car repair question #whatever

[GoBucky36]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Good / experienced mechanics will almost never lose time when doing customer pay work for Chilton time...Chilton being one example of a labor time schedule used by dealers. Warranty work is another matter all together, when the tech has to perform the repair...and get paid according to the manufacturers time schedule, where the time allowances for repairs are ridiculously low and the tech often spends between one and a half to three times (sometimes more) as long on the repair as he's gonna get paid for. Techs HATE warranty work.

Well, that partiular dealership had a lot of turnover and he wasnt the only one who said that their time blocks werent realistic.
Then again, he did work there when Ford was having all those issues with the 6.0L Powerstroke diesel; so who knows...

[legal_hit]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Truth.

Labor is killer. Especially if you go to a dealer. Dealerships work in time blocks. They have a job to do, they have a certain time block that the job "should" take. If it goes over, same price. If it goes under, same price. My brother often "works" 60-70 hrs a week, although he only really works 40-50, because he's dam good. It's not up to the mechanic to set the time blocks.

Theex worked for a dealership and had making money off the flat rate system down to an art. He was in the same deal as your brother, averaging 60 or so hours a week for a 40 hour workweek.

[brookyone]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Theex worked for a dealership and had making money off the flat rate system down to an art. He was in the same deal as your brother, averaging 60 or so hours a week for a 40 hour workweek.

A lot of dealer techs have additional wage incentives...if they hit a threshold of say 50 hours billed out, they may get paid a higher wage for those hours...higher still for 60 hrs...etc. You can make good money in their line of work...maybe not so common now as it once was however. Dealer principles have been cutting back on these types of perks and hanging onto the extra $$ billed out by techs themselves.

[legal_hit]

Re: car repair question #whatever

A lot of dealer techs have additional wage incentives...if they hit a threshold of say 50 hours billed out, they may get paid a higher wage for those hours...higher still for 60 hrs...etc. You can make good money in their line of work...maybe not so common now as it once was however. Dealer principles have been cutting back on these types of perks and hanging onto the extra $$ billed out by techs themselves.

They didn't have incentives like that. Hour 100 was paid at the same rate as hour 1. (yes, he did have 100 hour weeks from time to time).

[The Rube]

Re: car repair question #whatever

They didn't have incentives like that. Hour 100 was paid at the same rate as hour 1. (yes, he did have 100 hour weeks from time to time).

Yep. Now, the "incentives" are indirectly based on how good you are. If you're not so good, 40 hours might mean 40 hours. If you're good, 40 hours might really mean 100 hours.

And knowing this now, I'm in the wrong business. Although the knowledge you have to have these days with all the computer stuff is astounding. A lot of it is figured out by computers, but obviously they fail, too, otherwise you wouldn't have to have mechanics with knowledge of those computer-based functions.


My local mechanic basically said to be a mechanic nowadays, you have to have the equivalent to an MD/PhD to work on all cars that come in.

[Handyman]

Re: car repair question #whatever

$500 on a '98 Toyota is probably reasonable. I had a '96 Corolla a few years ago that cost $800 just for the front brakes. Besides, any money you fork over now is less than a stream of car payments.

You got taken to the cleaners...

[walrus]

Re: car repair question #whatever

My local mechanic basically said to be a mechanic nowadays, you have to have the equivalent to an MD/PhD to work on all cars that come in.

The systems used on present day cars are unreal. Not only do you have to have a clue, the amount of tools a tech has to have depending on what he does is unreal also. Back when I wrenched, you needed a complete set of basic tools, now you need every length of wrench there is, every length of ratchet wrench, the amount of different fasteners, triple square, torx, ten point( thanks Audi) adds to the tool collection once again. Some mechanics have more in just an empty tool box than you have in a new car( some snap on boxes go for 20,000 bucks). Its easy to have 100,000 bucks in hand tools. The Snap On tool catalog is almost as thick as a Sears catalog

[legal_hit]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Yep. Now, the "incentives" are indirectly based on how good you are. If you're not so good, 40 hours might mean 40 hours. If you're good, 40 hours might really mean 100 hours.

And knowing this now, I'm in the wrong business. Although the knowledge you have to have these days with all the computer stuff is astounding. A lot of it is figured out by computers, but obviously they fail, too, otherwise you wouldn't have to have mechanics with knowledge of those computer-based functions.


