What is a reasonable TIP for your Viper Tech?

[MJBComp]

When having work done by your trusted Viper Tech, what is a reasonable TIP just to let him know how much you value his service and training?

Does it depend on the total cost of the current work being performed? Complexity? Or do you just TIP whatever you want?

Maybe a silly question but....

 

[FRANK]

I'd say throw the guy either a $10 or $20 tip if the bill is over $100...at least he can buy himself lucnh with it...$5 today barley gets you a hoagie or sandwich...

 

[SoCal Rebell]

I tip according to amount of work done, usually between $20-$40 per trip. When they pulled my motor to ship to Arrow I gave my tech $100 up front, another $100 when the job was done well. I also gave the service manager $100 to keep an eye on things ( a good person to have on your side).

 

[Steve Ferguson]

They always seem to really like Viper Memorabilia!

 

[JimDavis MT 97GTS 650R]

I have been giving a yearly subscription to Viper Magazine @ Autoweek. Seems to make him happy........

 

[luc]

I never tipped a Viper tech because I do all the work myself,even warranty items like the yelowing sills since I believe that NOBODY will care about my car the same way that I do.
Too often if you want the job to be done correctly,you have to do it yourself.

That said I am on a first name basis (I have 4 bikes,7 cars,3 trucks)with alot of parts guys,service managers and mechanics.

I never give cash but will often give them some small gifts and I TREAT them as I like to be treated.

Too many people with nice cars/money thinks that they are "better" than the guy that have an old beat-up car and that have a hard time to make ends meet.

Luc.00GTS

 

[Jeff Torrey]

I agree. If you get great service and you want to tip. Power to you.

My situation may be different than most. I have had both good and less than perfect service. Both are high profile Viper dealers.

a) The less than perfect shop. They hire there mechanics and school them as Viper techs. They get a lot of time on Vipers.
But I had no personal interaction with the tech.

I spoke with the service manager and he told the tech. what to do.

There were some mis-communications as the result.

I knew I was driving a 92 Viper, but I might as well have been driving a Neon. The service was the same.
I tried to make eye contact with the tech. but he made no effort to so. My guess is; he is probably underpaid.

b) The other service. Now I take my car to Tator's. Chuck (The Viper Wizard) owns the shop. He owns a Viper. He has been working on the cars since 1993 (maybe 92). He is the tech. When he bills the job, after his overhead is covered- the money is his.

I do not ask him how much. I tell him whats wrong, he fixes it. When the work is done. I ask him how much and then I pay it.

I drive 3 hours to Tator's. But I consider myself lucky to know him.

THE WAY I TIP HIM IS I GET ON THIS BOARD AND REPORT BACK THAT CHUCK TATOR IS EVERYTHING HE SAYS HE IS.

In fact it is not really about the money. It is about trust and friendship. I needed someone to take car of my car for me. I asked him and he said - Yes.

 

[MJBComp]

Wow, i'm surprised at the mixed reaction of tipping vs. non-tipping. I think its a good thing to tip your Viper Tech for many of the reasons listed in previous replys. It's a great thing to have your Viper Tech have intimate knowledge of your particular vehicle. Unlike taking in your caravan and get the "tech of the day".

I like personal attention. I like having a single tech that knows the details of my particular car. I also like having access to the tech and being in the service bay when my snake is being worked on.

And most importantly, your Viper Tech plays a huge role in what you do/don't get charged for (warranty coverage). That's worth paying for.

-"BAKNBLK95RT: So you mean to tell me that you pay a lot of money to buy your Viper, and they charge you $80 dollars a hour for labor for any work that they do to your car. And then on top of that your tipping the guy and the service manager $300, just to have them do something to you car that they must to fore fill your warranty."

I understand your point but when i pull up to the dealership in my Viper i want my tech to know i'm coming and be looking forward to my business. To each his own...

 

[cstegall]

Exactly MJBComp....my feelings exactly...

C Stegall

 

[Newport Viper]

Here's a great tip....SEE DAVID JENKINS in Irvine, CA when the ride goes down!

 

[TOOOFST]

After listening to a relationship horror story,I set my Tech up with a dinner date(****** service)Yada Yada Yada.
Reguardless, service should be A-1.I like insurance.

