Lets Fix This Industry! No Snarky Comments from Me

Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @flatratemaster
Amazon Affiliate link below
Astro Tool 7835 Protective Thin Wall Impact Socket Set - 5-Piece
amzn.to/3LACQ1K
Vessel Megadora 980 Impacta P2x100 #2 Cross Point Impact Screwdriver
amzn.to/3FvZnsH
VESSEL MEGADORA IMPACTA Impact Driven Screwdriver +3x150 (6") No.980 980P3150
amzn.to/3FCjFAC
Mayhew 61366 Dominator Pry Bar Set, Curved, 5-Piece
amzn.to/3TpCg8U
KNIPEX Tools - 2 Piece Cobra Pliers Set
amzn.to/3lnOcva
KNIPEX - 74 01 250 SBA Tools - High Leverage Diagonal Cutters
amzn.to/3LBtyTc
IAG Performance Multi-Directional Hose Clamp Pliers
amzn.to/40BX1AL
Vim Tools TMS34PF Torx Master Set 34 PC
amzn.to/3yO6clo
Vim Tools VIMMMS64 Mechanics Master Set, Hex & Torx
amzn.to/42C3v4r
Lisle 45900 Hood Prop
amzn.to/42rZkIj
Trusty-Cook Model 3-45 oz Polyurethane Dead Blow Hammer - Red
amzn.to/3Z5mMrD
www.amazon.com/shop/influence...
www.amazon.com/shop/influence...
www.milwaukeetool.com/
#flatratemaster
Instagram
/ flatratemaster
[e-mail]

[@BehindTheCounter_TFSO]

Just remember, my name isn't on the building and I don't write the checks. I've been trying to improve this industry since the 1990s, back when Snap-on advertised in Better Homes and Gardens, asking readers, "Do you know the value of your mechanic?" The problem is we have too many people with little or no formal training in the automotive industry who think they know how this business should be run. After watching a couple of videos from Cecil Bullard, I’ve been checking out shop labor rates. I found rates as low as $85 and as high as $190 in independent garages, with the national average being $150. We should all take some time out of our busy schedules to read the American Automotive Service Association (ASA) Code of Ethics.

[@johnwilliams8353]

After thirty plus years as a master technician the only thing that could possibly fix this horrible industry is to change your career. My brothers the shops will never treat you with respect and will never ever pay you properly just walk away nothing can fix a shop owner and a completely toxic shop and yes I have shop hopped trying to find happiness never going to happen 😮

[@isorozco511]

Big facts

[@parker7953]

Yup, 5 shops in 5 years for me as a Tech. A local shop tried to hire me the other day, since auto shops seem to be the only interviews I can get at the moment. I got a bad vibe and was being told all the fairy tale things I've heard before but never came to fruition. This industry doesn't want a young guy like me if it means treating me with respect. So relieved I'm not in this industry anymore, very sad.

[@mikekotarba5828]

​@@parker7953Could you please tell me what your new career is and why you chose it?

[@FoxBox923]

John, I’m calling BS. thirty years in a “horrible” industry and you never left? Must’ve not been that bad.

[@johnwilliams8353]

@@FoxBox923 you can call bull shit all you want fact ninty percent of technicians agree with my perspective not yours

[@jasonkoplen2554]

This industry is way past the “fix it” stage. At this point it’s nothing short of needing a full on overhaul. It’s obvious that it can’t self regulate, and techs have been carrying the weight of manufacturers F ups for far too long. Customers as well, it’s not my fault your half dead 💩 box is falling apart because you haven’t done anything except rotate the tires and drop the oil for the last 150k. Manufacturers and customers alike cry poverty when it comes to paying techs, but always seem to have pro baller money when it comes to paying for anything else. I didn’t make it, I didn’t break it, and if you want it fixed Fn pay me! This is why I’m so glad I got out of this 💩hole industry. I shouldn’t even be watching these videos, it doesn’t do anything except get my blood pressure up. 😂

[@DKSE123]

By the time people decide to "fix" it , cars will be off the road by then

[@jasonkoplen2554]

@@DKSE123 literally! Every dealership/shop is screaming they can’t find help, and every customer is screaming about long wait times / can’t find anyone to do this or that. Yet they both wanna pay like it’s 1985, and treat us like whipping boys. Doesn’t bother me none my box is home, and I can keep my old yotas going till the end of time. The rest of em can learn to fix it themselves, walk, or take the bus as far as I’m concerned. They brought this on themselves.

