Any GM dealership guys out there?

[Chevypower]

Hey guys, what’s new?

I’m fixin to graduate WyoTech in Dec and the ultimate dream job would be an apprenticeship at GM. What sorts of Warranty work and pattern failures is GM experiencing right now? What are the components, tests, functions, and jobs that give a lot of younger guys a hard time? What can I *REALLY* expect when I first roll my toolbox into the shop? With my level of education, how much additional training would be needed before I would start getting paid on the “Flat-Rape” system?

I’m really nervous about getting stuck on a “Team-flat-rate” system. I don’t want my mistakes to be costing everybody else a paycheck.

I guess what I’m really looking to learn is whatever you guys would be nice enough to teach me. What do you work on every day? A lot of stuff that the customer just destroyed, or routine maintenance?

Thanks,

Jason

Topic

[Shaun_300]

I work at a GM dealer as a tech, started with GM 6 1/2 years ago when I was 18, got my certification 3 1/2 years ago at 21. I did a basic automotive program at college out of high school, got hired as an apprentice at the dealer and did the GM ASEP program, switched dealers after a year to one closer to home and been there ever since. I highly doubt you’d be going flat rate right away. They’d probably get you doing mostly maintenance for starters and slowly work into the diagnosis. I went flat rate when I got my certification, but had already been with the dealer I’m at now for 3 years previous to that.

Most warranty rates aren’t the greatest for the techs, definitely don’t make as much as customer pay work. I’d say I we do just as much customer pay work as warranty which makes up for the lost time under warranty when we do lose. I’ve been doing the automatic transmissions since I was licenced, actually a bit before that because the older lad that did them got hurt and never ended up coming back, I had just been learning them in school and since no one else would touch them I stepped up to the plate and have been doing them ever since. You’re lucky to make time on those under warranty. For example I just did a front pump seal on a 2007 Silverado with 65K miles on it, powertrain warranty, and in this part of the continent stuff is already getting rusty, exhaust, lines, etc. So we still get paid warranty time. Think they pay around 5 hours or just a little under that warranty time, customer pay would be around 8 hours. I broke even, would have been able to do it in under 4 if I wasn’t dealing with rust.

It also goes the other way though, the 2010 trucks were bad for dipstick tubes breaking in half with the 6L80E transmissions. Warranty pays 3.8 hours and say you have to take the transmission out to be able to swap out the dipstick tube. First one I had done in about a half hour with some head scratching how to lower the crossmember the right angle and just squeeze it in and out without having to take the tranny out.T)

But that’s just part of the job description I guess. You can’t look at it day to day or paycheck to paycheck or it’ll drive you crazy. One day you’ll make 5 hours losing your shirt on warranty crap and the next day you’ll make over 12 hours doing brakes and maintenance. It all usually averages out at the end of the year. Key is to not budget for 90+ hour pays all the time or you’ll get screwed at slow times or bad pays, budget low and save when you get better pays so you have extra cash to make up for the difference.

Good luck with graduation and finding a job!
Shaun

[Chevypower]

Thanks, Shaun! You sound a lot happier than the guys on flatratetech.com Good God, those dudes really HATE the General. What types of warranty work and pattern failures are you currently experiencing? Anything that’s just too repetitive?

[Shaun_300]

Never heard of that forum before and went to check it out after you posted it. Sounds like some pretty hurting techs at certain places, I feel for them. No offence but I think the economy in Canada is quite a bit more healthy than in the USA. It’s not great by any means though, but I don’t usually have a problem clocking 8 hours a day unless I get into some real garbage warranty work…

Got a job on Friday afternoon, 2006 Silverado 4×4, fly by night aftermarket warranty that pays CP time. around 14 hours to change a front pump seal, trans cooler lines, waterpump and 1 front wheel bearing. I have around 2 hours on it, got the trans out and pump seal changed ready to go back in, lines changed, just gotta put the tranny back in, change the waterpump and wheel bearing and I’ll have 14 hours in my pocket. Shouldn’t be more than 4 more hours worth of work tomorrow.C8-)

[dreamer2355]

Thats quite an accomplishment on 4 hours of work there Mr. Shaun C8-) and i really enjoyed reading your first post on this thread too.

[Shaun_300]

Won’t be 4 hours total dreamer, I meant tomorrow morning’s work getting the tranny in, waterpump and bearing changed, should be ~6 hours total for 14 hours, still pretty good if you ask me.

Thanks for the comment on the other post too, appreciate it!

[dreamer2355]

Your welcome and ive actually learned alot from you thus far with your contributions to the forums.

Thanks man.

[Shaun_300]

I enjoy and have learned lots from your posts too bud, think we have a good crew of techs on this forum with lots of skill and knowledge to offer to everyone else, it’s great!

[jacobnbr1]

Quoted From Shaun_300:

I enjoy and have learned lots from your posts too bud, think we have a good crew of techs on this forum with lots of skill and knowledge to offer to everyone else, it’s great!

