You can always switch fields and go industrial maintenance or Heavy Equipment. Industrial starts at $28-$35/hr here and Heavy starts a bit higher with a lot of OT for both professions and good benefits. There’s always turning wrenches for a contractor on a .mil base. Easy work, a lot of paid holidays, but depending on the contractor the benefits can be sketchy.
Auto Technician Compensation
- Thread starter The Critic
- Start date
I sure did. I originally gave them 90 days notice to give them time to find my replacement, but I it down to 60 day when I realized they really didn't care that I was leaving. It was never addressed, my boss barely asked what my plan moving forward was, and my last day concluded with a handshake and a "have a good one".
I'm going to be much happier working for myself.
Is it true that the service writer at most dealerships gets a percentage commission on all the parts and labor he or she writes up ?
If this is true, it encourages up selling, over selling or outright unnecessary repairs.
This would explain why people often use the very derogatory term "stealerships". It's a practice that should be eliminated.
If this is true, it encourages up selling, over selling or outright unnecessary repairs.
This would explain why people often use the very derogatory term "stealerships". It's a practice that should be eliminated.
If a dealer raises its rate the mechanics need to get raises at the same time. My wife's a professional and her billable rate is 2.6x her salary, so when one goes up, so does the other.
There's slightly more insurance required for hands-on work but the spread in nearly every shop is inexcusable.
Maybe a union would be the answer.
They do make a commission on their dollars sold. At least in shops I’ve worked at.
When I was in college I chose to study hourly / salary employment vs flat rate / commissioned employees in automotive repair. At least at the time (2008ish) there were plenty of shops that didn’t like flat rate and commission as it influences poor quality hurried work, as well as making recommendations that weren’t truly necessary (whether the recommendations be from the technician or the service writer). Shops that were hourly or salary based seemed to be prevalent in the south, such as North Carolina. Overall, employees seemed happier, customers had a better experience and left better reviews for the hourly and salaried shops.
Yes, it's usually 4-7% of the total ticket and the exact percentage varies between internal, warranty, customer pay, etc. Survey scores can also have a sizable impact.
I don't think there's anything wrong with making a percentage of what you produce. After all, dentists often pay their associates 30% of all billables - it is a very common practice in a number of industries.
One of the HVAC guys I watch on YT explained that his markup scheme has a higher markup for low cost items and lower markup for high cost items.
So the markup on a $15 capacitor might be 100%, but on a $300 compressor it might only be 20%.
I don't know how common this is outside the HVAC world. But it makes sense to me.
Yes - parts matrices are very common:
Markup Matrices | Tekmetric
Improve your profits with built-in parts and labor matrices
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Proper Parts Pricing to Insure Profitability | ALLDATA
AutoMechanic,
Ask your boss for a raise and see what they say. If they give you a BS reply like you’re not working hard enough….. start looking for another job.
Doctors in England are unhappy with their pay and striking.
abcnews.go.com
Ask your boss for a raise and see what they say. If they give you a BS reply like you’re not working hard enough….. start looking for another job.
Doctors in England are unhappy with their pay and striking.
Thousands of UK hospital doctors walk out in the latest pay dispute, crippling health services
Thousands of senior doctors in England are staging a 48-hour walkout to demand better pay and conditions
abcnews.go.com
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In the UK the only people who pay attention to public sector strikes are people who work in the public sector.AutoMechanic,
Ask your boss for a raise and see what they say. If they give you a BS reply like you’re not working hard enough….. start looking for another job.
Doctors in England are unhappy with their pay and striking.
Thousands of UK hospital doctors walk out in the latest pay dispute, crippling health services
Thousands of senior doctors in England are staging a 48-hour walkout to demand better pay and conditions
Private sector workers tend to have zero interest in them.
I think this is a good option, but if it were as good as I think seems everyone would be doing it?
When I was a kid my mom was a secretary for the local CAT dealer (side note: her pay was atrocious but as a single mom she stayed for insurance-- 90% medical and 60% dental paid with no co-pays way back when)
ANYWAY she made it sound like the techs made good $. Also seemed like there was unlimited OT if they wanted it. OT was 1.5 and working on holidays was 2x.
Given the nature of the equipment field calls were common and also 2x pay. They often got the diesel pusher motor homes, too.....because in a small town who else can work on them? No one around here.
My local CDOT has a big programmable digi sign on the highway right now: hiring mechanic. I have a good friend who retired from CDOT -- pay is decent and of course benefits are quite good.
I imagine @AutoMechanic could wander into a local DOT and present his case and start at more than he makes now with even better bennies (esp retirement). Make it clear you may not have experience on heavy equipment but you're smart, eager to learn, have a good complement of tools and will show up everyday. I bet in 15 years you're the lead tech there just supervising others and making a very comfortable living.
I hate to see this when someone is trying to present their case..... should be "You TOO can......."
I'm old school and just think you're more credible if you proof everything...esp in a title
That said, I did NOT watch the video yet and am not critiquing the actual content either way.
I can answer the industrial one - I work in manufacturing, and while I am not maintenance, a good portion of my customers are , and a lot of maintenance managers started at the bottom. The thing that runs people off is you will start on nights and weekends, and might stay there a while. Drug testing, I think usually annually or maybe random - and don't even dream of showing up to work hung over. When a machine that makes $10K an hour breaks down expect every manager in the place looking over your shoulder while you attempt to fix it.
