Do car garages work any night shifts? As HGV garages do work nights.
A car dealers could turn around lots more cars by having a team work nights on say 7 on 7 off rota, Im surprised they don't in the service industry as todays world lots more night workers like myself!, and you find supermarkets open all night.
I wouldn't expect a small indie to do it but your large car dealers surley would benfit from shifting these cars around quicker or do any or have they tried it?
Opinions please?
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Some used to, but I don't think the average garage is that busy.
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It might be OK for routine servicing, or when known work needs doing. It would possibly be good for business (drop off in evening, pick up in morning). Sourcing parts might be a problem.
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I posted this question couple of months with a title "why dealers don't do servicing on weekends" ;-) Most dealers' service dept. is closed Sunday and only half day on Saturday. I have to wait several weeks to get a Saturday appointment with any dealers in my area!
I agree that there is probably not enough demand for whole night repair work, but they can definitely take late night service bookings (say 8-10 PM) on 2 days every week.
No idea why garages don't do that.
For contractors (who get daily payment and not get paid if they don't turn up for work), odd hours appointment will be very useful.
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Can just imagine the phone call at 4am
"Oh Mr Smith, those discs and pads are worn down and your front tyres are illegal, want us to replace them"?? :)
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Probably because they will have to pay the workers more.
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"Probably because they will have to pay the workers more" Not always - I ran an evening shift of work which was an 8 hour shift of people specially brought in for the work. Told them it was just a regular day but happened to start late - they were OK with that. No pay enhancements required or expected.
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. Told them it was just a regular day but happened to
>> start late - they were OK with that. No pay enhancements required or expected.
>>
No quality mechanic or indeed any other skilled worker worth their salt would entertain the idea of working nights or weekends for day rate, and rightly so.
Next we'll be tipping our caps t'gaffer.
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>> . Told them it was just a regular day but happened to
>> >> start late - they were OK with that. No pay enhancements required or expected.
>> >>
>>
>> No quality mechanic or indeed any other skilled worker worth their salt would entertain the
>> idea of working nights or weekends for day rate, and rightly so.
>>
>> Next we'll be tipping our caps t'gaffer.
given that some people are lucky to have jobs, I think that attitude is a little outdated.
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>> given that some people are lucky to have jobs, I think that attitude is a
>> little outdated.
>>
No it's not outdated Z, in brave new Britain sold by the few to the rest of the world the rush to turn this once fine country into a far western sweat shop should be resisted at all costs.
If you really feel like that you wouldn't mind working 80 hours plus a week for a pittance till you drop dead and wouldn't be enjoying your well heeled early retirement.
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>> If you really feel like that you wouldn't mind working 80 hours plus a week
>> for a pittance till you drop dead and wouldn't be enjoying your well heeled early
>> retirement.
I worked for 40 years thank you, and some of that was 80 hours a week, and some of it was nights. I paid for my well heeled retirement.
IF a place wants to run a night shift, and guys want to work a night shift (ie not forced as part of a pattern) then there is no problem paying a standard rate. The idea of a night shift premium is becoming outdated.
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Sourcing parts might be a problem.
Not if your the main dealer as you will have them.
If they had a small team of just 5 mechanics the servicing done by day and repair work by night it would clear the workshop on day shift.
Hgv get done by night as do Trains when there not in use car dealers should look into new ways of dealing with customers better service.
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Night shift rate is approx £2k at our place over regular days, plus puts your overtime rate up. so not bad & gives you more flexability during the afternoons to get things done at home.
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gordonbennet has the answer but obviously lots of people in this country want to put their fingers in their ears stamp their feet and go na na na im not listening
give me strength, working on cars is done by individuals who have a passion for cars ,they dont do it for the rewards,then they get married.what wife wants her man spannering an import at 2 in the morning?
come on.............
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The VW, and it's next door neighbour the Audi garage in Aylesbury (Keith Garages?) used to do a shift system. I believe it was an early and late shift, although it could have been 24 hours.
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>>what wife wants her man
>> spannering an import at 2 in the morning?
The kind that's got a bit on the side, until man no.1 goes home early and finds a nasty surprise :)
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Often wondered, how long does a service actually take in a workshop environment ? Assuming no unforseen problems of course. I usually drop my car off early in the morning and collect it at close of business but I'm just curious to know if it could actually be a "while you wait" thing if the business was organised enough ?