I don’t think it is all that healthy for professional mechanics to contribute on boiler boards Shaun.

I mean we spend money and hours gaining knowledge, experience, and Certifications to come to a place like this and give advice on how to’s? Think about it.

I realize that we just generally want to help and pay it forward but sometimes I just can’t tolerate some of the postings here and other places.

[dreamer2355]

Im sorry that you feel that way about helping others and feel that its not ‘healthy’ for other technicians to contribute into helping solve peoples automotive issues on boards like ‘these’ that Eric went out of his way to create.

The whole point of the ETCG universe is to reach out to many people as possible and aid them in there automotive diagnostics and repairs. With the economic heard ship in the States, alot of people are trying to repair there own vehicles due to money issues.

I am very thankful however that there are certified techs here that will do anything to aid someone no matter on there postings or gender.

I enjoy helping people and love the feeling of being able to save someone a few dollars when it comes to automotive service repair on ‘boiler boards’ like these.

However, thank you for your contributions so far Jacob. I have found alot of your posts educational and i thank you for that.

[TexasCoder]

From this DIY fellow, I want to say a big thank you to all of you for sharing your knowledge, patience and time. I completely understand where jacobnbr1 is coming from and respect his frustrations. They do not go unseen or unappreciated.

You guys make a living off something that 90% or more of people can’t comprehend or lack the aptitude to master. For that, your input and postings are priceless. Thank you, Thank You, Thank You!

As I read through the post on Eric’s site, I get the sense of appreciation from the folks here, but I don’t see it often enough that someone takes the time to personally thank you. For that, I am going to shout out to the ETCG Administrator and ask if there is something that can be done, even if it is something like a badge or something displayed on the site or individual profiles.

I have learned a TON of stuff, from technical to “understanding” of what it takes to be in your field. And the best part, you guys are genuine, and help even when the post are a little lame.

In any case, you guys absolutely ROCK! Just know that this member appreciates everything you pass on here, and I hope some day to be able to repay you guys.

Ok, I am going to stop hugging and kissing now…back to work, my boss is starting to look at me funny.

[Trcustoms719]

Yeah we really do have a great group of people here.C8-)

[jbone]

One great thing about these forums is that techs can choose if they want to help or not.We all are human, everyone has car issues, and some can fix them, some can’t. Some can choose to have a shop fix it or some can come on forums for guidance to help them fix their own cars. Point being is if your not happy sharing your expertise cause u spent alot of time and money getting it, then you don’t have to.Go do something else….Too fuuny how people complain about things they have the power to change…It’s not like your gonna lose any business if anyhting u may get more business from people who get frustrated and end up going to shop after they messed things up more so u end up charging more then u would of have charged in the beginning if they would have gone to u in 1st place…

But thank you for what you have shared with us. Well appreciated….

[jacobnbr1]

I think you guys are taking my statement way out of context.

By all means I understand that I am under no obligation to do anything here and I know I can just walk away to never return but I too am just attempting to pay it forward.

The reason I said it is not healthy is because MOST professional mechanics for hire do not suggest anything at all without knowing the facts and that can never happen here through the translation of information that may or may not be correct due to procedure, tooling and common knowledge.

It is important that a guy build a strong relation with confidence, determination and due diligence to overcome the frustrations and build passion for the road ahead.
Most of the strong aspects can be crushed by a only a few elements, those elements are here and serve as a grave injustice for one to subject himself to it at such an early stage of their career.

I don’t expect many of you to understand but likely I may find a few that will agree.

[Chevypower]

I’m the middle of the road on that whole thing. If professional Techs (kinda hard to include myself in that since I’m still in school) take their knowledge and just “give it away”, then yes, eventually, there would be no need for pros because everybody could fix it themselves.

But if we, as automotive enthusiasts, and helpful Henry’s take the time to share some basics and give simple advice, this will become a better world for all of us.

I just like to be completely covered in grease, oil, and ATF.

So, Shaun, once I get my foot in the proverbial door, what next? How can I rapidly accel to the top?

[Shaun_300]

Thank you all for the kind words. I try my best to help where I can, it’s not easy to diagnose car problems over the internet but I give it my best shot to give the best advice and thoughts possible.

Quoted From Chevypower:

So, Shaun, once I get my foot in the proverbial door, what next? How can I rapidly accel to the top?

I guess it all depends on what skills you have out the door at school. Are you going to be a fully licenced tech right out of school with no work experience? I’m just not exactly sure how it works in the States. I would imagine you’ll be starting off being paid hourly for a while doing maintenance work and you’ll slowly get more challenging jobs. Most important thing is to be patient, don’t be afraid to listen to advise from experienced techs, you’d be surprised what everyone will learn off eachother if everyone cooperates fairly well. It took me about 3 years to work my way up from an entry level apprentice to a licenced technician. Your attitude and work ethic go a long way in moving you up the line fairly quickly. I’m now making as much as the most senior tech at our dealer.

[Author]

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