body shop manager pay at GM dealerships

[djs]

How does everyone pay their Body Shop Managers. Mine is having a hard time with the gross split on parts and the fact that he does not get the 30% discount on parts that the independents do. I struggle to break even yet he does not believe it is so. He feels that with the 30% we would be profitable. How do other GM stores handle this area? thanks!

[MADMAX]

We are a Chevrolet dealer and we use the gross split. Running a dealership's bodyshop does take some getting used to for someone who previously ran an independant shop. One major difference is how parts are handled. In our store the parts dept handles everything to do with bodyshop parts, we order them, we bill them, we deliver them to their stall. Which should be a very large burden off of the bodyshop managers shoulders. If he was an independant shop, he would be paying an employee to do this, along with all the other expenses, benefits and headaches that go along with it. When he returns parts (in our store - quite often) who sends the parts back? Who has to track all the paperwork ensuring the credits get paid? And what about parts such as seatbelts, airbags, and parts for non GM cars? Surely he does not expect 30% off on those parts as well, you would lose big-time! Be sure to inform him that if he were employed at a Chrysler or foreign car dealership he would'nt get his 30% either, in fact he would get NOTHING!!!
I do sympathise with the bodyshop managers plight. Here, he is forced to work for $32.00hr by the insurance companies, while under the same roof our service dept gets $78.00hr! How fair is that?

[Doug]

The parts gross transfer and discounting should not make or break the whole deal for the b/shop.

What they are really selling is *labor*.....and that's where the real gross should be. Parts and materials just go along with the job.

It's unfortunate tha body labor rates are so low (Madmax, your example sounds *unusually* low, in my opinion) but, on the plus side, productivity and tech efficiency is usually very good in a body shop....so there's some offset there.

As far as the original question is concerned, I really feel more details about the operation are needed before any specifics are sugegsted. (Number of techs, sales volume, labor rate, average tech pay, average monthly expenses, etc)

But, in general terms, I've always felt that if a pay plan has anything to do with net profit then the manager should be given plenty of horsepower to take control of his own destiny and his own department....

If you don't want to give the horsepower, then simply pay on gross profit.

If yours is a smaller body shop, struggling to make a profit but moving ahead, you may have to pay a good man (if that's what he is) more than you *think* you can afford to keep things rolling and growing.

Cheers
Doug