As a customer, I like the flat rate system. With that system I am told up front what the job will cost. If a mechanic completes the job in half the time and moves on to the next job, that mechanic is probably competent. If the mechanic runs into a problem–suppose a bolt shears off and he has to drill it out–I don’t have to pay for the extra time to extract the bolt.
Sometimes I think the medical profession should have a flat rate for surgical procedures. For example, there could be a certain time allotted for removing an appendix. If it is done more rapidly, that’s great. If it takes longer because the patient is obese, then it takes longer. Same with cars. If the bolts are rusted, it takes longer to change a water pump than on a new engine of the same design. However, the time allowed by the flat rate is the same.
You’re one of the few non-mechanics that I have ever heard say anything positive about the flat-rate system
Many people I know only approve of the flat-rate system when it works in their favor
Many people condemn the flat-rate system, when they find out the mechanic is fast and skilled, and has gotten that 6 hour water pump job done in 3 hours. Many people will scream bloody murder and say it’s highway robbery to charge 6 hours, when it only took 3.
Many people don’t realize . . . or maybe they simply don’t care . . . that a guy doing the job very quickly might just be that good. Instead, they choose to interpret it in the worst possible way, they mechanic and the shop is out to rob them. No matter the fact the customer AGREED IN WRITING to pay 6 hours for that water pump job
Would doctors need to be ASE certified?
@db4690 I have watched good mechanics work. I don’t have the dexterity with my hands to do jobs as quickly and efficiently as a good mechanic can do the job. For financial reasons, we had to do a lot of things for ourselves when I was growing up. Even after I was on my own, money was tight and I did as much of my own car repairs as possible.
As my income improved, I did less and less of my own work. As a faculty member in a university, I was expected to do research and publish if I wanted to advance. There are only 24 hours in a day. I didn’t feel right about taking the time away from my teaching for research. I assigned quite a bit of outside work to my students and I graded the students’ work myself. I was from the “old school” in this regard. Unfortunately, now that I have retired, I find the technology has really surpassed me. I open the hood on our vehicles and I am not certain where the spark plugs make their home. I used to repair my own high fidelity system and my television sets. Now I had enough trouble going through the menu to set up my television set or pairing my smartphone to the sound system in my car. I’ve also become lazy. I have a company coming to install leaf guards on our eaves troughs because I don’t want to climb a ladder to clear the gutters on our two story house.
Yes, I have respect for mechanics and other tradesmen who can do jobs that I can’t do or don’t want to do.
kurtwm2010 , I too understand and like the flat rate system. I also understand that a mechanic working under it doesn’t get paid for coffee breaks, cleaning or purchasing his tools or waiting for jobs to come in. How would you like it I your boss told you he was going to track your day and only pay you for the time you were actually working.
When I call my mechanic to do something I don’t want to do, I rarely give him an easy job, I do those myself. He can do things in an hour that will take me all day. He has 40 years of experience, why should he make less for replacing a water pump than a new mechanic who takes twice as long or a klutz who breaks off bolts in the block. That would be insane . Just stop thinking of it as renting your mechanic by the hour, The flat rate book is just a device to calculate a fair price for the job so the customer pays the same price no matter who does it.
Mechanics frequently spend their own money for tools or even invent tools of procedures to do the job faster. Would it be fair to penalize them for doing that. Would you really be happy paying 8 hours labor for a job that the “book” calculates as 6 hours because your mechanic is now working strictly by time spent and the slower he works, the more money he makes?
It’s a difference of opinion. You have yours and I have mine.
Edit: I would be happy if the mechanic does a job in 4 hours if the job calls for 6 hours and charges me for 4 hours of labor. He can then go on to the next job and in the end makes the same amount of money. That would be good for business and make the shop much more compatible with the ones that charge by an outdated system.
About $5000/year for the last several years, in my case
I HAVE to spend that money to do my job
My employer does not provide tools
If I don’t have tools, I can’t perform my job duties
I frequently find quicker and more efficient ways to perform repairs. That should be worth something
outdated system, eh?
Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s outdated
I don’t know if you literally scream bloody murder, but it sounds as if my above quote applies to you
It’s a free country, and you’re entitled to your opinion
If the mechanic and YOU agreed that the job pays 6 hours, and it gets done in 4, because the mechanic is fast and skilled, he wouldn’t be a very good businessman if he decided to charge you only 4 hours. If you’re too much of a nice guy, there’s a chance your business just won’t survive. It would be like going to a nice steakhouse, and the restaurant decided to charge you less than the agreed up on price, at the last minute, just because they’re being nice. Yeah, I don’t see that happening
Why should mechanics actually penalize themselves for being efficient . . . ?!
I seem to remember a previous discussion . . . and I was criticized by some people for mentioning it
Here goes . . . a savvy service advisor will not call the customer too soon, to tell him the car’s ready. If the customer agrees to pay 6 hours labor for the job, and the mechanic gets done in 3 or 4 hours, the savvy service advisor will wait awhile to call the customer. Why create potential conflict, when it can be easily avoided?
Thank you.
And I am entitled to my own opinion(s)
For the most part, we can disagree without being disagreeable . . . I’m specifically talking about this website
There are exceptions, that’s why I said “for the most part”
Myself being one of the exceptions . . . but I’m not mentioning anybody else, because it can serve no purpose
To be honest I don’t really know if the guys I go to use the flat rate system or not. I suspect they don’t but it doesn’t bother me either way. If they use it, I’m protected if they have a problem with my job. If they don’t use it and they have a problem, I’m just charged what would be legitimate anyway for the problems they had.
I like the flat rate when it comes to paying for dinner though. In a group it is just much easier for everyone to pay the same amount regardless of what they ordered. Some win but some lose-big deal. We were with a group of about a dozen other people at a place where they did not itemize bills (not this country). Most of us just said to take the bill and split it a dozen ways, but a couple didn’t think that was fair so we ended up spending about 20 minutes and a calculator trying to figure out who owed what.
Kind of takes the enjoyment out of going to dinner with friends, relatives, or whoever it happened to be, doesn’t it . . . ?!
If a contractor bids a job, gives a completion date, and then finishes the job ahead of schedule, this makes the person or persons with whom he had the contract happy. Why is it different with the flat rate system?
If I have my car in for a repair and competent mechanic finishes the job in less time than the flat rate manual specified and I get my car back sooner, I am very happy
When I was a teenager, my dad decided to have our septic tank pumped. We had never had this done in the 10 years we had lived in the house. My dad offered me $5 if I could locate and uncover the tank before the sewer company arrived. That company had a flat charge of $15 to locate a tank. I made a guess and my first shovel hit the cover of the tank. I did the job in less than 5 minutes. Dad was happy because he saved $10 and I was happy because I had enough money to take Little Iodine to the drive-in movie that evening.
It’s been awhile since I had any surgery but back then, they did not charge by the hour. They do charge more if you need more supplies- like if something goes wrong and they need more blood.
That being said, I’m not sure I want to equate surgery on my body to car repairs. I certainly wouldn’t go to the place that advertises they can remove any appendix in 15 minutes for $19.99.
I had my appendix out a few years ago. It’s definitely not billed by the hour. There is a rough flat rate used, actually, based on the submitted ICD 10 (International Code of Diseases) codes.
That’s a very good plan, imo. Risk management becomes more important as we all age, hopefully with good health & gracefully. A gym-buddy of mine had a ladder accident last summer, didn’t come back to the gym for 6 months, and still a little wobbly. Climbing ladders , esp on a two story house, is a risk not worth it.
Poor jlefae I wonder if she/he ever found out what the noise really was?