Why don't auto manufactures pay a supplement to "job hours" for vehicles in rust belt states?

[GON]

Still, your original argument still makes no sense, because auto manufacturers are not on the hook to reimburse dealerships for repair of vehicles out of the auto manufacturer's warranty, unless it's for a recall

No, but it appears the dealer technician in Milwaukee has to do more work than the dealer technician in El Paso, and both technicians, in theory, receive the same book rate for the job.

The thought of my post was that a technician should receive more "book time" for work performed in the upper Midwest/ Northeast, as most jobs performed in the upper Midwest/ Northeast take longer than like job in let's say the Southwest. Just that simple.

 

[UG_Passat]

No, but it appears the dealer technician in Milwaukee has to do more work than the dealer technician in El Paso, and both technicians, in theory, receive the same book rate for the job.

The thought of my post was that a technician should receive more "book time" for work performed in the upper Midwest/ Northeast, as most jobs performed in the upper Midwest/ Northeast take longer than like job in let's say the Southwest. Just that simple.

It's the shop's discretion if they want to stick to book time or not. If the repair appears to go smooth with no surprises, then they will likely go with book time (since they can charge book time and not spend the hours quoted by the book, so they can work on more vehicles)

In the event they see issues, that will drag out the repair process more and don't want to be short changed, the shop can call the customer and inform the customer of issues and tell them that the repair may go up.

the only times the auto manufacturer is responsible for reimbursement of the dealership is for warranty work and recalls.

Also, you do realize, parts of the southwest, does see snow, whether they use salt or not, it depends on the state, so generalizing the Southwest as a non-snow region isn't quite accurate.

 

[GON]

It's the shop's discretion if they want to stick to book time or not. If the repair appears to go smooth with no surprises, then they will likely go with book time.

In the event they see issues, that will drag out the repair process more and don't want to be short changed, the shop can call the customer and inform the customer of issues and tell them that the repair may go up.

Also, you do realize, parts of the southwest, does see snow, whether they use salt or not, it depends on the state, so generalizing the Southwest as a non-snow region isn't quite accurate.

I don't recall mentioning snow or salt in any of my posts in this thread.

Our family has skied Taos numerous times. I was in a decent snowstorm in Flagstaff in FEB 2021, while driving on I40 from Las Vegas to Columbia, SC. It snowed when I lived in Phoenix, we have friends in Seirra Vista that see snow from time to time.

 

[clinebarger]

"Book Time" itself is flawed, I spent some time at the GM training facility in Detroit & got to talk to some people in the know....
Supposedly, They have a Technician perform the job/procedure three times & then the time is averaged. Seems pretty fair?
In fact I think GM & Ford have the most realistic labor times, Chrysler cut's their labor times to the bone....At times they just amputate

Toyota can take things to the extreme, Like calling for 10 hours to replace the lower oil pan on a 2wd 4.7L Tundra.....A Zombie could do one in 3 hours picking off the RTV with his fingernails.

I adjust the time I charge for a job accordingly......I'm not getting screwed because someone owns a Chrysler product.....And I'm not screwing someone because they own a Toyota product.

Same goes for aftermarket parts & accessories that get in my way, The vehicle owner get's charged.

I imagine most shops in the Rust Belt charge for complications due too rust & corrosion, It's not much of a concern for a Dealer that can & will decline to work on older vehicles.
Manufacturers couldn't care less.....They won't even pay a mechanic full book time on warranty repairs. It's the only profession I can think of where this is acceptable?

 

[Bailes1992]

How weird. I thought about this actual question yesterday.

The independent I use just charges for however long something takes but always advises of the book time to give you an idea. If a 3 hour job only takes 2 hours then that's all you pay! If a 3 hour job takes 10 hours then you've got to cough up. Always seemed fair to me.

 

[Hall]

Warranty time is usually 60-70% of book time.

Do you mean the labor rate is 60-70% ? I mean, if Ford says the repair time to replace widget "X" is one hour, they don't turn around and say it only takes 40 minutes when it's under warranty, do they ? A dealer tech / service writer told me the manufacturer pays less $$ for warranty work and even less for recall work.

 

[cb_13]

Do you mean the labor rate is 60-70% ? I mean, if Ford says the repair time to replace widget "X" is one hour, they don't turn around and say it only takes 40 minutes when it's under warranty, do they ? A dealer tech / service writer told me the manufacturer pays less $$ for warranty work and even less for recall work.

No the actual time is less AND so is the payment to the dealership. What Ford pays is based off of the door rate. I’m not sure how the math works. If I remember correctly at one point when we were charging $98/hr door rate Ford was paying the dealership something like $79.

Also as a tech I’d get paid warranty time so for a job that Mitchell or Alldata showed at 2 hours Ford would pay a warranty time of 1.4 to the dealership and the dealership would pay me 1.4 for doing the job.

Recalls are usually even more reduced. Mitchell or Alldata time one one door latch on the Focus/Escapes with the recalls were usually 1.5-1.8. We were getting that to do all four.

 

[Hall]

Recalls are usually even more reduced. Mitchell or Alldata time one one door latch on the Focus/Escapes with the recalls were usually 1.5-1.8. We were getting that to do all four.

Work dictated/forced by the NHTSA and the automakers rush the workers doing the task ? Is that why I had to fully tighten the fasteners on a couple of the door latches on our Fusion after the latch recall work, the tech was rushing ? At least in our case, they replaced them with the new latches !

 

[JHZR2]

When I lived/ worked in Phoenix, AZ (Luke AFB) 2012-2014, there was a used car dealer that had a lot bursting full of pickup trucks, and it was not surprising to see a transporter dropping off pickup trucks pretty regularly.

What this used car dealer was doing was buying used pickups, often fleets, from Wisconsin. He would recondition the trucks to include sealcoating the underneath of the trucks to include the frame. No easy visual signs of rust to the untrained eye.

He moved a lot of these trucks. I doubt the majority of his buyers knew these were rust belt trucks.

I’ve seen this too. Very shady. The good news is that carfax and records check services have helped to make this a non issue.

 

[eljefino]

Dealers in salty places can charge more per hour, so if the tech gets screwed on hours he'll still come out okay.

If the manufacturer backs out of the franchise agreement over this, there may be another dealer to take its place. Or they may not.

The mfr gambles that they can get away with it. They need their dealers.