Motorcycle Machanic Question

Hey All. Hope you all are doin fine. A drink for the house on me!!!
I have a basic question concerning working as a motorcycle machanic. I
am thinking of enrolling into the MMI Harley program. I know that
beginning mechanics don't make that much starting out. Can anyone tell
me if motorcycle dealers work like car dealerships in regard to flat
hourly rate for mechanics. What I mean is that if a repair is
estimated at 3 hours, and the mechanic completes the job in 2, does the
machanic get paid for the 3 hours?
I have a friend at an auto dealership and he get paid on the estimated
job time, not actual repair time. Thanks all.

 

My son's at MMI Phoenix in the Harley program now. The projected
beginning earning rate for a new grad is just around 25k/yr based on
their placements. If you call the school, they're pretty honest about
the info they give and the programs they offer.

As to the dealer pay rates, it can depend on the dealer and location.
One mech I know got a % of the book rate for each job completed, time
didn't matter- if he finished early, he just got free money. Different
job, he got base hourly rate, and at a third place they paid by the
job/hr so a book job of 3 hrs if he finished in 2 he only got 2 hrs pay,
although the customer was CHARGED the full 3hr book rate, but he never
got extra if the job went over the estimated book time.

hope this helps- good luck,
Proud dad to a MMI student

 

No, he doesn't. But the dealer charges for three hours.

 

My son's at MMI Phoenix in the Harley program now. The projected

Thanks for the info. I will be contacting MMI this week.

 

Thanks. That sucks. Planning a possible career change that will
result in a pretty big pay cut. Just thought that if my question was
the case, a pretty good tech can make decent money if he worked fast.

 

The whole idea is that some jobs will require longer if the mechanic
runs into trouble, so the time allowed is more. That way the mechanic
and the $hop are actually getting paid for NOT WORKING!

And, the $tealer$hip$ will even $tack flat rate charge$ onto customer$
con$ecutively in order to make money for the $hop.

One guy complained to me that he needed to have a different tire
installed on his Harley, he didn't like whatever tire it came with. And
he also wanted to have custom twisted spokes laced into the wheel.

The $tealer$hip charged him a flat rate for removing the wheels
*twice*, once to change the tire and once to install the new spokes,
even though the wheel was only removed the one time.

He was really pissed off over that deal, even though he was a wealthy
contractor with money to burn. He owned FIVE new Harleys at the same
time, he just had to have every new Harley that he saw on the showroom
floor back in the days that riders ordered a Harley two years before
they ever got it and the $tealer$hips were auctioning them off to the
highest bidder.

With over $100,000 worth of Harleys in his possession, this cheap$kate
worried about being overcharged on a flat rate job, just as if HE
didn't pad his own estimates for building construction so HE would make
money if it rained and he couldn't work.

 

It is a rip at the dealer for sure!! I have to admit, I was the same
way when I first started out, paying a fortune for small jobs. Then
when I started doing stuff myself and realized how easy alot of stuff
actually is. Now I do pretty much everything but engine work myself. I
am the process of building a bike myself and hope to get to the point
of doing everything myself.
A friend of mine had a dent in his front rim and took his bike to the
dealer, against my suggestion, for new tires. They called him and said
they could not replace the tire cause the rim was dented. Even though
they had replaced his last two tires on the same rim!! He had to buy a
new rim from them. If he wanted the bike bak the way it was, they would
charge him the labor for removing and remounting the rim and he could
not drive the bike out of the dealer. He would have to push it off
their property first!!

 

A lot of places - in my country, at least - have menu servicing. That
is, a 6,000 mile service will cost £x, plus parts, and take x time. Like
car dealers.

All manufacturers quote fixed times and fixed rates for warranty work
(obviously the customer doesn't pay). SO, for example, replacing a
worn-out camshaft might be timed at 2 hours and 15 minutes, multiplied
by whatever the hourly rate for warranty work is.

Some dealers work faster, and if they can get the job done in less time,
they can still claim the full rate for the job.

