Dealer service rates

thepumpguysc said:

oooh.. don't get me started on the phone thing!!!!
I had mechanic "X" broke from that habit the 1st day when he came out w/ me.!!!
I heard from other mechanics how he was..
"That phone STAYS in the truck until we get back TO THE TRUCK.." I thought he was gonna cry..
& he looked like a heroin addict all day, lookin for a fix..Lol

Click to expand...

HAHA he was probably checking his PAYPAL BALANCE LOL

Having a phone is OK depending on who the mechanic is. A good friend of mine is a mechanic and fixed some wiring on my Cat. He forgot his magnetic light so rested his phone on the brake pedal to use the light for the camera. Don't ask me how you turn it on. There's so much you can do with phones now that talking is only the simplest thing to use it for. If someone is talking or texting all the time, then tell them to leave it in the truck or don't even bring it to work. I can't count how many times I've seen people yapping away holding up other people or just being loud and annoying where I wanted to grab their phone and throw as far away as I could. Worst was when I working at a counter with other people in line and half way through they take a phone call and walk away to talk for 5 minutes or more instead of just saying they'll call the person back. You don't want to delete the stuff on the screen or what you're in the middle of but you feel like taking their phone and smashing it.

The cameras are amazing for trying to see where you can't quite fit.

John C. said:

I always wondered why a dealership couldn't provide a lesser charge for using an apprentice with a journeyman.

Formal training at dealerships is part of doing business now days with the failing of the unions and state sponsored apprenticeship programs.

Click to expand...

Yeah John , young fellers have to learn somehow ?

In a business the billing stays the same regardless how old the wrench is or who he had to help out to complete the job .

Anyone that's ever had to write a pay check out to an employee will understand it .

Yep , the old fellers will have to help out & aid a young guy starting out in the trade . Aint that how life works for the most part ?

td25c, I guess I don't understand the logic in your post. A newbie making half the hourly wage of a journeyman is getting less than half the loaded cost of that employment. It's another reason end users don't trust dealer shops and those same shops can't find and keep quality people.

As far as the newbies learning from the "old fellers", we have already left.

I see a lit of the more experienced hands having a harder time with all the emission stuff to the point they start throwing parts at it and boy does that get expensive

One problem I see with the younger guys is they have a trade school paper and think that equals years of experience and therefore wont learn things the first time or three times

One things for sure tho prices wont get cheaper

I think some 1st year apprentices are the worst. They finish their 1st year training after 6-8 weeks in school and when they get back in the shop think they know it all. I had one guy that thought I was supposed to be his apprentice when I was the journeyman. Let him try a short cut one time and didn't take too long before he realized it wouldn't work. I think that humbled him some and he started to listen to me a little more. You have to know how to do things the long way before you start trying to take short cuts. That said sometimes a new guy will have a good idea. You shouldn't dismiss it just because he's new at the trade.

My son in law worked for me for 5 years, he was in his late 20's at the time. He was constantly on his phone between jobs which I didn't really mind since it was drive time. What I did realize was the fact that he had no idea where we went to get parts even though he had been there 1000 times with me. If I said " Go to X co." he had no idea how to get there. He dam could sure catch a huge fish on that fishing game he played all the time! LOL

I cant count how many times I said that exact same thing, Dave..

John C. said:

td25c, I guess I don't understand the logic in your post. A newbie making half the hourly wage of a journeyman is getting less than half the loaded cost of that employment. It's another reason end users don't trust dealer shops and those same shops can't find and keep quality people.

Click to expand...

Sorry John , will try to elaborate on it .

Went to work at a truck & equipment shop when I was 20 .

Smaller independent shop had 4 to 5 wrenches parts guy & service manager .

Had went through trade school prior and thank God we had a great teacher .
73 year old retired service manager from an International dealership . Old
Navy man as well . Sure helped prepare us for the wrenching world .
Thanks Keith !

Back at the truck shop …. Got hired on and business owner would " feel out " what you were capable of after a few day's . If he was happy ya got to stay .

He would also step in at times to interject his opinion when needed , or even jump in & lend a hand wrenching to finish a job quicker .

Myself being the 20 year old knucklehead new guy was capable of allot at the time but would also get stumped & need to yell at " Boss Glen " for his advice .
Job got billed the same even though I was green but the key factor was Glen keeping a close eye on everyone . After all it was his show .

And he was the oldest wrench in the shop at age 37 .

Man …. At the time I thought that was pretty old !



