80LS1T Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Here's the back story to this... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106761&highlight=mazda I have finally had enough BS from the dealership that I work at now. I have a service writer that just wont sell any work for me and a manager that is telling us that "if you can sell cars you just might save your own job". Yeah apparently when I applied for a Service Technicians job I didn't realize that I was also signing up for a sales position too! I will tell people who want to know about sales that we are having but I'm not going out of my way to sell cars, its not my job! So I'm leaving my job at a Dodge dealership and moving to a Nissan dealership. I'm obviously a little nervous about leaving a line of cars that I know very well but I'm still young and I need to leave a dealership that just isn't moving it the right direction. I am looking forward to driving the 350Z's and the new Skylines! The part that kind of sucks is that I don't get that great of a deal on parts. We only get a small discount. Were as the dealership that I'm at now I only pay 10% over cost. My new manager over at the Nissan dealership is working on changing that though, so that might not be an issue for long! While my pay is going to be the same over at the Nissan dealership, my hours booked should go up because there will only be me and one other guy over there. I'm only booking 65 hours per 2 weeks at the dealership I'm at now were as the Nissan guys are booking close to that in a 1 week period! So my pay should go up quite a bit once I learn the new line of cars! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 congrats dude, you will do great over there. nissans arent hard at all to work on, just sorta stay away from doing work on Q45's and such lol. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZ-E Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I have two brother in-laws that work flate rate. One makes 15 an hour and the othe makes 23.50 an hour. The higher paid works at Ford, and the other at Toyota. This is the biggest kicker of all, the Toyota Tech makes as much and sometimes more then the Ford tech. Reason is, just no work, no one wants to take they're cars there. At the Toyota side, he has so much work he hands it out to others. You will definitly notice a raise in pay once you get settled in . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 Yeah at the Dodge dealership I'm at now we have a few guys that make good money but thats because they are selfish when it comes to decent work. Basically there are a few guys that are making the rest of us do the crappy/low paying warranty work while they do the majority of the maintenance/customer pay stuff(pays more). Its just poor leadership by the Team leaders thats all. I'm sick of getting crap work just because I'm one of the "younger guys." The other Tech at the Nissan dealership is my age(23) so we should get along pretty good I hope. I just figure I can't worsen my situation from what I'm leaving now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b__sosick Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Man I'd love to get a job at a dealership...... I was told by a mildly credible source that dealerships offer college scholorships if you work there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest norm[T12SDSUD] Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 "Its just poor leadership by the Team leaders thats all." No, it's blatant favoritism, which was rampant at EVERY STEALERSHIP that I ever worked at in my 13 years in sales. 90% of Car dealerships suck to work for and that's just a fact of life. There are a few good ones, but they normally end up getting bought out or the owner dies and the ******* son takes over and runs it into the ground. Good luck at the Nissan store, maybe you'll be fortunate enough to find someplace fair but I wouldn't suggest holding your breath! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 On the other hand, {playing Devil's advocate here}, the older guys maybe should get the better work/jobs as they have already "put in their time" with the crappy stuff.....kinda climbing the corporate ladder type deal. I don't think anyone should expect to be handed the caviar when they are the "newer guy". If I were the "older" guy and the "good" work was handed to the "younger" guys, I would certainly raise holy hell! Hopefully you are not moving back to the bottom of the ladder by moving shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 A friend of mine (Bob) was a Nissan Master Tech and worked at Nissan/Infinity dealerships for 15 years. When he started out he too got all the crap jobs. He just sucked it up and worked his butt off doing the jobs as quickly as he could, as well as he could, and had a positive attitude the whole time. After about 12 months he started getting the good jobs because he made the service writers look good with the customers and management. After 3 years, even though he was still the "new" guy, he was getting the real good jobs and was billing 70 hours a week and working 40. At 5 years he was the highest paid tech at the dealership. After 10 years he was the lead diagnostic guy for Nissan/Infinity here in SoCal and troublesome vehicles were sent to him by other Nissan/Infinity dealerships for problem solving. He ended up billing 20 hours a week as straight time directly to Nissan in addition to his regular flat rate work at the dealership. So, put our head down, work hard, stop complaining, and sometimes you'll reap some rewards... