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6M views 104K replies 316 participants last post by  tim330i 
#1 ·
There has been a bunch of OT threads lately, so i think we should try to keep it all the ot talk in one place. I know the e36 forum rocks, and all the other forums suck big time :bigpimp:, yet we need to stay on topic....
 
#60,364 ·
That blows. Does your HR Dept not support you with meeting your staffing needs or getting you temps or anything?

Service advisor is not something I would want from what I've read. Margins are shrinking fast on car sales, guess who the pressure is really on now? The SA. Service has a real profit margin, and the SAs are just a different kind of salesmen. I think there would be a lot of pressure to upsell unnecessary services and not be forthright about issues to get more money from the customer. Do you really wanna be "that guy"?

Sent from my LG Revolution 4G using BimmerApp
My HR dept can only help so much. It takes at least 3 months to fully train Someone to the point of being left alone. Then I have to wait until the next med cert class to start, and that takes 1 month to complete. In the meantime only staff that want hours will take them and what doesn't get filled means I have to work them. So in other words I get ****ed.

And idk if I want to be "that guy" but I'd get to look at and talk about cars and car issues all day. And I do think I'd be good at it.

Namely I just can really afford to get paid much less than I do now (around $14/ hour average) we have differentials based on the time of the day so it's always changing.
 
#60,365 ·
joe, did a sw position for a while. it's usually salary, with some sort of performance based incentive. (read comission)

while this may be ok to start, there is an awful lot of stress involved with the position. the sw gets if from the techs, service manager, and sales. so you need to be good, no, *great* at defusing stressful sitiuations where an iresistable force meets an immovable object. you also are going to have to learn the labor codes, what is/isn;t applicable, and what is/isn't warranty.

also you will learn to use 'customer states' in *EVERY* sentence line item. so if a customer comes in for an oil change and says, 'oh yeah, btw, when i fill up with gas i smell fuel for days afterwards. and i have a shimmy @ 95, and there's a weird humm noise that sounds like (insert customer making some strange screeching noise here) when i hit a mud puddle, and the trunk doesn't always open with the remote.' it will turn into the following:

customer states lube oil filter service due.

customer states fuel odor after refueling.

customer states shimmy at high speeds.

customer states screeching noise after driving through puddles.

customer states trunk intermittently inoperative.

and then each one of those lines needs to have a seperate punch (doobie), labor op assigned for what the tech assigned the repair order (ro) diagnoses, and, if necessary, decide what is or isn't covered under the warranty/extended warranty.

then you get to deal with rental car qualifications (some customers are more equal than others...:eeps:), some techs don't know their right hand from a muffler bearing, and then you get the mom who's babies daddy just ran off with some waitress and left her with some ragged out hooptie that has not seen any maintenance and tries to 'bargain' with you to reduce the cost of necessary repairs...(yes, this happened to me more than once...:eek:)

plus the prima dona techs that only want the 30k services, cherry pic the ro's, and rubber stamp their diags with every known part available in the system being serviced in order to 'fix' the problem properly.

then try to tell you that said oil leak that the customer comes back and complains about was there when the car was brought in last week...

fun times for sure. :thumbup::p;)

just so you know.

i couldn't do it, but that was because i realized i knew more than the techs doing (or attempting to do) the repairs, and decided that their 15 minute diagnostic time spent waiting on parts pricing and availability wans't the most accurate.

the worst was when i had a customer spend about $800 on 'maintenance', plugs, wires, pcv, air & fuel filters, efi service, throttle body cleaning, *on top of* the 1 hour diagnostic time charged to figure out the condition the customer complained about only to have the truck *NOT START IN THE PARKING LOT* when the owner came to pick it up...talk about stress...:eeps::eek: i coulda throttled the 'technician'. *especially* since there was a tsb on the fuel pumps that i asked if he verified.

this was followed up directly by another customer that had a fuel pump replaced, only to have her fuel guage not read properly afterwards. the same tech stated he 'checked with the tech 2' that the guages swept the entire range and that the problem was with the gas station attendant not filling the tank properly.

unfortunately he didn't know that i knew that the model year this car was did not allow the guage sweep feature. when confronted, he told me that i was full of excrement and didn;t know the brand since i 'came from the aftermarket'.

then there's the customers that swear you told them something that you did not, as well as the scribble scrabble that you have to read from the techs on the backs of the ro's regarding things like turn signals that are inop, radio buttons that are missing, door handles and windows that do not work, and bulbs that are out. why, in heavens name these repairs were not recommended by the technicians, i will never know, but they were scribbled in the corners where it was difficult to decipher to record in the dealership records.

other than that, and the fact that sales will try to con you into 'warranty-ing' everything in order to make a sale, treat you like the redheaded stepchild that you are, and in general you will become the punching bag of the industry, it was a great job.

pshhh, yeah, right...:rolleyes:

i do not miss it. it might be for you, though. i mean, you deal with residents that can be difficult in more ways than one, and at least the techs tend to keep their pants on.

at least for the most part...:yikes:

;)

Just installed my battery tie down, then I realized there was one sitting in my spare tire well all along lol.

Started the clutch overhaul on my buddies turbo, yes turbo, E30 318.
weeehaaaaw!!!! would luv me sum m10 turbo!! or m42/44 for that matter.

in a ti.

clubsport.

black.

with a manual.

and posi.

and fuzzy dice :D

df
 
#60,367 ·
^hooo daat??? :confused:



and joe, my base salary was 20k as a service writer.

incentive varied. i didn't stay long enough to get a decent 'average' per month, but i didn't get more than 400 @ month, with about 48-50 hours a week.


no 'overtime' as i was salaried, averaged about 9.00 @hr, back in 2002. down from 35k as a flat rate tech. couldn't swing it.

i could see with a good crew that a dealership could make $, but if you talk to the guys working there and they've only been there for a few months then i would seriously look at the operation. there seems to be a revolving door in most of the dealerships. the domestics being the worst offenders.


df
 
#60,372 ·
Congrats, eh!

Sent from my LG Revolution 4G using BimmerApp
 
#60,375 ·
Nice, Ed!

Do you guys think I would be out of line applying at a shop as a mechanic for the summer? I have no formal experience or education, but I know my way around a car pretty well. Just trying to find a summer job that won't make me want to tear my eyes out.
doesnt hurt to try

Corsa RSC36+3 mile canyon+ late night= =D
Lol that how I feel on Harrison Blvd ,back to Mass this week ?
 
#60,376 ·
doesnt hurt to try

Lol that how I feel on Harrison Blvd ,back to Mass this week ?
That's the goal. Whether the army gives me the ole bend and reach or not is a different story though
 
#60,378 · (Edited)
Progressive officially rocks. Last month I got $65 back from them because of my "good" driving while using the snapshot. That's off my total of $665 for 6 months.

If I dont get into an accident within the next week I should expect an additional $115 back :thumbup:



And a quick quote for a 94 325i, for 6 months would only be $325. Not bad considering my driving record!
 
#60,379 ·
Shiit no school, more energy for le fun time



Been meaning to ask this for a while now, If i move my car by slowly engaging the clutch i hear a brief ticking noise from the back. But it stops for the noise to happen again I would need slowly pull off again.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary though
 
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