Owe a lot to " Instructor Keith " & " Boss Glen " .

td25c, I think we all had our mentors in the days when we were young. Issue now days is that there are few 35 to 45 year olds now and nearly no 50 to 65 year olds to serve that purpose. There were lots of Vietnam vets in the seventies, no one brought much talent into the trade in the eighties and nineties and only an occasional newbie in the auts. Now I see shops with twenty something newbies and the thirty plus guys are in the trucks. The apprenticeship programs are dead, the trade school teachers are the people who couldn't hack the trade and have little to no ethics. If ever there was a time to start some kind of value billing, it should be now.

Yeah John , " Boss Glen " had a pretty good apprenticeship program .

It lasted for 3 day's . After that you was either in or out as it should be in a business

Ya got 3 day's new guy ……….

Show us what ya got to bring to the table . LOL

I'm glad you made the grade

Oh Man ! I sure had a lot of help along the way . Was fortunate to get to work around some sharp cat's & pick up some ideas .

On a good note " Boss Glen " retired last year at age 65 . He's more than likely finishing a golf game at this time in the evening . Cooler of barley soda in the back of the golf cart .

Its amazing once a person gains that mechanical skill how many different directions it can take them in the trades .

The wrenching , welding , problem solving . Skills you take with you through life in different areas .

I never even thought about the Equipment Appraisal aspect . The appraiser will need an idea on the machines condition , it's weak & strong points and what's it going to cost to repair it ?

Who better than a seasoned wrench to make the appraisal . They could rattle those numbers off the top of the head from experience .

IPhones are the bane of the world, they are handy as hell but in the wrong hands the most distractive destructive to time device ever built. I use mine for the camera and Google for information or maps otherwise the damn machine is off and in the passenger seat. will make hands free calls as feel a need and receive calls from my current employer on plans changes. I will NOT text while driving, I will photo the idiot doing stupid **** in front of me, I have added a dash cam in the truck for those morons that lane dive in front of loaded semi's.

The funny thing is the GlassDoor is saying equipment mechanics only make $46,000 per year: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/heavy-equipment-mechanic-salary-SRCH_KO0,24.htm That doesn't seem right. According to this survey by Construction Craft, in 2015, equipment mechnics were making around $57,000 per year: https://www.constructionequipmentgu...aries-stack-up-new-study-has-the-answer/27976 I can't imagine it's gone down since then.

Still, neither salary is very high. If they need technicians so badly, why don't they pay them more so that more people will enter the field?

Is a self feeding watermelon Karaya, growth demands feeding the entity so that it may feed others where as they get paid more and costs escalate then too the growth demands require MORE money to feed and be fed.

Remember something. The field guy can't read minds. When you say it's broke and don't elaborate, it's going to cost. If I have to go out on jobs and figure out whats happening that's going to get billed. It's the GIGO factor. I don't agree with the rate hike. From a dealer perspective, it's cuts the company out of the good work like hydraulic hose replacements and light bulb replacements to the jobs that no one wants to touch. The easy jobs are low liability. The blown up hydraulic pumps and transmissions that call for hours of cleanup are hard to sell to the customer because of the hours of labor. There will be bill arguing. I've had customers tell me they like my work but they won't pay for my labor because i'm too expensive. That creates pressure on me and the guys I work with because we do care about our customers. We end up running mach 9 trying to finish a job under budget because we know the customer has limited funds. Most of the field hands I know care a lot about what they do and want to do the best. Many of the guys I work with will call customers and preorder parts in order to speed up their response time. I've seen the other that have been mentioned in this post and it is frustrating because it becomes all field mechanics. I am always aware of how much it is costing whom ever I am working for and I try to work as efficient as I can. At the current labor rates, I'm not efficient enough. I'm 43 and I am one of the old guys in field service. There are some new prospects, but not many. I guess a key note in this is if you want the bill to stay low, make sure you give as much information as you can before the mechanic comes out. The less they have to figure out, the less you will pay in the long run.

I agree w/ you for the most part.. BUT THEN.. you have the other end of that scenario.. the customer who KNOWS whats wrong w/ it.. & insists you replace THAT part.. & stands there screaming & yelling because YOU want to diagnose the problem.. On 1 hand I hate that & on the other, I love it..
Because I'M not leaving the jobsite until "I" determine the problem and the cause & the correct action to take..
& when I find a dirty filter or a pinched rubber line or a supply pump that isn't working, instead of yanking off an injection pump & spending their 1,500.00 bill & watching the look on their face is priceless..
But is THAT ever appreciated?? NO, No it isn't.. THEN all you hear about is "Well, the last guy that was out here, said"..

That whole "the last guy who was out here" bs drives me nuts. If the other guy was so awesome, why did they call me? Ugh.

I charge 95 shop, 130 field, 50 drive time. I don't charge mileage.