The value of a good mechanic

So I am sure many of you have had thoughts cross your mind while waiting at the dealerships sipping that Starbucks; "?How much is this guy fixing my Sprinter being paid".
If its hourly or just a flat rate average!
What's the average in your state ?

What do you think he is making per week to fix your ride?
For some the real figure might surprise you and what about equivalent trades like HVAC Tech Aircraft engine API tech etc.. ??

Has anyone ever asked that impertinent question, What do these folks pay you to do this type of work?
Dennis

lindenengineering said:

So I am sure many of you have had thoughts cross your mind while waiting at the dealerships sipping that Starbucks; "?How much is this guy fixing my Sprinter being paid".
If its hourly or just a flat rate average!
What's the average in your state ?

What do you think he is making per week to fix your ride?
For some the real figure might surprise you and what about equivalent trades like HVAC Tech Aircraft engine API tech etc.. ??

Has anyone ever asked that impertinent question, What do these folks pay you to do this type of work?
Dennis

Click to expand...

Before I chose a line of work to pursue, an older fellow that was an automotive mechanic told me, "Don't make your living working on cars unless you own the shop!"
His view was that there was a lot of stress in working fast enough to make the boss happy, and not enough money if you didn't.
Also, I spent a lot of time flying private aircraft. I knew quite a number of aviation repair guys that jumped ship to automotive repair, because fixing planes is even more poorly paid.
I wound up in plant maintenance because it had the advantages of job security and excellent benefits. And I didn't have to own the plant to make decent money, and have some autonomy. We makes our choices.....

I will divulge more having & hopefully after seeing some more responses!
But to take a bit of licensed drift off of the topic of mechanics, maybe we can ask at the other end of the spectrum1
Question what does an emergency room doctor earn per hour after three years graduation in one of the US major hospitals.
This too might surprise you. And have you ever asked a doctor treating and injury what do these people pay you for doing this?
Dennis

lindenengineering said:

So I am sure many of you have had thoughts cross your mind while waiting at the dealerships sipping that Starbucks; "?How much is this guy fixing my Sprinter being paid".

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Honestly? No, I haven't. I'm not paying the mechanic directly, I'm paying for a service of which the mechanic is a part, and I'm paying it because I expect the service to be better than what I could provide for myself. What I have wondered is whether the dealership's service department is worth the hourly rate that I'm paying them. Do they train their mechanics? Do the mechanics know and follow the correct procedures for servicing my vehicle? Do they have good tools and diagnostic information? Do their mechanics know how to properly use diagnostic tools? Do their mechanics have the experience to understand the system they are troubleshooting and not just perform simple module swaps (at my expense) in an attempt to make a problem go away?

I have no idea what the value of an individual mechanic is, and I expect that pay rates vary with experience and ability, the same as many other fields. I suspect that lower paid workers are used to provide basic services, and higher paid workers are used more selectively (I've worked in IT, I have two brothers who are electricians - both of these fields work this way).

lindenengineering said:

What do you think he is making per week to fix your ride?

Click to expand...

I'm a tax preparer by trade, so I've got a bit of insight on this one. I meet a lot of people in a lot of different businesses.

One particular dealership mechanic client of mine comes to mind. Or perhaps I should say former dealership mechanic. I don't know what the bigger averages run, but he made what I consider to be a good wage. Had health insurance and a 401k plan with a small match and some vacation and sick time.

But he left it from the stress. The constant pressure to get things done faster plus the strained relationships with the other mechanics finally got to him. He had enough integrity to agree to stay with them long enough to get through a big recall program and left as soon as that slowed down.

Now he works for Home Depot at less than half of what he was making as a mechanic. But he's a lot happier.

I don't think mechanics are paid very well and one of many reasons I left the aerospace defense industry for civil service. Twice the pay and 1/3 the work, recession proof job security, can't get fired unless you really phuck-up and retired at age 50 with 90% pay! Thank you California Correctional Peace Officers Association! A "special interest" group for sure.

