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WrenchWay

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Toyota of Corvallis

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9 minutes ago

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Toyota of Corvallis is Proud to Support Old Mill Center!
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Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

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about 1 hour ago

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$5000 sign on bonus for experienced/skilled technicians. Come join our team!
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Woody Anderson Ford

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about 3 hours ago

1

Staying long-term at an automotive shop provides career stability, continuous skill development, and opportunities for advancement. It also fosters a strong sense of community within the shop while offering specialized training and higher earning potential!
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Tom Wood Porsche

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about 4 hours ago

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Porsche Restoration Challenge 2025 Update
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WrenchWay

about 4 hours ago

1

St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans

What’s your favorite way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
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Audi Indianapolis

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about 5 hours ago

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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Tom Wood Porsche

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about 12 hours ago

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Happy Birthday to our customer experience manager Joe!
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Tom Wood Volkswagen

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about 12 hours ago

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Junior Certified Tech, Luis, replacing the window regulator on a Volkswagen Atlas.
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Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

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about 22 hours ago

1

How do you think potential tariffs will affect service and parts departments?
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Park Vista High School

Greenacres, FL

about 23 hours ago

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Park Vista Automotive

At UTI Top Tech Challenge. Second year in a row Park Vista came in 1st place again.
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Tom Wood Subaru

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about 23 hours ago

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Our Service Manager; Russ Stevens, received another great email from one of our customers, regarding the service he received from Service Advisor; Todd VonBlon.
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Tom Wood Porsche

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1 day ago

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Happy Birthday to our detailer Myles!
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Toyota of Corvallis

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1 day ago

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Techs Wanted! Work on the Legendary Toyota Tundra!
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WrenchWay

1 day ago

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How do you maximize your time in the shop? In this week’s episode, flat rate technician Josh Arnold shares the healthier habits he's adopted to take better care of both his body and mind.
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0:59

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Denton High School

Denton, MT

1 day ago

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Trailer Build

We started building a custom trailer for the Denton Rod and gun Club. Construction started January 16th and we will finish it by March 15th.
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Sara Kerwin

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/

almost 2 years ago Like

Russell Wickham

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.

Dale Techel

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.

Filter the Posts You See

Filter the Posts You See

Shop Talk
Online Community to Promote Auto & Diesel Careers

Share your thoughts on industry topics

Toyota of Corvallis

Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

Woody Anderson Ford

Tom Wood Porsche

WrenchWay

St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans

Audi Indianapolis

Tom Wood Porsche

Tom Wood Volkswagen

Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

Park Vista High School

Park Vista Automotive

Tom Wood Subaru

Tom Wood Porsche

Toyota of Corvallis

WrenchWay

Denton High School

Trailer Build

Sorry

Success

Craig Tomczyk

Sara Kerwin

Sara Kerwin

Russell Wickham

Russell Wickham

Dale Techel

Dale Techel

Shop Talk Online Community to Promote Auto & Diesel Careers

Shop talk polls and posts

Share your thoughts on industry topics

Toyota of Corvallis

Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

Woody Anderson Ford

Tom Wood Porsche

WrenchWay

St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans

Audi Indianapolis

Tom Wood Porsche

Tom Wood Volkswagen

Willis Jaguar Land Rover Volvo

Park Vista High School

Park Vista Automotive

Tom Wood Subaru

Tom Wood Porsche

Toyota of Corvallis

WrenchWay

Denton High School

Trailer Build

Sara Kerwin

Russell Wickham

Dale Techel

Shop Talk
Online Community to Promote Auto & Diesel Careers