 

[Greg D]

I never tipped any of the mechanics that worked on my cars until I owned a Viper and had a Viper tech work on it. The customer service I received was outstanding. The Viper tech informed me about the TSB's that affected my Viper and performed the ones that were needed. Heck, the service manager actually delivered my car to my house and told me I could come in at my convience to pay. (I had a smog check done in conjunction with a few warranty items)
I have never had such service with any of the other new cars I have owned. I usually had to fight with the mechanics and service writters/managers to get warranty work performed.
Needless to say, this Christmas I sent my Viper tech a card with a 20 dollar bill in it. (It's the thought that counts)

 

[King GTS]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SoCal Rebell:
I tip according to amount of work done, usually between $20-$40 per trip. When they pulled my motor to ship to Arrow I gave my tech $100 up front, another $100 when the job was done well. I also gave the service manager $100 to keep an eye on things ( a good person to have on your side).

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm wit' him.

 

[nutsRT]

Outstanding service deserves to be recognized. Given some of the horror stories people tell of dealer service, tipping the tech for his efforts, particularly if it exceeds your personal expectation is not unreasonable.

I have not given cash, but have given a good bottle of wine and a couple of Cuban Cohiba's. All which were well received..

 

[GTS Dean]

I let my 2 local techs hunt deer on my ranch whenever they feel like it. Seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[Greg D]

Basically, I believe tipping comes down to personal preference and no one should deride another about his or her choice.
My reasoning for tipping is this; there are different approaches a mechanic may use to repair a vehicle. Remember this, it's your Viper, not his. It's his "job" to repair it, not his privilege. Do you want him to work on your Viper as though it was "just another customer's" vehicle OR as a labor of love and treat it as if it were his own?
A good comparison for tipping your Viper Tech would be tipping a waitress or waiter. (Both are service oriented) You really don't have to tip the waiter/waitress, right? I mean they are doing their job. (That they getting paid for) Why then tip the waiter or waitress (for a $50 meal) but not the guy working on your $70,000 Viper?
Last, but certainly not least, When Joe smuck-a-telly drops his Viper off at the same dealer I drop my Viper off at, whose car do you think will get that "extra" attention from the Viper Tech? Mine (knowing I am good for a generous tip) or Joe's, (who waltzes in and acts like he is doing the Viper Tech a favor by letting him work on his Viper) knowing there is no chance for a tip from this tight A$$ clown.
You usually get what you pay for. (unless you bought parts or services from a not so honest tuner)

 

[Greg D]

Greg you go and drop your car off and give the guy a tip, I don't, so I get sh*** service. That ****** me off

Darren, Where did you get, I don't tip, so I get sh*** service? What I said was "Do you want him to work on your Viper as though it was "just another customer's" vehicle OR as a labor of love and treat it as if it were his own?" Do you think that is wack? What is wack is suggesting "You know what they should pay me to let them park my car and make their establishment look better"
If your Viper Tech charged you 3 hours for a battery R&R, you need to find a new Viper Tech.
Lastly, The hourly rate the dealer charges is no where near what a Tech makes.

 

[dancojax]

Maybe just letting eveyone know that we love our Viper Tech and that he is a great guy will be in order for those who tip as well as those who don't.
WE LOVE RICK MAXWELL.
He truly cares; and he don't take no crap from Pemberton.
GO WOODHOUSE!!!

 

[Henry Cone]

I have been watching this thread develop and felt it necessary to chime in with my $0.02 on this subject. You can call it a tip or whatever but I want to make sure that I make it worth while for the tech to work on my car. We do a lot of things to make sure that this is the case. Tipping is just one aspect of this. Our best tech in this area (Tom Sessions) is an associate member of our VCA region (courtesy of the region), gets invited to all of our events (and gets harassed to join us), fully participates in all of our activities, and generally gets treated just as though he was a member who owns a Viper. Treating people with courtesy and respect should be the norm - wouldn't you wanted to be treated that way if the situation was reversed??

