Main dealer servicing “technicians”

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Do you have any evidence that these technicians were incompetent? Has the service been done to the correct standard?

Our close friends' oldest daughter has worked part time since she was 16, all the way through her GCSEs and A-levels. She's been able to transfer branches within this job to her university town and part-fund her studies through it. She is hard-working and canny and would be worth employing anywhere, but she will have to fight attitudes like this before she even gets a job, let alone when she is in it.

Think you should probably re-read my post again. Hopefully your friends oldest daughter can read and intrepret the tone and context of a sentence better than your good self!
 
Servicing is dead easy.

Replace engine oil and filter, then go through a list of checks. Anything fails the check, inform your line manager.

I can't imagine this sort of repetitive task requiring more than a couple of weeks of training (the training might be longer because the techs are taught other things as well, but as far as the task of carrying-out a service goes - should not take long at all), including H&S and including emphasis on being meticulous and thorough when carrying-out the checks.

I waited while my daughter's Golf was serviced - it was in the workship 20mins. The service advisor doing the paperwork took longer. Including a very rough wash and vac, I was in and out of the dealership in under an hour.
 
I did chuckle at some people who apparently are fine with young technicians delving into the bowls of a power plant but in the detailing forum they state won’t let a dealer near to wash it. Lols.

That being said my dirty motor still has random missed bits of salt all over it post “wash”
 
A good few years ago (15+) I went in to a local bank of mine on a Saturday morning to withdraw cash to buy a car.

I’d asked to withdraw £5000 and the cashier started to process my request.

It must have been a good few years ago. Nowadays it would be "I'm sorry sir, you need to have requested this amount in advance". :doh:
 
I essentially had to go through a mini fraud investigation whilst trying to withdraw £18k for a car a couple of years ago.
 
Another contender for 'Old man complaining' thread of the year.

I'm 38 BTW
 
From memory, MB WIS allocates 50 minutes for an A Service and 2 Hours for a B Service. That's for the tech's time i.e. excluding the admin/paperwork.

If the techs skip some of the cheks, then there's clearly a problem........
 
Another contender for 'Old man complaining' thread of the year.

I'm 38 BTW

Well someone had to give the White,middle aged, middle class, entitled contingent a bit of competition at something on here!
:)
 
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I am a mechanic, have been for 25 years as a full time job and the most infuriating thing i hear is, “oh it not hard to change a few filters blah blah blah!” No matter what these so called bigshots always belittle us mechanics and just see us as grease monkeys! Its a tiring physical job which requires an ability of contortionism as well as a lot of skill knowledge and excellence, dont get me wrong everyone has a bad day and makes mistakes, we ALL do it.
Today at work had a RR in for mot failed on corroded rear flexis, they got done and car got retested all good but moaning faced bigshot is adamant his pedal is going straight to the floor and he has no brakes, brakes have been bled again, workshop foreman and workshop controller both been out in the car, perfect but bigshot is still jumping up and down making a noise that its still not right, he was even allowed to sit in another model like his to compare the pedals which were identical, its blatantly obvious what the problem is, he wants something for nothing. The funny thing is he is thinking that he is being clever but in all reality everybody thinks its funny as its seen most days, the infuriating bit is i got pulled off the job im clocked onto so it hurts my pocket in effeciency bonus and i didnt get finished till almost an hour after my finishing time (which i wont get paid for) all because bigshot thinks he can get some money off, doesnt think about everyone he is impacting with his nonesense, its really quite infuriating and tiresome really! I mean come on you you get an extra £50 off, thats nothing to bigshot as he did buy a £80000 motor, i certainly could never afford to buy 1, but my £20 that i am now out of pocket coild be a saturday night take away or lunch for the next week!
 
I am a mechanic, have been for 25 years as a full time job and the most infuriating thing i hear is, “oh it not hard to change a few filters blah blah blah!” No matter what these so called bigshots always belittle us mechanics and just see us as grease monkeys! Its a tiring physical job which requires an ability of contortionism as well as a lot of skill knowledge and excellence, dont get me wrong everyone has a bad day and makes mistakes, we ALL do it.
Today at work had a RR in for mot failed on corroded rear flexis, they got done and car got retested all good but moaning faced bigshot is adamant his pedal is going straight to the floor and he has no brakes, brakes have been bled again, workshop foreman and workshop controller both been out in the car, perfect but bigshot is still jumping up and down making a noise that its still not right, he was even allowed to sit in another model like his to compare the pedals which were identical, its blatantly obvious what the problem is, he wants something for nothing. The funny thing is he is thinking that he is being clever but in all reality everybody thinks its funny as its seen most days, the infuriating bit is i got pulled off the job im clocked onto so it hurts my pocket in effeciency bonus and i didnt get finished till almost an hour after my finishing time (which i wont get paid for) all because bigshot thinks he can get some money off, doesnt think about everyone he is impacting with his nonesense, its really quite infuriating and tiresome really! I mean come on you you get an extra £50 off, thats nothing to bigshot as he did buy a £80000 motor, i certainly could never afford to buy 1, but my £20 that i am now out of pocket coild be a saturday night take away or lunch for the next week!

Having worked on all my previous cars till my first S204 5 years ago (too complicated for me to dabble without STAR) I know what you mean.


