This may seem controversial, but my take on the industry wide “technician shortage” is that techs just don’t want to work for dealerships anymore. I’m trying not to come off harsh, but if you happen to have caught wind of the latest conversations about technicians in the auto industry, you would learn that the current hot topic is the difference in pay (to the technician) based on whether or not the job is covered under warranty.
Right now, there are technicians challenging the manufacturers posted book time for the jobs they perform and, depending on who’s paying for it, the pay to the technician is different. The techs are aware of this, but the principle is that the job is the same, but if the manufacturer is paying then it can be up to 50-70 percent less than if a customer was paying.
Over my years at various BMW dealerships, this topic has arisen on occasion. But the times were different. There was plenty of work to do and California was rolling out their double min-wage law which made dealerships adjust their pay structures since mechanics were subject to double min-wage pay should they provide their own tools. Which we all did. Therefore, dealerships adjusted pay plans to make it based on productivity. As long as you were over a certain amount of minimum productivity, then you got to keep your job and pay. But if you fall below that minimum productivity threshold, for too long, it usually resulted in demotion or termination.
In my experience this happens often and every dealership handles it differently. The theory behind it is that it keeps technicians moving to ensure they meet production goals the dealership can count on. This theory works as long as work keeps coming in and every technician has a fair shot at making a pay check. The truth is that they don’t.
The dealership cannot guarantee that it will always have enough work for every technician to make a living. And every technician trying to make a living at a dealership, does not know for sure if they will be able to make enough until the work hits their stall. So, what happens in times when it’s slow? Or if things happen out of the technician’s control, such as part delays or technical blockages that require extra time? The technician suffers. They take the brunt of it because the system is designed to put it on the technician, since they are the ones touching the car. But they are also constantly tasked to produce and upsell work. What happens here is that the technician is asked to do more, but is not compensated for the extra logistical time that it takes. So, imagine a world of no excuses, that’s what the dealership expects from its technicians that are required to produce no matter what.
My point is that if the industry is that good to work in, there wouldn’t be a shortage. You would have techs of various ages and ranges of experience to handle any and all BMWs that come through the door. When was the last time someone was able to bring in a pre-1990 BMW to a dealership and there was someone there that knew exactly how to work on it? Those techs, for the most part, are gone. And service departments have basically been structured for everything to come down on the technician. In the service department, nothing gets done unless the technicians get it done. Yet they are constantly battling for fair pay, consistent work, a place to rely on to make a living, and overall, a place they are happy to come to every day. But the only thing the dealership really cares about is production. Thus, we have the technician shortage. The manufacturers say they are not training new technicians as fast as ones move on to something else or retire. But as someone who did 20 years at the dealership, I can honestly tell you that the technician shortage is not going away, and is only going to get worse.
