Automotive service advisor: a good job?

[corsvette]

My bro in law was thinking of becoming a service writer. He's a journeyman HD tech that's sick of turning wrenches (he works on oilfield vibrators) He came to me for advice but I haven't worked at a dealership since 1999. Then it seemed like a good gig and there was no turnover in staff. What kind of pay? I heard this is a commission only job.

Can anyone offer some insight?

[Type_S1]

People keep telling me these guys make such good money...I don't really know though?

[dj_rice]

I work in the Parts Dept side of a dealership and yes for Service Writer its commission based and what the Service department does for sales at the end of every month. You make most of your salary from upselling customers on services whether it be tires/flushes and repairs. So if most of your clientele is oil changes, well expect your month end cheque to be really shitty if you can't upsell anything.


As for pay, I've heard they usually take home $5K-6500K/month before tax. It all depends on the traffic of the dealership and your customer base.

[corsvette]

Thanks Dj_rice, thought maybe this would be a base + commish type job. Straight commission is kinda scary for a guy with a family and morgage. I would imagine its still a pretty consistant wage, not like the ups and downs you would see in the sales side.

[JRSC00LUDE]

My father has run a service department for years and hates it anymore but, that is a somewhat jaded opinion at this point.

That being said, a good friend of mine also did it for ten + years and also hated it....as did most of his direct coworkers. He's since moved on to Sales Manager and then just went ahead and bought out the dealership with three others but even before then, once he moved on from the service desk he said he'd never go back.

Every job is what you make it, I think that's just a position where you get tired of dealing with the same problem assholes over and over and over.....

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Some dealerships are base+ commission others are pure commission.

It's very high stress depending on the dealership. Customer reviews can make or break you in a month.

Advisors job quality differs greatly just like any job at dealerships.

Some advisors have it easy, with cashiers, customer service agents and car porters.

Other advisors have to arrange shuttles, cash out, deal with booking, deal with heat score customers. etc...


Find out the quality of workplace before starting work basically.

[Maxt]

A friend of mine told me it payed her very well, but having boobs really made her job pay better, and be a lot easier...

[HO2S]

If you go outside the dealer world, you can get a straight time no commission sa job.
very good service advisers can make $30+ an hour. Seeing that he is a hd tech, as long as he doesn't second guess the techs and try to tell them how to do there job he will do fine.
You get to deal with a whole array of different, difficult, and rude ass holes. If he has very good people skills and is a good communicator he will do good. For me, I would take a teaching job before you ever caught me at the front counter, Ive got about a hour time limit up front before I start to go crazy.

[topsecret]

I worked as a service adviser for 2 years, you do deal with your fair share of angry customers, if you don't get offended easily and have tough skin its a relatively easy job to work at, up-selling is easy all you have to do is make the customer aware of what services are due and what is required to be serviced to maintain the vehicles warranty! Generally most dealerships will have a base 3k salary (this was 5 years ago that I did this so I'm not sure if its still the same) and then bonus on top of that, at the dealership I was working at the bonus was only paid out if the overall service budget was met, so basically if one or 2 advisers don't know how to sell or have a shitty month your SOL!


That being said, it wasn't the best job I have had and it wasn't the worst, I also did car sales for a bit, however the dealership wasn't extremely busy and I couldn't stand the down time so I ended up going back to the service dept for the remainder of my time at that dealership!

[Rat Fink]

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[Tik-Tok]

Service advisers work on commission? I had no idea, but it certainly does explain why most are so fucking annoying to deal with. It's also the dumbest thing I've heard.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

It's sales, why should it be anything but commission?

Imagine an hourly realtor haha. Nothing would get sold.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Service advisers work on commission? I had no idea, but it certainly does explain why most are so fucking annoying to deal with. It's also the dumbest thing I've heard.


This is depending on the person but once they hear your car is Warranty work, they won't give you 100% service if you were paying for it yourself. Sad but true.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I service advise for a local GM dealer, I get a base wage each month and the rest is based on commission on both customer pay and warranty work at the end of each month. The job itself isn't hard, it's the hours and stress that makes it a job, as well as every customer is different and you have to learn to read them. I usually work a minimum of 10.5 hours a day and some days are 12 hours including 1 Saturday a month.

[tirebob]

I have worked with service advisers that make barely 40k a year and others that make into the 6 figures. Some shitty advisers can make great money if the company is structured that way while good advisers at others make only average wages... It depends largely on the dealership and pay structure.

It definitely can be a stressful, shitty job, especially if you don't have a thick skin, but if you are suited to it, it can be an awesome gig....

[Masked Bandit]

I have to say, after reading through all of this the job doesn't sound overly appealing to me.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
I have to say, after reading through all of this the job doesn't sound overly appealing to me.


I wanted a steady monthly salary. So I went into Parts instead :thumbsup:

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

My monthly pay is within a couple hundred month to month.

[guessboi]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
I have to say, after reading through all of this the job doesn't sound overly appealing to me.

I am with you Bill on this one.

[tirebob]

Originally posted by dj_rice



I wanted a steady monthly salary. So I went into Parts instead :thumbsup:

Think about it... A huge part of your job is dealing with people who are having a problem they were not expecting, and they are having to spend money they were not counting on spending, and a huge percentage of people can't afford driving the car they do. On top of that, a lot of the time, the expectation of cost for the job is one thing, say $500.00 for arguments sake. Well the tech starts getting into the job and finds out that there is more wrong internally than could be seen externally, so now the job is a few hundred more than you thought it would be, so now you have to go to the client and explain that it is going to be $900 now instead of $500. The customers often are already upset to begin with, and now you have to tell them it is more! You will be questioned non-stop, believed to be a scammer, called a jerk, etc etc on a regular basis. Even though you could be (and should be if you are honest) completely justified in the bill, people do not like to spend money on stuff like this, and they will let you know about it.

I grew up in a mechanical service business and have worked in it forever, and this is exactly why I don't do mechanical at my shop. I hate the headaches! lol

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Originally posted by tirebob


Think about it... A huge part of your job is dealing with people who are having a problem they were not expecting, and they are having to spend money they were not counting on spending, and a huge percentage of people can't afford driving the car they do. On top of that, a lot of the time, the expectation of cost for the job is one thing, say $500.00 for arguments sake. Well the tech starts getting into the job and finds out that there is more wrong internally than could be seen externally, so now the job is a few hundred more than you thought it would be, so now you have to go to the client and explain that it is going to be $900 now instead of $500. The customers often are already upset to begin with, and now you have to tell them it is more! You will be questioned non-stop, believed to be a scammer, called a jerk, etc etc on a regular basis. Even though you could be (and should be if you are honest) completely justified in the bill, people do not like to spend money on stuff like this, and they will let you know about it.

I grew up in a mechanical service business and have worked in it forever, and this is exactly why I don't do mechanical at my shop. I hate the headaches! lol

Yes this sort of thing happens but its not often, usually if you are quoting a big or tricky job you can over quote a bit or pre warn the customer that you might find something further when the tech gets in there.

Case in point 3/4 ton GM trucks, often I will sell rear brakes on them and I already know ahead of time a lot of them we find they have leaking rear axle seals when we get in there, so I usually let the customer know ahead of time this is what we might find in there and approximate added cost. Yeah sometimes they decide not to go ahead with brakes but at least its not a huge headache once we get in there.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Flip side to warning about axle seals, it may detour the customer from taking the job in the first place.

It's a difficult job to sell service on a vehicle. I did it for a bit and I was freaking terrible. I was too honest and spent too much time quoting exact figures out.

The best advisors can quote while the phone is ringing lol.