Car service question?

[lewdyan1]

I was wondering if anybody knows when you bring you car for service at a dealership, do the service writers make a commission or get bonuses based on how many repairs are done?

 

[JR6ooo4]

well lets just put it this way:

"Money makes the world go 'round"

and after owning 6 brand new cars, I have not found a dealer service center that I have not had problems with. From faulty repairs to blatantly lying to my face.

Mikeeee

 

[vegasnative]

I believe they do. My Dh was a service writer for an independent auto repair shop for 7-years. He was the only service writer, but he made commissions. He also interviwed at a dealership at one time and he was told that he would be starting at the bottom, and many of the service writers had their own customers, so he would get the customers that didn't request their specific writers. Many of those service writers had been there for years and years and it takes awhile to work youself up. At that dealership they did work on commisions as well, plus an hourly wage. I would imagine they are all about the same, so I would say yes they probably do.

 

[NMAmy]

It depends on the dealership. I was a service writer for 5 years. The dealership where I worked did not pay commission. We made a good salary and our bonuses were based on customer satisfaction surveys. So the happier I made my customers, the more money I got. Win/win. That dealership had been in business for more than 40 years when I worked there and that was one of the reasons why our customers were very loyal.

 

[disney junky]

and after owning 6 brand new cars, I have not found a dealer service center that I have not had problems with. From faulty repairs to blatantly lying to my face.

Mikeeee

That's really too bad. The dealer that I deal with here is the opposite. They really make quite an effort to satisfy the customer.

 

[mickeyfan1]

If they do, mine is in the hole. Left the car Thursday for the 3rd time for the same thing. It was supposed to be ready Tuesday. Tuesday morning all was good. Tuesday afternoon, it was going to be Wednesday at noon. They then provided me with a rental for a day. As of this morning, I still have the rental and they still have the Edge. And it is still leaking. Maybe it will be fixed today, but maybe not.

Dyan, I have never had anyone try to sell me any service I didn't ask for, but you may be correct that they do get a cut if they upsell.

 

[lewdyan1]

I was just wondering because I brought my car in for one problem and suddenly they tell me I have five things wrong with the car. When I brought the car for a second opinion somewhere else, he said four of the five things were fine and what was going to be $1000.00 only cost me $60.00. That's why I was wondering if he wa making commission on the services sold.

 

[SC Minnie]

There were several times I took my old car in to the dealership for routine stuff and they would call me to give me a long list of other things that were wrong and the cost. Most of the time I would say I don't have the money for that right now, let's just see how it goes. Nothing ever happen mechnically to that car. I always found it funny that the next time I would take it in for routine maintence they never brought up the stuff from before- it was usually new stuff or they would say everything looks good.

 

[NMAmy]

I was just wondering because I brought my car in for one problem and suddenly they tell me I have five things wrong with the car. When I brought the car for a second opinion somewhere else, he said four of the five things were fine and what was going to be $1000.00 only cost me $60.00. That's why I was wondering if he wa making commission on the services sold.

Well, here's the thing, it's not necessarily the service writer who is coming up with these repairs. Mechanics do get paid by the job. So many of them will come out with a laundry list of things that are wrong with a vehicle--hoping to make some extra money. Where I worked, they would be fired if those things did not actually need to be repaired. If I had a mechanic who would routinely come out with 5 more repairs that the vehicle needed, I'd tell the shop foreman who would check to see if the mechanic was trying to con me. After a warning, they'd be fired if they did it again.

If I were you, I'd call the Service Manager of the dealership that listed unneeded repairs and tell him what's going on. If he doesn't seem interested, call the General Manager. Most dealerships really want to know if something like this is going on. They want your business and they want you to come back.

 

[storzo]

I used to work in service years ago and the service writers did not make a commission.

The mechanics did get paid a specific amount for each job as the pp has stated.

 

[daughtersrus]

My Dh has been a journeymen tech at a union dealer here in the Chicago suburbs for the last 23 years. He is paid "book time". Sometimes he looses money (especially on warranty work) and sometimes he makes money. The service writers at his shop are paid commission and make a small base salary.

Some dealers pay straight hourly wages but around here, that is not common.

Manufacturer bonuses are a sore subject with him. When the dealer earns one for customer satisfaction, everyone at the dealership gets a part of it except the techs even though their work is a big part of whether or not the customer is satisfied.

There have been many times where work will be written up that my DH doesn't feel is necessary to repair. He will tell the writer and/or manager. There are also many times when the writer will "good will" a repair or reduce the hours. In these cases, tech isn't even getting paid for the time he spends on the repair.

I'm not sure how other dealers work but the parts dept is also commission. The parts manager sets the price of the part. They are paid commission based on the total amount of part sales.

The hourly labor rate is about $125/hour but the techs only make a small fraction of that. My DH would LOVE it if their contract next year changed from "book time" to a fair hourly wage but I doubt that will happen.

If someone is suggesting work that doesn't need to be done, I would bring it to the attention of the service manager. If you do not get satisfaction, I would go to the general manager and even to the "Dealer Rep" assigned by the manufacturer to that store.

 

[lewdyan1]

Thanks for all of the replies, it definitely gives me something to think about form now on when I am getting the car serviced.