This relationship with Tom is mutually beneficial. Tom has traveled far and wide to help VCA members with problems with their Vipers. He owns his own DRB so that we can do fast diagnostics at any event we are having. He freely consults after hours and I think spends most of his evenings on the phone helping Viper owners. He is willing to work with owners like us to do race alignments on weekends so that we can spend 3 or 4 hours on the alignment rack with one of us in the car to make sure that we get it set up exactly as we want. For extra efforts like this the dealership gets whatever we have to pay them but the rest of the pay goes directly to Tom. Again, we want to make sure that it is worthwhile to work on our Vipers instead of some other vehicles.

We should also remember that the dealership pays the tech at a certain number of hours for a certain job. Since it is just about impossible to do some of these things carefully (like you would expect) in the number of hours set by the book a Viper tech is probably not getting as much money from the dealership from working on your Viper as he would from doing a job that he has done 30 or 40 times before on a Neon. Tipping for taking the extra time and effort to carefully do the job right is a way to compensate for the fact that the tech is losimg money by doing this...

So while you may call it tipping I don't look at it that way. It is about treating a professional that you want to do a good job with courtesy and respect as well as making sure that it is beneficial to take the extra time and effort to do the job 200% right. And maybe this attitude is why Tom is considered to be both a close friend and trusted member of the inner circle of the NC Region VCA....

 

[Wing King]

Thank you Henry..... I think you just nailed it. There's not a lot more for me to add. I've tipped a Tech as much as $100 before, when it involved repair of my entire steering system, from rack to pump. As a "throw in" under warranty repair, he even installed my new AFTERMARKET upgrade parts as part of the re-assembly.

In fact, not once, not twice, but THREE times during the ownership of my tracked GTS, I've had to roll my broken baby off a trailer, with SLICKS, numbers, and sponsorship decals still on it...... for repair at my favorite Dodge dealers. In each case, they honored my warranty.

Relationships are EVERYTHING, and you get out of them exactly what you put in. Take CARE of the people you do business with, show them how much you appreciate their extra efforts (tipping, gifts, social invitations, etc.), and it will all come back to you many times over in the long run.

Darren, as far as paying $290 for a new battery and installation, you shouldn't have to do that anyway. There are any number of persons in your local VCA region who would have been more than willing to come over and help you install your own new one, purchased for no more than $50-75 from a local discount store. Yes, some work is involved to pull the wheel, and getting the battery door in the wheelwell back ON, is much trickier than getting it OFF, but thats just another area where the $100 you pay for VCA dues pays off with the intangibles. A majority of club people who know how to do these things are always eager to help a fellow member.

 

[Robert Dyck]

I've tipped...up to $60 for warranty work. I wanted good rapport with the tech. Unfortunately, the work was not done right, and they chipped my hood.

I suggest that if you want to tip, wait until you get the car home and thoroughly check the car out. Then send them a nice thank you with a tip if you care too, and perhaps a commendation to the Service Manager.

However, the techs see you so infrequently, that I don't think they even remember or care. Plus, if it is not warranty work, and you are paying big bucks....well....whatever makes you feel good.

 

[MES]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
After listening to a relationship horror story,I set my Tech up with a dinner date(****** service)Yada Yada Yada.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dang TOOFST I wish I was your Viper tech

 

[Jerry Dobson]

I was a mechanic for a while. Never did I receive a tip. I would consider working on a Viper a bonus on it's own. My work was second to none...no tip needed. I was proud of my work.

The next time you have your car worked on take a closer look. Did the mechanic put a paper floor mat down? Did he put plastic on the seat? Did he get in your car or close your hood, first putting on Latex Gloves? If he was that good...tip if you want.

 

[speedpup]

I own a Vette and I tip. When I go for service and need something I get service it's just human nature even though it's really not fair. I needed a control arm because the ball joint came loose and I was racing in two days. Guess what? Next day air car done first thing the next day and they know I race it. I never have a problem with warranty. So to me it's worth it. When I see the tech at the race shop I visit and when things get done they take extra care and never rush anything. I get to see them smile and maybe there kids get some of it as I suggest sometimes. If I can burn four-hundred dollar pads up in 2-3 days a few to them doesn't seem like much. I ain't rich by any means but I can't take it with me either. Treat people as you want to be treated.