Your comment seems apropos of nothing with what I was pointing out. The hourly compensation package for my employees is currently 62% of the rate. We do industrial electrical maintenance, and the % was different from when I managed a plant of machinists, but, even then the rate was the variable that would make or break us and seemed significant to me. And yes, that is the negotiated rate unskilled broom pushers have negotiated. 7.25 is the US legal minimum, but I don't think burger flippers in a tiny town get that anymore. It ought to be around 12, last I ran the numbers a couple years ago.
My "dealer" is a Bentley establishment - >3 hrs away. I'm planning on a more local BMW independent shop familiar with the engine and 4x4s to do the 1st Check Up. They already did the oil change. I'll plan on driving further and northward if any warranty work needs done in the near future. Quality is more important than distance. Hoping a closer dealership arrives in next 2 yrs given the popularity of the "G" (or Ineos gets super smart and embraces the KISS principle and lets in smart independent established reputation mechanic shops!!)
Not at my Bentley dealershipI hear toilet paper at a Bentley / Ineos dealer is super expensive and the toilet seats are lined with baby seal fur
That’s because you didn’t buy a Bentley. The IG crowd are lucky to get 2-ply!Not at my Bentley dealership
Everyone's destination fee is the same, $1600
$1600
That's a joke, right? (insert sarcasm emoji)
Luckily their Rolls Royce technicians are Ineos trained now... I understand what they're saying though, the technicians are hired at a certain pay rate, somewhat dictated by what the shop's labor rate is, and just because they add a new brand, those technicians still get paid at their previously agreed hourly rate, which means the new brand's shop labor rate matches the old brand. This continues until they get enough business to hire dedicated technicians for their Ineos customers
What you're saying makes sense, but it's a shit reality for folks who have to use that dealer. What makes this worse is that our hands are, for all intents and purposes, geographically bound.
Mechanics are compensated, and you pay, by book time. So, if the book says its a 9 hr repair, and they do it in 5, they get paid 9 and you are invoiced 9. That's why getting some unknown gremlins at some places is shoddy. Who wants paid 30/hr to drive around looking for a mystery issue, when you can crank a wrench and make double if you're good?
![[ Adam ]](/data/avatars/m/9046/9046040.jpg?1705937698){kind=avatar}
It doesn't - mechanics negotiate an hourly rate with the shop.
As Zimm said, that's not at all how the automotive industry works in the US.
And with the pluses comes the minuses, there are weeks where techs will be knocking out 90+hrs of work in a normal 40hr work week, and then there are others where the service department will be slow and they'll barely scrape 20hrs in a week. The shop I used to work at was co-founded by a dealer tech, and thus from the start we always paid our techs hourly instead of flat rate; that way if they were there for 40hrs, they get 40hrs whether they are turning a wrench or sitting around without a car in their bay watching YouTube videos. You'd be surprised how quickly techs who have worked at a dealer for 5-10 years will jump to that model instead of flat rate, even at a pay cut, to get the consistent pay check and don't slack on their work ethic at all
