auto body technician

automotive technician

center manager

service advisor

body shop estimator

Driving Change Automotive Group

Worked for BDF for over 7 years. As a technician, the job itself was very rewarding but it included many, many long hours with no appreciation for those hours you put in. Pay was great and definitely above average for the Service Tech. industry but it was very stressful and often hard work goes missed. You work in a "team system" under Flat rate pay system where you and a group of 2-4 others, varying, work on  a "team" to produce hours and pool them together, splitting them evenly amongst the team members.

Very hard to find a better group of co-workers. Coworkers were definitely the best part of the job, always a fun environment to work in most days, but all jobs have their off days. Sadly, the senior/upper management team is very bloated. Mismanagement of employees and their skill sets and lack of acknowledgement of accomplishments really stump growth. Meetings all the time for no apparent reason, managers are always absent in another meeting when help is required. In my several years of work, I did enjoy my time there and the knowledge aquired from other fellow technicians has been huge in helping my personal and career growth.

management: very relaxed to talk to, generally looking out for bennett's interest and to a certain extent the employee's. But ultimately they are customer focused at the expense of the employee.

environment: it's a social environment where you can really make some long lasting relationships there. fairly positive work environment. But the business does try to keep evolving to meet customer expectations but in doing so demands more from the staff while trying to limit the amount of staff at the same time. They will say they're trying to make the employee more efficient but the work load can be more than the staff available can handle.

job advancement: it's fairly easy to move sideways through the company, but if you want to make it up to management you get shafted, other times the company will for you to make the move to a different department and that can cause some internal strife.

overall: not the ideal place to stay long, the people are great, they can be flexible with work life balance in certain departments, as an employee you can feel underappreciated

There are a lot of great people who work here, but I don't think that'll last for much longer unless they make some serious changes to the management team/structure. Unfortunately, a lot of the management team are unqualified for their roles and show incredibly poor leadership. They choose to take the path of least resistance instead of actually making impactful changes to ongoing issues within the dealership (both for employees and for customers). They preach transparency and honesty, but will take any opportunity to undercut and overwork their staff.

If you're an experienced automotive professional, this is NOT the company for you. They underpay, and you will be expected to perform tasks outside of your job description. 

If you are looking to start in the automotive industry, this is NOT the company for you. They prey on people who are new to the business and don't know they can do much better elsewhere. They use fear to talk you in to staying with them instead of actually training you properly and fulfilling the promises they have made you.

Start the morning meeting with the rest of the sales floor team members and learn/practice sales tactics. If no customers around read and learn about vehicles features and new products. Walk the showroom floor or parking lot, be observant for anyone at anytime stepping onto the premises. If it’s a winter time clean/brush the snow on the sidewalks, cars and help out with the snow plowing of the parking lot. If you are new to the industry and you are dealing with the difficulty customers, team members or managers our helpful sometimes but when the coast is clear you are being bullied of your handling of the customers and made feel guilty for not making the sales for the dealership. In between all of this you still have to do the daily cold calling to the new or previous customer and convince them to trade their existing  or buy a new car.

I worked in the inbound call center taking calls for sale enquiries of vehicles.  The training was mostly on the job.  You are mentored for your first few months and then as you find your groove they pretty much let you do your thing.  As with most sales jobs, you get what you put into it so if you're not a hard worker you will not do well.
The management can be a bit intense at times but with commission being the main driver in a dealership, every deal counts and you need to respect that.  You won't make a ton of money in your first few months unless you have a lot of experience.  Co-workers can be a bit competitive and that is great to drive some people but discourage others.  You really have to have that alpha personality to really rise in the company

It's very easy to talk about the negatives. Dealership lifestyle is pretty much centered around conflict. Someone's car breaks down and they pretty much have two options: get it fixed ($,$$$) or buy a new one ($$,$$$). Neither of those chioces are actually fun for anyone with a tight budget. 

If you can figure out a work/life balance with long hours of constant (sometimes heated) interactions. This place can work for you. And don't be shy if you dont know anything about cars. That is what veteran sales guys and mechanics are for. 

You will learn. You will talk. You will eat the pizza lunch at the day disrupting, monthly team building rally. 

Seriously if you are looking for work experience I cant think of a better place. I can't recommend this as a career though. The daily grind will eventually make you move on.

When I arrived at my working place, it is normal to see my deliveries are already came in. one(1) to three(3) cage/s of Ford parts. Everyday just like that but sometimes it was delayed because of weather especially winter season. Receiving of parts, check delivery receipt/invoice or list of parts that came in, then place parts to designated locations. I learned so many things including what parts are look like, the uses of it and the modification. Some co-workers are helping me to put away parts so that it is easy for me to done right away. As for me, my job is so easy. The hardest part of my job is if I am not well, but I need to go to work and do my everyday work.
My most enjoyable part of my job is my time table. I controlled my time. I know when I need to finished my job and before end of my time, I know and make it sure that all well done.

All management except the new sales manger really need replacing including the GM to ones that care the fixed operations manager is horrible let’s his click of people do whatever they want, a lot of the parts and service people go for many smoke breaks and are rarely at their desk with the exception of a couple. Before I left I got the see the worst thing a teammate got ill came back from the illness and they were pushing them out the door were not very kind to welcoming them back was a terrible thing to see. I’m guessing it’s their method to getting rid of that person wish you luck if you’re going to work here just never get ill or if you do find a new job before even thinking you’ll be welcome back thankfully I’m out that toxic place.

Quicklane is the worst. Workload is insane as there is no appointment necessary. You are expected to do immense amounts of work with not enough time to do it. They tell the customer 30 minutes no matter how many oil changes are already in queue and no matter how busy the rest of QL is. The supervisor micromanages every aspect of the shop side of Quicklane right from which work order you have to knowing when you take of to use the bathroom. You have to do online training on your own time without pay or you won't move up/possibly be fired. The only good things are that you won't be bored because there is always something to do and the other people you work with (aside from management) are awesome.

Company has the potential to dominate the region, while being a great place to work. Great community of employees, feels very much like family. Unfortunately a bloated and poorly educated senior management team is holding the business back from properly expanding into the marketplace. The senior management is made up of a group of friends, with few exceptions, no one understands how or why anyone holds the positions they do. Business needs creativity, and a new outlook to keep afloat in such a competitive industry. Luckily the product we sell is excellent, and holds huge amounts of the local market, if we used our methods to sell any other product the business would fail.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Auto body technician 1 salary reported	$31.00 per hour
Automotive technician 8 salaries reported	$33.50 per hour
Center manager 4 salaries reported	$100,000 per year
Service advisor 7 salaries reported	$62,500 per year
Body shop estimator 5 salaries reported	$28.70 per hour

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