How Good Documentation WILL Make You a Better Technician
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- It is hard work being a good mechanic or technician. We also have some easy things we can do as techs to make more money! One of the easiest things is DOCUMENTATION. Getting the documentation side of being a mechanic right is vital to your success. Not only that, it will help you learn more about cars, and car repair. Also if you have an awful memory like me, it will be a priceless tool in your tool box.
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Disclaimer:
The content of this video is available for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for the professional advice of a mechanic who has personally inspected your vehicle, nor does it create a relationship of any kind between the Humble Mechanic and you. Every situation may be different, and the Humble Mechanic does not make any warranties, whether express or implied, as to the accuracy, fitness, or applicability of the information or automotive parts portrayed in this video to any project and makes no guarantee of results. The Humble Mechanic and any sponsors of this video will not be liable for any damages related to personal injury, property damage or loss of any kind that may result from the use or reliance on this video and/or any automotive parts represented in this video. You are using the information and automotive parts portrayed in this video solely at your own risk.
The industry needs to pay us for the time it takes to actually document everything
They do if you document right ;)
@@HumbleMechanic it's built into each one of those things you document. In reality it doesn't take you 30min to write down one sentence. One sentence can describe one step of the documentation. Each step you get paid for.
@@turboflush only get paid for what you do if advisor or manager submits the claim right or uses op codes
I don't care if it's only a tenth. Documentation is not built into labor times.
Don't get paid to look up any information or for any documentation, both of which can be a substantial amount of the job.
You're a gift to your industry. I'm actually thinking about how I can use this in my industry. Thanks, brother.
A lack of others documenting what they did clearly has made my troubleshooting far more difficult.
And that was because they didn't want to admit a shortfall in THEIR troubleshooting.
This is vitally important. Thanks for bringing this up.
I've had my 12 year old watching these new technician videos so he can understand how to troubleshoot problems before coming to us. Don't tell me "the internet connection is down." Tell me what you tried step by step.
It's already showing results, so my hat's off to you, sir! 👍
That’s awesome
i'm so glad you talk about this topic. documentation is key in all industries, but people never like doing documentation. Good job :D
long term software engineer here to say documentation is a blessing. When shit is well documented its soooo much easier to use and to fix than when its poorly documented!
This is the level of documentation that is used in the military.
I’m an Air Force f16 mechanic and you are 1000000000% right.
I’m a plant operator and I find this content applies to me too. We are required by law to write a log daily on what we do.
I work at a nuclear facility and we document anything we find. Before we just had cameras but now with cell phones we take pictures. We download pictures to computers and send pictures to system engineers. It doesn't matter how insignificant the issue is.
ese.hombre Grt me a job bro I’ll relocate lolol I always wanted to be Homer Simpson
I agree! In any industry, it's all about documentation.
I save every email I receive from clients and emails I've sent.
If I have a conversation on the phone about a change in design, I always ask for an email or text confirmation.
Great advice, thanks! :)
In another life I was a service manager. Charles is spot on. Try selling a 3k A/C job when all you have is “compressor broken” and a customer needs to give value in that big repair job. Side note, I giggled the whole video. I wanted to think your bench was being held up by the jack stands. 😂
Charles, first off, thank you for going over this topic. With all the years I have been in this industry, I have self taught myself documentation. Over the years I felt as if I was pretty good at it, but you had a few tips I never considered. This coming from a tech who has never been in a dealership.
I am hourly, and perform fleet maintenance, but we have a lot of prior dealership techs that will have notepads and I wondered why. Now it makes more sense. My strategy has been instead of separate notes, I use the company issued paperwork, and make copies prior to turning it in. (Our system is dumb, we have office crew that transfers it to the computer)
Having said all of that, I have been working my way to starting my own business through this pandemic, and will definitely try to help instill this into the techs I hope to eventually hire. Thanks for sharing!
Where i work we have a lot of documentation of expecations and a lot of training on how to write and document. And still we have the car fixed guys. This video hits the nail on the head. Im going to share this video with my service manager 😁
My service manager at the Volkswagen dealership phrased it this way: "techs don't get paid for the warranty work they do; they get paid for the story they write." Another service manger's mantra was "document EVERYTHING; information is POWER." Subsequently, working at an independent shop doing 100% customer pay work, I would drum it into techs to justify their hour of diag and I'd see to it that they'd get paid the full hour. It is so much easier presenting an invoice to a customer when they can read for themselves the diagnostic progression that cost them an hour of shop time.
