We are always looking for a good Audi tech.... and we pay well too....

 

Think of it this way:

Dealerships are independent businesses. Not direct extensions of the brands factory. As businesses, they have expenses, margins. Saving a dollar here or there on overhead means more for the bottom line. The easiest place to trim expenses is employee costs. Wringing them out like a used tampon, a re-using them is, unfortunately, an industry standard. That, and overcharging the customers. If you knew the markup on parts, and the discrepancy between what the charge you for a techs time versus what they pay a tech for his time...

Still, you are generally correct about the "factory trained Tech's, using factory procedures, and doing quality, factory approved work." Independent shops have a much broader base to work for, and may lack "factory-specific" training, tools, and procedures. But, realistically, righty-tighty/lefty-loosey is a universal concept.

 

AWD, I couldn't have said it any better myself. A lot of the lack of quality work or incorrect diagnosis/repairs comes down to the tech trying to make a living on flat rate pay. The dealer I was at, it was 1 hour for diagnosis. In some cases that was adequate but if you got an intermittent electrical or drivability problem you may end up spending 6 hours to find the problem,,,,,,and still get paid for 1 hour (essentially working 5 hours for free). I don't claim to be the best but worked my butt off every day and would end up with 25 hour weeks (while actually working 40-45 hours). I can count on one hand the number of times I hit 40 hours the entire 5 1/2 years working there. Refusing to compromise my work didn't help add hours either. Basically, I was going broke. Sliding backwards and saw no light at the end of the tunnel. Factory trained,,,,,,,yep. We got sent to school once a year, just the bare minimum required by Audi to be a certified Audi tech.

He likes to move kids from detail to the service dept to work on cars doing oil changes, tires,brakes, etc because he can pay them less. The real tech's then get stuck with all the money losing warranty work. They fired the experienced Hyundai svc advisor for some lame reason and replaced him with a guy from the detail dept (19 years old). The guy didn't have a clue but they could pay him half as much so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to hell with customer service.

I can only use that one dealer as an example and he runs all of his dealerships here the same way (Audi/VW/Hyundai, Ford/Lincoln, Chevy, Subaru, Nissan/Kia). The excuse is always "times are tough, money is tight" blah blah blah. At the same time he's having the private air strip in front of his $1.9 million house (which around here is a 6,000 sq ft house on 70 acres with the best of everything) paved IN CONCRETE.

Oh hell, the place I worked is called "Kocourek Wausau Imports" in Rib Mountain (suburb of Wausau) Wisconsin, and Kocourek is a smile in your face/stab you in the back worm.

The markup on parts was ridiculous. Obviously there had to be a mark up on parts but not 200%, 300% or even upwards of 500%. It was embarrassing. Then they wondered why we kept getting fewer and fewer non-warranty customers.

I blame Audi themselves for part of it also. The ever changing technology without putting out the information needed to diagnose and repair the cars led to come backs, incorrect repairs, and wasted time sitting on the phone with an Tech-Line engineer. We got paid absolutely zero for time spent on the phone with them to get info that should be published. Their service manuals suck, for lack of a better term. Vague procedures, missing information, entire repair procedures non-existant, etc............

The indy I'm at now is great and I will never leave there by my own choice. Hourly pay, and I'm getting 4 times the work done and would easily book 40 hours a week if on flat rate. The steady paycheck is nice, you can actually plan ahead financially. Relaxed, excellent people, busy all the time (we're almost 2 weeks out on appt's right now), fair prices,,,,,,,,,should say VERY fair prices, efficiently run, and it's nice to look forward to going to work in the morning. Seriously. Company fully pays health insurance (and it's 10 times better coverage than the Audi dealer had, which I had to pay 50%), pay raise every year, Christmas bonus based on the dollar amount of the work you did the past year, etc, etc, etc......We get customers that just stop by to say hi or shoot the breeze all the time, even though they aren't having their vehicle worked on that day. I can already see my bank account going back the other way (up). May have turned the corner. If only I could get the period of my life from Nov 20, 2007 to May 31st 2013 back,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,all would be golden!

