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Lets see... Yes, Yes, and yes.... I can tell you this, and my experience is in an auto dealership. The warranty times on major repairs is a joke, or at least it was 15-20 years ago. Alot of the "good" techs/mechanics left after the economy tanked. The Flat Rate system is based on people spending money , if you had bills to pay 10+years ago, you got out and did something else if you were lucky and had the ability to cross train into anther field. Now, that being said, what used to happen is, a vehicle would come in under warranty, it needed a major repair , lets say Head gaskets. lets say its a ten hour job,, warranty pays 4.5 hours. The big experienced technician doesn't want to do it, it doesn't pay, so, they hand that off to the "hourly" guy, or a junior flat rate newbie tech, who just needs some peanuts to put on his/her plate. So that was back when the highly skilled guys were still in the business, now, I am willing to bet the guy /gal working on your scoot may have less than ten years experience, I may be wrong, but what I spoke of has happened in the auto business. Have you ever had your car to the dealer and have them not fix your problem? This is why, the techs are new. inexperienced, or they just NFF the work order and move on because it doesn't pay. NPF stands for "No Problem Found" by the way. I hope this sheds some light ion why the vehicle service industry sucks and it comes down to two words "Flat Rate"
My brother in law currently works as a mechanic for a major local dealer chain, and he loves to get warranty work. From what he tells me, they pay for more hours than what is required. If some repair is paid out as 8 hours of work, but takes a good mechanic only 5, they get to pocket the difference. Encourages good mechanics to stay and helps the dealer gain a good reputation.
My brother in law currently works as a mechanic for a major local dealer chain, and he loves to get warranty work. From what he tells me, they pay for more hours than what is required. If some repair is paid out as 8 hours of work, but takes a good mechanic only 5, they get to pocket the difference. Encourages good mechanics to stay and helps the dealer gain a good reputation.
I have never heard of "paying more hours than what is required" usually it is half at best.
But things may have changed I have been out of it for a while.
Last edited by Super Glidester; Dec 22, 2017 at 10:38 AM.
I have never heard of "paying more hours than what is required" usually it is half at best.
But things may have changed I have been out of it for a while.
Very true, but the big qualifier is "a good" mechanic. Quite possibly the average time for an average tech could be 8 hours, but someone that's got several years under their belt and has done it before, could hammer it out in 5. It's all just hearsay, but I do know he and his crew love warranty work, as they can make some serious money getting it done under time.
Very true, but the big qualifier is "a good" mechanic. Quite possibly the average time for an average tech could be 8 hours, but someone that's got several years under their belt and has done it before, could hammer it out in 5. It's all just hearsay, but I do know he and his crew love warranty work, as they can make some serious money getting it done under time.
Man I give up, I guess I wasn't a good mechanic. I don't take my **** to the
shop, car or motorcycle . I also have a brother in law who is full of **** and he actually worked for H-D , they didn't pay **** either and he left and found something else to do. So there ya have it folks two different views, which one is correct or more closer to the truth we'll never know, but I do know this, the manufacturer doesn't pay the tech "serious" money for warranty work, its a fact the flat rate times are half, look in any flat rate book.
What do you call the person who graduated last in their class at medical school ?
Doctor
...
We called ours a dumbass. For all I know someone on this forum could have been treated by him.
By the same token, the valedictorian of our class was only book smart. The douchebag couldn't even tie his own shoes. How would you like him to take out your appendix?
With this in mind, a factory trained HD tech that does get retrained to work on the M8 doesn't make him a good mechanic. There's good and bad in every line of work. Mine included. There are some board certified Orthopedic surgeons I wouldn't let carve my Thanksgiving turkey.
If you don't like a technician/mechanic, find another one until you do or do it yourself.
We called ours a dumbass. For all I know someone on this forum could have been treated by him.
By the same token, the valedictorian of our class was only book smart. The douchebag couldn't even tie his own shoes. How would you like him to take out your appendix?