My local mechanic basically said to be a mechanic nowadays, you have to have the equivalent to an MD/PhD to work on all cars that come in.

Yep, he used to have to go to school for a week or two every year to learn about the new models. In his almost 20 years of working on cars he was able to get a job as a field engineer with the manufacturer, without a degree. He now spends his time at different dealerships trying to figure out what is wrong with a car that the dealer can't fix. He doesn't make quite as much money, but the perks are a heck of a lot better. (company car, paid insurance, cell phone, having to go to Hawaii to diagnose a car...etc.)

The systems used on present day cars are unreal. Not only do you have to have a clue, the amount of tools a tech has to have depending on what he does is unreal also. Back when I wrenched, you needed a complete set of basic tools, now you need every length of wrench there is, every length of ratchet wrench, the amount of different fasteners, triple square, torx, ten point( thanks Audi) adds to the tool collection once again. Some mechanics have more in just an empty tool box than you have in a new car( some snap on boxes go for 20,000 bucks). Its easy to have 100,000 bucks in hand tools. The Snap On tool catalog is almost as thick as a Sears catalog

Thex's tool box by the time he left the dealership was so large it took a forklift and a flatbed to move it.

[ScottM]

Re: car repair question #whatever

You got taken to the cleaners...

Not really. The rotors were warped. I had that car for about 7 years, and that was the most I had to spend on it at one time. The rest was routine maintenance, tires, etc. Overall, it had a decent cost-of-ownership, unlike my Audi where the non-warranty stuff can be steep. But it's paid for and has been pretty easy on the wallet over time.

[alfablue]

Re: car repair question #whatever

Not really. The rotors were warped. I had that car for about 7 years, and that was the most I had to spend on it at one time. The rest was routine maintenance, tires, etc. Overall, it had a decent cost-of-ownership, unlike my Audi where the non-warranty stuff can be steep. But it's paid for and has been pretty easy on the wallet over time.

FYI- the rotors are the cheap part. New calipers are the expensive part.

I just did an overhaul on my car- the calipers after exchange were a total of about $200 (pre exchange- double that), whereas the Rotors were about $50 for the 4.

It took me a while since I had to change the calipers- the rears were shot, and with 10 years of rust on the front- I punted. But all in all, the DYI full brake job (outside of the master) was about 4 hours of single person work.

Pads were something like $120 total-

so the whole cost of new pads, calipers, rotors (and fluid) was about $400.

[St. Clown]

Re: car repair question #whatever

I won't even attempt doing brakes on my car. I know they're supposed to be one of the easiest things to maintain by yourself, but I just don't like the idea that if I mess up those things, it gets bad. See, so many other parts to the car, I'll either give a good first effort or complete the job myself. If it's just a first effort, then I can't go anywhere. If I mess up my brakes, I can't not go anywhere. That's bad.

[ScottM]

Re: car repair question #whatever

FYI- the rotors are the cheap part. New calipers are the expensive part.

I just did an overhaul on my car- the calipers after exchange were a total of about $200 (pre exchange- double that), whereas the Rotors were about $50 for the 4.

It took me a while since I had to change the calipers- the rears were shot, and with 10 years of rust on the front- I punted. But all in all, the DYI full brake job (outside of the master) was about 4 hours of single person work.

Pads were something like $120 total-

so the whole cost of new pads, calipers, rotors (and fluid) was about $400.

It's been about 7 years since I had it done, so it may have been the calipers. I just recall that was about the only major expense I had with that car. I'd never even attempt my own brake job. These days about the only thing I can do without getting in too deep is add wiper fluid, coolant and change part of the taillights. Even the headlights are embedded into the front end. It's no wonder the going rate for techs around here is about $80/hour. I got into the wrong rackets ...

[alfablue]

Re: car repair question #whatever

I won't even attempt doing brakes on my car. I know they're supposed to be one of the easiest things to maintain by yourself, but I just don't like the idea that if I mess up those things, it gets bad. See, so many other parts to the car, I'll either give a good first effort or complete the job myself. If it's just a first effort, then I can't go anywhere. If I mess up my brakes, I can't not go anywhere. That's bad.

For me, I'm happy to do the brakes- there are fewer sharp edges and more access to do the work. I once bled the clutch on this car, and ended up badly skinning my forearm.

And noting the last brake job I let the dealer do at 120k, they basically botched.

But nothing against letting someone else do the work- many times, I really don't enjoy working on my cars.