jay weckerle
Forum Replies Created
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You would have to drive business on purpose for this to pay. I worked in a Mazda dealership with 6 techs and we didn’t do a key a day.
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There are plenty of techs available. If they are not willing to invest in knowledge they get to keep, someone pissed off at another employer will be glad to replace them.
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I have had a love/hate relationship with these tests. I have only ever certified A1-A8 and L1 because that is all I needed. I have been master certified since 1986. I have been a drivability and electrical specialist my entire career. I have never rebuilt an automatic transmission even though I have diagnosed many but I have never struggled to pass the test for auto transmission, sometimes with perfect scores. Just last week I diagnosed 6 check engine lights in one day. There are days the shop has me diagnose the cars and other techs replace the parts. I always struggle with the engine performance and advanced L1 and electrical tests and get my poorest scores on those even though I am exceptional at diagnosing those issues. I have always understood that ASE tests are as much about knowing how to test as knowing how to diagnose and repair cars. While I often disagree with the way questions are designed and I’m sure if I knew the answers (which are never given) I would argue how they came to that conclusion, but I don’t know that there is an alternative. Most trades have a certification system and few require the depth and breadth of knowledge and skills required to be an effective automotive or truck technician. The thing is, I like that it shows I really care and if no one but me cares, and that’s good enough.
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Educating the customer for me has very little to do with the technical aspects of the repair as it does the reality of the process. “And of course we are going to do our vehicle inspection while your car is here in case there are issues you are unaware of” should be heard regularly while making appointments. Then they expect us to tell them the issues we find. Do you have any idea how many people think those of us at the dealership just work for free when it is warranty? The look of surprise is precious when we can’t reproduce their problem and they insist we ‘just don’t want to work for free’ and I tell them, ‘I just did work for free, if I found something to fix, the factory would PAY us to fix it’. That is educating the customer. We need to stop teaching customers how to leverage the CSI survey to extort us and start teaching them how to get good service.
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In 1992 I made $16 flat rate as THE guy that could figure anything out. Now I make $19 flat rate. Warranty times have dropped and the CP times based on them have dropped. I owned my own business for a few years and did the service manager thing for a few years. I went back to being a tech because I don’t need the big money anymore and I find great satisfaction in being the drivability/performance guy that can always figure it out. If I had to do this for the money, I wouldn’t.
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A technician is a marketable commodity. An old guy that worked for me once said, ‘ there are two kinds of salesmen, the kind that sell on price and the kind that make money. If you can’t pay good technicians, get a better salesman not cheaper techs.
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I had an aftermarket warranty company make me wait 3 weeks for a check and the check was short over $60. They found the part cheaper and said it was my responsibility to find the best price in the local market. They were from 800 miles away. Had to eat it, wasn’t worth the fight. I had a BMW needed a steering rack. They wanted to ship a used rack from a junk yard 1/2 way across the country. Customer didn’t want a used rack. They paid their cost for the used rack towards the claim and the customer had to pay the difference. I had a warranty refuse to pay anything because I didn’t call for approval before I diagnosed the car. The customer didn’t tell me about the warranty until after I diagnosed it. I was the only person available for the customer to vent on. I’m done with them.
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We only work with two of these things. One is an in house company that treat us well and another one we inherited from the previous owner of this company for the same reason. Most of these aftermarket warranties I’ve dealt with over the years should be prosecuted for fraud. We had a customer show up once with a “lifetime” warranty. We had to break the news that it was a three month/ three thousand mile warranty from a company named “Lifetime Warranty”. I have little to add to this conversation but thanks for the chance to vent.
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Most of the rest of the employed world is held to a productivity standard while being paid a steady wage. I would fire tech B. Tech a will pick up his production a little and you should have no difficulty finding a replacement tech that will meet your standards to stay on hourly instead of flat rate.
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I was a tech from 1983 to 2003 and always a drivability diagnostic and electrical specialist. 2004 until 2016 I was in management and then decided to go back to my true love, diagnostics. I took a job in a small tire store chain because they hired me. I averaged $1100 a week doing maintenance, brakes, chassis and I was their diagnostic specialist, but there was very little diagnostic work there. I finally got a job in a Mazda dealership for the purpose of becoming their go to diagnostic tech. They are training me and I am already their top guy for difficult issues. I now average $800 a week, about 10% more than I made 25 years ago 1992. I would make much more to stay a brake pad changer in a tire store, unfortunately I find that just to boring to do.
When I diagnose difficult wiring problems, intermittent drivability issues, ect., the kind of repairs that save us from lawsuits, CSI disasters and buybacks, my boss is lucky to get enough time out of Mazda to make my flat rate pay to actual time come out to minimum wage. I enjoy this work and fortunately am in a position in life where I can take the hit sometimes. The thing is that while I’m doing this the other techs that are making 45-55 hours a week and are vocally glad I’m there so they don’t get stuck with this work. There is zero incentive to gain my diagnostic ability by techs that will be financially punished for doing so. Manufacturers pay so little warranty time now that the best a tech can hope is, with practice, to break even after a few attempts. (I just got paid 0.6 hours to diagnose a poorly functioning parking brake, and replace and bleed a left rear caliper)
Much more is covered under warranty, (we are getting ready to put free ball joints on THIRTEEN year old cars). Maintenance intervals keep lengthening. Cars don’t break like they used to. These realities are the reasons we have survived this long with the dwindling talent available.
Now manufacturers have changed all sales departments to unit volume incentive so service departments are being depended on more to provide profit to the dealership while maintaining perfect CSI against surveys that are not designed to register customer satisfaction but force dealers to provide more services. That means the business plans for service have had to lower the percentage of tech cost per hour to make gross profit. The system is close to collapse.
It has taken a long time and a lot of small changes to get here. There is no one answer. The solution will take a lot of small changes. Someone better start making those changes or manufacturers are going to have no one to do all the warranty work they sponsor to stay out of court.
