Dealer hourly rate

I agree. I used to know a Toyota tech. and he also said that the good techs do the work in a fraction of the book rate. Customer gets charged for the full rate and the tech. gets some of that. I remember him saying that the top techs also did the work in about 50% of the time and were making up to around $60K a year and that was in the late 80s.

Years ago, we took a Toyota pickup to a Toyota dealer to get the clutch replaced (unrelated to the above). On the way back home, the tranny was making strange noises. When I got home, I discovered that there was NO oil in the tranny. I don't know why they had to drain the oil out and don't know if it was deliberate or negligent. After a lot of arguing, the dealership took the tranny completely apart and claimed that it was fine, but it never did seem to run right after that. Could very well have been a consequence of a tech racing through a job to get a bigger paycheck.

dickcarl wrote:
My older brother has done automotive electric work for years. He laughs at the "book" rate for how long it will take. He's usually at 50% or less of the time quoted.

Most techs in the auto world get some percent of the quoted book rate -- so if they can do it faster, they get more money. And if they run into trouble, it COSTS them money. So they learn tricks of how to "cheat" -- what really has to come off, special tools they make, how to snake things into impossible spaces.

When I'd watch big brother do a complicated job all I'd see was parts flying everywhere, he never even LOOKED at a socket or wrench -- just knew the size -- and his manuals all stayed up on the shelf.