Called 7 different motorcycle dealers trying to get a simple state inspection. All of them are a few weeks waiting list due to a shortage of mechanics. Same story on garages, no one offers inspections because they can;t keep qualified mechanics.
So if you are considering a degree from MMI, do it, hurry up, and move to Pittsburgh!
Or be an apprentice and get paid to learn instead of paying out the nose? 
What state are you in?
In MD bikes can be inspected at most any service station w/ a MD inspector.
If you know a good one, they won't fail you for no grab strap on a single seat bike, or missing fork leg reflectors.
Tell the cheapass owners to pay people decently. 
Ranger50 wrote: Tell the cheapass owners to pay people decently.
Yup. Ditch flat rate and the techs will beat a path to your door. Then you can pick and choose.
DrBoost wrote:Ranger50 wrote: Tell the cheapass owners to pay people decently.Yup. Ditch flat rate and the techs will beat a path to your door. Then you can pick and choose.
That doesn't get you good techs, though. I worked flat rate for many years. The really good guys are the ones to stay because they can make a lot of money. It's the zero's that can't make money on flat rate. Well, those and beginners.
Wow. I got my bike inspected just this week at a local Suzuki dealer. I rolled right in and they had it done in 15 minutes.
bravenrace wrote:DrBoost wrote:That doesn't get you good techs, though. I worked flat rate for many years. The really good guys are the ones to stay because they can make a lot of money. It's the zero's that can't make money on flat rate. Well, those and beginners.Ranger50 wrote: Tell the cheapass owners to pay people decently.Yup. Ditch flat rate and the techs will beat a path to your door. Then you can pick and choose.
If you ditch the flat rate, all techs will beat a path to your door. Then you can pick and chose. I've worked at a dealership and an independent shop. The dealer would only let two techs specialize. I think they had pics of the owner and a donkey or something. They got the gravy, everybody else got the warranty work. They made 6-figures, everybody else at the time made 30K or so. The best techs (or us "zero's" I guess) at that dealership are all out of the wrenching game. We're writing manuals, instructing, developing training, anything but wrenching.
I had little control over how much I made. If I hustled, I'd get to do another warranty repair that would pay 50% of the CP time. Or stand around making nothing, waiting for another oil change that paid .3 hours but took .5.
Then I went to an independent shop. I was paid hourly plus a commission based on billable hours. That shop had top-notch techs that were happy. Happy techs make happy customers. Happy customers make happy owners. Happy owners make happy techs.
I deal with techs regularly. I would say, 1% of them want to keep flat rate around, the guys with the donkey show pics.
^ that sounds like every General Motors dealership I worked at. Shop foreman and specialty techs make 100k a year while everyone else is left for the scraps and crap work. At least when I worked at Honda I could still make money off of warranty work just because most of it got to the point where you could knock it out pretty fast.
That being said - one of those GM dealerships is now out of business. The other I just heard increased labor rates and decreased flat rate time for techs. I.e. an oil change only pays .2 vs. .3. Rotate pays .3 instead of .4; balance 4 tires .7 instead of 1.0; etc. They proceeded to tell the techs they needed to do that to stay competitive. Competitive with what? The amount of money the big wigs spend vs. what they bring in?
All of this kind of crap is exactly what drove me out of the car industry into the world of IT and boi racer cars.
And honestly I'm sure its the same reason bike shops are backed up as well.
I've never worked as a billable hour tech, but I have worked billable hours, and that's the most stupid and ridiculous way to compensate somebody for work on the planet.
If/when I ever open a shop, I'm paying my techs straight hourly (at a rate they are actually worth - ie: good) and doing the same to the customer, just like every other berkeleying business that doesn't involve claims or lawyers.
If it it takes a minute to check your air pressures, it's on the house. If it takes 8 hours to do your clutch because every bolt is rusty, then that's what what you get charged and the tech makes.
The local garage I use does this for all non-insurance work, and they have a line of people waiting to get in and the techs never leave. They just did their third expansion.
That's interesting, I started reading a thread about a lack of motorcycle inspection stations and ended up in a thread about how being a dealer tech sucks. Wonder how that happened.