[@biometal770]

@@jasonkoplen2554 I left the industry like you. Ive never met someone that regret quitting as a mechanic. Maybe this will help the guys that remain, but kind of sucks for us.

[@mikekotarba5828]

​@@biometal770Could you please tell me morr about what your new career choice?

[@biometal770]

@@mikekotarba5828 Sure! I went back to school to get degrees in a field completely unrelated to being a mechanic (science). However, being a mechanic taught me good troubleshooting skills. If I could do it over again, I would probably do electrical engineering. Other former mechanics I know have transitioned into heavy equipment repair or industrial maintenance. Both fields seem to be much better compensated than automotive.

[@boudreausauto1881]

As a shop owner, of the newer generation, I have started my shop on some of these core values. yes you sacrifice a little money, but I like to sleep well at night. I also do my best to network with other shops, and one of the biggest lessons I have learned along the way having started as a tech is: unless you have run a shop, it is hard to be more than an armchair shop owner. that being said I have, and still do love all aspects of the automotive industry, I think the good ones will make it.

[@samueldeter9735]

@boudreausauto1881 hey left a comment that I was hoping might get some replies, but I wanted to share it with you as well when I saw the "new shop owner" part in case you were willing to weigh in Fantastic video, I really enjoyed it! My thing with shop fees has always been with it consistently being chump change, like you're really gonna piss off your customer for 5 bucks instead of putting it somewhere else in the bill? This part got a little long. TLDR I feel like normalizing shops helping customers fix their own cars would be great for everybody I've never been a tech, so would love more insight, but I wonder if shops started leaning into the weekend warrior thing a little bit, it'd be for the better. In my younger days, I had a vehicle that failed an inspection for a tie rod end; my dumbass didn't know what the hell a tie rod end was, but by golly I was gonna figure it out. Went to O'Reillys, they gave me a part, and I just crawled under looking for something that looked like it, swapped that out, and admittedly, it worked out okay. People are always gonna try to take your diagnostic and use it to fix their car. Instead of just pretending like it's not gonna happen or trying to avoid it, seems like it'd be better for everyone to just be straight up about what the goals were. You know that going in, so you check a little more thoroughly to make sure my dumbass can't mess anything else up, so you make more on diagnostic. I still save money on the repair. Hell, if the salesman asked me straight up going in, there are some repairs I'd even pay a few hundred bucks to bring it back and have a post inspection done to make sure it's safe. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know how involved diagnostics can be, but I figured the repairs are the shittiest knuckle busting cussing at the seized bolts part anyway. I'm really not a tight wad, I just enjoy learning and working on my own stuff; if a mechanic ever brought me back and showed me, like "Hey everything else is pretty straight forward, but this is the adjustment screw, try to mark where it's at and copy it, but you'll definitely need an alignment after" I don't care how much of my money they take I'd be in that shop for everything! Have your fancy lawyers draw up another liability release to sign, but it seems to me like everybody wins. I realize I've never been in the industry, though, so I really typed all that just to start a conversation, hoping for some insight. Regardless, honestly just clicked on the video because of the "no snarky comments" part, but I'm glad I did!

[@biometal770]

The best way to improve this industry is to increase the barrier to entry. There should be federally mandated licensing testing to be a mechanic. Since there is no licensing, every shop is somewhat of a revolving door of mechanics. Since shops know they can hire at will, this keeps wages low and perpetuates the flat rate system. The flat rate system fosters cutting corners and reducing quality. If there was a smaller pool of employees to choose from, shops would have no choice but to do away with the flat rate system and pay a normal hourly wage. TL:DR - We need licensing to improve wages, quality, and customer perception.

[@mph5896]

Some states have licensing requirements such as Michigan. It mirrors ASE and has 8 categories

[@patrioticimmigrant8817]

Im a tech turned shop manager to home shop, and there are people who take advantage of consumers in all industries. However anyone getting in this industry to make a lot of money shouldn't. This is a very difficult industry to make money in. You have to work very hard to be profitable shop owner or tech. This industry has been good to me but i am not "uber wealthy" but have been successful.

[@biometal770]

@@patrioticimmigrant8817 this is true. To make good money you need to give service to people that have money. This means specializing in european cars typically.

[@parker7953]

Yeah.. I guess being honest, hardworking, and only servicing/repairing what the car needs and nothing else is just not enough to make a decent living. At least that was my experience, left this industry more broke than when I entered. Just knowing I was doing the right and honest thing for America wasn't enough when it felt like going to war every day with my "fellow" techs and boss. Glad I'm out of this industry, but it felt like my dream died.

