No, we do get raises, but trust me... we don't make as much as you would think. I get less than 20% of what the shop charges per hour. The master techs that have been there for over 14 YEARS gross almost 80k per year, but I make less than half of that.

Basically I was saying the hour rate per job, the "book time" is not set by the individual mechanic, or the dealer for that matter. It is set directly by BMW and we have no say over it... the parts department charges its standard markup (retail) to make their money... pay its employees. But the service shop charges pre-determined amounts for each task. And you're right there is a difference between charging a markup and charging "per hour" but what you don't understand is that the "per hour" is a set standard time per job task, and not actually by physical hour. This is necessary for uniform charges, otherwise the same job would greatly vary in price from one tech to another, just by talent alone... and if the techs were able to set their own prices, they would get so cut-throat! Everybody trying to undercut eachothers prices to steal customers, all the while trying to jack up the prices to get more money. That would be horrible! The current system is necessary! But like you said, you get what you pay for. BMW dealer costs more, but you get OEM parts installed properly and warranted by trained, qualified and certified techs that HAVE done it before. At an indy, its a roll of the dice for the quality of work performed.

I'll tell you from experience, a high percentile of independent mechanics look up the fault code, and replace whatever part it says. I can't tell you how many people came to the dealer from a local independent that specializes in German cars that had an O2 sensor fault and simply got new O2 sensors installed by them. Check engine light came back on, same fault. shop didn't know what to do. Sent them to us. It is usually not a fault with the sensor itself, but something it monitors. Like "bank 2 upstream O2 sensor, mixture too lean" they put a sensor, it simply has a vacuum leak! Fix with a hose or boot. They just don't have the resources or knowledge of the system in question to properly diagnose the cause of the fault. If you found a competent indy with good techs that can actually diagnose rather than "change parts" then by all means, give them your business... they deserve it!

But hopefully you come away from this with a better understanding of how the system works, why it has to work that way, and why YOU can't change it. Maybe one day you will make friends with a tech at the dealer that has spare time and is willing to do work out of his driveway, then he can give you a better price, and you get the benifit of someone that knows what they're doing... and can teach you a few things along the way. My personal friends that use me for work love that I teach them as I do the job... they eventually call me all proud that they were able to fix something themselves without needing help. And there are 3 local independent shops that I am personal friends with the owners of, that call me for advise/help. And the occasional Saturday side job their techs can't handle.

And Damager, thanks for the help trying to explain this!

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