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Man I just don't buy into that "pay your dues" crap. You guys might be able to accept getting F'ed in the A for a few years, but my A is too sensitive for that!!! That's a BIG part of why I don't work on cars for a living anymore, guess I'm just too proud. My suggestion to you Guy is DO NOT let them F you in the A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Uuuhhhh, there's a big step from not getting the best jobs to being sodomized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 When was the last time you worked in a dealership John? Sounds like the passage of time has dulled the pain... in your passage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 Whooooo guys back up the boat! Im not saying that getting a lot of crap work is the main issue, its just one of them. It more of having to deal with the day to day BS. From having to work on the owners friends cars for free to just having an extremly lazy serivce writer who doesnt feel like he has to do his job for me. He seems to upsell work for everyone else but me. It probably has to do with the fact that he knows I dont like him because he's a egotistical A-hole. Hes like 40 years old and thinks that he's some young stud who can boss people around and I just don't put up with it. For one hes only been working there for like 3 months and for two he did work there a few years ago but got canned for the same thing(plus some sexual harassment stuff). I am not the only one who has a problem with this guy and the dealership is going to loose some very good technicans because the service manager has no balls and wont can his *** again! I can totally understand that the young guys have to start out with the crap work, I did that for the past 3 years. However when Im doing work faster(the old guys talk too much and dont work enough) and better(I have a very low comeback rating) than guys with 20 year experiece I feel that I've earned the right to get some "gravey" work along with my crappy warrenty work! Not only that but we have 2 younger guys below me that can do oil changes and rotates. The Dodge dealership is down sizing and people are getting fired at random. It's just not a good situation to be in. Since I have 2 people that I know over at the Nissan dealership I kind of have the hook up. The service manager over there use to be my service manager over at Dodge but he quit for pretty much the same reasons(too much drama). The other guy I know is a service writer at the Mazda dealership(same dealership but different building). I won't have to worry about some old guy pushing me around at Nissan because it will only be me and one other tech (and hes my age(23)). The other think that I'm tired of is doing oil changes, we have lower our price on oil changes from $24.95 to $16.95(one of the lowest in our area) so now we get tons of people who just come in for a cheap oil change and have no intention of fixing anything that we find wrong with their car. Half of our schedule is oil changes! When you only get 18 minutes(.3 hours) to do an oil change and you dont upsell anything it gets very frusterating. Once you figure in the time it takes to get the repair order, get the keys, find the vehicle, pull it in, rack it up, drain the oil and check all the fluids, go to parts for your oil filter, fill it up with oil, unrack in, pull it out, write your notes, fill out your 23 point inspection sheet, and turn the keys and the paper work back in......you really don't make a dime on an oil change unless you upsell something. The Nissan dealership charges $29.95 and you get 24 minutes to change oil and a much better possibley of an upsell because you know their bringing their car to the dealership because they want it checked over buy guys who know that car. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 A friend of mine (Bob) was a Nissan Master Tech and worked at Nissan/Infinity dealerships for 15 years. When he started out he too got all the crap jobs. He just sucked it up and worked his butt off doing the jobs as quickly as he could' date=' as well as he could, and had a positive attitude the whole time. After about 12 months he started getting the good jobs because he made the service writers look good with the customers and management. After 3 years, even though he was still the "new" guy, he was getting the real good jobs and was billing 70 hours a week and working 40. At 5 years he was the highest paid tech at the dealership. After 10 years he was the lead diagnostic guy for Nissan/Infinity here in SoCal and troublesome vehicles were sent to him by other Nissan/Infinity dealerships for problem solving. He ended up billing 20 hours a week as straight time directly to Nissan in addition to his regular flat rate work at the dealership. So, put our head down, work hard, stop complaining, and sometimes you'll reap some rewards...[/quote'] I saw this phenom happen in a Volvo dealership I worked in a number of years ago. The cream rose to the top despite age and eventually ran the service dept! The complainers and rebels went out on their ear. HOWEVER, I have seen something dissimilar at the VW dealership I worked for. The owner was a kind of crook and eventually the service dept lost their good people and everything went to hell in a handbasket. It sounds like something similar (in a few ways) to what 80LT1 is going through. Keep your chin up and a positive attitude at the Nissan place, and in a few years you may own it. