FLAT RATE IS DEAD AS A MECHANIC!

I have a friend that's about 85 years old. In his day he got paid half of the shop rate. I'm 54 and good deal for my generation was a third of the shop rate. Ive been out of the dealership (John Deere) for years but for young guys today, dealers are screwing you. You can't make a living on 15bucks an hour. In our neighborhood heavy equipment dealers get 100-125 dollars and hour. 38 per hour would be respectable but guys don't get anywhere near that any more. Just another industry that's lost the American dream.

Do you think the shop (not dealer) should charge for complete vehicle inspections? Ours are 100% free.

I work 6 months a year and make over 100k I make hourly.

It really depends. I went to school for motorcycles. I worked in a regular automotive shop for 6 months which made me realize I don't know as much as I thought, and the flat rate system is terrible in the car industry. My boss was only charging $800 for a motor swap and I was getting diddly squat to do it. I would charge that much to do it at my house.
I had a PS pump that was a total pain in the ass and only paid me .7 hours.
Between pulling the car in, inspection, and test drive, there is no way I'm doing it in .7 hours.

I have since opened my own shop working on motorcycles. I still use flat rate, but if sometime calls for. 3 hours, I charge half and hour. If something calls for .7 hours, I charge an hour. My pricing is totally fair and I'm not going to kill myself physically to make .7 hours. Plus how many things get missed because you're under the gun to make time.

I know many guys kill it and rake in the hours, but they also spend their lives at work to achieve that. Working 12 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week to support their family.
No thanks.

Additionally, hey your entire front end is seized up and we have to cut everything off to complete the job. The boss charges a whopping extra .5 hours to complete. Gee thanks, all this extra work to get the job done and I get paid an extra $8? Meanwhile all of my tools require money to be purchased. I realized pretty quickly that there is no way I could continue doing that and live a happy life. I enjoy fixing things, but I need to be able to make a real living.

Mechanics is a skilled trade, I should be making substantially more than the cashier at Burger King, and unfortunately that's not what is happening.

It's corporate greed plain and simple they will bleed us dry

really good and HONEST techs if they have the means to do so (not everyone does) should just go independent, the mass of people hate the stealership and are more than happy to pay good money to someone they trust. I worked at an indie shop for 12 years after I graduated from LTI and now have my own shop

Our jobs carry children wives husbands grandparents etc, their lives are inside our work yet we dont get paid shit but if we forget a single bolt a whole family could die. Autotechs are doctors of vehicles yet they're treated like joe blow working as a courtesy clerk
I got my aas in automotive yet I stock fruit and veggies in a grocery store making $20
No point in the stress, labor, dirt or chemicals considering they're paying minimum at shops hiring

There isn't enough money in being a tech to make it worth the investment in time and tools. Pick another trade.

.3 hr for lof you have to grab the car , lift, remove under cover with tons of screw, get your oil , reset the light put sticker check tire pressure return to parking lot, that’s too much for .3 it sucks

I think mechanics get shit on really bad. Their estimating systems are trash, I used a mechanics estimating system for a radiator job and went and used the one at my autobody shop and ours pay almost twice the hours. I work in an autobody shop and I've heard Flat rate is what you want. As we have book rates but when it comes to repairing it's all a guess and arguing (insurance). I do mechanic work on all my vehicles and family and friends plus some that comes in the shop once in a while. I'm glad I didnt go into mechanics because you work twice as hard and have to be in awkward positions for book time that is pretty spot on. You're extremely lucky to do it in half the time. Which an experienced tech should be able to do upon doing other jobs at the same time.

Got out of the field 2 years ago. Was a Honda tech for 15 years. Flat Rate is not going to work on the technologically advanced systems of today’s cars. Not for anything other than brakes and tires anyway. At Honda we got 0 time for warranty diag. They just expected you to diag it for free or straight time if you could get it from my manager.

Okay hourly + commission but what’s the commission % we should ask for?

I cannot blame youngsters for not wanting to do this work any longer.

40+ years doing this and I just could never work long working for someone else. Been working for myself for 19 years now and still haven't killed the boss so I think I'll stick around awhile longer.

Love the channel !! Cheers from Canada 🤙

Imo salary is a joke I'll never accept a salary position again. Work 50 days with only one weekend off.

Freightliner wiring sucks because its all YELLOW when chasing down a problem. can't make good time.

Mechanics/ tech's are greatly underpayed in general. Mechanics are classified as skilled labor and should be paid as such. Just like other tradesmen.

Don't walk, RUN away from this industry.

You got some pretty hands for a tech!

I worked at a hot rod / “restoration” shop that employed the flat rate system and it was a nightmare. Some jobs called for an hour or less and it would take 40 min to an hour just to find parts because the shop was so unorganized. The company didn’t have a computer with stored pictures or notes from the past techs and they never properly stored parts. Then again, why would they go the extra mile to do that if they had to be super quick to make money? Lots of unpaid overtime, and too much free labor from jobs that weren’t on the list but needed to be done before the build could go to upholstery. Also, the reproduction parts were always kind of close but not exact so it took more time to get them to fit. Old cars + flat rate = getting screwed.