With this in mind, a factory trained HD tech that does get retrained to work on the M8 doesn't make him a good mechanic. There's good and bad in every line of work. Mine included. There are some board certified Orthopedic surgeons I wouldn't let carve my Thanksgiving turkey.
If you don't like a technician/mechanic, find another one until you do or do it yourself.
You're right and after I re-read what I typed it looked like I was down on doctors. What I meant was, if someone who has as much training as a medical doctor can do something poorly, surely a tech at dealer can get it wrong (don't get me started on a friend if mine who has a phd and refers to himself as DR).
I'm living proof of the good in the medical community; these guys saved me from cancer. Every Christmas I send them an email with photos from the year thanking them for another year of life I didn't have. You can see the medi-port in my chest; I loved it and hated it all at the same time.
I owe these guys everything. Sorry, back to topic.
Last edited by Campy Roadie; Dec 22, 2017 at 04:35 PM.
I know that other brands allow their techs to prove proficiency on a tweaked engine online. By tweaked I mean there are probably a few nuances that need to be addressed but basically it's close to the same engine configuration as what they're use to.
You're right and after I re-read what I typed it looked like I was down on doctors. What I meant was, if someone who has as much training as a medical doctor can do something poorly, surely a tech at dealer can get it wrong (don't get me started on a friend if mine who has a phd and refers to himself as DR).
I'm living proof of the good in the medical community; these guys saved me from cancer. Every Christmas I send them an email with photos from the year thanking them for another year of life I didn't have. You can see the medi-port in my chest; I loved it and hated it all at the same time.
I owe these guys everything. Sorry, back to topic.
Hell, I didn't take it that way at all (that you were bashing doctors). It is a common phrase even in medical school; "the guy who pulls up the rear is still called doctor".
I have read your posts on your health. I am as happy as you are that you are doing so well. Kudos to you and your medical team.
In any field the sales staff are trained in product knowledge not mechanical knowledge. They just flat out are the wrong folks to talk mechanics about. Or make judgements about a dealership. That in itself is ignorant. I have know quite a few H-D techs (one is a cousin). One that started his own shop. All of them could rebuild an engine from a Knuckle up.
The sales manager is not in the flow of information about anything involving recalls or any other mechanical issues. The person to talk to is called the "Service Manager". DUH!
H-D mandates that each dealership provides annual training for the techs. Also that at least one tech be certified at the master level.
Can their be a bad tech? Of course just as one poster said about doctors they can make mistakes.
In any field the sales staff are trained in product knowledge not mechanical knowledge. They just flat out are the wrong folks to talk mechanics about. Or make judgements about a dealership. That in itself is ignorant. I have know quite a few H-D techs (one is a cousin). One that started his own shop. All of them could rebuild an engine from a Knuckle up.
The sales manager is not in the flow of information about anything involving recalls or any other mechanical issues. The person to talk to is called the "Service Manager". DUH!
H-D mandates that each dealership provides annual training for the techs. Also that at least one tech be certified at the master level.
Can their be a bad tech? Of course just as one poster said about doctors they can make mistakes.
The sales people should have a clue, it might help them even in their own career to be more successful. They are the front line when talking to potential customers. Another thing, I have been in HD dealerships looking at bikes and knew more about the product then the sales douche, who worked used car sale techniques on me. Total high pressure to get a deposit out me on a bike they did not even have. Making me and the misses sit at his desk for like 20 minutes while he was supposedly working out a deal with the sales manager. After a little bit of that we got up and walked around and his buddy comes running over like we just broke the law and says; where are you going he's working out a deal for you. I replied we had enough of the game, when you all are ready to stop playing around with my time give me a call.
Sad part is all the dealerships in most of northern Illinois have been bought up by a corporation in the last couple years so they are all the same ownership. I went out of my way to buy my bike from a dealership that at the time was not associated with them, because of the experience I talked about above. Sure enough a year or so later they have also been bought up by the corporation.
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