Off Topic » DIY motorcycle repair shops

You might find this article regarding do-it-yourself motorcycle repair shops interesting: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/th...orcycle-garages

Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #1

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You might find this article regarding do-it-yourself motorcycle repair shops interesting: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/th...orcycle-garages

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Zitat von BEARR im Beitrag #2

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #1

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You might find this article regarding do-it-yourself motorcycle repair shops interesting: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/th...orcycle-garages

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I think this idea is a good, even though it sounds as if it's not economically beneficial to the owner of the garage. But something I'd like to see is a motorcycle dealer who allows "owner-assisted" maintenance to customers, an idea that comes from the aviation community. When I owned and flew my own airplane, the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) who did my airplane's maintenance allowed me to work alongside the technician who directed things. I learned a lot about airplane maintenance and got my hands dirty assisting in annual inspections, routine oil changes, etc. To do all the work on an airplane myself would have required an official A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) license, but for motorcycles no such accreditation is needed. I'd love to work on my bike as many of you do, but the risk of screwing something up compels me to pay someone with factory BMW backing to do the work. If shops would allow customers to request maintenance and participate in the work with the factory tech, those customers could then do a lot of the "routine" maintenance on their bikes and save the money for the big jobs.

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It used to be that if your bike was being worked on by the shop you could watch the mechanic as he serviced or repaired your bike. Sometime in the past, many shops put an end to that viewing in the U.S. and sealed off the service bays from prying eyes. The excuse they gave the customer was always "liability" and instructions from their insurance company. You never know when the customer might learn something from watching the work being performed and try to do the service themselves in the future, resulting in a potential claim, or walk into the service area and slip and fall.

(No doubt mostly just BS, I imagine that the technicians just didn't want the customer looking over their shoulder to make sure that they were doing the work that you were paying for. This is especially true when dealerships went to a "flat rate" billing, instead of charging by the hour and were able to get the work accomplished quicker than expected, but you would still charged for 4 hours of labor, even when it only took the technician 3 hours to perform the task.)

DIY can certainly save a fortune. And be very satisfying.

For basic maintenance you know the job has been done correctly. And done in the shortest time.

Many of us believe there’s a high degree of “rip off” in main dealers - car and bike - in order to pay for the glass palace that a main dealer has become.

Manufacturers don’t make most of the service parts, but charge a fortune when they stamp BMW on the box, e.g. MAHLE filters, NGK plugs, BREMBO pads, CASTROL oil.

Zitat von BEARR im Beitrag #2

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #1

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You might find this article regarding do-it-yourself motorcycle repair shops interesting: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/th...orcycle-garages

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I think this idea is a good, even though it sounds as if it's not economically beneficial to the owner of the garage. But something I'd like to see is a motorcycle dealer who allows "owner-assisted" maintenance to customers, an idea that comes from the aviation community. When I owned and flew my own airplane, the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) who did my airplane's maintenance allowed me to work alongside the technician who directed things. I learned a lot about airplane maintenance and got my hands dirty assisting in annual inspections, routine oil changes, etc. To do all the work on an airplane myself would have required an official A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) license, but for motorcycles no such accreditation is needed. I'd love to work on my bike as many of you do, but the risk of screwing something up compels me to pay someone with factory BMW backing to do the work. If shops would allow customers to request maintenance and participate in the work with the factory tech, those customers could then do a lot of the "routine" maintenance on their bikes and save the money for the big jobs.

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Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #3

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Zitat von BEARR im Beitrag #2

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #1

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You might find this article regarding do-it-yourself motorcycle repair shops interesting: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/th...orcycle-garages

---

I think this idea is a good, even though it sounds as if it's not economically beneficial to the owner of the garage. But something I'd like to see is a motorcycle dealer who allows "owner-assisted" maintenance to customers, an idea that comes from the aviation community. When I owned and flew my own airplane, the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) who did my airplane's maintenance allowed me to work alongside the technician who directed things. I learned a lot about airplane maintenance and got my hands dirty assisting in annual inspections, routine oil changes, etc. To do all the work on an airplane myself would have required an official A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) license, but for motorcycles no such accreditation is needed. I'd love to work on my bike as many of you do, but the risk of screwing something up compels me to pay someone with factory BMW backing to do the work. If shops would allow customers to request maintenance and participate in the work with the factory tech, those customers could then do a lot of the "routine" maintenance on their bikes and save the money for the big jobs.

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Then the shop could be held liable for any mistakes............

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #4

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(No doubt mostly just BS, I imagine that the technicians just didn't want the customer looking over their shoulder to make sure that they were doing the work that you were paying for. This is especially true when dealerships went to a "flat rate" billing, instead of charging by the hour and were able to get the work accomplished quicker than expected, but you would still charged for 4 hours of labor, even when it only took the technician 3 hours to perform the task.)

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Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #8

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #4

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(No doubt mostly just BS, I imagine that the technicians just didn't want the customer looking over their shoulder to make sure that they were doing the work that you were paying for. This is especially true when dealerships went to a "flat rate" billing, instead of charging by the hour and were able to get the work accomplished quicker than expected, but you would still charged for 4 hours of labor, even when it only took the technician 3 hours to perform the task.)

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I doubt the shop owner is interested in paying the technician to chat with the customer. Any time saved relative to the rate book is dealership/shop profit.

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Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #8

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I doubt the shop owner is interested in paying the technician to chat with the customer. Any time saved relative to the rate book is dealership/shop profit.

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #9

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Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #8

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Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #4

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(No doubt mostly just BS, I imagine that the technicians just didn't want the customer looking over their shoulder to make sure that they were doing the work that you were paying for. This is especially true when dealerships went to a "flat rate" billing, instead of charging by the hour and were able to get the work accomplished quicker than expected, but you would still charged for 4 hours of labor, even when it only took the technician 3 hours to perform the task.)

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I doubt the shop owner is interested in paying the technician to chat with the customer. Any time saved relative to the rate book is dealership/shop profit.

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Around here the impression I get is that most franchised dealers have an "independent contractor" arrangement with their technicians where they rent the workspace to the technicians and take care of all of the billing, payment, paperwork and customer interaction for them. Then they share the profit based upon their contract. In the past the technicians were actually shop employees and were paid an hourly salary, with normal benefits, like medical insurance, vacations and paid holidays. But in some states like California, the laws have become so involved and expensive when you have employees that work for you, business try their best to avoid actually hiring employees if there is any way to get around it - like hiring an "independent contractor". Needless to say in this state the government has done everything they can to make that difficult or even illegal.

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