Charles ~ Humble Mechanic
Raleigh, NC
Male, 32
I am one of about 200 master certified VW techs in the USA. I do everything from basic maintenance, to advanced diagnosis. I eat, sleep and breathe VWs. I also have my own website dedicated to helping everyone to understand their car, and see the behind the scenes of being an auto mechanic. You can see more at
Short answer YES! Most folks know very little about modern cars. They have been told their whole life that mechanics(dealers) will rip them off. I have worked with a few guys that were complete hacks. I would not let them change the oil in my lawn mower. That is not the norm. Most of us are honest, and just want to fix cars right. The other issue is there is more than one person that comes into the equation. You can have a mechanic that is 100% honest, but a service advisor that is a lying scumbag. The best advise is try and find a mechanic that will be "your guy". Someone you can trust, and know that they are looking out for you.
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Ah yes the gravy work. It really depends. There are some universal "gravy" jobs. One of my favorites is a timing belt on 1.8t Passats. The labor time pays about 5 hours. If I hustle, I can do it in 1 hour. Also, tune ups, brakes, axle boots, oil leaks, some suspension work. Over time techs get faster and faster. Some techs do some jobs faster than others. As long as the outcome 100% correct.
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Interesting question. One that I will answer 2 ways. First, if you are just looking for more income to the shop(nothing wrong with that, it is why you are in business) You can do a few things. Consider rotating shifts. This will allow the mechanics more time off, while keeping the shop full. Consider 4 teams that rotate days off. This can allow mechanics to work 4 longer days. This will also allow you to be open longer. That is the next point. Staying open later 1 night a week can help. You will get the folks that work during normal business hours, and can not make arrangements to leave the car to get work done. Fine tune your processes. Can you switch to a computer system that will allow the repair order to be generated faster? Can you print the RO in advance? That will save time, and allow more focus on the customer. Those are a few things that you can do to bring straight money in. Now, here are some things that might not bring you financial capital(on the surface) but will 100% blow your competition out of the water. TEACH! What if you set aside 2 nights a month and held a clinic for your customers? Teach them how to do small things on their car, air filters, wiper blades easy maintenance stuff. Teach them what good oil looks like, and how to tell if their coolant needs to be flushed. You might not make a ton of money that night, but the social capital you will build will be priceless. Offer the same type of class to the local high school drivers ed students. We teach kids how to drive, but nothing about changing a tire. THAT will set you apart. Start a blog( you can see my site for what I am talking about here) Much like the class, you can show folks what to do, what not to do, and share some of the crazy things that us mechanics see. Think in the terms of "likeable expert". Not only are you telling people how awesome your shop is, you are SHOWING them. I hope that can help spark an idea or two for you shop. Feel free to email me Charles (at) Humblemechanic.com maybe we can bounce some more ideas around!!!
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HAHA, Thanks Frank.
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I was a VW fan for a few years before working on them. The blue cluster lights were the first thing I fell in love with. I had a choice from VW, Audi, MB, BMW, and one more that I don't remember. There are more VWs on the road so that was the final deciding factor. I don't regret it for 1 second. Thanks for asking that, it is always fun to reflect on that decision.
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This is a really good question, and not one that I have given much thought to. 1st, we actively try and hire the best, man, women, black, white, it does not really matter. We hire based on skill, knowledge and attitude. I have never seen a women fill out an application for a mechanic at my dealer. Now, as for the why. I think it has a lot to do with numbers. I am sure there are more "car guys" than "car girls". Most mechanics are "car people" in one way or another. That just works its way into the field. I have not worked with any female mechanics. I did go to tech school with a few female students. Most of them were awesome! Smart, logical, hard working, all things you need to be a mechanic. I can tell you that if a female wants to be a mechanic GO FOR IT!!!! Thanks for this question. It is something that I would like to know more about. I will update this post if I can find a good female mechanic to interview, and shed some light on what they think.
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It is the shop that adds that stuff not the mechanics. But that is not really your question ;) My dealer adds "shop supplies" to every job. They cap it at $20. There are times when we wave that fee just to help a customer out. I have really mixed feelings about the charge. You can make a good case either way. We could just add it to the cost of labor. Then when you compare labor costs we will be a few dollars higher. We can bill exactly what we use on each job. Then a customer will question why we used 2 shop rags instead of just 1. We don't bill separate for things like washer fluid, p/s fluid/ cleaner and so on. They are billed as part of the shop supplies. That is a charge that you can easily get removed. Just be cool about it and ask the shop to help you out. The customer that throws a big fit, and yells and screws about it, rarely get them removed. It is the shop that adds the charges, not the advisor that gets yelled at for it. Hope that helps. Charles
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