Its a good job, pays well, lots of opportunities for advancement, and lots of places to work if your in an industrial area - but those are the things that drive people off.
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Yeah, I think working on plow (MDT/HD) trucks, etc might be slightly less high pressure but still good -- but not stellar -- pay.
But yes, excellent point about expensive machinery where the company likely calculates lost revenue per minute when the machine is down!!
In my experience with government, you aren’t starting anywhere but the bottom of their advertised range. They advertise the salary range of the job they are hiring for, which you qualify or don’t…if you do, you start at the bottom and get your scheduled pay increase till you’re at the top, that’s the only way it works.
I tested (ASE style written tests as well as hands on tests) high enough to place in any position, but they were only hiring for the technician level. I thought it was still worth a shot to talk to them, maybe they’d bump my salary up since I was way higher qualified than their mid-level tech position that was open…nope, no chance. You take it or leave it.
Having tested higher gave me the preference to fill any jobs higher than mine…and I did every time the opportunity came. More senior people were upset, but I was qualified in every way necessary so I moved up a lot faster than normal.
May be different now as it’s a struggling field. Some government fleet jobs may be subject to negotiations, but ours certainly isn’t.
We had a full shop to the point 6 guys were out on the road towing, making emergency repairs, etc, and we still had too many guys in the shop for the lifts we have. Now any day I come in I’m typically one of 2 or 3 guys present. Management claims they’ve been interviewing and awarding jobs but the people never show up to their first day.
I tested (ASE style written tests as well as hands on tests) high enough to place in any position, but they were only hiring for the technician level. I thought it was still worth a shot to talk to them, maybe they’d bump my salary up since I was way higher qualified than their mid-level tech position that was open…nope, no chance. You take it or leave it.
Having tested higher gave me the preference to fill any jobs higher than mine…and I did every time the opportunity came. More senior people were upset, but I was qualified in every way necessary so I moved up a lot faster than normal.
May be different now as it’s a struggling field. Some government fleet jobs may be subject to negotiations, but ours certainly isn’t.
We had a full shop to the point 6 guys were out on the road towing, making emergency repairs, etc, and we still had too many guys in the shop for the lifts we have. Now any day I come in I’m typically one of 2 or 3 guys present. Management claims they’ve been interviewing and awarding jobs but the people never show up to their first day.
They probably make their mechanics drive plow trucks, or at least just want them qualified to move everything around. A CDL isn't an awful thing to have, though your legal alcohol limit drops to .04.
Excellent point about government-- can be a level of inflexibility. However post-'20 perhaps less so. And obviously each state and even each local supervisor is different.
I've simply never seen my local CDOT stick a giant sign on the highway that they're hiring mechanics. It screams of the desperation of most employers since '20
At the very least something like this could be an excellent stepping stone for someone like @AutoMechanic to increase his resume, gain some experience and get some references. But in my experience a lot of people stay in these county or state level jobs because the pay is acceptable and the benefits tend to be very good.
Finally, inflexibility can flow both ways: more often county/state jobs are set hours. Your supervisor would never dream of asking you to stay late or come in on a weekend....and if they do, guaranteed OT. Obviously there are exceptions if you're "on call" but this is spelled out ahead of time.
I dunno but I don't see AutoMechanic going far in his current job. They'll always treat him as they do because they can get away with it. And if there was ever an employee's market, it's NOW! Everyone is desperate for someone who can spell their own name. If you actually show up every day that's like icing on the cake.
The basic rules to gaining a pay rise are,
Be prepared to leave.
Asses the market within commuting distance.
Secure a job offer at the highest paying employer within this distance.
Take that off to the right person, if that’s the GM rather than the service manager or even the next person up like the brand manager then do so. Make sure the right people know you are going to leave.
Back to point one. If they don’t offer you better terms than what you have been offered elsewhere then leave. The motor trade does not hand out pay rises and if you are good, ideally the best they have, and they don’t offer the right money then get the hell out of there.
Yes I have been through this before. I am not talking without experience. If you want to be a spanner monkey then you need to be able to say, if he carnt fix it put it on my ramp and I will get to the bottom of it. If you are the go to guy for a dealership and they won’t pay you more than someone who has no experience of you other than your cv and sometimes word of mouth then they are not worth working for.
I would take into account all benefits offered when assessing point 2.
Be prepared to leave.
Asses the market within commuting distance.
Secure a job offer at the highest paying employer within this distance.
Take that off to the right person, if that’s the GM rather than the service manager or even the next person up like the brand manager then do so. Make sure the right people know you are going to leave.
Back to point one. If they don’t offer you better terms than what you have been offered elsewhere then leave. The motor trade does not hand out pay rises and if you are good, ideally the best they have, and they don’t offer the right money then get the hell out of there.
Yes I have been through this before. I am not talking without experience. If you want to be a spanner monkey then you need to be able to say, if he carnt fix it put it on my ramp and I will get to the bottom of it. If you are the go to guy for a dealership and they won’t pay you more than someone who has no experience of you other than your cv and sometimes word of mouth then they are not worth working for.
I would take into account all benefits offered when assessing point 2.
