Sorry, I didnt really know where to post this, but I thought this would be a great site to ask this, if you want to move it thats ok, and if its a problem feel free to delete it and I'll go elsewhere: I had an interview for a technician position today at a Ford Dealership, and during the interview I was asked what my desired pay is. The dealership pays flat rate, so I was really at a loss for what to say, because I dont know what a fair flat rate is. Through the grapevine I found out they offered another person I know $21 per hour, but he wasnt close enough to being done with college and had limited certifications, so they didnt hire him. I will have my Associates degree in just a few weeks, am Master State Certified, and will be taking my ASE's in May, and he sounded like he was really interested in me and said he would get back with me by weeks end. When he calls me back we will discuss my pay, and I'd really like to know what is an acceptable flat rate.

Flat rate is you only get paid for the work you do. So in other words say like a front brake job pays 2.0 hours, you get paid 2 hours no matter how long it actually took, whether it was only 1/2 hour or 4 hours, you get paid for 2. Flat rate is awesome when you are busy, you can actually get paid 50-60 hours of work when you are actually are only physically there for 40. BUT, when you are slow you don't get paid at all. Now that may vary from different dealerships, I used to work at a local Cadillac dealership and we got paid a min of 30 hours whether we worked on a car or not, but the catch was we had to be physically had to be there for 40 hours a week, you couldn't go home early if there is no work.