The trouble is that there is *severe* pressure on workshops to be
productive, and over-sharging for time spent is commonplace. I have
heard of mechanics routinely having their time billed at 65 hours or
more a week, when in fact they may work 40-50 hours. A bit like lawyers,
then.

It can swing both ways. if you're doing a job on a car, the oily bits
are usually not covered in layers of baked-on road cack and there won't
be half a dozen mullered fasteners and other damaged components where
the owner has tried to fix it himself before handing it into the
experts.

I'm sure we've all known ten-minute jobs that have stretched into
hours....

A while back, someone I know was asking my opinion on starting up in
business as a mobile mechanic, servicing bikes in london while their
owners worked. I pointed out that the investment would be considerable.
Also, he could not possibly do the job alone because there are always
times when you need a second pair of hands, either to lift something
heavy or (at the least) to hold one end of a bolt while you undo the
nut.

 

Oh, the stories I can tell about fraudulent practices at $tealer$hips
and car repair places.

Examples are the guy who wanted to rebuilt my car's transmission when I
just need u-joints, the brake mechanic who pumped my disk brake pedal
and told me that my caliper was frozen, or the guy who wanted to change
my anti-freeze when my car failed a smog test!

I also remember taking my plugged-up radiator to a radiator shop to
have it rodded out. The first guy I took it to said that the radiator
couldn't be repaired, that it leaked. I said that it didn't leak. He
wanted to prove to me that it leaked by *making it leak* by applying
high pressure air to it. I took my radiator back and called him an
asshole to his face. He was yelling "You da asshole!" and giving me the
finger as I drove away.

Another guy a few blocks away repaired my radiator without trying to
screw me.

After we hang all the lawyers, we can start on the $tealer$hip $ervice
Writer$ who tell us that we really should have this $ervice or that
$ervice performed, if only for "peace of mind".

The auto $tealer$hips lure the senior citizens into their con jobs with
coupons promising low-priced auto maintenance.

One senior citizen I knew took his car to the $tealer$hip thinking he
could save money by using a coupon for an oil change. The $tealer$hip
did a full 15,000 mile service and charged him for that.

He asked, "What's this coupon good for, then?" The $ervice Writer said,
"Oh, you said for us to do a lube job, you didn't say you had the oil
change coupon."

That same $tealer$hip did *three* 15,000 mile services on the guys car
withing the first 15,000 miles!

And they probably told the guy that he had to do it that way so he
wouldn't sue them if he got into an accident. $tealer$hips are so
afraid of being sued they will only perform
certain procedure$ that involve replacing questionable part$ with OEM
parts. They won't even install an inner tube into a low-mileage
tubeless tire that's been punctured so the rider can get his money's
worth out of the serviceable tire.

I don't go anywhere near a $tealer$hip, except to order engine parts
that I can't get anywhere else.

 

Yep, you got it. Now that my wife's and my bikes are off warranty, I
would rather give the work I can't do to a local bike repair shop. I'd
rather help them stay in business and almost always get a better
job......

 

All I can say to you is this:
Do it because you love to do it ,because I have seen too many people
making alot of money but they hate their job with a passion ,while
others make a lil money and they can't wait to get going to work ,plus
you don't necessarily need to stay with just a harley dealership just
stay with them for a few years and do some work on the side while your
there to get yourself a good reputation with the customers that way when
you goto a indy shop your former customers will come looking for you .
Good luck with your new career

 

As good a reason as any, IMHO.

A few months ago, my Ma asked me what I'd have done had I not wound up
in my present career - which I love, by the way.

"A mechanic," I replied.

 

I'm wondering how they would have kept me from riding my motorcycle off
their lot.

