Hope you aren't trying to make any money doing this... The very first time a tech does a job should take him the same as, or a little less than, book time. Once a tech has done a job, it gets faster and faster each and every time. A common one I know for sure, and an easy example. Ford F150's... Front ball joints are notorious for going out on these... With the right tools and knowing the process, you can get them done FAST... Book time is almost 7 hours, including the alignment. I've personally witnessed a tech get all 4 replaced and the truck aligned in an hour and a half. There are many shortcuts to book time that don't hurt anything. For instance, here, instead of pulling the lower control arms off to press the ball joints out, we simply use a portable ball joint press. Wanna make it any faster, simply support the lower control arm with a stand and you can hit the lower ball joint with a mallet and it will come out too...

This is not a new way of paying technicians - it has been around for at least 30 years, probably much more than that...

Just on my own, before I worked in the car repair business, I used to do a lot of DSM related stuff... remove and replace the engine in one of those cars probably has a book time somewhere around 16 hours, give or take... I could pull a motor and put one back in, so long as it was completely assembled, in about 3 hours... No shortcuts, no mistakes, no missing bolts, I knew what every single bolt looked like and didn't even separate them anymore... Experience... Thats why techs that have been around a long time get paid more hourly and get paid more in general, because they've learned processes on so many different things, they become very very easy...

 

My job suck... Less paid more work.. UGH!!!

 

As others have posted, there are shortcuts learned through experience that can drastically cut down on the time once someone is familiar with the process. One such example is on the A4 Jetta/Golf, replacing one of the engine accessories (think it was the starter, but could be alternator or something else)--book calls for like 8 or 10 hours because the official procedure involves removing the bumper, radiator, and outer and inner fenders on the driver's side, along with some other stuff. But a skilled tech who's done it enough times and has skinny enough arms can just jam his hands down between the fender and the block, and do it by feel. Turns it into a 25 minute actual job, with the exact same result.

 

An experienced tech can definitely make quick work of a job he's done many times... or has a special tool or technique for.. but not all the shortcuts taken are legit.

Friend of mine owns an independent shop. Customer brought a Ford in for an oil change one day. He put it up on the lift, pulled the plug... and nothing came out. 'What the..??!!" So he puts it back down, pulls the stick, and oil's up to the mark. Back up on the lift, pulls the plug and sticks a screwdriver in the hole. The bottom of the pan is covered with sludge so thick, the oil won't drain.

Smart enough to not just go ahead and change out the oil, he calls the customer and tells her that her oil's never been changed. She says "Oh, no... It's been changed every interval, at the dealer. The paperwork is in the glove box." Sure enough it was.

My friend calls the dealer and tells them to send the service manager over. Shows him the work orders, all signed off and paid, and pulls the drain plug for him to see.

Turns out the dealer's lube guy was signing off on a certain percentage of his work every day, without doing the job. Figured, odds are, he'd get it next time. This one just happened to be passed over every time.

Dealer ended up replacing the lady's engine.

She was lucky my friend was on the ball, and pressed the issue with the dealer. Someone whose car missed 2, 3, maybe more service intervals, all the while thinking things were being taken care of, may not have been so lucky.

 

That is not a shortcut though, that is just plain not doing the work...

Difference:

Tech A: diagnoses a bad alternator, service writer sells alternator, tech leaves alternator as is, claims on paperwork it was replaced

Tech B: diagnoses a bad alternator, service writer sells alternator, tech shortcuts alternator job and instead of taking 2.8 hours, he takes 15 minutes because he knows a shortcut (Ford Escape, alternator, you are supposed to remove the passenger drive axle to get to it, but if you lift the motor a little bit, you can wiggle it up from behind)

Tech C: same thing, but he removes the axle and it takes him 2 hours to do the work...

Tech A is just wrong and should be fired immediately once the problem is caught. Tech B and C are both fine, just one is a little smarter or more experienced than the other...

 

Agree, and the example I gave is definitely an extreme one. Trouble is, there is a lot of grey area between what your techs A and B do. There are a lot of guys who in their minds are doing the job "as good as" if they did it by the book, but they are actually shortcutting or skipping essential steps. It's not out and out deceit, and the tech doing it may actually think he's doing an acceptable job, but in truth it's not 100% right.

Most people are honest (including with themselves) but given the financial incentive to get more work done in less time, human nature will always have some guys cutting corners they shouldn't.

 

There is still a wide margin on just plain not changing the oil... i mean come on, how can that person even think hes doing the job right? Its not like you can change half the oil... Flatrate is meant to give an average time for each job. Two techs can do the exact same job, and follow the exact same steps, and one will get it done an hour faster. Its the way it is... If you're skipping an essential step then you just arent doing the job. I can do things differently than what the book says, and still make sure the part is replaced and nothing is damaged in the process, that doesnt make me a bad tech for working faster and smarter.

 

I have worked at a Lexus dealer for 17years and when i i was there I got paid 23$ an hour (in Los Angeles) Which sucks for a Master Tech. In other citys ive heard of techs making 35$ and hour. To answer your question most teches make about 50k-70k a year. There are possibilities of making much more (100k-125k) a year, if you learn the product well.

 

lol