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zwitha383 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 When was the last time you worked in a dealership John? Sounds like the passage of time has dulled the pain... in your passage. hehe, pain in his passage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 that sucks... now I can't get that good discount on my Mopar staged upgrades for my SRT on the flipside, I'm sure you'll have plenty of work to keep you busy at Nissan, since apparently they don't know how to make reliable cars anymore!!! I have a few friends who've bought Nissans recently, an Altima, a Sentra SE-R Spec V, a 350z, and a Frontier... and they ALL have had problems within the first year of ownership!!! This is what put me off getting a sentra for my wife instead of the Civic we got her. The 350z and Frontier owners in particular (both 2005 models) had SEVERE problems in the first 6000 or 8000 miles, both transmission related, funny enough. The Sentra and Altima were small annoying things but I know the Altima's worst problem was a shake in the steering wheel at around 45-50mph. Anyways... well congrats 80LT1 on the new job, good luck on getting to drive the new Skyline, aren't they supposed to be Infiniti's? You gonna be doing Infiniti's too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 I think they sell Infinitis too. Im not 100% sure though. I figure one will come in eventually. The thing with Nissan(from what I understand) is that they are more picky about covering things under warrenty. The new dealership I'm going to won't cover things once your out of warrenty just because your only a few miles out. Were as if you came into the Dodge dealership with say 40,000 miles on our car and your warrenty went out at 36,000 we would probably cover whatever was wrong with your car. Apperently Nissan says "well it's not our fault you didn't buy an extended warrenty". Which sucks for the customer but it doesn't suck for me! Warrenty pay times suck and customer pay times are good! Warrenty for instance would pay me 3.2 hours to replace an evaporator in a DR Ram 1500 were as customer pay time would be 6.5 hours. Now since I've done quite a few of those I can get it done in that 3.2 hours but if your the customer and it isn't covered under warrenty you still pay for 6.5 hours of my time! That's why when the manager goes "oh well cover that for your under warrenty" it really sucks for us because they don't tell us that their going to pay us that other 3.3 hours. As for owning the place....I think I'll just stick to wrenching. I wouldn't mind being the teamleader. I did that for a while over at dodge but then one of the older guys didn't like that I was picked over him so they gave that job to him. I was very fair about which jobs people got but the older guy still didn't like it and whined and cried about it so that he could do it! I didn't really care because it's not like I was getting paid more to do it, it was just kind of nice to know that managment trusted me to do the job and make sure everything got done on time! Now he's taking a lot more good paying jobs and passing out the crap to me and the other young guy on my team. I don't mind doing a lot of warrenty but put me back on an hourly wage then cause it's impossible to live off of warrenty work. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 well I only hope that whatever Dodge dealerships I end up dealing with over the course of owning this SRT-4 are as open minded on things like warranty policy as what you state! As it stands right now I wonder if something goes wrong with my car if they will cover it at all.... a lotttttt of guys are finding that the dealerships are really giving them a hard time with warranty work on these cars in particular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted March 12, 2006 Author Share Posted March 12, 2006 Yeah I have a feeling once I leave that the SRT-4 guys will be getting the same kind of treatment that most dealerships are doing(like your saying). The fact is you need to find a dealership that will work with you. Best thing to do is find a dealership with a young service writer who is into cars, then get buddy buddy with him and ask him about doing warrenty work. That's how the SRT-4 guys at our dealership used to get stuff handled until my pervious service writer left for another dealership. He loved modded cars and would run anything in under warrenty. Of course it helped that I loved them too and didnt really care doing warrenty work on them just as long as I got to drive it later! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Yeah I have a feeling once I leave that the SRT-4 guys will be getting the same kind of treatment that most dealerships are doing(like your saying). The fact is you need to find a dealership that will work with you. Best thing to do is find a dealership with a young service writer who is into cars' date=' then get buddy buddy with him and ask him about doing warrenty work. That's how the SRT-4 guys at our dealership used to get stuff handled until my pervious service writer left for another dealership. He loved modded cars and would run anything in under warrenty. Of course it helped that I loved them too and didnt really care doing warrenty work on them just as long as I got to drive it later! Guy[/quote'] I have actually found a couple dealerships locally that are cool with modded SRT's as long as they are Mopar factory mods. But now I'll be moving cross country at the end of the month so will have to start a new search for cool dealerships once I get out there. Something tells me that finding mod-friendly dealerships in VA is not gonna be as easy as it was in SoCal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeboost Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Man, I remember those "nothing but warranty" days at my old dealership, where I would be lucky to get 40 hours in two weeks -- a lot of pointless squeaks, rattles, or vibrations that I had to deal with, and a few times it was because coins, a paperclip, etc. was in a cupholder or something! But ever since I moved to Austin, I've been booking 65-70 hours a week (average). So far, my highest week was 98.9 hours -- I would've had barely over 100 hours, but I was multi-teched on a job that I did pretty much all of the work on, so they split the hours 50/50. Anyways, that was still a really nice paycheck! Hopefully you'll see the same kind of change. Over here, instead of having team leaders like my old shop had, we have a central Dispatch for everyone -- I like that setup a lot better. Except for when I accidentally typed my team leader's password -- haha, it was so much fun until I got caught. But anyways...good luck on the new job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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