Do you ever tip your mechanic?

I'm having a ton of work done on my VW Jetta and so far it's taken since 10 this morning to now, 4pm. I had several things that needed done including: fixing a door that stopped latching, new timing belt, new water pump, checking the breaks, and fixing the power steering. It's impossible to find mechanics that will work on VW because they are so small and put together differently. For example if I need to do something as simple as changing a head light I have to unhook my battery and take it out of the car just to reach one of the lights. To change my timing belt and water pump he literally had to take just about EVERYTHING out from under my hood, that's why it took so long.

This mechanic has always been AWESOME to me and treated me great. He shops around looking for the best prices on parts and doesn't charge me anything for estimates or finding the problem. In fact, I moved an hour away and will drive that far just to have him look at my car. The VW dealership was going to charge me $50 just to look at my door that wasn't shutting and then another $75+ for the part (and most likely another $50 for labor, but they left that out). Guess how much my mechanic charged me? $10 TOTAL for the door not latching correctly! If he can fix something he fixes it or gets only the smallest part he needs rather than the entire mechanism.

Well anyway, my bill for all those hours and parts AND the hours it will take on Friday once another part gets there is: $750 If you have any idea of car parts and paying for a few hours of work you know that is a FANTASTIC deal! I feel like I should give him a tip for being so awesome to me.

Do you ever tip your mechanic, and do they get to keep the tip if they are in a small shop?

My mechanic is right next door to my office... and he is like you said... always willing to go the extra mile to take care of you. On christmas I always stop by with a case of beer for the 3 guys in the shop and that seems to be a good thank you for their help. It is always received with a smile. There has been a couple times where I was in a bind (keys locked in, blown elctric relays) and he has come through for me with no charge. Not to mention since I work next door...He is willing to do work an d let me pay him when I can. I would say yes... I think they appreciate the small gestures of gratitude.

I tip my mechanic all the time. I give him kisses and make him special meals, and a few other things. OK He is my husband.

Dam I never get kissed! Tips sometimes but I work where the labor rate is $98.10 a hour,but I don't get paid that wish I did ! i do side work & charge $35 to $45 a hour & do get a little extra from people because its half of what they would spend at the dealer.

I always seem to have new vehicles which are always under warranty. All my vehicles are serviced regularly at the dealership so I never have any problems. I do tip the guy who details them though :gj:

If I went to a chain place or something where I thought I was getting sticked I wouldn't.

But I go to a mechanic at a small shop that fixes things like you described - really goes the extra mile and only fixes what needs to be fixed and I always throw him a tip.

I go to a locally owned small town shop that is awesome! They have even sent me home with a $0 bill because the brakes didn't need replaced at that time. It is nice to be able to go somewhere and know they won't rip you off. I tip the person that does the work. They are usually the one that gives you the bill and checks you out so it is easy but otherwise you can usually just go back and thank the mechanic and slipp them a few bucks.

Being a car mechanics wifey, I would say absolutely. When I found out how these professionals get paid, I was shocked.

95% of shops and dealerships go by flat rate (they call it flat rape, not to offend anyone). Every job, like replacing a starter or alignments etc... has a certain amount of hours that it pays to the mechanic, and is different at every shop. Like replacing rotors pays lets say 3 hours. If the mechanic does it faster, he still gets 3 hours worth of his hourly pay. If he does it slower, same thing - 3 hours of his hourly pay. The mechanics get shafted if it is a job under warrenty as those always pay significantly less.

The WORST part about this is this: If the shop doesnt bring in any work, and the mechanic doesnt get any hours, they get paid NOTHING. They will sit at their job for 40 hours a week and get paid JACK. We are currently relocated from CT to Maryland because my boyfriend was PAYING to get to work (gas). And with the economy being so slow, the entire industry is doing poorly. These talented people who enjoy their jobs and have spent years if not their whole lives learning more about what they do are being forced to either eat tuna fish out of a can, move their families from their sentimental homes into a smaller less-than-sufficiant house, or change professions (which most wont do because they have been doing this for yeeaars). It's completely devestating.

Oh, and did I mention that they have to buy their own tools??? These things are NOT cheap - the number of different types of tools they need to do their job is ridiculous. And they do not/cannot come from Sears. Many are make/model specific, and are only used once in a blue moon. But you gotta have it for those few times, no matter what it costs. Just a tool box of adequate size is at least a few thousand dollars.