I shy away from, among others, mechanics, attorneys, and doctors. Most mechanics are dishonest or incompetent rip-offs. The same for attorneys and not all doctors are good at what they do, can kill you and simply bury their mistakes. I do see a dentist every six months for an exam and cleaning but haven't had a cavity in 40-years because I floss and brush at least five times a day. Preventive maintenance pays-off!


I still can't believe one of these rolled-off the assembly line every seven days.

I usd to work as a mechanic - flat rate at an independent import shop.
I forget exactly what I made per hour (this was quite awhile ago), but I received no benefits either. All the hand tools I had to supply, although specialty tools the shop had. Plus the owner (a very long term friend) would let me use his tools when needed, since he knew I’d return property, or replace if I damaged it.

I know it varies a LOT, depending. I’m going to say between about $20-$35 an hour for a journey level mechanic with tools, hopefully at the top end for a good person- and more if living in a more expensive place than I live.

Later (and before) I worked as a maintenance, bridge builder, telecom and finally IT for a federal agency. Pay was about half what I could have gotten in the private sector, but it was also steady and I get a small annuity after retiring. AND I can keep my health insurance which I still pay my portion of (not cheap, but not horrible either).

I’m hoping a good mechanic (or ‘technician’ if people like that more) would get at least $35 Per hour (not flat rate) and decent benefits. Of course, that assume the person can make the business money. That is the bottom line. If a personal costs too much and doens’t ‘pull Their weight’- then I doubt they will last very long. (Or pay has to drop or something).

Mark

Let's see ... back in 1970 in the Boston area i was paid $12 per hour ... which matched my previous year's pay as an electrical engineer (company went bloop, so i became a mechanic (can't you hear Dennis cringe?) ... specializing in transmissions and electrical work.). If i recall correctly, our labor was billed at $24 per hour (which was more-or-less normal for Boston dealer rate at that time). As mechanics, we were paid more than the area average. Like Lotus54, no benefits and bring-our-own-tools.

As for asking what the ER doctor was paid... the owner of our garage *was* an ER doctor... and when business was slow, he'd go to a rural hospital for a 4-day/night holiday weekend as the ER doctor for that entire period ... sleeping on the gurneys when patient load dropped. His income from those trips kept the garage afloat. (somehow $100 per hour comes to mind, but i don't trust that memory)

We estimated most repair and maintenance jobs from the flat-rate book, but ours was an independent Exotic and Antique Marques garage ... so many jobs were definitely non-standard. But we'd also tune VW beetles. It was not a rush them in/out the door place... the Marques customers wanted quality instead of low cost.
I can honestly say that i've worked on everything from Model T's to Rolls Royces with a bizarre mix in-between. Great fun.

--dick

I would "guesstimate" that most mechanics are paid about 1/4 to 1/3 of what the shop bills at. ie- if the company bills at $125 per hour then the mechanic probably makes $25-40 per hour depending on skill level. That is only a guess tho. The rest of what is billed would go to cover profit and overhead for the company.

After cleaning my EGR on 2014 i4 I can say that I wouldn’t work on Sprinters to make leaving. I worked as imports mechanic for years in the past and only car I hated to work on was Renault 5. The Sprinter is what I call not mechanic friendly vehical. It’s complexed, loaded with sensors impossible to reach and pain in ass to do almost anything on it.

In the 1990's I was often attending as a trade contactor in a major Japanese dealership. Staff, about a dozen, were mainly mechanics with a small number of reception/desk/phone staff (ie.2), unlike any MB dealer today. Owner, also a mechanic by trade also wore a dustcoat and looked under the bonnet.
I knew that the mechanics doing the work were not paid extremely well, but the owner gave them all a car to drive as an incentive/sweetener. That bonus was likely a rarity as well. They were all on the books as 'loaners' but really they never left the side street...
Dealer principal told me that in the 80's and earlier heaps of clients would ask if the dealer workshop could give their little 'Johnny' an apprenticeship.
In the 90's and beyond he'd place newspaper advertisements for apprentices and not get any replies...
I'm happy to pay the dealership $120-$140 an hour if that is today's rate but I would really like the actual guy doing the work to be getting a larger slice.
I'm guessing in Australia they'd be lucky to break $30 an hour? Hope I'm wrong and it's actually more.

