SHOPSMART AUTOS – CUSTOMER INFORMATION – NOVEMBER 29, 2021 – Part 1
Some techs leave dealerships for the flexibility, pay of mobile platforms
Experienced technicians are quitting franchised dealerships and other brick-and-mortar facilities to join mobile service companies such as YourMechanic to deliver mostly light repairs and maintenance at a customer’s home or office. Circumstances vary for why technicians join the YourMechanic online platform, says CEO Anthony Rodio. The company estimates more than 30 percent of its techs previously worked at dealerships. Some middle-aged techs for YourMechanic say they want to make more money per hour, work fewer hours and have more flexible schedules. Others complain about the pressure at dealerships to sell additional services to customers. A few of the older techs want out of the dealership environment to cut down on the wear and tear that turning wrenches can take on their bodies.
Pryke: Physical work takes toll “It does catch up with you physically, when you’re wrenching,” says Peter Pryke, 60, an experienced mobile tech in the Phoenix area who also works as a YourMechanic coach.
Plenty of experience
Rodio says YourMechanic requires five years of experience and at least one certification from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. In fact, the average experience level is 10-plus years and multiple ASE certifications, he says. The average age of technicians on the platform is late 30s to early 40s, Rodio says, but there are “plenty” in their 50s — and older. He says YourMechanic only hires experienced hands because it’s not set up to train or supervise green techs. “Because of the nature of what we do, we need experienced techs,” he says. “We can’t have an apprentice model or a service manager or foreman to show somebody the ropes and train them.”
Rodio also says YourMechanic is attractive to older dealership techs who may have “priced themselves out of the market — or at least in the view of a dealership, maybe.” “They are not getting raises. They are looking for ways to make more money,” he says. Robert Bietz, 52, a mobile mechanic who works out of Bedford, Texas, near Fort Worth, says the pay with YourMechanic is good. He has worked in auto repair for about 22 years, including at new-vehicle dealerships. “At a dealership, it usually works out to $20 or $30 an hour,” he says. At YourMechanic, “I’m at $48.” The company says its compensation tops out at $70 per hour.
Gig workers
YourMechanic, of Mountain View, Calif., has been in business since 2012. Since the spring of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly increased consumer demand for mobile service, Rodio says. YourMechanic’s platform lets consumers book appointments online. It matches the customer’s description of the problem with the availability of a local technician with the appropriate skill level, and the system automatically orders the necessary parts — mostly from aftermarket providers. YourMechanic doesn’t provide the service itself. It has assembled a network of more than 1,000 technicians who work independently in more than 30 states. Its technicians are gig workers, like Uber drivers. They set their own hours and provide their own vehicle and tools. The company says they have worked at franchised dealerships, independent used-car dealerships, aftermarket service providers and also on their own.
Flexibility
Rodio says YourMechanic techs also want more flexibility. “They want the ability to be their own boss and set their own hours,” Rodio says. “That appeals to people as they get older.”
Keith Canete, operations manager for YourMechanic, says techs should make themselves available for at least 15 hours per week.
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