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>>Often wondered...
Owing to the bonus system, the onus is on the mechanic to look for and exploit every possible efficiency.
Back when I worked in adealer's workshop, the book time for a large service on a Vauxhall [every 18,000, with a smaller service at 9,000 intervals] was 1.6 hours. This would take about an hour. With front pads, and strip clean, lube and adjust rear brakes [an extra], the service would take about 1 hour 20 minutes. For a mechanic to do 5 services per day was not unusual.
A straight oil change had a book time of 0.5 hours, and typically, I would do two in just over 10 minutes.
Brake pads were given 0.7 hours, and could be done in less than ten minutes, assuming the car is already on the ramp.
Note how the time allowance for pads was very generous, thus encouraging mechanics to check carefully for pad wear on every car which went onto his ramp!
The time allowances for fault finding, on the other hand, were awful, and this encouraged mechanics to simply plump for something - anything!, to get the car off his ramp.
To reduce creative accounting, there was a clock in the workshop which you stamped on and off the job card.
I was one of the slower, more careful mechanics in the workshop!
Last edited by: Number_Cruncher on Thu 9 Sep 10 at 22:35
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well NC
as swiss would say it takes a long time to crank up an Italian icon, so double time is much appreciated
of course showing an alfa suds the correct way to change gear in syn chromatic order took lots of road hours
pity the man that worked at vauxhall doing window winder duties on shuffits ;-)
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>> A straight oil change had a book time of 0.5 hours, and typically, I would do two in just over 10 minutes
In a dealer environment, would the sump plug be removed, then left to drain for an hour or more while the fitter worked on another car? Or would the oil be drained until 90% empty then refilled?
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>>shuffits ;-)
Nasty awful things BB - I'd put them entirely from mind - I'm going to struggle getting off to sleep now! Thanks!
>>Or would the oil be drained until 90% empty then refilled?
If you're lucky, the oil will be left to drain while the machanic takes the job card back to the office to get the customer's agreement for the extra work.
The mechanic won't wait for an answer, he'll drop the list off, and get back to doing the service itself - to make the most bonus, you look for the extra work first, so there's more chance you'll get the go-ahead while the car's still on the ramp with its wheels already off.
Working on cars on a DIY basis, or in an old fashioned garage where bills are based on time taken rather than book timings is much less stressful!
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>>
>> Brake pads were given 0.7 hours, and could be done in less than ten minutes,
>> assuming the car is already on the ramp.
>>
>> Note how the time allowance for pads was very generous, thus encouraging mechanics to >> check carefully for pad wear on every car which went onto his ramp!
>>
Mercedes itemise out removing and refitting the road wheels and they charged their own service organisation £23 (ex-VAT) for that for 2 wheels when my pads where last changed, so that's probably at least 15mins at normal rates.
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The simple answer is that there is no demand for it. If there was someone would be doing it
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There are many workers for whom nightshift suits them, primarily for childcare.
Wife works 9 to 5 so leaves at 8. Hubby finishes at 7 home for half past. Gets kids out to school then sleeps till its pick up time.
A regular pattern for many many families.
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Not overly keen on the thought of someone working on my car who's knackered.
With the best will in the world night shifts are tiring. I know I did them for long enough!. Takes 3 to 4 nights to start to get used to your body clock being reversed.
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Not overly keen on the thought of someone working on my car who's knackered.
Yes but you trust your car to the mechanic who was in the pub last night till 1 am to fix your brakes and steering don't you?
You think they don't have a life out of work? Wrong there in the pub but your night man yes he may be tired after the 2nd shift is sober as he's to drive home in the morning.!!
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>> The simple answer is that there is no demand for it. If there was someone
>> would be doing it
>>
You could easily create a demand for it. Drop off at night, pick up in the morning would suit anyone who needed their car for work during the day, me for one.
However, whether the increased cost would make it prohibitive would be another matter. No-one would work nights without an increase in pay.
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Those wanting night shift working on their car - how would you react to the 'phone call at 01:30 asking if it's OK to put new pads and disks on?
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Car garages working the night shift? - Bill Payer
