Questionhello I see in your profile you have extensive experience at a gm dealership. I am trying to get some informantion about service advisor positions. Is it a well paying job and what is the average salary range for this position? Thank you for your help.
AnswerHi
A non technical question!!
Not ever having been one, I cannot, obviously, give you any numbers.
Also the size of the dealership plays in this also.
Also these are just where I have worked and what I have heard others talk about.
At a smaller or a small town dealership(s)(1-3 mechanics) I have worked at the Advisor was paid basically by the hour. Like $XX.XX an hour for 40 hours. They were really no more than greeters who knew alot of folks in town and also shared other tasks in the dealership, like answering main phone lines, helping in parts, helping with office help, etc...
That was smaller dealerships IF they even had an advisor. The Service Manager was usually the Manager/advisor/janitor/mechanic/////!!!! lol
The midsized dealerships I have been around (3-6 mechanics sometimes a few mor{where I am now})the advisors were usually fairly mechanically inclined. They knew the basics of how autos worked, so they could "talk intelligent" to the customers. They were also very good "People Persons" and make good decisions. They could calm down Irate customers USUALLY and took load off of Manager's back. They also had to be able to SELL, SELL SELL for the Tech's.
They were USUALLY paid a salary, PLUS a commission based on either total hours turned in shop, total tickets written and or the GM CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) or any combo of all or all. I have heard bad advisor complain that they were getting no commission because the CSI rating was low.
Some had a "Shop Foreman" to work with who was a semi retired Tech that buffered between techs and advisor/managment..
The Largest dealership I have worked at had 25 daytime Techs. We were divided up into 5 teams. Each team had an advisor, a group "leader" tech (Who was very good at all arear of repair for that group) and 4 other techs that had specialized "areas" of repair. Our advisor was paid a salary, plus commission on 1) the number of tickets HE wrote for our group AND 2) TOTAL hours our group turned every 15 days (1st and 15th). Tech money WAS NOT POOLED(I have never worked at dealership where Tech hours were pooled, so I would not know how that works).
So it was most advantagous for our advisor to get out to customers early and fast. Then to sell our CPA (customer pay) tickets quickly and thourghly. It was also to his advantage to know schedualed maintance and attempt to "upsell" maintance (fuel filter, shocks,etc...)
Conclussion, and I hope I helped, I never heard ANY of my advisors complain, ONLY when the shop was slow as a whole.
The best have been half tech half manager on a professional level and must be a buffer between the customer and the managment and tech.
Always had a shop foreman, sometimes more depending on number of techs.
Should have a small working knowledge of auto mechanics, or be willing to learn. Should also (nowadays) be a fast typer to type tickets and get them to the tech's quickly. Time is money. Volume also is money.
It really always seemed to be a good field to get into.
I would, if you can afford to , give it a try. An Advisor can move up to Service Manager position I know for fact. Most service managers were and to a point, still are service advisors.
Again I am sorry I have no numbers per say as far as salary, but I know they ALWAYS LOVE those commission checks.
Also, This seems to also be the same for any dealership(s) of makes and models I have learned. Slight variances, but that is probabally more from ownership to ownership not brand to brand.
I hope this helps.
If you need more info, please follow up I'll be glad to herlp as possible.
Good Luck
Paul
