Re: FLAT RATE - is it fair ?

Posted by Buzzman72 on October 25, 2003 at 07:08:15 from (67.241.15.124):

In Reply to: FLAT RATE - is it fair ? posted by Rookie on October 24, 2003 at 15:27:46:

I worked parts at auto dealerships for 20+ years, and we had to do the parts & labor quotes for most of the service advisors...so I have some experience with flat rate. First, as someone mentioned before, there's warranty rate and there's Chilton rate in the auto world...Chilton times are usually 30-50% more than warranty rate. So if you're quoted 2.2 hours, ASK if you're being given the warranty rate or the Chilton rate. Most dealerships don't mind telling you. One dealership where I worked based their policies on a $5000 a month consulting service, which was hired based on their promise to train service advisors to sell an average of 3.0 frh per repair order. The idea was to offer service packages, have standard repairs pre-quoted in handy manuals for the advisors, and to save the customer time in the figuring of the repair estimate. They required the dealer to use warranty rate, even on "customer-pay" (CP) jobs...and to cut the customer a break on the flat-rate whenever overlapping times were involved. Diagnosis time? Advisors were trained to try to sell 0.5 frh "inspect-and-report" service--which would be deducted from the total if the ensuing repair was OK'ed--unless a major disassembly was required for diagnosis. The flaw was, if the customer bought, say, 3.0 frh for a disassembly and diagnosis, that didn't usually include any reassembly time if they DIDN'T approve the repairs. But service dispatchers were trained to map out 10.3 frh's on the dispatch sheets to be sold per every 8 clock hours, to allow filling time waiting on parts, etc. on one job while working a second job in the technician's second service bay. So a couple of 0.3 frh oil changes that run to 0.5 actual, combined with a 3.0 frh job done in 2.1 actual (those brake rotors on the first job can turn while the oil is draining on the second job) pretty much evened out for the techs...most never made the targeted 10.3 frh in 8 clock hours, but most usually averaged 8.8 frh or better, most days.

So is flat rate fair? On the average, it is; in some isolated circumstances, NO. But it evens out. If the shop is honest with you, and the technicians are competent and helpful--the best techs often will come out and discuss the repairs afterwards with the customer, rather than risk having some of the information lost in translation by sometimes not-technically-minded service advisors (remember, the service advisor's primary job is to SELL; to the customer, he's selling repairs, while to the dealership, he's selling their available hours)--then stay with someone you trust. Occasionally, you might pay more, but the peace of mind in knowing that the job's being done right should make this a good trade-off.

Follow Ups:

Post A Followup Name: E-Mail: Subject: Re: Re: FLAT RATE - is it fair ? Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]