I want to say thank you for your channel I love your videos the time you've put into them and all the information. Because of all the things I've learned over the years and a lot of your information I was able to get a job at a Porsche Audi and V-Dub shop been trying for years to get my foot in the door and your videos helped me man Thank you.
THATS AWESOME!!!!!!
Great breakdown on documentation. As a customer I always like it when I get a great written explanation. I do a lot of my own work but have times I need someone I can trust to do the work.
We once had a technician get written up for documenting “because the customer is an idiot” on the cause line. It is however tempting to do sometimes as we get awful jobs like electrical diags from people doing stupid things to their vehicle . In fact I once spent 30 mins doing a diag on a 2019 4Runner TRD PRO because the TPMS malfunction light was on. Turns out the customer bought fake Toyota sensors online to go on his aftermarket wheels. They looked exactly like OEM sensors and even have a similar style serial number. You have a $60,000 vehicle and you bought fake sensors...
Lol yeah I didn’t mention that 😂😂
So much this! I often think I'm a detail monster, and yet if I get rushed writing my story and look back at it later, I always find more time/justification for payment. So glad you did this video charges!
I really listen to you veteran techs I’m 34 I’ve been in the industry for about 3 years and just got promoted and chose flat rate. I questioned it but I chose to go for it. Thank you for the knowledge and time my friend.
🍻
As an IT professional, this is also extremely important! Nothing is worse than thinking Hmm I think I worked on something like that before and wasting time. When you write stuff down it saves you, the company and the end user. Awesome video!
Please keep making more video's about this topics and also how to improve the automotive bussiness it helps a lot😍
Good advice!!! I wish I had a foreman at my dealership like you.
Documentation is great, because you will not remember what you did a year ago, but having it all written down is a big help when you get the same or similar problem again.
Documentation like what Charles described in 2:00 - 5:00 is a tremendous help to customers like myself who actually read service documents to compare my vehicles’ service histories to manufacturer recommended service documentation. This is one of a handful of reasons I pass by the $80 / shop hr shop to take my vehicles to the $120 / shop hr shop.
As a customer yet still loving cars, I can absolutely attest to this and wish my garage provided me these stories instead of just a straight invoice and total. I don't distrust them by any means, I'd just like to read the stories (loving cars and fixing the simple-medium simple stuff)
I agree. Always feel like you owe the customer the story too
I don't work in the car industry, however in my job I am required to fill out a daily work journal with my time-slip. Can be a PITA, but is great for recalling come-backs etc., and also looks great when the boss checks up on what I've been doing from day to day.
*chanting* vr6...vr6...vr6...vr6! We're back in lockdown in my country, can't wait
SOON! I wrapped up the block and head to get ready to go to the machine shop.
Even for the hobbyist (like me) documentation is still important. I got in the habit of taking pictures of stuff with my cell phone before taking it apart, so I'll know how to put it back together.
I also keep maintenance logs on all my vehicles.
This so informative, wish there was classes or something I could find on the web about this
That's a great idea. Document what you find and tools used. Today you have your cellphone. Take pictures of the as found condition you find. It's good to keep a book or file along with the data on cell phone.
This applies to many industries, IT/IS, Auto, Aviation, Medical, service branches...also teaches better technical/logical thinking.
Old video to me however... being at a dealership for years going independent the documentation skills I learned at the dealer has earned me 10 bucks in raises in 4 years without begging for them. My tickets are always “padded” or have extra diag hours wether it took the time or not due to my documentation...literally hand holding theory with my customer that’s completely clueless as how a car works so I document every little step down to, removed 4 bolts holding seat to gain access to connector xxxxx to test pins 3 and 4 for continuity.......it helps for the 10 mins it takes to write it down
Thanks for this video. I document as much as possible. I’m not a diagnostic tech but it does help cover my ass or describe what I’m doing. If I don’t rotate tires because I don’t have a wheel lock I say that. Coworker luckily wrote that down before a wheel fell off after he serviced it. They came back to him and he just told them to look at the MPI where it said explicitly that he couldn’t rotate the wheels and why.