 

You hit the nail right on the head Badaztek!!! My story is a bit
strange. People think I freakin nuts.
I am 43 years old and a computer professional. I make close to 6
figures which gave me the opportunity to get into bikes in the first
place. So I don't regret to path I chose. At least not until the last
few years. I am at the point where I am embarrassed to admit I am part
of corporate America. It is such a collection of no life, back
stabbing, kiss ass losers on the planet. I refuse to play the game
anymore. Motorcycles have given me a way to escape the corporate pit.
My office is filled with motorcycle stuff and pictures of my friends
and trips. One day one of the dicks here is in my office and makes a
crack that I am a biker and hang out with biker types. I snapped right
back that I would rather be in a room full of bikers than room full of
plastic, ass-kissing, gutless losers like him. He hasn't talked to me
since. HeHe.....
Sorry, got off topic for a sec. Anyway, I am questioning my dreams of
getting into the motorcycle industry. Mostly due to my age and the
massive loss of salary. But, I can not image the feeling of getting up
in the morning and looking forward to going to work.
I called MMI and talked to a recruiter. I think he fell off his chair
when he asked me when I would be graduating high school and I told him
that I graduated in 1984!!!!
Thanks again BadAz.......

 

derch, I admire you. I also work in the computer field, and recently
it seems my department is much more concerned with doing what's right
for us rather than doing what we need to do to assist our users to be
of the greatest service to our customers. Because of that I'm looking
at early retirement. I'll be 62 in a few years, and I'm paying enough
additional principal on debt to be totally out of debt by then. My
plan is to try to get a part time job to supplement my social security,
and I'd love for that to be at a motorcycle shop. My best wishes to
you.

Hey, even if you do decide that you don't want to make your living as a
mechanic, look what you've done for your hobby.

 

That reminds me of where I last worked in aerospace and electronics.
This company was big in microwave ovens, radar systems, and submarines,
if that gives you a clue as to who I'm talking about. I asked my boss
for some cooperation and he said,
"Just play The Game."

They had a $15 billion contract to supply America's Middle Eastern
Surrogate Power with a C-cubed system for controlling the air defense
of their capital city before the first gulf war.

Nope. It wasn't capable of shooting down Scuds. And the Iraqis never
tried assaulting our "ally" with aircraft.

The company expected another $15 billion follow-on contract, but never
got it because they performed so poorly on the first contract.

So, they laid off everybody except the core executives and got a
different contract and I suppose all the top executives and high level
management are back at their old tricks, hiding in their offices in the
morning and taking four hour lunches at a cocktail lounge in the
afternoon and inviting the customer reps to party with them.

 

I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the positive feedback and
I hope you all the best of luck in your near futures as for me I start
back to school in a few weeks to learn machine trades ,I myself I am 34
and I regret not doing this years ago so I'm doing this now because if I
don't I never will .
B-I-K-E-R-S,F-A-M-I-L-Y hmm same number of letters ,coincidence I don't
think so

 

Best of luck to you as well. Maybe we will cross paths in the future,
while we are doing what we love to do.....That's a great thought..

 

I had a friend years ago who started medical school in his 30s. People
commented how old he'd be when he became a doctor, and his response was
"Those years will pass regardless, and I'll either be a doctor or I
won't." I've lost track of him, but I bet he's a helluva doctor ;o)

 

I was a head mechanic at a landscape company till it went out. I would
never go work for dealer or the local shops, they are the same as dealers
around here because they start at dealers. I'm old school. Ether I do it
right or not at all. So they would never give a job, allot of them new me.
And must them don't know SO^%*&. So I tried
to open my own shop, they start giving a bad rap. What is real bad is, I
went to have the valves adjusted. And I waited and waited. Then I herd some
say just him, it was my friend. Then he said ^%&*^ ask him you could learn
something. I'm like what was going on. My friend wasn't going do he
admitted he couldn't do. So the guy called me back. Look at me like he
was going to fall over. Then said Mr. Miller could you please tell me how
to set the valves? So to be nice I gave a quit overview and tools needed
for the job. And was still stumped. So much for that patch they wear. But
they say they work imports do it all the time. It was a import shop. The
car was from Germany, all German. It was a VW Scirocco. If it wasn't for
my friend how knows. People still want me to work on their cars and
motorcycles. So be The best mechanic you can be. Don't be like them.
Faith and trust goe's a long way. Good Luck.