Wow, I think they should be but my gut feeling is no, that’s the reason why we see so many dealer horror stories here. I’ve got absolutely zero experience working in motorcycle shops but I do have the past 31 years of my life working in GM dealers as a master tech there. I can tell you unfortunately it’s all about speed and profit sometimes. Techs are paid by the job and not the hour... that’s why so many stories of no problem found when forum members take their bikes in. Simply put, if there’s no obvious issue the tech will stop there. They aren’t paid for digging to find a problem. Example, “whatever” sensor pays half hour labor to replace but may take 2 hours to reproduce that intermittent failure. Tech is only paid that half hour even though they have 2.5 hours invested. Not fair but that’s the way it works. Very few techs will dig for that intermittent problem! The good ones will but they few and far between. That brings up another problem.... the good ones, certified and trained, bring a higher rate than the others.
Why does that matter? When you bring your bike in for service, oil change, inspection, tires etc it most likely will NOT go to that top trained tech. Service writers are paid bonuses to keep their “effective labor rate” down and this is done by giving lower skilled jobs to lower skilled techs (as a result of lower skills they are paid lower rates). Thus, that hundred dollar an hour rate is worth more to the service advisor if they give your bike to a $20 per hour tech as opposed to a $35 per hour tech... that’s just the way the pay system works.
The lower paid (and less trained) tech has ZERO incentive to increase training because, if they do, all they will get is more difficult jobs. Keep the training low and all they get is oil changes, brakes, tires etc.
Just offering some insight....
Why does that matter? When you bring your bike in for service, oil change, inspection, tires etc it most likely will NOT go to that top trained tech. Service writers are paid bonuses to keep their “effective labor rate” down and this is done by giving lower skilled jobs to lower skilled techs (as a result of lower skills they are paid lower rates). Thus, that hundred dollar an hour rate is worth more to the service advisor if they give your bike to a $20 per hour tech as opposed to a $35 per hour tech... that’s just the way the pay system works.
The lower paid (and less trained) tech has ZERO incentive to increase training because, if they do, all they will get is more difficult jobs. Keep the training low and all they get is oil changes, brakes, tires etc.
Just offering some insight....