An advisor thanked me because I write down if the car has drums.
If I recommend anything I will briefly say why. I’ve gotten more up sells that way. It’s also CYA.
I find at times re wording what i have written down needs to be changed because i wait till after the repair its like i can't even understand what i have done to the car
I take photos. Lots and lots of photos. So true about a pic being worth a 1,000 words sometimes. Plus you get a time and date stamp with no extra effort. It can sometimes give you a sense of how long something took. And if you use an Android app like Annotate, you can draw arrows and add text too. You just need a good grease-proof armored phone case lol.
Love it
I’m three weeks into my first VW dealership job, and all I’ve heard about is documentation. I take photos of ODIS when I scan and attach it to the RO, same with any issues found during the MPI. Did my first warranty repair yesterday and got paid more because of my body shop estimator background and documented everything.
That’s awesome!!!!
Very well spoken. Thank you
We were taught this whilst studying motorvehicle maintenance and repair, every stage of diagnosis including confirming the fault, fault rectification and testing had to be documented. if you didn't write it down you couldn't include it in your paperwork to complete your Diploma.
With my personal vehicles, I have been recording ONE vehicle in a journal in the glove box for 10+ years! All the others I haven't... Always think I will remember, haha.
All the times I've been assigned a job,done 2 hours of diagnosis work,go to manager to report what I've found to be told another technician has done that already but didn't write it on the job sheet
Thanks for your video this is very insightful
Awesome video HM.... A UTI guy knows how to get things done😉
Hey Charles, I would love to have a diagnosis PDF sheet to print with HumbleMechanic logo, with space for annotations, comments, visual inspection, codes, the car vin or plate, that would be awesome.
That’s a great idea!!!
I second this!
Good notes let you turn that 8 minute gig into an hour of billed time.
I really like these new videos going but to the basis of the channel
Once I found out you could get paid for all diagnosis (if warranted), can always get more hours by justifying your repair procedure, AND get a flat rate amended if you can justify that, I liked doing warranty repairs MORE than customer paid.
100%!!!!
You would be surprised how many new aircraft techs struggle to make a good logbook entry, even though it is required by law and the specific elements of the entry are stipulated by the FAA. A companion to that struggle is finding relevant information in the relevant manuals, I spent so much time in A&P school teaching classmates how to open a book, go to the index, go to the chapter index, find a paragraph, etc.
Working in the railroad industry, I come across this all the time.
Instead of spending the five minutes to read the Maintenance Instruction manual, they'll ask "Bob" how to do "XYZ". What they don't know is that "Bob" doesn't know how to do it either (with 20+ years experience).
They'll spend hours trying to figure something out based on heresay, trying to test something, when a five minute read would have made it a 20 minute test.
I've noticed most people want the quick way out of doing something. In the end, they only hurt themselves. Actively not learning how to troubleshoot and repair has a direct detrimental effect, and it really shows when someone has 20+ years experience of it.
@@jameshaulenbeek5931 The law requires all aircraft maintenance to be done in accordance with an approved or acceptable reference. So if you can't open the manual, you can't turn a wrench. No easy quick way out, at least not without significant legal risk. It's a much superior way to do repairs and maintenance.
@@acefighterpilot yeah... i've worked with a couple guys that were aircraft maintainers - they had the same gripe about railroad.
I hope that "Bob" is gone soon so things can get tightened up around my shop.
@@jameshaulenbeek5931 There will always be a "Bob," people who have loads of experience, but the wrong experience. My shop had a crew of old timers that couldn't get anything done until they spent two hours every morning determining if the right main landing gear could withstand exposure to coffee vapors and ancient 'war' stories.
@@acefighterpilot not quite sure what you mean by visual progress, but the majority of people are content to do basic inspections and change brakes - and that's fine by me. I'll do that as needed, but I prefer the heavier troubleshooting.
In all fairness, the less people involved with heavy troubleshooting, the better.
Good luck finding a writer that will take any of this into consideration when coding the repair. Especially if that writer hates to see a mechanic that makes more money than they do.
