How are tech paid

[tasr]

I'm looking at opening an auto repair shop with a partner who is the mechanic and possibly another mechanic. I will be the sole investor in the venture never before been in the auto rapair shop business. I will most likely manage the whole thing. I need lots of help.

 

How are mechanics paid?

How do I pay myself and recoup my investment?

Shop management software? Looked at MaxxTraxx, Alldatapro.

What types of insurance must I carry?

 

I've found a nice place with three bays to rent but will need to install lifts. Should I shop used or new?

Etc etc etc.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[mccannable]

Techs are normally paid flat rate or salary/hourly. Flat rate is a per book hour rate similar to commission.

 

Pay yourself? Talk to your accountant. Depends on the type of entity you establish.

 

Shop software, I use garage partner pro. It's cheap and decent, but I haven't used others.

 

Insurance... May be a fun one it was difficulty for me to get with no ownership previously. We have general liability, personal property, and garage keepers.

 

Good luck.

[kbomb]

  On 7/9/2014 at 1:00 AM, tasr said:

How are mechanics paid?

How do I pay myself and recoup my investment?

Shop management software? Looked at MaxxTraxx, Alldatapro.

What types of insurance must I carry?

 

I've found a nice place with three bays to rent but will need to install lifts. Should I shop used or new?

Etc etc etc.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Since I was just in your shoes a few months ago I'll share what we've learned so far that could help you out.

 

We pay our mechanics hourly and do a quarterly profit share of some of the shop profits. You can pay yourself from profits or a salary or hourly. If you're the sole investor, then it's your investment so I suppose you can pay yourself whatever you want!

 

Insurance: This is something you usually buy locally from a "broker" in your area. I recommend you go visit a few of the best local shops and ask who they are using.

 

Shop Management Software: We use mitchel simply because that's one of the few that were highly recommended here on this forum. We bought the addon's by Bolt on technologies which adds some additional features. We just signed up for mobile manager by bolt on technologies and it supposedely integrates with Mitchel. It's an android tablet system that can be used by techs in the shop. We should have the tablet portion up and going later this week. I've been happy with the mitchel product so far. It's not super user friendly or intuitive in my opinion but it does do everything we need and plus some. It's typical of industry specific software I suppose in terms of user interface. It's not really pretty but it is highly functional. We've really benefited from the local sales rep of the software, John Heffernan. He's spent a ton of time training me on the software and sharing industry specific tips that other shops do that I would have never known without him. I suppose that's an advantage of using a large national product like mitchel.

 

Equipment: I'm always a fan of buying used stuff in general but when it comes to shop equipment I've found that the used equipment on the market is so old and heavily used that it hardly seems worth it. And with the reasonable prices of new equipment and access via the internet to so many different suppliers and products, I've decided to simply buy new. Manufacturing overseas seems to driven the price down on new equipment.

 

I hope all this helps and best of luck to you!!! Scott

[Dee1234]

Pay your main mechanics on flat rate per labor hour. If you have the budget then get an hourly general service for inspections, shop helper, driver, etc. decide if you are 50/50 partners or what and do it with certified accountant even if you guys are friends! Word of caution though: if you have no mechanical experience get to learning some fast. Otherwise you are at the mercy of the other mechanic and things may be unnecessarily stressful. Id recommend hiring another mechanic that isn't a partner so if things dont work out you can continue to do business. I have been in similar shoes and had to learn that opening a,shop without being a mechanic can be a trying road especially if your pockets arent deep. As for lifts, you can go either way. But if you dont personally know the biz,you getting it from, you might as well go new. If economcs is a factor then start with 1 heavy duty 10 or 12k lift like rotary, challenger,etc and 2 economy 9k lifts, like eagle($1600). Hth

[tasr]

How are techs paid for warranty work?

[ATSAutomotive]

If it is a part failure, you can't blame the tech. You take care of him. Now if it is clearly something the tech goofed up on, then it's done on his time...

[Sharp'S]

We pay an hourly rate and a production bonus for each hour of production. If our tech is standing around on his smart phone all day he's only getting the minimum hourly rate which most people would jump at the chance for that job. But if he's not hitting at least 60% production rate for the week he won't be here long.

 

We had Mitchell for shop management and I wasn't impressed. Started using Alldata in December and I regret ever switching.

[flacvabeach]

We used Alldata Manage - not much there. Used Napa TRACS, - . Don't want to talk about it. Settled on RO writer. Expensive but worth every penny if you use it right.

NAPA provides us with labor reimbursement for defective parts. NAPA Autocare is a great program. We pay our techs based on a matrix that encompasses certs and production hours. It was set up with the help of our coach. Mostly, it insures that we can still be profitable if a tech goes into overtime. Make employees punch a timeclock and pay overtime. Don't bother trying to find tricks to bypass the OT requirement. If an angry employee decides to file a wage - hour complaint, you are guilty until YOU prove you are innocent.

[tom f]

Pay is tough flat rate pay is the tech racing the clock and they must keep a flag hours if they beat the clock great if they take to long then they loose and sthe same goes for when there is no work great for the shop because you don,t have to pay them but bad for the tech. hourly is good for the tech but if your not busy then tough on  the shop.  Hourly plus incentive anything over x hours  produced tech gets a bonus,I do anything over 10k a week and each tech gets a bonus that week.  A time clock is also important   I anything happens any dispute  you will proof .eShop insurance in super important the more the better plus workman comp

We also use Mitchell shop management great system and with add ons like bolt on gives you a lot of options

Buying shop lifts just be careful some can have problems but buy new when you can. 

Paying yourself  put yourself on a salary  but check with a accountant  on how to do this.