DealersEdge Professional Forums

Trying to look outside the box...
The flat rate system worked well for me in the past, but now seems to be a little dated. Some local aftermarket places are still paying flat-rate, some are paying only hourly. I am looking to begin taking more off brand vehicles in and I can't afford to be competetive paying out $25.00 flat-rate for an LOF and tires.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

Variable Pay Rates for All Techncians Senior Masters to C-D Technicians. We are a very large Ford Quicklane Operation with 2 locations 2 miles apart. We ahve taken all of the TOP 100 labor operations for all makes and models of vehicles that we have been servicing and locked a price to the service and locked down the price. I have a couple of employees that will shop the competition for pricing by either calling and/or taking a vehicle into a shop for repair estimates. This means that a Senior Master Tech gets the same pay to do a coolant service as a C tech does. By doing this I am able to control my cost. I do pay anything at flat rate times a number of hours unless it's a repair of some kond that I do not have a price set up. I reviews the OPS on a quaterly basis for competitive pricing and any updates I need to make. I pay 20% of the sale prices of labor for the Op Code. IE: If the labor is 100.00 I pay 20.00 to the Tech. I will then give them an incentive for Parts Sales and Production increases. But not based on flat rate of any kind. We pay by dollars and not flat rate.............Hope this HELPS!

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Bob Silcox

Thanks Bob. Appreciate the reply.

I was thinking about % of labor sale amount. How did the techs respond to the different pay plan? Most techs are use to being paid via flat-rate, did they accept the change in a positive manner? What kind of production and parts incentives do you use?