When you pay for a whole door when all you needed was a latch, it's not the mechanics doing (unless you are going to a small mom/pop shop). It's much like Petco - there are places the parts have to come from, and procedures that must be followed. Many talented mechanics know that all he would need to do is take this thing and put it in that thing and give it a little welding or whatever, but they just are simply not allowed to do this sort of thing. It would mean $$$ loss for the company, especially if a customer got hurt resulting from the MacGyver job and sued.

I too used to get very upset at the mechanic, but in all reality, they are the ones being undermined and taken for granted when they are actually running the show. Most love what they do, but did not expect that the workforce would be the way that it is.

The things they go through you couldnt even imagine. In the winter they are getting cold cars to work on in a freezing shop under a car with snow dripping on them all day, handling cold metal. They have oil sprayed in their faces/eyes constantly. Parts come apart easier than expected and fall on them. Parts are rusted together and all their hours are spent trying to get them apart. They get hurt all the time. Machines are less then adequate for the jobs they are supposed to do. My boyfriend has seen a car come down more than once, nearly killing a few people. He has also damaged his back, and he can not do the things he used to without being in horrific pain for a length of time (like riding his motorcycle, go on rollercoasters...). He's 24. But he loves to work on cars. It was what he was made to do.

Give them some compassion, take a look at the big picture - if he's good, tip the man!! lol :P I will get off of my soap box now haha

I always tip, but i drive a 88 camaro so i know ill be seeing him really soon haha.

Thanks everyone for your comments!!!! Now I just have to decide....beer, money, or a gift card :confused: I've gone to this guy for 3+ years for everything I ever needed..... I just don't want him to have to share with the boss.

as a mechanic id say tip money, not beer. i get tips all the time. ranging from a few bucks (usually the old folks) to $20. just tell him its for lunch or something. he will definatly like you.


luckily at my shop im paid salary and flat rate! hehe yep i got it like that :banana:

i have well over 20k in tools and my collection grows monthly. its definatly a fun job.. we are like doctors but we work on cars instead of people. atleast people can tell you where it hurts.. sometimes i'll be tracing down wires for hours trying to find the problem!

I guess I got lucky!
My dad is a mechanic/electrician and taught me pretty much how to do everything at a young age.
I do occasional rewiring on classic cars and tips are freaking AWESOME.

I suppose it depends on the relationship you have with your mechanic, if you're really into cars then you usually have a pretty good bond with them.
Best way to decide: if they did great work, and you plan on going back, tip them! It's pretty much guaranteeing that you'll get future great work from them.
Even if they refuse, it's still a nice offer :)

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Originally Posted by Isis

Thanks everyone for your comments!!!! Now I just have to decide....beer, money, or a gift card :confused: I've gone to this guy for 3+ years for everything I ever needed..... I just don't want him to have to share with the boss.

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Definitely money, and I'm sure he won't have to share. Just hand him the money directly. Thats what I do with my mechanic.

:gj:

There used to be a time that the norm was to tip the person doing the work if it was service related. Mechanics are a good example, computer techs, plumber, etc, etc, etc.

That's really become a thing of the past. Probably because the higher level of service that earned those tips has largely disappeared. I mean when was the last time you called a computer tech at 1am and had them show up 20 minutes later and only charge their regular rate with no absurd travel fees? And to actually do the job with a smile!

I don't tip nearly as often as I should. Sometimes I'll give the guy pumping my gas a few extra dollars as a tip, but beyond that I fail miserably.

I'm a lousy tipper. I can never figure out when to tip, and when not to. I totally should tip my mechanic, he's awesome! My car broke down twice last month, which was a complete nightmare, but they are always really nice about fixing it, and have spent hours looking at my car to find a problem, and then not charging me for it. Problem is, most of the time I have to take my car in, I'm really broke, and can barely afford their fees, as low as they are. They will be getting gift baskets from us at christmas time, though!

I do all my own work. My grand father was a GM mechanic for 35 years. I also do classic car restoration as a hobby. 72 Nova SS is sitting in the garage waiting for me to finish the body twirler I am welding up. Last month I went through my Blazers brakes in 4 hours. Included new Calipers (One of them locked up on me so I replaced them all), rotors, and pads. My cost was around $600.00 and having the daughter help me was priceless :) , even though she had to wear a dust mask while all the old parts were removed due to some brake pads still having trace amounts of asbestos in them. The only car I don't touch in our collection is my wifes, but it is a 2007 still under warranty and will be until 2017. I've had to buy all my own tools and I probably have close to 10K invested in tooling and still have to buy the occasional specialty tool.

