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Comment by carefulfungi | Hacker News Reader

> The dealership then pays mechanics an hourly wage ($20+, fairly high for well certified master mechanics) and assumes that the hours listed on the job from the manufacturer are accurate, leaving the mechanic to take the risk if it goes over.

What's the mechanic's risk? Are they only paid on the pre-estimated labor time?

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It's not an hourly rate as in if you work 5 hours you are paid for 5 hours of labor. You are paid $20+ an hour based on the expected time to complete the job, with a price floor of minimum wage. If a job should take 3 hours and you take one, congrats, you made money. If the job should take 3 hours and it takes a full day, sucks to be you, you get paid for 3 hours. If the job should take 3 hours and you wait 2 hours for a part, you get paid 3 horus.

It's almost like a hairdresser as well, as they usually need to buy many of their own tools.

Well, if mechanic is present on the workplace all day, they must get paid at least a minimum wage per day, regardless of any estimates or even if there's any work at all.

It's employer's problem, employer never wants to pay workers less than minumum wage per hour, and loading them with work is manager's job.

But I doubt mechanics want minumum wage, especially since it's not keeping up with inflation.

Just make sure you understand that minimum wage is only for W2s. Shops likely dont only us employee labor and likely treat their mechanics and contractors often enough.

Then autoshops are exposed to the risk that mechanics report/sue them for "employee misclassification" and unpaid wages. Employers are better always pay at least minimum wage, even for 1099s, otherwise more incentive for workers to report them.

Of course many are ok being exposed to that risk, depends on the jobs. Also there's tips that help employers avoiding the unpaid wages. However, worker must report the tips received, and if they received less tips to cover the minimum wage, then employer must pay employee the difference (so the total pay would be at least min wage).

I saw that restaurant owners pay at least min wage even to illegal workers who don't even have SSNs. I assumed that unpaid wages is more serious than hiring illegally.

> Then autoshops are exposed to the risk that mechanics report/sue them for "employee misclassification" and unpaid wages.

I don't think that is a very high risk for the "employer". There's a reason that things like this go on for so long: https://www.epi.org/publication/employers-steal-billions-fro...

Those billions are just the reported amounts.

Yes, but if you are one of Uber/Lyft drivers you're less likely to receive anything from reporting them than if you're one of only 5 mechanics in an auto shop. Auto shop owner does not have an army of lawyers to drag the case.

>Are they only paid on the pre-estimated labor time?

That's more or less it.

Maybe they should unionize.

Mechanics don't have to work for the dealership. If the dealership isn't paying them well, they can go work for an independent shop, which is exactly what's happening.

Getting paid the book rate is an advantage to the mechanic because then they still get the full rate if they're more efficient at their job, which is an advantage to everybody. As long as the book rate is reasonable. And if it isn't then they don't take the job, which isn't a problem for the mechanics, it's a problem for Ford.

Yep I know a few mechanics and all of them who worked at dealerships have gone independent. Either started their own shop, or are working for a non-dealer shop.

A mechanic getting $20/hr is crazy. Shops charge the customer $100+ per hour for labor. Of course they have overhead, but many people don't realize that mechanics buy their own tools.

You can earn $20 flipping burgers.

This, plus they get used to the non-warranty rate, so when they have to warranty work at the lower rate, they feel cheated.

For years, it was difficult to hire licensed mechanics at Hyundai dealerships due to the massive recall of the 2.4L engine. Since Hyundai had to eat the losses of offering a lifetime warranty to owners of that engine, recalls and product improvements, mechanics bore some of that financial burden when Hyundai provided a low labor rate to them. They would spend days swapping an engine and watch a lube lane mechanic out earn them.

I despise the idea of leasing, but in a world where nothing is built to last any more, there may not be much of a choice for people just trying to get from point A to point B.

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