I still say Audi's are the best in their class, as long as you aren't the one working on them for a living.

 

Aspen, I was going to ask if they ever paid you goodwill on those diag jobs that went over time on you, but you made it clear the answer to that is a definite no. You have the kind of work ethic that any shop would be glad to have. And, if you figure out a way to get time back let me know, I'd buy into a slice of that.

 

Only once did I ever get ANY goodwill time and it was on a VW, not Audi. Had to replace the retractable top assy on an EOS under warranty. Warranty time? Biggest joke I ever saw in my life at 4.4 hours start to finish. My manager paid me for an additional 12 hours. Total time to do the actual job? 26 hours and change. Even if the only job you ever did, had done 50 of them in a row, had all the tools and fixtures laid out,,,,,,,,,,,,it would still take at least 12 hours to do. The adjustments and basic settings afterwards take almost 4.4 hours, seriously. After changing one and seeing how complicated those tops are, it's amazing they work at all. There's about 100 things that have to all go exactly right for the top to operate and I am not exaggerating about the 100 things either.
Honestly, I was already going to get out no matter what but that was THE job that put me over the edge.
The past is the past, I love my new job at the indy shop, am making almost double the income on hourly while turning out 4 times the work. Could make a killing on flat rate there but I really like the STEADY paycheck and knowing what it's going to be (+/- a few bucks), got 500% better health insurance (totally company paid vs only 50% paid), raise every year, end of year bonus (based on total work done to the previous 12 months), 4 day weekends on most holidays, good people, relaxed atmosphere, no stress at all, no manufacturer warranty work,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,well, you get the picture. I've never been happier at a job in any of my 49 years.

I mentioned the Audi dealer was the worst 5 1/2 years of my life (no offense to anyone here) but I've moved on. The past is the past. Funny thing is, I come within a block of the place everyday on my commute and rarely even think about the fact I used to drive down that street 5 days a week to work. Ah,,,,,,life is good!

 

Like anyone cares but, after a year and a month at the indy shop I still LOVE it there. No stress at all, never any arguments between anyone, great bunch of guys in the shop and the customers are just simply excellent. Maybe it's that they're happy with the experience there but some stop by just to visit and shoot the breeze a little.
I know I said it before but it's worth repeating. Being on hourly pay is the only way to go. You never feel pressured and always are given the time to do a PROPER diagnosis and repair. Dealerships think if they don't pay on flat rate the techs won't do any work. If that's the case, they hired the wrong people. Hourly there's no stress at all and I get 4 times the work done as when I was flat rape at the dealership. Suppose it helps that we're ALWAYS busy vs the dealer where you'd stand around with your thumb up your *** half the time with no work to do. Nice also to have a "boss" that knows you have a private life outside of work (same as he does) so at 4:30pm it's lights out and go home. We can of course work longer if we want but it's never mandatory.
Oh yeah, and another great thing is CARQUEST Auto Parts right next door in the same parking lot. Best parts dept I've had anywhere! Average delivery time is about 2 minutes Awesome!
Anyways, when I read what I wrote in my original post,,,,,,,,,,wow, I really was going insane wasn't I?

 

Well, *I* care! Good to know the move was a healthy one, for you! Glad you came back around to update us, too!

So, how's your sanity, on a scale of: Audi - to- normal?

 

Depending on who you ask, my sanity is "normal"
Kind of sad but I was going onto the freeway last Thursday (had the week off) and from the ramp you can see the back of the Audi/VW shop at the dealer I worked for. There was about 5 cars in the service row and all the doors were open into the bays. There's 6 bays and each have their own door. It was 9am and the shop was completely empty. The 5 cars out back were probably waiting for parts. Feel bad for the guys that work there on flat-rape but glad I'm not one of them.