Well it sounds like cash it is! I was thinking along the lines of $25

Hi,

Tipping gets a lot of my countrymen a bad reputation I think.

We very rarely tip unless we get exceptional service (sweeping generalisation I know) .

Not, despite the cultural stereotype, because we are mean or cheap - but because we have the expectation that the person involved should get a decent wage for their labour and do not need to rely on customers to make up for the behaviour of the employer. This leads to the feeling that we are alreay paying for the service through the price of the goods and paying for it twice is a bad idea. Going above and beyond the level of service however is obviously a different thing entirely.

Basically we expect , if the boss won't pay a decent wage, then he will have a hard time finding employees until he stops being such an exploitative, money grabbing swine. :P

The end result of this is we get confused about tipping and have no clue whatsoever about when and how much to tip. :oops:

Just felt the need to share as I do not drive and thus rarely need a mechanic unless there is too much iron in my diet. :P


dr del

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Originally Posted by adizziedoll

being a car mechanics wifey, i would say absolutely. When i found out how these professionals get paid, i was shocked.

95% of shops and dealerships go by flat rate (they call it flat rape, not to offend anyone). Every job, like replacing a starter or alignments etc... Has a certain amount of hours that it pays to the mechanic, and is different at every shop. Like replacing rotors pays lets say 3 hours. If the mechanic does it faster, he still gets 3 hours worth of his hourly pay. If he does it slower, same thing - 3 hours of his hourly pay. The mechanics get shafted if it is a job under warrenty as those always pay significantly less.

The worst part about this is this: If the shop doesnt bring in any work, and the mechanic doesnt get any hours, they get paid nothing. They will sit at their job for 40 hours a week and get paid jack. We are currently relocated from ct to maryland because my boyfriend was paying to get to work (gas). And with the economy being so slow, the entire industry is doing poorly. These talented people who enjoy their jobs and have spent years if not their whole lives learning more about what they do are being forced to either eat tuna fish out of a can, move their families from their sentimental homes into a smaller less-than-sufficiant house, or change professions (which most wont do because they have been doing this for yeeaars). It's completely devestating.

Oh, and did i mention that they have to buy their own tools??? These things are not cheap - the number of different types of tools they need to do their job is ridiculous. And they do not/cannot come from sears. Many are make/model specific, and are only used once in a blue moon. But you gotta have it for those few times, no matter what it costs. Just a tool box of adequate size is at least a few thousand dollars.

When you pay for a whole door when all you needed was a latch, it's not the mechanics doing (unless you are going to a small mom/pop shop). It's much like petco - there are places the parts have to come from, and procedures that must be followed. Many talented mechanics know that all he would need to do is take this thing and put it in that thing and give it a little welding or whatever, but they just are simply not allowed to do this sort of thing. It would mean $$$ loss for the company, especially if a customer got hurt resulting from the macgyver job and sued.

I too used to get very upset at the mechanic, but in all reality, they are the ones being undermined and taken for granted when they are actually running the show. Most love what they do, but did not expect that the workforce would be the way that it is.

The things they go through you couldnt even imagine. In the winter they are getting cold cars to work on in a freezing shop under a car with snow dripping on them all day, handling cold metal. They have oil sprayed in their faces/eyes constantly. Parts come apart easier than expected and fall on them. Parts are rusted together and all their hours are spent trying to get them apart. They get hurt all the time. Machines are less then adequate for the jobs they are supposed to do. My boyfriend has seen a car come down more than once, nearly killing a few people. He has also damaged his back, and he can not do the things he used to without being in horrific pain for a length of time (like riding his motorcycle, go on rollercoasters...). He's 24. But he loves to work on cars. It was what he was made to do.

Give them some compassion, take a look at the big picture - if he's good, tip the man!! Lol :p i will get off of my soap box now haha

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girl you summed it up people just don't understand how we get paid! Its been worse these past couple of months because of the economy ive done it foe 20 years now,your boyfreind is 24 he's still young to get out i can't ,I make good money but have 3 kids a wife & a $2300 a month morgage,also all the benifits i can pay for:),i live in maryland to & there is alot of good dealerships you can make some $$ i made 75k last year but this year looks like im going to be down by 8k.I never have i made less money in 20 years every year has been better,this is a indicator of the bad times to come we are the first to be affected,you don't have to spend money on your car so its gets neclected or not done.also one poor soul in my shop got stuck with a warrenty job that he spent all week 40 hours on & only made around 12 hours this week !! So when you look at your auto tech just know he's only getting paid when he's turning a wrench!

