[Frosty]

As a service advisor for the last 7 years(still out of work from the accident in July) I can chime in too.

Dealerships can be hit or miss. Car makes can be hit or miss. Domestic techs may make more and hour but "generally" turn less hours while import techs make less an hour but turn crazy flat rate hours because the customers are programmed to do a ton of scheduled maintenance.

A lot has to do with the service advisor being able to sell, the location of the dealership along with the income level of the customer base. My experience is primarily GM with a short stint with Infiniti. My GM techs, some would turn 60hrs a week but they were busting their asses. Other techs, who either sucked or were whiny bitches would turn 25-30 because they weren't hungry or had a sense of entitlement. I certainly wouldn't want to be a flat rate tech but part of it is definitely getting out what you put in. You work hard you "should" make a decent living...but there are also a lot of other factors involved too.

I will say this, watching the new batch of "techs" is a little concerning. Most just graduated school and have this attitude of "I'm here, I have this piece of people that says I'm smart, pay me $20/hr with a 40hr guarantee". A lot I've dealt with don't want to pay their dues, do the grunt work...the sense of entitlement is ridiculous.

Anyway, it's still a crappy industry to work in at times, companies like GM are an absolute joke when it comes to paying warranty times, the technical support is....well...hit or miss. With that said a good tech that's hungry in a good dealership with the proper advisors can make some damn good $$$.