Makes you wonder what the profit margins on main dealers are like when they charge £140 per hour and the techies are probably on £9 of that. No overheads cost that much no matter how many service receptionists and coffee machines you chuck into the equation. The worst thing about all of this is modern cars even the most basic ones are so full of proprietary electronics and coded sensors that the old street mechanics are having a hard time not keeping up but more being able to afford leasing the kit available to get the job done. The whole thing is a viscous capitalist circle right now.

Good mechanics like yourself are probably getting stuck between a rock and a hard place and end up leaving the trade because an 18 year old technician is going to cost half of the hourly rate especially with living/minimum wage considerations. Same thing is also happening in the police. Officers serving more than 5 years and in their early 30’s getting asked for voluntary lay offs before they get to the year 7 pay spine of £37k whilst simulatenously they are recruiting for new PC’s with a starting wage for the first 2 years of £19k.

Whilst I was in there today I overheard a chap paying a bill on a CLS that was A-Service and MOT for £426..... So to put that in perspective that’s an oil and filter change, an A4 checklist, a wash vacume and a coffee.
 
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I would hope a technician gets paid more than £9 an hour at a dealership seeing as the minimum wage is just under £8 p/h.
 
I once went to Halfords for an simple oil change!! How hard can that be?? Watched through the window !! Oil changed in the car by shall we say older guy! All good,engine running,NOW the older guy said to shall we say younger guy check the oil level! Easy you would think,he went to check the level and to my disbelief did not turn the engine off and for some reason took the cap off!!! Was like a volcano!! The cleanest car ever covered in oil!so now my car my choise as to who works on it
 
With respect...

We charge for our engineers' time between £75+VAT and £90+VAT per hour (not car-related) and we don't always manage to turn a profit!

Here's where the money goes.....:

- Engineers Wages - their time is charged to the customer

- Middle management (supervisors) wages - their time is not charged to the customer

- Senior management (Directors) wages - their time is not charged to the customer

- Admin team wages - HR, bookkeeping, purchasing - their time is not charged to the customer

- 13.8% on wages for Employers NIC

- 5% on wages for Workplace pension employer's contribution

- 12% on wages for paid holiday allowance

- 3% on wages for paid sickdays

- Employees' mobile phones

- Employees' expenses (public transport, car mileage lallowance, etc)

- Employees' training - cost of course plus their wages while they are away

- Mortgage repayments (we bought the premises)

- Business rates

- Gas and electricity

- Office phones, office Internet

- Office equipment - IT kit, kitchen kit etc

- Cleaning contractors

- Alarm and security

- TV License and EMI licence

- Corporate events - Haloween party, Christmas party, etc

- Insurance policies - Employer's Liability cover, Public liability cover, Product Liability cover, Direcors' and Officers' Liability cover, Professional Indemnity cover, Business Continuity cover, Cyber cover, office premises and stock-in-transport cover...

- Accountancy and Legal fees

- Recruitment agencies fees (25% of the employees' annual salary)

- F***-up cost (that's when our engineers mess-up and we can't charge for the job)

- Bad debt - customer going out of business (happened a few times)

- And... profit. Yes, the idea is that there's something left for the owners.

Not a sob story... but when I look at what other businesses charge, I always try and keep things in perspective, rather than assume that it must be daylight robbery just because the person in front of me is only earning a small percentage of what I am being charged for the service.
 
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With respect...

We charge for our engineers' time between £75+VAT and £90+VAT per hour (not car-related) and we don't always manage to turn a profit!

What business or industry out of interest?

I can 100% empathise and understand your costs. Been there and had these but decided a few years back to shrink back down and keep it small. I earnt less money personally when I had more people, hassle and headache's.

We charge a retail price of £98ph and discount 10 and 15% as a loyalty discount for repeat ongoing long standing customers. I've been in the business for 25 years so pretty knowledgeable and experienced. It is too cheap really but I can afford to do it at these prices as we have kept all the massive central costs low. If we had more staff and bigger offices it is hard to make money unless you get much bigger.

I don't think main dealers are great value at 140 and 150ph though for standard menu servicing works. However they have massive costs so can see why. I would rather user a decent smaller indy at a far lower rate ph.
 
One thought did occur to me today was that there was just no need for the number of staff in a dealership.

Ok, so in one showroom of the 3 showroom triple franchise I was greeted by 3 receptionists behind the desk as you come in. All 3 of them were sitting right next to each other, I then tell them why I’m there so one walks me over to the servicing desk (3m away) i then speak to another receptionist at the servicing desk to explain who I am and why I’m there. She then goes get the papers from the servicing manager/supervisor (of which there are 3). Then there is the head technician dude as well as the regular technicians. This is on top of all the half dozen sales staff and sales manager and general manager. The showroom is large but not what I would call busy. Iv never seen more than 6 punters in there.

Seems like massive overkill. 3 receptionists on a front desk whose only job it is is to either answer a phone to then transfer the call or point somebody to a location Well marked a few ft away.

I could honestly see why they hire so many young people and where the £150 per hours labour goes.

Personally I’d rather have to wait for an extra 1 min while somebody answers a phone or does something else before they sees to me and loose £8 of that £150 per hour straight away.

Seems common sense to me unless you enjoy peein money for away for fun.

Sorry Old man rant over.
 
IT Support (B2B).

We're (roughly) in the same industry... ;)
Very much in the same industry [emoji6]

Although IT support is not a primary and sole focus just a by product I guess of what we offer.

We are London and home counties mainly bit sometimes further a field so I hope we don't come across in competition.

Happy to meet up for coffee and a chat if local/regional so I can help with any info or insights. Or feel free to PM me to ask anything that may be useful.
 

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