Being a mechanic

[PKFIRE]

Do you guys know of getting paid as a mechanic? My brother just worked over 160 hours this month but only getting paid 50 hours which isn't enough to live on.

[NC89GT]

Not a mechanic. But I am fairly certain that each job pays a certain amount of hours (flat rate). Some jobs you get paid more than it takes and others you have more hours in the job than you get paid for.

[draggin50]

Yeah flat rate sucks sometimes. Depends on the jobs, location, and so on.

[PKFIRE]

They got him working on mostly 2010 and up cars. I guess it is taking him longer then set time to finish. I wonder since he's fairly new they are handing him some headache jobs.

[draggin50]

When I was at the local GM dealership, I started out strong making around 70 hours a week and only working 43. I worked with 2 OLD men who came in daily, drank coffee, chatted and then got started. After a few weeks of them not making money, they navigated the computer system to put good jobs on a parts hold running me out of work. Its hard to make money doing oil changes and brake jobs. Heavy maintenance is what I was doing. Engines, trannys, and such.

[PKFIRE]

Hmm, I'm not really sure what is going on in his position but he took home 481 dollars in full time month. I'm hoping it gets better. I can't support him and my family.

[draggin50]

Wow... That's bad. I was still guaranteed a flat pay if I didn't make money. My 43 hours was paid out around $12 an hour. I made 20 an hour flat rate though.

$516 at the base pay per week compared to $860 if I made my 43 hours. And most of the time I made 60 to 70 hours.

[PKFIRE]

He might as well work for minimum wage some where. If it was me I would be investigating why.

[draggin50]

I would be too! That's uncalled for!

[capri5.0]

Is he dealer trained or ASE certified. He may want to try job hunting in the aftermarket. A lot of the aftermarket shops are getting away from flat rate and going to an hourly plus commission based upon productivity. That is how the shop is where I work but your pay rate is based on how many ASE certs that you have.

[PKFIRE]

I don't think he has any ASE certifications.

[Mista Bone]

Stuck doing recalls that don't pay? Some Honda recalls only pay .6 hours and take nearly 1.5 hours to complete. A few of the techs are back on hourly because of it.

[NXcoupe]

He is on flat rate and shouldn't be. If he only managed to flag 40 hours in 160, then he's not cutting it. He needs to go into a training program like chrysler or ford where the dealerships pay while they learn. Sinclair has a great prigram for him to get started in. If he's already got training somewhere he may want to cut his teeth elsewhere. It's a very tough field to get into. Tool costs alone are prhibitive. Hope it gets better for him.