[@Raylude5]

​@@parker7953Mind if I ask what you went to?

[@mikekotarba5828]

​@@parker7953Could you please tell me what your neee career is and why you chose it?

[@dieseltechjb]

Flat rate is the reason for shotgun diagnostics. Punish the best tech with the least billable hour jobs. While the rest of the shop does brakes and ball joints all day making 80hrs for 22hrs of actual work. Unless you’re a top tier tech, you won’t diag most modern drive ability and emissions complaints. But guess what. Shops don’t wanna pay top tier pay. So essentially most shops are the master of their own demise. Shit pay for parts changers and then cry about comebacks.

[@keithk1454]

Not going to happen mike! It needs state regulation with real certified technicians and all ASE certified so no dummies are working on cars and then the money will come! Techs trying to fix this for the last 35 years hasn't worked!

[@biometal770]

I agree, state regulation with a state/federal licensing exam. Flat rate would immediately be abolished as there would be many fewer mechanics, and thus quality and perception would improve drastically.

[@keithk1454]

@@biometal770 Finally an educated man! You wouldn't go to a doctor without a medical license!

[@parker7953]

Try telling this to the 60+ year old Boomer shop owner I just interviewed with last week. He laughed and scoffed when I asked about a pathway towards ASE certs, as I personally am studying for those. "Haha, we don't care about ASE's, anyone can pass a test!". Young Techs want ASE's, yet shops discourage and laugh at us for pursuing them. Seems like the old-heads are perpetuating this toxic culture in the industry. Not the first shop owner that laughed at me for wanting ASE's.

[@keithk1454]

@@parker7953 Time to start looking for a good dealership that pays well and offers training, even if you have to move to another state like I did. All the top guys have their masters Ase and L1s and take the states emissions exam! I know its a lot but you want to be the best and the best get paid!

[@samueldeter9735]

Fantastic video, I really enjoyed it! My thing with shop fees has always been with it consistently being chump change, like you're really gonna piss off your customer for 5 bucks instead of putting it somewhere else in the bill? This part got a little long. TLDR I feel like normalizing shops helping customers fix their own cars would be great for everybody I've never been a tech, so would love more insight, but I wonder if shops started leaning into the weekend warrior thing a little bit, it'd be for the better. In my younger days, I had a vehicle that failed an inspection for a tie rod end; my dumbass didn't know what the hell a tie rod end was, but by golly I was gonna figure it out. Went to O'Reillys, they gave me a part, and I just crawled under looking for something that looked like it, swapped that out, and admittedly, it worked out okay. People are always gonna try to take your diagnostic and use it to fix their car. Instead of just pretending like it's not gonna happen or trying to avoid it, seems like it'd be better for everyone to just be straight up about what the goals were. You know that going in, so you check a little more thoroughly to make sure my dumbass can't mess anything else up, so you make more on diagnostic. I still save money on the repair. Hell, if the salesman asked me straight up going in, there are some repairs I'd even pay a few hundred bucks to bring it back and have a post inspection done to make sure it's safe. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know how involved diagnostics can be, but I figured the repairs are the shittiest knuckle busting cussing at the seized bolts part anyway. I'm really not a tight wad, I just enjoy learning and working on my own stuff; if a mechanic ever brought me back and showed me, like "Hey everything else is pretty straight forward, but this is the adjustment screw, try to mark where it's at and copy it, but you'll definitely need an alignment after" I don't care how much of my money they take I'd be in that shop for everything! Have your fancy lawyers draw up another liability release to sign, but it seems to me like everybody wins. I realize I've never been in the industry, though, so I really typed all that just to start a conversation, hoping for some insight. Regardless, honestly just clicked on the video because of the "no snarky comments" part, but I'm glad I did!

[@parker7953]

I tried to do a lot of these things for customers like you mentioned when fixing their cars. Unfortunately, shops will never lean into this heavy because of huge egos and the older guys have a really bad gatekeeping mentality. They don’t want you to know how they just fixed your car, and they want you leaving ASAP so they can turn and burn the next car for profit. The ones with good intentions for the vehicle owners in this industry just get shunned pretty quickly. I was one of those young techs, now I’m gone for good after the shunning. Great points you made, however. I wish it would be how you’ve described.

