I never figured out how to deal with, what i think, the hostility a customer always has to the shop doing his work, even thou it's controlled? Some guys in the office try to be his friend or make him laugh but the only time the customer is legit is when you're helping him beat his insurance company.

......... just my rant

Being a qualified diagnostic technician is not at all what it used to be.....at least at the dealership level.

New car dealers have found they can load up the shop with parts replacers who just throw parts at cars until they are fixed while leaving maybe one or two guys in a shop of 25 guys who actually know how to properly diagnose a car.

Top end diagnostic techs. are better off at electrical specialists and should avoid dealerships.

Getting paid 5.2 hours labor to replace an a/c evaporator at lexus under warranty because it was improperly designed is no fun and there are far too many of them that need replacement.

In order to replace that evaporator you have to pull the console, dashboard, drop the steering column, remove the reinforcement tube that is under the dash, and finally pull the evap case....but only after pulling everything else.

Luckily for the new car guys, warranty raping keeps things going when the shop grinds to a standstill from lack of work but it is inspring some really bad cases of fixing oil leaks that aren't there, replacing brake pads that aren't worn out....etc.

I refuse to compromise my integrity and subsequently would turn sub-50 hour weeks while watching one guy turn a 450+ hour month....yes over 450 labor hours turned.

Management knows what is going on but are driven purely by numbers so they look the other way to keep the big hour guys turning big hours even as the comeback ratio skyrockets with customer satisfaction index falling rapidly.

It seems short term self enrichment at the expense of long term sustainability is the new business model but, assure yourself, judgement day is coming for this style of management.

Me, I've had enough and will spend some time at the beach, fishing, and putting back together my 20 year younger brother's mitsubishi 3000gt vr-4 that he decided to take apart (with no prior mechanical experience) that now occupies 2 of the 3 spaces in dad's garage in GA.

Maybe I can strike a deal with dad...........free up the two spaces he's been missing for the last 2 years for finisihing up my commerical ticket on his cessna 177.

Quote :Management knows what is going on but are driven purely by numbers so they look the other way to keep the big hour guys turning big hours even as the comeback ratio skyrockets with customer satisfaction index falling rapidly.

It seems short term self enrichment at the expense of long term sustainability is the new business model but, assure yourself, judgement day is coming for this style of management.


I could not agree more - but until a catastrophic meltdown in this business happens, nothing will change. I have begun to think I'll never live long enough to see this happen