In reply to moparman76_69:
You expect any thread in this forum to stay on topic? We can't even do that on the GGA thread! 
moparman76_69 wrote: That's interesting, I started reading a thread about a lack of motorcycle inspection MECHANICS and ended up in a thread about how being a dealer tech sucks. Wonder how that happened.
FTFY. So, it is still on topic.
Ranger50 wrote: Tell the cheapass owners to pay people decently.
Amen brother, amen!
I actually went to school to be a motorcycle mechanic, and I don't see how anyone can make a living at, unless daddy owns the dealership or you run a successful indie shop.
The last bike shop that I worked in (back in 1994) didn't pay flat rate, but another Tech sabotaged my work (to get me fired) when the season was slowing down so that he'd have enough work for himself. Scumbags.
Its a tough job in a few ways : A large percentage if the customers are enthusiasts with just enought knowledge to be dangerous, and they want to tell you how to fix or tune their bikes, or they second guess your work and recommendations.
Since they are basically toys, people try not to budget any money for anything beyond basic maintenance, so when an expensive problem comes up, they will wait 3 months to tell you they cant afford to fix it, after you've already spent X hours in diagnosis.
.
bravenrace wrote: That doesn't get you good techs, though. I worked flat rate for many years. The really good guys are the ones to stay because they can make a lot of money. It's the zero's that can't make money on flat rate. Well, those and beginners.
Thank you for calling this previous "master tech" that couldn't make any money for the 100% warranty RO's I received to work on a "zero". That leads to all the gravy going elsewhere as someone has 6-10 warranty RO's open. Yet, I work my berkeleying 40 hrs/wk spinning wrenches for 18hrs of pay. berkeley YOU.
Wow, lots of heat.
In reply to pinchvalve:
Hey Pinch, if you want to take a 5 or so hour ride east I have a couple local guys that can inspect your bike. Don't have any contacts out your way. Sorry.
Moparman, sorry man. I shouldnt have gone there.
Ranger, thats exactly what i was thinking. To call every starving tech thats not new a zero is an insult
pinchvalve wrote: Called 7 different motorcycle dealers trying to get a simple state inspection. All of them are a few weeks waiting list due to a shortage of mechanics. Same story on garages, no one offers inspections because they can;t keep qualified mechanics. So if you are considering a degree from MMI, do it, hurry up, and move to Pittsburgh!
Do the police in Pittsburgh actually look at motorcycle inspection stickers? 'Cause they sure as hell don't look at car stickers around Philly...
I should have mentioned that 3-4 other shops/dealerships never even returned my call or responded to my online "Service Request". How are you in business?!?
I ended up going to my usual dealership, who offers a walk-in anytime inspection service. (although it was 45 min the wrong direction for me. Grrr) The bad news is that they can't actually handle a walk-in anytime service. Oh, did we say that we are open till 8? Yeah, not service. We go home at 6. And the one inspection guy tends to go home even earlier. No reason to put that on the website or tell you on the phone. Sorry. Ugh.
The good news is that is that it didn't matter anyway. My front tire was below spec and would fail so they just skipped it. 5500 miles and it looked good to me. Grrrrr.
$200 and another week or two and I'll be legal again. And no, no one ever checks. The whole system is asinine.
In reply to DrBoost:
Just making an observation. There is a reason I didn't choose to become a mechanic. I'd never be able to deal with flat rate, and don't have the acumen to open my own shop.
In reply to pinchvalve:
But it's only to save you from yourself.
I really want to come in here and go off like an A-10 Warthog. But I ("zero" ) will think about this overnight.
In reply to DrBoost:
That may be your experience, and that's fine. In my experience, the techs that beat down your door to work hourly are the ones that can't cut it with flat rate. The good techs are all working flat rate making 60-80 hours pay in a 40 hour week. I started out hourly, then went flat rate and barely made a living, then got better and ended up making a killing on flat rate. I have many old buddy's that are still doing that today, and would never go back. But to do that you need to be really good, not just fast, because comebacks don't pay anything.
In reply to bravenrace:
I'm glad it's working out for you. I know of very few techs that are happy with flat rate. Like I said, the best techs I know were driven out of the dealership because they couldn't make enough money. Now they are making 40 hours a week for 40 hours a week of time. The ones that loved it were fed the gravy and nothing else and/or were screwing Chrysler and the customer at every turn.
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