Originally Posted By Quintin: Fortunately at least, with the weather, A/C work has been fairly consistent.

yesterday my wife complained of a chattering sound when she runs the A/C on her car.
how much to put a new compressor etc (tensioner, dryer, expansion valve) in a 1999 bmw 323i ???

ar-jedi

I hear you Quintin...most of the shops around here are dead too. It probably has a lot to do with the economy, people aren't doing things to their cars unless it's an emergency.

We happen to be lucky, we have a really large customer base and they are loyal, plus we have a few Fleets that we maintain.


Today I installed a GM Factory Rebuilt tranny in a AWD GMC Safari minivan, it was an '01...and after that I did a nice job on a Honda Civic...timing belt, water pump, radiator, hoses, and T-Stat, and finally an A/C service on a Town Car from the Limo fleet .

Originally Posted By Quintin: The work load in my hood has fallen off drastically. It should be the busiest time of the year, with several cars left over from the day before, but we've been running out of work at around 10-11 AM for the past month or so. Things are looking pretty ugly...and management hired two more technicians, when we don't have the work load to support what we've got.

Wow. Sounds just like our place, and other shops are slow compared to us!

Some of us have been trying to convince the SM that we don't need the new idiot he hired (he can't fix sh*t, gets grease on everything, breaks things, etc, you get the picture), but the owners hired a "consultant" who told them we needed more techs. Yeah, right.

Originally Posted By Quintin: Management doesn't care though, he turns a lot of time, turning rotors and hanging pads and banging in ball joints.

Ours doesn't even make time. I was in the SM's office this morning complaining about him after he reflashed a program card we use for recalls - of which we can't download the program. The SM told me I wouldn't have to worry about it much longer.

I asked him, "How much longer. Are we talking lunch break or 4:30".

Originally Posted By oneshot1kill: LOL Quintin and Pathfinder I had one of those guys at my last shop. Friend of the owner and pretty much useless, after a while he was only used to repair a flat or mount/balance a tire. HE could install front pads but when it came to rear shoes it would take him about two hours...TO ALMOST FINISH ONE SIDE...and then I'd have to jump off my job and finish the brakes for him.

If I had known how hard it was to find good technicians, I'd probably still be one.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: I'm in the same boat as quintin. We usuallly don't get any work until almost an hour after we are open, and then run out around 11 or 12. Nobody is spending any money at all. People are declining brake jobs with the light on the dash coming on. Much of my diagnostic estimates are declined, customer leaves with nothing. I'm down to 40 hours a week, and its a fight to get that. Our shop is at capacity with techs, and the boss isn't firing people even when given the GOLDEN, PERFECT opportunity to do so. I've gotten better at my tetris game. Friday, I took this week off because there isn't enough work to justify me coming in. I gave up. All the tool guys are paid off, and now I just have to stay away from spending any money.

I'm not sure why I'm busy. We don't offer a significant savings over the dealership, and are actually one of the more expensive independents in the area. I can talk about specialization, and reputations, but I don't really know. Most of the other shops I talk to are dead, with a few having wild swings of work and not. A very few have work like I do.

The local dealerships are the same as you guys describe: no work, techs at capacity (or more) with most of the techs being "questionable" in ability and ethics or fresh out of school. They always try and deny it, but they're really hurting.

Case in point:

We put a sunroof cassette in an E36 M3 sedan in August of last year. The tilt mechanism broke a few weeks ago (fairly common). We called BMW and got a new cassette coming under warranty. At which point they called and asked to do the work. BMW will pay their labor for parts warranties, and they offered to do it for us "because they can make sure it's right" for free.

But they're really busy.

Shade tree mechanic here. Sory guys but I can't afford you unless it's a dire issue. I maintain both my cars, my two bikes and my Girl Friends fleet of cars and her bike.

I simply could not afford to keep my gas miser Geo Metro on the road if I was paying a mechanic to fix all the shit that breaks on that little bastard.

ps:
how do you pro mechanics feel when folks come in and ask, " i have the bulk of the parts, how much to install"?

thanks,
ar-jedi

Originally Posted By ar-jedi: ps: how do you pro mechanics feel when folks come in and ask, " i have the bulk of the parts, how much to install"? thanks, ar-jedi

I believe it was thursday..... I had a customer bring me their own door control module. I plugged it in and the fucker caught fire in my hands. So no, I don't like installing other people's parts.

Of course the customer probably thinks I am a thieving bastard who messed up their perfectly good junkyard part so I could sell them a new one. So they just had me reinstall the old one.

I know with independants, the guys can be choosy about what brand of parts they like to install for their own reasons. Me, I like OEM parts. I know they will work, work properly, and if there is a problem, we can take care of it immediately ourselves.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: I'm down to 40 hours a week, and its a fight to get that.

Our pay week ends on Tuesdays. I added up my time and had 23.6 hours for last week. I too would have made more time if I went on vacation.

Originally Posted By KirkP: Originally Posted By oneshot1kill: LOL Quintin and Pathfinder I had one of those guys at my last shop. Friend of the owner and pretty much useless, after a while he was only used to repair a flat or mount/balance a tire. HE could install front pads but when it came to rear shoes it would take him about two hours...TO ALMOST FINISH ONE SIDE...and then I'd have to jump off my job and finish the brakes for him. If I had known how hard it was to find good technicians, I'd probably still be one.

Yeah, a lot of good techs are leaving, not just the dealerships, but the automotive field itself.
Some of the young techs that I see coming up in this field don't seem very qualified, but it's cheaper for management to hire two fresh bodies than to keep a seasoned tech on the payroll. The logic behind that escapes me, but it's almost a standard practice today.

IMO, one seasoned tech is worth more than a dozen young-bloods just out of school,

Originally Posted By Quintin: Originally Posted By saturnstyl: I'm down to 40 hours a week, and its a fight to get that. Our pay week ends on Tuesdays. I added up my time and had 23.6 hours for last week. I too would have made more time if I went on vacation.

Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was short 14 clock hours in the 2 week pay period just ended (admittedly I got in more hours than most of the guys), but produced 135%, so it wasn't total crap. But I was lucky and got most of my recommendations up sold.

They try that aftermarket catalyst shit with us sometimes too. They never last.