DealersEdge Professional Forums

I reckon this has come up before but I'd like some fresh input from you guys.

How much, if anything, do you pay your flat rate techs to do "free safety inspections"?

We pay .5/hour, which is forfeited if more than 2.0 hours is upsold.

Our DP and GM say that we are the ONLY member in our 20 group doing this, with ALL the others having their flat rate techs do this for free as a normal expectation of the job.

I have a fundamental objection to this.

Our shop foreman asked the same question on a discussion board he belongs to and virtually all (26 of 28 responding)pay their techs to do safety inspections...usually .3 to .5 or sometimes a spiff of some sort. But always "something".

What do you guys do?

Cheers
DD

Multi point inspections are a COE(CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT)My technicians don't have a problem inspecting vehicles. As professionals we are responsible to inform the customer of any/all needed repairs and/or maintenance. If you don't have a process for inspection and the tech recommends work do they expect to get paid for the inspection? Just my opinion but it works for us.

I do it both ways, if a car comes in for whatever we offer a 19pt inspection whioh we do NOT pull the wheels to check the brakes-they do that as part of their job.

If I advertise a car care clinic with free inspections-3 times a year- I pay them .5 unless work is sold then they waive .5 inspection.

I should have been more specific.

We do lots of inspections for free where the tech doesn't flag anything, or expect to get paid anything. The 21-point lube rack inspections, for instance. We're all OK with that sort of thing. More specifically its *brake inspections* that become the issue.

Westover...

We do have a process, and the need to inspect cars as part of professional obligation really isn't in question.

To clarify, if you asked one of your flat rate techs to inspect a few cars a day (maybe 3 or 4, including pulling the wheels for brake inspections) he would have no expectation of being paid for his time?


Cheers
DD

Old Irish

I fight the same thing frequently. I had to be the boss and say they will be inspected for free, heck most all cars this day are 4wheel disc. If a customer hasnt had any brake work done at my shop say in the last 12k or so. The brakes if drum need clean and inspected so have the advisor sell it, if they need brakes hooray.

I just started a new spiff program that may help you. Once a month I pull an inspection form and spiff the advisor $25.00 and the tech $100.00 only if its filled out completely.

Good luck.

I pay my techs $3.00 for every hour they upsell which is the lifeblood of any service dept.Don't get in their way!

No offense to any and all of you but what about saying "it's your job, just do it" We did it that way and at first techs were not happy. even lost a couple (winers at best) now we are busier than any other domestic dealer in town (do not know about imports) Our customers expect these inspections and appreciate the care we take. I guess you could say we educated the public.

Irish, i misinterpeted the question

Multi point inspections and Safety inspections are 2 different birds. As stated previously MPIs are not flagged, but a Safety Inspection, Car care inspection etc., we pay the tech 0.5. MPI's are visual where as Safety inspections mean removal of some component and the tech should be compensated.

We have a fairly thorough no wrench inspection which is performed on almost every car that comes in (exceptions: Car was here last week or an in depth formal inspection has already been purchased). The techs are paid .3 for it regardless of whether or not any upsells occur. After many different approaches over the last 30 years, this one works the best for us. Found per car is the highest it has ever been.

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Tom Ham
AutomotiveManagementNetwork.com

Tom,
Would you be so kind as to e-mail me a copy of the inspection form that you use?
Thanks,
Art
aharding(at)burgunderdodge(dot)com