I was one of those service advisors of which you speak. It is a very difficult job at best. It's hard to make a customer feel good about their service experience when you are taking their money away from them. Yes , service advisors are paid on commission (most of them anyway). I was paid 5% on all warranty, internal, and customer pay tickets. We were trained to sell you things in the spirit of keeping your GM car "All GM", and using the "Mr. Goodwrench" facade to reassure you that you are getting the best possible service available. In truth, it simply was not the case. Of 22 "technicians", there were 2 that I would let work on MY car. As for keeping with the GM OEM parts, that didn't always happen either. I sold a set of OEM plug wires to a gentleman as part of a tune-up on his Corvette for $135.00.(that's $135.00 just for the plug wires) Keep in mind, this was 1986. The parts department didn't have them in stock, so they bought a set from the local parts house for $39.00. The customer was not told of this substitution, but still was charged $135.00 for the set of plug wires. The total cost for the tune-up was well over $300.00 for plug wires, AC plugs, and a PCV valve. As for the infamous GMPP extended warranty....the dealership made about a 50% profit on each one sold. I made $25.00 for each customer I "steered" to the finance manager to purchase a policy. I was paid $25.00 "spiff money" for each 30,000 mile inspection I sold. I sold ten one month. the next month I only sold 8 and was threatened with termination if I didn't increase my sales each month. The final straw was when they started the "sliding scale" parts mark-up. If a part cost $9.99 or less it was marked up 400%. $10.00 to $19.99 was 200%, $20.00 to $50.00 100%, etc. I really liked the auto business and I made more money there than anywhere else in my life, but after a while the money wasn't important anymore. This is one reason the auto manufacturers are in the shape they're in today. Dealer greed is a direct reflection of the companies.
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