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Originally Posted by greghall

girl you summed it up people just don't understand how we get paid! Its been worse these past couple of months because of the economy ive done it foe 20 years now,your boyfreind is 24 he's still young to get out i can't ,I make good money but have 3 kids a wife & a $2300 a month morgage,also all the benifits i can pay for:),i live in maryland to & there is alot of good dealerships you can make some $$ i made 75k last year but this year looks like im going to be down by 8k.I never have i made less money in 20 years every year has been better,this is a indicator of the bad times to come we are the first to be affected,you don't have to spend money on your car so its gets neclected or not done.also one poor soul in my shop got stuck with a warrenty job that he spent all week 40 hours on & only made around 12 hours this week !! So when you look at your auto tech just know he's only getting paid when he's turning a wrench!

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Good to hear from a few other mechanics!
Evil Mechanic: You are EXTREMELY lucky to get paid that way. Jealousy ten-fold. :gj:

Greghall:

It took me a while to get back to this thread b/c we JUST moved to MD from CT- him 3 weeks ago to start work and my son and I followed just last Friday.

We moved to MD b/c of the the mechanic situation in CT. He's a Ford mechanic, and was working for a dealership that was going downhill fast. He was there for 5 years, and very loyal. However, he was PAYING to get to work via gas and not bringing home money in the end. The job he once loved was making him miserable, and there seemed to be no end and no way to pull ourselves together to make a life in CT. We picked up our whole lives (both of us still living with our parents) and moved to a whole different state to start our lives where opportunity seemed to be greater. And now, he is watching the whole process start in his new shop all over again - the frustration, anger and panic from the employees that arent getting their paychecks.
After only 3 weeks of making this incredible change for the chance at a life together, he woke up at 6:30am and came home at 6pm every day last week and came home with a $101 paycheck.

Im wondering if now would be the time to fight for a change. My boyfriend is 24yo, and COULD get out now ... but he was born to work on cars, loves to work on cars. It's still years and years of learning he has done to surpass many of his fellow employees in knowledge and tricks of the trade .... he is talented, and should get paid what he is worth and to do what he loves to do. It's just not fair that my friend can make nearly all of his weekly paycheck in one night of tips at Friendly's. I might just have to see how well Mr. President Elect actually listens to his people.

I have a really hard time deciding whether to tip or not. Mostly because I'm one of the people who are pretty illiterate when it comes to things automotive. I mean, I can change my oil or change a flat tire, but besides that I have to take the word of the mechanic. The only things I can do are look online for pricing and problem diagnosis, or get advice from other people who are better with autos.

I just had $400 worth of work done on my 1997 Blazer for a new starter and differential cover, and checking the error codes from the check engine light. I knew I needed a new starter and diff cover, but I don't know how fair a price that is. So how do I know if I should tip? It could have been a great deal, or they could have totally ripped me off. If I knew I was getting a good deal I'd most definitely tip, but how dumb do I look when I give them a fat tip after they just took me to the cleaners?

I am a mechanic myself and very rarely get tipped. I work on boats and the customer is almost never there so there is no one to tip me. But on the occasion that it happens it is a really nice gesture. I never go into a job expecting it though and would not do my job any differently whether I was or wasn't tipped. I just see them as an occasional pleasant surprise. Tipping is up to you if you feel he did a good enough job to have earned it then yes pay him. I just hate how tipping has become soo manditory these days. Kinda defeats the purpose IMO. :)

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

I just hate how tipping has become soo manditory these days. Kinda defeats the purpose IMO. :)

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I totally agree. When someone goes above and beyond to give you extraordinary service, then you can reciprocate by going above and beyond you compensate them. Tips are to be earned, not to be expected.

Nope never tip him, We have a trade program. He fixes my car, i fix his computer. But then again he is my dad(25 years Experience) and if he don't have time my brother is one also (3 years experience).

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Originally Posted by Microddot

Nope never tip him, We have a trade program. He fixes my car, i fix his computer. But then again he is my dad(25 years Experience) and if he don't have time my brother is one also (3 years experience).

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Having a good mechanic in the family is priceless. I envy you big time!

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Originally Posted by simplechamp

Having a good mechanic in the family is priceless.

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I think priceless is an awesome word for it. Especially having a mechanic with access to lifts and the rest of a professional shop. It has saved us thoouuusaannds.