Jeep: service advisor, flight advisors, jeep dealership

Question
HI I was a service technician and I there are some opportunities that came up to allow me to be a service advisor at a jeep dealership. What is to be expected of the salary range of service advisors. Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hi Rommel,

That really depends on many factors -- like the area you live in, the labor rate of the shop, the way the writers are paid, and the number of techs you sell work for. Most often, top flight advisors are paid solely on the amount of work they sell, and can make on par with top technicians. However, you'll probably have a hard time getting a good deal the first time out of the gate, unless you have selling experience.

However, the absolute best Advisors are ex-techs. You have to have confidence in what you sell, and knowledge on theories behind automotive work. The best quality? Taking what your techs tell you and translating it into something comprehensible by the average customer. Unfortunately, that's where most techs fail -- having the patience and understanding to deal with people that aren't used to 'tech-talk'. If you are good at communication, then you should be good at this.

Salary range is not something you can put a number on, since most times it's based on labor hours sold. At the dealer, they generally don't get a piece of the parts price, so they're left up to nothing but labor. At our dealer, we had advisors making $35k, $55k, and $85k. At a time or two, they made over $100k, but that's not the norm.

Really, you need to decide if it's for you. Most techs I've seen do not make the transition well, and either end up hopping jobs or go back to turning wrenches. You need to have a desire to help people -- that's where the real money is. If you make customers a priority, and strive to ensure they are happy, then the return will be nice. If you're in it for the money, then I'd advise against it. As a tech, you may think they have it easy, but they deal with a *lot* of headaches and flak. My advice is to try it out -- there are some really great ex-tech advisors making very good money, and have a boatload of extremely gratified customers. Give it a shot!

Good luck!