Also if warranty repair costs are too high the manufacturer will complain to the dealership. It's in the dealership's interest to pay the mechanic as little as possible for warranty repairs.
spot on Sir super great video
I worked flat rate on Ford for many years. The major difference is that Ford makes things like ambulances(the most PITA things ever to work on) and fire trucks and police cars, etc. VW makes just cars...cars and only cars...'cept the occasional Vanagan. I got screwed big time every time I work on an ambulance. They "covered my time" But the lowly newbies were doing 30K services and getting 2X pay for knowing so little. I got exactly 1X pay. Flat rate sucks when working on non-standard things.
Kinda funny just a few days ago I was hoping someone on RUclips would make a video on this. Thanks!!
LOL AWESOME
I totally agree with you that using the system the way you’re describing will make the process of getting paid at the dealer level more straightforward,but I will never agree that being a good writer makes you a good technician! To be honest,I don’t even think you’ve said that,but I want it to be clear : I have met “ the Mark Twain “ of the industry who can’t fix a sandwich,but also technicians who can’t write 2 sentences that are brilliant at diagnosing and fixing a car!
I find the whole process required of a dealer level technician is a bit taken to the extreme,especially in this day and age when manufacturers are trying to save pennies and are desperate to do so! Technicians are not there to write nice essays,they are there to fix cars! I’ll take a technician that’s good at fixing cars any day over one that writes articulated paragraphs!
You have strive to be good at both!!
It also depends on your shop. When I started at Nissan coming from a Correctional Officer background I followed the 5 C's. Clear, Complete, Concise, Concrete and Correct. I got chewed out for making it to long for them. It wasn't overtly long. Just to long for them.
I am sure they were missing out on money from the brand too.
@@HumbleMechanic Don't get me wrong. I kept doing it. But they would always come ask me about it instead of reading it. Kept getting told if I would make it shorter then they "MIGHT" read it instead. And I kept telling them to learn to read. And let me get back to work. So all I got was warranty work after that. Hard to make a living on warranty only and comebacks I didn't get paid for that were other techs mess ups.
Aircraft mechanic- I reglue some Velcro on the emergency exit door safety cover = 20 minutes of paperwork
A&P for 16 years, this is absolutely how it works! Nothing can be returned to service with out a aircraft maintenance reference and documentation on the part removed and replaced. Auto guys have it easy!
Allow me to piggy back on this topic.... a conversation I tend to have several times a week with techs is to ALWAYS run Auto--Scan first thing! No excuses, no exceptions! As a tech, do you want to find out about the bad left front wheel speed sensor (G47) before or after you do a simple tire rotation? As a tech, do you want to miss opportunity so up sell legit work? If you find there are DTCs in the airbag system, and the customer declines inspection, then document it. And finally, by doing an Auto-Scan, you capture a lot of data from the car. That tire rotation you did this morning, that customer is going to cross jumper cables on that GTi in 4 months, 1 day and 30 minutes from now, thus destroying the ABS module. When they bring the car back, you have that documentation of the ABS part number and the soft coding of it as well. Some ABS modules, that soft coding is 94 digits long!
Regards.
Great advice
Hey Charles been watching a tonne of videos tonight after seeing you multiple times on engineering explaineds channel, love the beard, love the energy and love the tips. Been trying for a while now to teach the young lads at my work to note everything they do as it helps us troubleshoot down the track i work making high twmp blankets for engines, turbos etc in the mining industry and when you have 3 CAT 740B trucks to make blankets for, and all 3 manifolds, DPF's etc are different on each, it helps to take notes. Might have to show them this video. Thanks so much very clear and concise, love the format. Also just as an aside, serious question. Do you have to do anything about your beard while working on cars? Like a snood or anything in case of it getting caught in a rotating assembly of some kind? Ive always wondered that as mine doesnt grow out it just sits super flat haha
I've seen flat rate incentivize speed where mistakes are made particularly with small details in assembly or really reassembly. I agree on the documentation though. I work in IT now and it varies, a lot where I work. For me, the biggest problem with not doing it right is having to follow up on work done and wondering WTF went on. As a supervisor, I have questions at times. Ultimately, people rise or fall to the standards set and what they get used to doing.