First I want to thanks those that have responded so far to this thread.

What i do find strange so far is that no-one has responded with a direct reference to car repairs and value for money.
OK with one exception where I got a blunt reply that all shops are mostly operated by fraudsters & incompetents & what amounts to a rip off! Lumped in with other service providers.

Firstly and returning to the main question within the topic is what are mechanics paid.
Now this varies from area to area but Colorado average is about $20/hr.
This again is the average from what I can see the actual rate is anywhere from 15 to 22 /hr.

Now I feel the need to mention that (Pete pthelasnd Tax account) has the insight into the rates. Simply put because essentially an employee's direct wage per hour is doubled by what is called FICA. or payroll taxes.
Boiled down by the time you have calculated just this portion alone of doing business, it has effectively doubled your direct cost of doing business so far as a mechanics wage is concerned .

Now if I go to the other end of the service spectrum charge out rate.
A rate which isn't just plucked out of thin air but rather a rate that is calculated against the cost of doing business. Simply put because car repairs are just like any other service business the rate has to be within an acceptable level and broadly judged to give perceived value for money. Granted though, in many cases its level is determined by what the the market will stand against the surrounding competition, but is must be calculated in any case to such an extent that you don't go OUT of business!

To quote:-
Perceived value to the customer. This is where a lot of the subjectivity comes in when setting a price for a service. When you have a product, you may decide to use keystone pricing, which generally takes the wholesale cost and doubles it to come up with a price to charge and account for your profit. With a service, you can't necessarily do that. To your customer, the important factor in determining how much they are willing to pay for a service may not be how much time you spent providing the service, but ultimately what the perceived value of that service and your expertise is to them, That is where pricing becomes more of an art form.



Several keywords here willing to pay, perceived value, time taken to provide the service and the expertise!

Obviously then expertise & ability to fix your complex vehicle comes at a price. Ultimately then auto repair businesses must have the ability to repair todays complex cars. This requires requires a certain level of individuals who have the critical thinking ability/skills to provide that expertise.
At $20 per hour its difficult to find that level of expertise in the US labor pool, so you have to take what is available and hopefully train up. Making sure above all that you maintain a profit margin!

Now I threw this last question in about an intern medical doctors hourly wage in a major US hospital about three years past graduation as an MD !!!
I didn't get any takers on that!! BUT is about $28/hr

Do many of you feel that you get a perceived value from an emergency room (A&E) medical doctor for $28/hr

Equally if you are stranded and can't fix your car does $20/hr give you a perceived value for money service?
Dennis

lindenengineering said:

I got a blunt reply that all shops are mostly operated by fraudsters & incompetents & what amounts to a rip off!

Click to expand...

I said most not all.

And I would say from my personal experience, MOST would be a significant exaggeration.

I have had about 20 vehicles over the course of my lifetime, both new and old, and probably a hundred or so interactions with auto service of various kinds.

In that time, I have maybe encountered gross incompetence (or somebody's really bad day) a couple of times, both of which were eventually corrected to an acceptable level, and the feeling of having come away screwed only a couple of more times.

The rest of the time was either satisfactory, or sometimes even exceptional, in that I felt I got a little extra something for my bucks.

Examples being when I took my Navion in for its airbag recall, I got it back 3/4 hour later with them having washed the entire RV from top to bottom fairly well!!! My local MB dealer when faced with the failing transmission in the just purchased Navion (07 sprinter), suggested that I could get a better deal and good service at a local independent transmission shop.

I agree that it pays to be watchful, and it pays even more to have some knowledge yourself of your vehicle and what it might need or want, but also it can become a huge pain in ones own behind to go through life constantly worrying about being screwed.

