Because I worked driveability, I had cars like this almost every week. The best Driveability guy I ever knew worked on Mopars his entire career. I worked next to him for a little while and I know his work was high quality, he was one of a very few I knew who could turn a legitimate 100+ hour week consistently. I always considered 60 hours to be my happy place, if I went more... good, but if less for too long it was time to think about why I'm here.
I worked many years hourly with a bonus based on flat rate... it can be a very fair arrangement. I think my best pay ever was an old 50/50 labor split that was offered to me early in my career to work part time in a shop that was short on techs. That only lasted about 6 months at most and only happened due to the small shop having a guy out with a hernia and the owner not being too sure what I could do. When I was asked to work full time I was paid on a more conventional system.
For those not all the way getting this... a big aspect of flat rate or bonus plans is to pay for productivity while protecting the shop somewhat. Your comebacks or mistakes can be deducted from wages. There is a small percentage of idiots who have continued to survive as an idiot by moving fast enough their comebacks don't fully catch up to them. Mistakes happen, often the shop eats the cost, but it is common for the tech to be held accountable too. A tech almost always, at minimum, repairs the problem without additional pay. An idiot can find himself working for free within a few months if his comebacks are high... the shop really can't afford the ill will this creates for their customers so he may get fired before he decides to quit. It has amazed me how much some just don't care about their workmanship and the reason I no longer feel safe in an elevator (seen 2 enter that field after being unable to live in mine).
