Fields Land Rover had a Casino Event Celebration for the the Service Department for successfully breaking the service record!!! The top 3 employees each received a $200 gift card.
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Our Auto Tech students earned a total of 58 entry level ASE certs this school year!
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Basic Class Lesson of the Day: Tire Inspection
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We are finishing up are Spring semester and have successfully completed out first full year for out EV/Hybrid Courses.
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Whether you're a mom or just bring those mom vibes to work, which “mom move” have you caught yourself doing in the shop?
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Jr certified technician working on a intake manifold on a Jetta.
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Happy Birthday to our Gold Meister Tech Dan!
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💐 Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Tom Wood Subaru! 💐
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Detail Spotlight: Zach + This Toyota Supra = Perfection!
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We're Hiring – All Departments, All Levels!
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Big shoutout to our Nissan Service and Parts team for clinching the win in Nissan’s Steak & Beans competition against other dealers!
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Community Support in Action – Thank You, SafeHaven!
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Flat rate, and wether it’s fair has been a hot button issue for years. While many technicians are for flat rate, the general consensus is that most are against it. Years ago it wasn’t uncommon to flag 50-60 hours in a week without breaking a sweat. Many techs will tell you that those numbers have only become more difficult to reach, if not impossible, as time has passed. During this time vehicle warranties have started lasting longer, vehicles require less maintenance (according to the manufacturer), and vehicles have become more complex. What’s your opinion? Leave a comment below
Other
Thanks for bringing up this important topic, Craig. It's very timely because we're also going to be hosting a roundtable where we're bringing on 4 technician to discuss flat rate. It's free to attend and anyone can register here: https://wrenchway.com/events/flat-rates-contribution-to-the-technician-shortage/
Technician
So, Lucas Underwood on the "Changing the Industry Podcast" a week ago said, "Flat rate is a lazy man's management method." I agree. Flat rate can be made to work, if the entire team is on board and no one person gets stuck doing all the crap work (unless said person is paid hourly or salary and isn't under the gun from management for low hours). Usually what happens is a favorite tech gets fed, other techs pick up the scraps, and one really good tech starves to death. The good tech leaves, the others flounder, the attitude goes in the toilet, and the shop ends up circling the drain. Yes, labor times are down, sometimes grossly inaccurate, and the quick maintenance jobs that used to allow us to make up time are few and far between. A few very gifted techs can still turn those outstanding hours, but they are rare. A few gifted service managers make flat rate work for their location. They aren't the lazy kind Lucas was referring to. For everyone else, flat rate is a punishment to those who do good quality work and an easy way to create friction and anger in the shop.
Technician
I've worked flat rate for 38 years, don't really have an issue with it. First thing you need to realize, clocking 60 hour weeks plus wasn't difficult for a few reasons, first is, most shops were open 6 days a week and we worked an average of 70 hours a week. Another thing was we only worked on a handful of makes and models back then, repetitiveness of vehicles we worked on made it that you'd become very good on doing repairs because you've done it many times and you knew the tricks to get the job done quickly. The amount of makes and models now, along with the fact vehicles are driven 15-20 yrs plus just adds to the amount that you the tech need to know and be great at to clock a ton of hours. You need to be flexible in your estimating of vehicles in today world, if a vehicle comes in and a complex service you know is going to take a tech longer than book time, don't be afraid to slightly adjust the labor also. Shops and techs are out to make money and stay in business, if for example an evap core job pays 8.5 hours and the past few you've done takes 10, adjust labor on next repair. Shops have to realize that in today's world, no tech, even the best and most experienced is going to have the knowledge to be the best and fastest on the amount of makes, models and years of vehicles on the road. It's not humanly possible. Have my labor amounts dropped a bit over the years, yes, but I'm also down to working a 45 hour week compared to close to 75 I would work year round not long ago and I'm 56 years old and my body isn't like it was at 20 yrs old either. I think my point is, be flexible yet fair, make the shop, tech and customer happy and satisfied, if you don't, more techs will continually leave the industry.
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