[@samueldeter9735]

@parker7953 initially, I expected hesitation to be from not losing business, but the interactions I've had with good shops have always had the mentality "we're booked 2 weeks out, we're not gonna run outta people that just want to pay us to fix their car" Unfortunately, I do know, in this day and age, how much of a thorn in everyone's side liability has become too though Good on ya for being one a the good ones while it lasted though

[@jacksautorepair]

They are not going to take your advice. The reason those type shop owners got into this industry is to make fast money. That's it! Most are investors and used car salesmen. There's nothing you can say or so to change how they operate. In their point of view, we are nothing but peasants. Low level employees. Dealerships are also crooks. They say that's all the OEM will pay under warranty. Well, either you or the customer has to pay me. Somebody has to pay me or I'm leaving. That's usually what happens and the dealerships with few exceptions are nothing but a training ground for new techs. A I asked a service advisor at a shop once, how much do you actually charge. I know about the posted labor rate, but they don't always go by that. He said they have matrix pricing, depends on what is wrong and who you are. Basically he said, we charge as much as we can get!

[@timheilman2089]

At the dealership we were often the last resort for troublesome repairs. Open lines of comunication with other local shops was good business. Getting the other side of the story was helpful in many ways.

[@DirtyDanRacimg]

In my area the independent shops encourage shot gun diagnostic. They pay hourly only and they pay real low. Its a win for the shop owner as they get to charge the labour for all the unneeded parts and get the mark up on parts. I worked at a shop (very briefly) like this and i quit within a few months. I had a guy that worked next to me put spark plugs and coils in every car that had miss fires no diag, no questions.

[@t20594]

Diagnostic without new plugs on a misfire is a waste of time. Always start with plugs then test coils. Spark plugs are so under changed, sell those spark plugs. Coils every time a little ridiculous but if you pull the plugs and have a lot of burn back or happen to have a few broken coils while doing plugs definitely needed.

[@DirtyDanRacimg]

@@t20594i disagree, this is vehicle dependant and situation dependant. Im a nissan master tech so i only work on nissans now but ive seen 3 spark plugs and a good number of coils cause a miss on our vehicles. Very rarely do i find coils and especially plugs be the culprit in a miss, do i check them of course. I only replace them if i prove they are faulty.

[@zachroberts1988]

I dont know how the auto repair industry hasnt gotten away from itemized quotes and billing yet... Pretty much every other trade even in the other repair industrys almost all you see is a final price + tax and lengthy description of work performed.

[@kanuke4301]

As someone who works in IT that would've worked as a mechanic if the pay was better all of this talk and bluster means nothing. A business owner always wants more from it's customer and there is nothing that will change that dynamic between owner and tech. As a contractor for IT we get 1/3 - 1/5th the rate that we would be getting directly from whatever organization we contract from directly. Even then the direct salary man's pay is no different. We are fucked regardless and the only benefit we get is that our companies pay for our tools and they provide them and pay wise we are senior techs at your end for our low end. I would've loved to have been a mechanic for the pay but even IT is suffering right now and nothing in any other industry inducing medial is getting better.

[@parker7953]

Mechanics pay to work. The amount of tools you need to pay for out of pocket while making burger flipper wage is sickening.

[@eyeballroomer]

I don’t own a shop. From one of my AMGT classes at Ferris, shop supplies are supposed to be for rags, uniforms and things like that.

[@eugened41]

Hard to change crooks and the dishonesty is sickening. Sad to say !

[@natepeterson7145]

Are there car manufacturers that don't give enough information on what the computers algorithms are. I work fixing appliances and it seems that as long as you have a manufacturers service site access you get all the information for cars. Appliances,most manufacturers have suggestions of what to check but don't always fix the issue especially for ice makers.

[@mysoap23]

For the industry to change the customers view of the industry needs to change

[@biometal770]

The customer perception of the industry cannot change unless flat rate is abolished. Flat rate fosters cutting corners and reducing quality.

[@parker7953]

@@biometal770 Flat rate also discourages fellow techs from helping each other. I could never get assistance and never knew who to ask for help in a flat rate shop. Every other tech freaking out tryna turn and burn as many cars as possible to make a decent living. It was sickening, there is no brotherhood at least where flat rate exists.

[@honda_doc6826]

Thanks.

[@johnphillips3512]

Until this job is a legacy job no change will prevail. Only solution is a union. Hate to say

[@eugened41]

Starts at the top and 30 years turning wrench's I've seen what people do just to make a dollar and say things so off base, just to soak folks. Changing air in tires because the air gets stale. Really, This lady was 90 and they charged her an hour fee. Buy a horse, it's cheaper.

[@jessemedina4482]

You lost me at step 1... go help the competitor?? Now I'm about to get snarky.. By the way, EVERYONE is sliding the measly diag time into the repair.