moves up tremendously making quality repairs and profit a much more likely occurrence.
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At the risk of beating a dead horse, I believe that this issue, like many, has its roots in historically low technician compensation. I spent most of my career as a general tech working in independent shops, service stations and tire dealers. I prided myself on being able to handle just about anything that came in. However, there is little doubt that my reward for having those kinds of skills was to earn significantly lower wages than the guy who spends his day in a dealership pulling the same part off the same car day in and day out. The industry is glued to a system that rewards techs based on hours turned. Having the kind of skills you seek takes time to learn, and means less hours turned. Looking back, why would anyone want to do that? I will say, that from the few dealers I have worked for, I am not all that impressed with ‘factory’ training, which seems to be almost non existent, except perhaps for one of two techs. They learn by doing, and repetition builds speed, which is how they make their money. You want someone who can do almost anything? Then perhaps it is time to change compensation methods so that people with those skills are valued at a premium, rather than a serious discount. JMHO
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I agree with josephautomotive, the pay system has to change or techs that can fix these complex networks on wheels will be gone!
As far as factory training, it is good for learning system operation and design, but as far as diagnosis, it is whoefully inadequate! I just attended a factory class, and the information could have been had easily by reading the operation section on AllData! It seems most techs are not paid much, so they don’t put much effort into self learning and improvement.
Can you blame them??
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Most great techs at the right shop love flat rate. Times are a changing. I don’t know how shops work on every kind of car. We do german its hard enough.
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The system is changing for shops that specialize and develop efficiency as such. We have two techs in their late twenties or early thirties that are making a hundred k a year with paid insurance 401k and other incentives. One is single and lives like a king, multiple motorcycles and brand new car and a rally car. The other is a single father of three whose wife died a couple years ago from Cancer. His kids go to private schools and he lives a decent life with a home for all of them not rental.
The rest of our techs make above $60k except for one or two. They all are paid very well for a small southern town and over the years many have raised kids, sent them to college and a couple have retired. It is a result of running an efficient business that satisfies all three parameters: the customer, the employee and management.
The results are based on efficiency and capability. Factory tooling for each carline that has been committed to, training and experience based on only working on at most two carlines.
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You will note the shops who say they pay well and have techs who love flat rate also have a common denominator, they specialize in one or two systems or vehicle lines. I maintain my position, the reason you cannot find good all around general techs who can/will work on just about any vehicle is that such people are not valued for this broad range of skills, and are penalized for a “lack of effeciency” in a system that rewards speed. So when you can’t find a tech who can diagnose fuel injection on a vw, perform a wheel alignment on a Lesabre, and replace a timing belt in a Mitsubishi etc, it is because the guy who starved to death being able to do so wised up and is now driving a truck. For much better money.
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