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Well it looks as if the shortage of techs will maybe cost these Dealers to feel the pinch some day. Read this, It is from a 30 year tech
As some of you may have heard there is an ongoing and worsening Technician shortage in this country. I will give you my view on what is causing it and why. I will try to keep this from becoming a rant. My hope is that if enough people become aware of what is going on something will be done to fix it, as I believe the only way things are going to change will be from outside the industry. First you need a primer on the pay system a vast majority of us work under.
The pay system we work under is called the Flat Rate system. In short the car manufacturer publishes a book of labor times for each car. The times listed in the book are what you get paid for a job. The clock is divided into tenths of an hour. Essentially six minute bites of time, if you replace the water pump in a vehicle the manager looks up the time and that is what you get paid. If the job pays seven tenths of an hour and it took you one hour you get paid seven tenths or forty two minutes. If it takes you a half hour you get seven tenths. The aftermarket also publishes books but essentially they take the manufacturer time and multiply it by 1.4, so their times are also based on the manufacturer times.
When I started in the business the flat rate times were much more fair than they are today. In the name of cost savings the flat rate keeps getting whittled away, until it has become almost impossible to make the time. In 1980 we got paid .5 hours for diagnosis, in 1990 we got .7 hours, today we get .3 hours. Yes eighteen minutes to figure out what is wrong with the car. There is no time allowance for finding the car in the lot, warming it up in the winter, test driving , spending time getting the parts, etc. Five years ago re-flashing a PCM paid 1.1 hours we now get paid 0.4 hours. The job takes the same time as it used to. I asked a GM rep about this and his answer was " we wrote a Bulletin". Well yes they wrote a bulletin, in fact there may be 200+ bulletins written on that car that we need to sort through to find the one we need.
Most guys I know are making less today than they did five to ten years ago despite the fact that hour hourly booking rate has gone up. Imagine making $5 an hour more and bringing home $ 2,000 less a year in pay. Most do get paid a minimum guarantee pay, usually 32 hour of pay a week for a 40 hour pay period. Many of us work 45-50 hours a week to make ends meet. When I started most guys booked 50 hours a week now we are lucky to make 35. The shops have compensated for the lower times by raising the labor rate so that they can make a profit when we don't. Also the harder more technical jobs pay the worst. There is a saying among mechanics, "The more you know the less you earn". This is true because the easy higher paying work like brake and engine repairs go to those that can't do the harder technical jobs.
Not many people realize that a mechanic has to buy his own tools, it is not uncommon for a journeyman tech to have up wards of $70,000 invested in that shiny red tool box. We live in a day where a simple professional quality wrench or screwdriver can cost $45. The rate of change today is astounding and it is hard to keep up with all the new gadgets we need to do our job.
There are lots of hidden hassles to the job that go unseen by the public. The job is very hard on our bodies, joint and muscle injuries are common. Back problems are very common too. Cuts and bruises are the norm. The tight quarters on today cars makes it very hard to gain access to modules and parts, sometimes you feel more like a contortionist than a mechanic. It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer, try opening your hood after a nice drive on a 90 degree day and lean over the engine. Waiters taking you off of a job and costing you time on a partially done procedure that now needs to be started over. Customers taking your time asking for free advice and us giving it to them despite the fact it is coming out of our pay. We have to do lots of training, most of it on our own time. Customers accusing you of thievery even though you are in reality giving them a break by charging less than you have a right to.
As I said I am not trying to rant my intention is to educate you all on what it is to be a mechanic in todays world. The only fix I have ever seen is to push more young people into Technical schools, because there are no young people choosing to get into the field. To me that is like putting the cart before the horse. Most of the young that enter this job leave it within five years. When I started in the job I would estimate the average age of a mechanic was 30, today I would put it at 45. What is going to happen when those guys are not able to do the job any more and retire? Techs are leaving the job in droves and in my experience it is the good ones that are leaving rather than the bad.
Most automotive technicians would not recommend the job to their kids and that right there is the problem. Not many want to do the job. I will admit that while fixing cars is what I do best, I would leave in a heart beat if I could make the same cash as I do now in another job. But like many I am trapped, 48 is a bit too old to take a major pay cut and start over.
Of all the negatives none can be changed except for the pay, and if the pay was fixed most technicians would be satisfied. In my opinion the Flat Rate System has to die. It is become exceedingly unfair and arbitrary. If a job becomes common due to a pattern failure you can bet the times will be cut. Isn't it a conflict of interest to have the car manufacturer decide for themselves how much they will pay for a repair? The Fox running the Hen-house syndrome. They all claim that their studies are fair but usually the service procedure is missing major steps, and lets face it that book is published before the car is released. How can they have the time to physically study every possible procedure on a new model?
In my opinion if Technicians were paid a fair hourly wage most would be satisfied and if the wages were fair young people would soon return to our ranks. If the Flat Rate System has to stay then the time guides need to be published by a third uninterested party. All I do know is something has got to be done because we are loosing Techs faster than you realize and it takes a good ten years after graduating Tech school to build a top notch Technician. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Makes it interesting to see what the dealers will do in the next few years when the economy comes back and there is no one to fix these new cars. The kids coming into this field are shit trained and most can barely change oil. Maybe when I retire in a few years I will get the last laugh.:laughing smile:
As some of you may have heard there is an ongoing and worsening Technician shortage in this country. I will give you my view on what is causing it and why. I will try to keep this from becoming a rant. My hope is that if enough people become aware of what is going on something will be done to fix it, as I believe the only way things are going to change will be from outside the industry. First you need a primer on the pay system a vast majority of us work under.
