How G.M. is driving technicians out of the trade
Posted to Educators Forum on 7/30/2017
94 Replies
G.M. dealers are moaning that qualified technicians are
becoming impossible to find. We have been searching for an A
tech for several months and have found nobody qualified. We
just hired a dealer tech relocating to Florida from
Missouri. We don't know if he really is qualified yet as he
is starting tomorrow.
If they want to know why nobody qualified is available, they
just need to look in the mirror. Dealer techs are used and
abused by both the dealer and the manufacturer. Any
recognition, awards. etc. goes either to managers,
salespersons or service writers. As techs, we have learned
that every time a meeting is called to restructure our pay
plans, the result is a pay reduction while they extol the
virtues of the new plan. "we're cutting back this time and
that time and we expect you to do this new service without
pay but you're going to make more money." I'm not one to
drink the Kool-Aid as it's hard to see how reducing paid
times are making me more money.
Training is available but most techs have learned that
training is to be avoided. In order to perform warranty work
on a Volt or a Bolt, for example, you need to be trained and
G.M. certified. What is your reward for this? You get to do
work on the most complex vehicles that G.M. makes for a
pittance in paid times along with .3 diagnostics. Virtually
all work is warranty with basically no CP labor. Techs have
learned that it's better to remain untrained and work on
brakes and flushes instead.
G.M. is constantly cutting back labor times for the same job
with no justification. For example, reprogramming an I03
radio and loading new graphic files used to pay .9 and there
is even a bulletin where G.M. says that this job will take
2.5 hours. It was reduced to .5 and has just been reduced to
.2...I can't get the vehicle in the shop in .2.
Now G.M. and it's dealers have instituted a mandatory
program where every vehicle MUST have a 27 point safety
check performed AND entered line by line into a online
program to track. We are not paid to do this and is doesn't
matter if the vehicle has 2000 miles or 200,000 miles as all
are mandatory. Each vehicle takes a minimum of 15 - 20
minutes to perform. If you work on 8 cars a day, you have
just spent 2.5 hours in unpaid labor each and every day.
So, when I see crocodile tears from G.M. and their dealers
about how top level techs are getting scarce, I say, ASK
YOURSELF WHY?
James from Florida
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