VWoA underpaying technicians

[pondoras box]

Has anyone else heard of or currently experiencing VW dealerships in the US underpaying technicians for warranty work.

I have heard that the new VW cars are plagued with issues and are being returned to the dealerships needing large time consuming repairs. The repairs are being done sometimes taking 9 or more hours to complete. The technicians are only being paid for one hour worth of labor. This is due to mechanics getting paid by the job or what is known as flat rate. VW says the job is a one hour job. To give you an idea on the atlas brand new vehicles are leaking coolant on the showroom floor. This job basically requires the trans comes out and the subframe to do. They get paid one hour to do this. There are several major issues on the 2024 vehicles because of non VW engines being used by VW in their new cars are crap. Their answer is to not pay the technicians to repair their garbage. The technicians are carrying the burden of VW cutting corners to save money and it hit them in the ass.

I know of a technician the has already worked 51 hours this week (Thursday) evening and is getting paid for only 9 hours.

Please if you respond only do so if you know of technicians getting burned on labor rates not on the quality of VW products.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda)
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[Glenn]

[jeffrey8164]

I once had a job where I was classified as “Salaried Exempt”.
This meant I was guaranteed 40 hours a week but was only paid 1/2 time for overtime.
Guess how much overtime I worked?
If you guessed none, you’d be right.
_________________
Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.

“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1)

[pondoras box]

[Cusser]

I worked for a large consumer products company for 4 decades, was on salary, became leader of the analytical chemistry support department.

When I had to work late or on Saturday, Sunday, or holiday to deal with a manufacturing crisis, I got NOTHING !!!! Part of the job.....
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[Glenn]

[Abscate]

[Glenn]

[pondoras box]

[busman78]

Unless dealerships have drastically changed from when I was a line mechanic, you get your "on the clock" hourly straight pay for every hour you are at the dealership, since warranty work flat rate time sucks you fail to accumilate extra hours beyond your clock time.

When I was a line mechanic my normal was 60-80 hours of flat rate time so I did good. If I had a week with a lot of warranty work there were times all I got was my 40 hours of straight clock time.

If you mechanic is telling you he only gets the 9 hours pay for 51 hours worked he needs to report that to the state labor department or he is feeding you a line of bovine droppings.

[oprn]

My experience is a lot older than 3 months. I worked in a flat rate body shop and I got paid the hours that were written on the estimate sheet. Most of the time it worked out fairly close but sometimes I gained a bit and sometimes I lost a bit. It depended on the skill of the estimator.

There were however fellows in the shop that made time above their estimated time consistently but their work was generally shabby. A friend of mine brought her car in for work, the Boss gave it to a "faster" guy and she brought it back because it squeaked and rattled on the road. The "Faster" guy was not asked to fix it, I was told "It's your friend, you fix it!" What I found was that only about 1/2 of the bolts were put back in on the entire front end sheet metal including the bumper. No, I did not get paid to correct it! I found another shop to work in.

A good friend of mine was a tech at a GM dealership and there was a recall on pickup seat belts. The flat rate was 0.8 hours to remove the seat, remove the upholstery, remove and install the upgrade and put it all back together. He was the fastest tech in the shop so he was given ALL of the recalls to do. After 3 weeks of going hard until his fingers bled and getting 40 hours pay for a 60 hour week he accidently tore a seat cover a bit. His boss told him it was coming off his pay. He pushed his toolbox out of the shop and across the street!

I also worked in a shop where the Boss practiced double estimating. There was a sheet the customer got and was billed from and a second one with lower labor hours we got paid from. It was taken to the labor board and we were told that on flat rate or piece work as long as we got minimum wage at the end of the job there was nothing they could do. As far as I know nothing has changed since then.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this sort of thing is still going on but the VW dealer story sounds a bit too extreme.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[Glenn]

OK, why should we care?

How many people here take their car to the dealership? The answer is none.

And if you own a late model VW, then live with your poor choice.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

[oprn]

That was harsh! Full of the milk of human kindness today aren't we?!
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[Glenn]

Where have you been for the past 25 years?

Big surprise that VW doesn't care about it's customers or workers.

Also, the mechanics are not indentured servants... they should leave and work for independent shops.

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[pondoras box]

Thanks for the constructive feedback,

Glenn thanks for your unsociable and helpless comments! Not everyone is where you are in life, I am asking for a young man working and paying his way through life that does not have the life experiences that most of us have. I specifically asked to leave your opinion about the quality of VW out of the equation. I am sickened by comments about the youth today not working or expecting free handouts but if one comes to you for advice maybe try to be kind in the future! Everybody you meet is fighting something you know nothing about!

I did receive a very helpful PM but was asked to keep the individual private, but just wanted to say thank you to them for providing me with real world information.

For now I would like to keep this thread open in case someone else needs to add to this.
_________________
Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda)
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[oprn]

Oh don't worry, I have zero sympathy for VW or those that buy their products. It's been 20 or more years since VW has brought anything innovative of note to the consumer. There is absolutely nothing on the showroom floor today that I would take home.

It's the technicians that I feel bad for. They have invested time into their trade and money in their tools just to get screwed over. Yes they can move on but in reality is the next place going to be any different? The dealers (and yes many of the independents too) get away with it because they ALL do it!
_________________
Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[Glenn]

[Abscate]

[Glenn]

[ALLWAGONS]