The pay system we work under is called the Flat Rate system. In short the car manufacturer publishes a book of labor times for each car. The times listed in the book are what you get paid for a job. The clock is divided into tenths of an hour. Essentially six minute bites of time, if you replace the water pump in a vehicle the manager looks up the time and that is what you get paid. If the job pays seven tenths of an hour and it took you one hour you get paid seven tenths or forty two minutes. If it takes you a half hour you get seven tenths. The aftermarket also publishes books but essentially they take the manufacturer time and multiply it by 1.4, so their times are also based on the manufacturer times.
When I started in the business the flat rate times were much more fair than they are today. In the name of cost savings the flat rate keeps getting whittled away, until it has become almost impossible to make the time. In 1980 we got paid .5 hours for diagnosis, in 1990 we got .7 hours, today we get .3 hours. Yes eighteen minutes to figure out what is wrong with the car. There is no time allowance for finding the car in the lot, warming it up in the winter, test driving , spending time getting the parts, etc. Five years ago re-flashing a PCM paid 1.1 hours we now get paid 0.4 hours. The job takes the same time as it used to. I asked a GM rep about this and his answer was " we wrote a Bulletin". Well yes they wrote a bulletin, in fact there may be 200+ bulletins written on that car that we need to sort through to find the one we need.
Most guys I know are making less today than they did five to ten years ago despite the fact that hour hourly booking rate has gone up. Imagine making $5 an hour more and bringing home $ 2,000 less a year in pay. Most do get paid a minimum guarantee pay, usually 32 hour of pay a week for a 40 hour pay period. Many of us work 45-50 hours a week to make ends meet. When I started most guys booked 50 hours a week now we are lucky to make 35. The shops have compensated for the lower times by raising the labor rate so that they can make a profit when we don't. Also the harder more technical jobs pay the worst. There is a saying among mechanics, "The more you know the less you earn". This is true because the easy higher paying work like brake and engine repairs go to those that can't do the harder technical jobs.
Not many people realize that a mechanic has to buy his own tools, it is not uncommon for a journeyman tech to have up wards of $70,000 invested in that shiny red tool box. We live in a day where a simple professional quality wrench or screwdriver can cost $45. The rate of change today is astounding and it is hard to keep up with all the new gadgets we need to do our job.
There are lots of hidden hassles to the job that go unseen by the public. The job is very hard on our bodies, joint and muscle injuries are common. Back problems are very common too. Cuts and bruises are the norm. The tight quarters on today cars makes it very hard to gain access to modules and parts, sometimes you feel more like a contortionist than a mechanic. It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer, try opening your hood after a nice drive on a 90 degree day and lean over the engine. Waiters taking you off of a job and costing you time on a partially done procedure that now needs to be started over. Customers taking your time asking for free advice and us giving it to them despite the fact it is coming out of our pay. We have to do lots of training, most of it on our own time. Customers accusing you of thievery even though you are in reality giving them a break by charging less than you have a right to.
As I said I am not trying to rant my intention is to educate you all on what it is to be a mechanic in todays world. The only fix I have ever seen is to push more young people into Technical schools, because there are no young people choosing to get into the field. To me that is like putting the cart before the horse. Most of the young that enter this job leave it within five years. When I started in the job I would estimate the average age of a mechanic was 30, today I would put it at 45. What is going to happen when those guys are not able to do the job any more and retire? Techs are leaving the job in droves and in my experience it is the good ones that are leaving rather than the bad.
Most automotive technicians would not recommend the job to their kids and that right there is the problem. Not many want to do the job. I will admit that while fixing cars is what I do best, I would leave in a heart beat if I could make the same cash as I do now in another job. But like many I am trapped, 48 is a bit too old to take a major pay cut and start over.
Of all the negatives none can be changed except for the pay, and if the pay was fixed most technicians would be satisfied. In my opinion the Flat Rate System has to die. It is become exceedingly unfair and arbitrary. If a job becomes common due to a pattern failure you can bet the times will be cut. Isn't it a conflict of interest to have the car manufacturer decide for themselves how much they will pay for a repair? The Fox running the Hen-house syndrome. They all claim that their studies are fair but usually the service procedure is missing major steps, and lets face it that book is published before the car is released. How can they have the time to physically study every possible procedure on a new model?
In my opinion if Technicians were paid a fair hourly wage most would be satisfied and if the wages were fair young people would soon return to our ranks. If the Flat Rate System has to stay then the time guides need to be published by a third uninterested party. All I do know is something has got to be done because we are loosing Techs faster than you realize and it takes a good ten years after graduating Tech school to build a top notch Technician. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Makes it interesting to see what the dealers will do in the next few years when the economy comes back and there is no one to fix these new cars. The kids coming into this field are shit trained and most can barely change oil. Maybe when I retire in a few years I will get the last laugh.:laughing smile:
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