Dealership is usually warranty repair and good luck meeting those hours with time to spare. Flat rate dealership work disenfranchised me from mechanic work, well that and I’m 6’5” and my back was giving out at 25. I can remember it now that I was getting my balls busted by the manager because a warranty o2 sensor cam back because I rushed trying to make hours and earlier that day an engine harness I diagnosed which would of made my week was given to the house mouse and was really sour and the manager was goin in on my attitude and how it won’t work out if it doesn’t change and I said it isn’t kicked my chair out and had my box on a flat bed in an hour. I then signed up to school in short order and sold my tools to help pay for it and didn’t turn a wrench for another 5 years. I now do it as a hobby and have several projects. Anyway kudos to those who can put up with the bs politics in mechanic work because I couldn’t. Getting paid 12$ an hour and busting my ass for 40 hours is not enjoyable in the slightest

IM GOING TO START A MECHANICS UNION

Lol, 2 hours for a PDI. We make 0.8 on huge dump trucks. Ford is ripping us off.

I agree, this isn't necessarily a flat rate problem, Its working for a shitty company. Any shop that doesn't pay their senior techs at least $40 an hour flat rate doesnt realize that techs are the main money makers in any shop or dealership by far. I've been a Mercedes-Benz mechanic for 8 years and have made over $100k for 3 years now. Find a place that know the value of a good technician, this is an amazing industry. Flat rate pay is literally one of the only pay plans in the world where you can make more money by working harder. Most people get paid the same no matter how hard they work, to make more money they must work longer( if overtime is even available). I agree that working in a dealer is the way to go.

Got dammit, I love this video!

At the shop I’m at the average technician doesn’t to do used cars or PDI. They give them to hourly flat rate lube techs cause they have a hellofa lot lower hourly rate than the other techs. Can’t boost my hours that way.

Hours have changed probably because tools are faster.

This video is perfect why you shouldn't be a automotive mechanic!.

I am getting out this trade after my certificate test (already wasted 3 years. Might as well get certificate for it)

Collision repair rates in Massachusetts are as low as 38 per hour. Can’t get a lawnmower fixed for that.

You guys are forgetting a big factor in this...... insurance! I work for a dealer, for about 12 yrs. our dealership is union and dues are 85 bucks a month with insurance paid for myself and family. I know people that are paying 250 to 300 a week on insurance. The average cost for the same insurance is $12850 a year.

Thankfully, a lot of shops (mostly dealerships) seem to be switching to the hourly + commission style. I think its a good idea.

A matter of time before electric cars
Destroy flag rate
Every year cars are more maintenance free

Flat rate system is obsolete. It is a crime against mechanics. The fair system should be hourly. Why is this? The flat rate system does not take into consideration objective factors such as bolts extremely rusted, already broken parts, very difficult access to components to be replaced and other eventualities. This flat rate criminal system was invented by the capitalist Ford in order to exploit the working class in assembly lines. By measuring the time developed by engineers and economists how long a repair "should take" allowing for more "productivity". However, this system is inherently flawed because:

It pressures the mechanic to cut corners, therefore lowering the quality of the repair and increasing the possibility of comebacks as the mechanic is under extreme pressure to "beat the clock", so that he can go to the next repair ticket. Intensification of brutal cut throat competition amongst mechanics for repair tickets that pays more labor time. Also, stimulates favoritism, nepotism in the shop.

This profession just isn't worth it anymore.

This is only a man complaining because he didn't put in ALL effort to become the best at his job.
Someone who didn't make it as a technician is only going to give his experience as a failed technician...

The hybrid scale is a life saver especially when covid originally hit and we had 4 appointments for the week

Great video

I am with you Justin and have been arguing this since 2008. Flat rate is a scam. We need to stop taking jobs at places that offer that as pay until they get the hint.

My scamming stealership pays .5 for a pdi lmao

Yes, dealertechs have access to more resources and focus more on their specific brand **except** if you’re doing used cars

As a dealer tech... Flat rate is best I love flagging 4-20 hours a day. Good days and bad days. Getting your ass kicked on a bad day makes you better. Grind smarter - flat rate is king

My issue is the guys who have all the tools and know how and get paid top dollar, are getting the crap end of the deal now. They never get any work to boost their hrs because places have the guy that borrows your tools to do the job at half the rate they are paying you. All you get is stuff that gravy boys can't. And you are back at less than min wage.

That would be high speed high drag

Flat rate us f#$ing dead..

The real problem with any way of paying piece work like flatrate techs or milage for truck drivers is the worker gets hosed out of overtime when management promisis a jobe done by a certian time than there is the show up at 8 and no work comes in till noin

Ill stick with being an advisor

I’m a welder by trade ended up in an exhaust shop for several years things where good and I was happy at regular hourly. Boss made the decision as he was hiring on more people to change things up and go to flat rate. On that I did ok some weeks bad on others. Left because I started getting booked more and more but the hours started going down. Full dual exhaust that used to pay out 4 hours was needed down to 2, and that was just for the regular chop and weld systems, if we had to make flanges ect. That would go up, but takes substantially more time. So I left did some other stuff ended up going back to that shop this time I was hybrid. Fixed amount a week with incentivized flat rate pay, the problem was I only got the crap jobs for mechanic work and all of the good ones went to another tech, or I’d be half way through a job get sent out on a tow(I was also the only tow driver they would send during work hours) come back and the car I was half way through working on would either be finished by another tech or they pulled it out of the bay to work on something else and I have to try to find where my parts/bolts are now. So I got fed up and left there went to working in a BBQ kitchen working 50-60 hours a week. But I’m working on getting back into things! Got a full welding rig so I can go do that full time, or since I’ve got all the tools I could go back to mechanic work, or a combination of the two, do mobile welding and mobile mechanic work.

A good number of the techs at the dealership sniffed up rails in the breakroom prior to hittin the bay! Thats flat rate heaven!