Btw, started that dealership job. My check for one week (started mid pay period) is equal to my last jobs two-week check. I like it here. Oh, and we get Mac, Matco, AND cornwell not just snap-on. Snap-on doesnt have everything.
You can make alot of money not just by being fast but having a system that works for you and having your tool tray ready. From the way you pull in the vehicle to how you take it out. to have the lift ready in designated pinch wells areas. Always organize/Clean your tools at the end of day and keep your area clean. I can't tell you how annoying it is to work in a dealership and the tech next to you is a slob that will ask for help and not know where their tools are or is just a sloppy/lazy tech.
@@jomamasfavor8 yeah, trying to get a bigger box because my current storage system isnt working for me. I used to work at a 3rd party repair shop, so I'm not new to the work I'm just me to the system this dealership uses.
@@ALovelyBunchOfDragonballz you don't always need a bigger box I use an older Mac tool box, and it's one of the smaller tool boxes which works great. What really helps is having an area to put old/removed parts at, and having a tool tray that can move wherever you go. And depending on your shop and what type of cars you get it's good to invest in a step ladder/stool. I'm 5'7 so a little short when I work on customers lifted trucks
@@jomamasfavor8 yeah, I work for Chevy and I'm 5'6", that step stool is in order because people like lifted trucks......
I need a bigger box because im a tool collector, its just what I do, but I'm pairing the box with a hutch. Thats where my normal sockets will go, battery charger, speaker, AND where I can hand tools that are soft or sensitive, like a CV axle installer/guide. Big cases will go in their drawers, the ball joint press and fuel pressure kit are quite large
Its so important, but it is never listed in any repair instructions or Flat rate unit description.
I worked at a garage where documentation was frown upon even though I'm a big note taker. Needlessly to say they're out of business.
Dang I’m not surprised at all. Ha
I love all of your videos.❤ So informative. Also , i sent you an email with the "Question 4 Charles" & hope to get a response soon!!
I kinda just connect my scantool and it stores everything, only write down few odd bits
I dont work as a profesional mechanic, i just work on my cars because i like it, and every time i fix something i wrigt that down so if i decide to sell the car the next owner has all the things that the car has work on so it justifys the price in wich im selling it
I document what I do on my own four cars just because I can't remember what I've done to them. Documenting what you do and how you did it on someone else's is critical, especially when you want get paid for it.
Yep!!!
Only problem with saving the documentation.. unless your organized. Good luck finding that one car, one moment. 5 cars 5 days a week is like 1200 cars in a year. Now.. 5 years in future.. try and remember what year and month that one car was.
Keep them for insurance reason.
But a cheat book would be better
Service comments 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
So for a VW warranty repair, to get paid for something doesn't there need to be an op code? I'm assuming that documenting my steps, someone can find the op code to get me paid for removing x and y to get to z?
Yes
12 min mark is where gold is
Good!
DIY broooooo !
And keep good notes!
My penmanship is/was so big and so bad, writing the story was an ugly affair. Back of RO covered with chicken scratches and greasy smears. I really pitied the guy/gal that had to interpret that crap. Is it still done that way or is it done electronically? Also, double dip anywhere you can. Screw the warranty auditor.
Playback at 1.25❤
How much does it cost for you to do a Webinar for my Techs?
A great question I have no answer for. Haha
Documentation sounds difficult, but going in blind is more difficult than anything.
Documentation also helps you on the next vehicle with the same issue.
Also important for vehicle history and covering your ass.
i trust your advice because of you beard
LOL
@@HumbleMechanic im in the construction business and everything your saying is 110% true the more info you have in writing is a life saver/money maker/my weakness over the years i realized how important it is
This was ... different.
Different is good
I like money though:):)
is it weird that I stared at his beard the entire time
Nope. Haha totally normal
If the last mechanic. Fix my car documented everything he said he would do it would be take off one screw take a sip of a beer smoke a cigarette take a five-minute break excetera excetera
i got hope in this industry because of poeple like u 😄🇺🇸🤝
Who else got triggered at Step by Step Ooooh baby!! :)
Also make good evidence if the customer tries to sue you.