Who pays....the shop owner or the mechanic?

5 Star Auto Spa · March 11, 2012

I just had a quick question I wanted to ask some other shop owners. Just a little background but we are a mechanic shop that pays hourly and not flat rate. If your mechanic diagnoses a vehicle for problem X and after the customer approves and the repair is completed, problem X is not fixed but additional parts and labor are needed to fix the problem, how do you all proceed? Does the wrongly diagnosed parts or labor or both get taken out of the mechanics pay?

Also, if a mechanic breaks something on the vehicle while doing the repair, does the mechanic pay for it or the shop owner? I wanted to get a better understanding of how other shops are handeling these 2 situations.

CARMandP · March 11, 2012

As a shop owner, I feel that I am responsible for my technicians. Stuff gets broken and unless it was just plain abuse, I cover the costs of the repairs. If braking things is a common occurence it may be time to have a discussion with the technician about this or start looking for a new technician. As far as wrong diagnosis this is a little different story. I have taken parts off vehicles when they didn't fix the repair. I don't feel that its appropriate to charge a customer for parts that don't fix the problem. I had one this week that I ate about $100 in parts because they didn't fix the problem. This customer is one of my most loyal over the years so sometimes I feel its just a part of doing business.

Joe Marconi · March 11, 2012