cdhowell

On 12/3/2017 at 8:16 AM, carolinahigear said:

My 5 techs are paid hourly. Not flat rate. They also get a monthly bonus of 5% of their labor turned during the month. This 5% usually runs from $550 to $950 depending on work and tech. This amount usually pays their house payment for the 3 techs that have one. They also receive weekly (paid Monday) spiffs for flushes, shocks, struts, fuel services, filter, wipers, and batteries. Sometimes the weekly spiffs can be $250 to $300 per tech. They bust ass, write work, and are very productive. PLUS they're not EVEN thinking of going anywhere else for a job.

 

Hi-Gear

Labor turned? Do you mean flagged hours? Trying to understand.

Looking for an hourly plan with incentives for production. The problem is half the work we do has no flat rate hours. The Jeep is an example. Cut off at the firewall, tube chassis fabricated, 1 ton axle swap and coil over suspension. We may go from a Kia water pump to a custom bumper on a Raptor. Other than a feel for how long it should take It is near impossible to track productivity. Any Idea's folks?

I have a very good relationship with the local Dealerships. And on the rare occasion that I need a specialty tool, I am able to borrow one. If I need it again I get my own. This may not motivate your tech but it is nice to know you can complete a job with out going in debt to do so. It seems a generic seal driver kit would be OK for your axle seal. And something your tech should own.

... for entry level tech's? Any one have a list they are willing to share?

I wonder if this applies to off road. You know how many sidewalls I've had sectioned?

OK, it seems most agree that diagnostics should be charged. I am curious as to how most of you are charging. Just by time or by test. In the past I have only charged by time up to 2 hrs. Unless it's intermittent or requires a lot of tear down to do the test. I have been thinking a lot about menu board pricing. $X Smoke test. $X Fuel pressure test. $x Coolant pressure test. The dreaded P0300 could get spendy for the customer. Thoughts 

Scoped the cam and crank sensors. Both had acceptable wave forms but not clean wave forms. Changed out both sensors and the problem is solved.

Had to put this on the back burner. Zeroed out cam retard and no change, still no codes 

-2* but I believe that's in spec. I will 0 it out and report back. Have to spray a bedliner first.

2000 Chevy Blazer 4.3 V6 auto 2WD 174000 miles. Runs strong till 4000 rpm then starts bucking. If I stay in it, it will eventually pull thru and easily climb to 5500 rpm. This is in every gear. No codes at all. No misfires counted in live data. Nothing that looks out of the ordinary in live data. Fuel pressure looks good but can not see or record it while driving. If it was fuel related I do not think it would continue to climb. Same with a plugged cat. Any thoughts? I'm running out of ideas.

How many smaller shops are Chamber members? Do you feel its worth the investment? Not much on this topic here.

For me it's easy. I am a Truck and Off-road accessory shop. Spray in liners, lift kits, Custom built bumpers, 5th wheel hitches, Tonneau covers, side bars, etc............We just happen to do repair work as well.  While installing your lift kit we notice a coolant leak, would you like for us to take care of that?

Every shop has that one thing to make their business stand out from the competition. Awesome cookie's in the waiting room? Free loaner car? Delorean specialist? Dyno tuner?

So what's your one thing?

This

Can any one else see it?

No one?

Best I could do for a Picture.

It's an OTC scope. I will try to capture and post a pic. I know it is hard to visualize from description.

I need some help interpreting a secondary ignition wave form. The only way I know to describe is as so. The coil fires and voltage spikes, now occasionally the burn line will start at the top of the spike and drop rapidly till the end of the burn. Basically a straight line on the spikes from start to end of a good wave form.

Any Idea?

You do not need all that on the invoice. Use a separate inspection sheet with tech notes and recommendations you can hand over with the invoice.

File for abandoned title. If its bank owned they will contact you. If there is profit in it they will pay you and haul it off. They may work with you directly on a clear title. $250 got me a clear title on an 03 Beetle With $4000 owed against it. Same as the filing fee's except I did not have to wait 60 days.

I feel I'm outside the box on this one. My shop is more custom that does general repair. I was an industrial electrician for 22 years. The last 14 in supervision. I went from apprentice to General Foreman before stepping down so I can relate to the electrician references from earlier. Now in 22 years I never licensed. Why, Well most of the time I was traveling the country doing construction or shut downs. Refineries, gold mines, Paper mills, etc... License in Florida then head to Texas No point.

What I am getting at is, I have worked a lot of people all over the country. Some licensed and some not. There is no one size fits all license to guarantee a techs abilities on the job, electrical or automotive. One thing electrical has over ASE is a hands on portion of the test. Now the guy that aces the code book portion and barely squeaks by the practical and hands on, has the same license as the guy that did well in 1 of the other 2 areas. Do we agree so far?

Which one is the better employee? Same State license but different strong points. How do we rate these guys?

Now will an ASE test produce better techs? I doubt it. Everyone has there strong and weak points. Some very smart people just do not test well. Einstein had trouble finding his way home. I used to work a guy we called "1 off" Good at diag but every time he grabbed a wrench......... He was 1 size off from the right wrench. What about the guy that just kills it with tools but lacks the diag skills?

So should we hold everyone to the same standards? If so then ASE should have more than just a written test.

All of us have, or will have an abandoned vehicle. Here it is easier to get an abandoned title than place a lien against a vehicle. So what are you charging for storage? I am currently $25 a day.

Ask the post office.

Did you drive the car and confirm the repair? Changing a water pump does not mean it still won't over heat. If so, simply explain the facts. You had a warranty period in case of problems. You failed to return during that period a year ago. The warranty was from the supplier and would have been honored a year ago. I really want to help but now it's x amount to repair. You can't go wrong by being honest.