It happens to all of us sometimes, and it does seem to happen to some of us a lot, but on average people try to provide decent service.

Now south of the border, that may all be different now, even though when we lived in Arizona for three years in the late 90's, I found it pretty much the same as here, except they were better at telling you upfront how good they were!!!

Women are especially vulnerable to being ripped-off by mechanics.

autostaretx said:

... and then ask how much that intern is paying out-of-pocket for malpractice insurance...

I gave a 1970 "$100 per hour" for a non-intern short-term-gig pay rate.
In 1975, the widely-quoted number for doctors was that half their pay then went to insurance premiums. (by that time i moved to Seattle and was working in a hospital)

There are frequently hidden factors behind most simple metrics...

--dick

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Yes, malpractice insurance for small business is a must. One lawsuit, frivolous or not could bankrupt a small business owner. Especially, here in California with a law passed in 2004 making it easier for employees to sue employers for wage disputes.

I've been an auto technician for 25 years and owned my own repair shop for 10 years now. I have never advertised once, I let my reputation do the advertising. I have seen through the years that the shops that talk badly about other shops or try to tell everyone they are honest are usually the ones to stay away from.

Great topic Dennis! I'm going to give you guys some real world numbers for myself working as the lead Sprinter tech at my dealer. The dealer I'm at just went up to 140/hr. I come in at 7AM and leave around 5pm which means I'm here for around 45 hours a week so 5 hours every week minimum I don't get paid for, overtime pay what's that? I get $24/hr flat rate. Most weeks I can't turn any kind of decent hours because there's either A: Not enough work (usually winter time when nobody is traveling) B: My service advisors schedule vehicles so poorly I'm in a constant battle of needing to diagnose something and needing to actually WORK on something that's been approved so I can make a paycheck. or C: I'm running around doing a bunch of things a shop foreman gets paid for because my actual shop foreman is all the way across town because the Sprinter shop is in a different building so we could fit the campers and larger lifts. Also unlike the technicians on the car side, fleet companies do their own services so I very very rarely get the chance to do any kind of maintenance work or brakes which are the easiest things to make money on. All I work on are headaches the fleet companies couldn't figure out and made worse by attempting to 'repair'. So in the end I didn't even crack 36k gross income last year. Now talking about people I know in other lines of work, I have a good friend that works in the HVAC field. Very smart guy and he has told me what his day to day consists of and he laughs because he knows how mindless of a job it is for the most part. Well he makes per hour what I make flat rate and gets all kinds of sales percentages when selling systems and overtime and blah blah blah. I wouldn't say he makes double what I make but he is not far off the mark. I'm wrapping this post up for now because I need to get back to not making very much money but if anybody has any questions feel free to ask. I may have an additional post to complain about more things I may think of later after work lol

Sincerely,

A disgruntled Sprinter tech

TPSauto said:

I've been an auto technician for 25 years and owned my own repair shop for 10 years now. I have never advertised once, I let my reputation do the advertising. I have seen through the years that the shops that talk badly about other shops or try to tell everyone they are honest are usually the ones to stay away from.

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Great post~!
Word of mouth recommendations, the best type of advertising!

It is strange propensity in NA to bad mouth other shops! This is really bad form and is one of the dire aspects of the trade which other professions never do! (They might think it but never divulge!~)

As for women customers!
Yes a gender difference (obviously) and even more so with them as customers.
Guys tend to talk more technical in reception and oftentimes women simply glaze over!
Then its tell me, cut the chase, what's wrong and how much will this cost?
Since woman customers are not so tech savvy they tend to use the only common denominator in any transaction and that is pricing!
More often likely to be price shoppers I tend to favor a female service writer in reception . Not only does it give a softer business impression for my female customers in the perceived man cave, but it removes a great deal of feeling like they are NOT getting ripped off or taken advantage of!
Perception thing again.
Dennis