‘I Guarantee This Guy’s a Flat Rate Mechanic:’ Mechanic Removes Customer’s Engine. Then He Shows How

“How we pull some when I was working at a salvage yard."

Engine Removal

Photo by: Facebook Reels

Mustafa Gatollari

By: Mustafa Gatollari

Aug 11, 2025 at 9:00am ET

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A Master auto frame technician took potshots at flat rate mechanics on Facebook. Thomas Bendon (@irontodiesel) gave his assessment of those in the auto repair business who opt not to charge hourly for their work, in a clip posted online.

The Facebook Reel begins with footage of what looks like a red vehicle hoisted up in the air on a car lift. As the recording progresses, technicians working on the car shake it vigorously. With each gesticulation, parts begin to emerge from underneath it, like some kind of deranged vehicular birth.

As the individuals working on the car continue to shake it, it becomes clear that they’re attempting to knock its engine loose. It doesn’t take very long for them to succeed in their endeavors, and the car’s engine crashes to the shop floor.

An on-screen caption displayed over the carnage reads, “Now that’s how you get the engine out of a car.”

Following this raucous sight, Bendon’s video cuts to him smiling into the camera. “I guarantee this guy’s a flat rate mechanic, and he just made $400 in five seconds. All you guys with them 6.2 liters that are gonna have to get recalled, that’s exactly what your car’s gonna look like with all them flat rate techs working on them,” he says before laughing.

Flat Rate Versus Hourly Car Techs

Bendon’s criticisms of flat rate mechanics have been echoed online by others. Since they’re being paid the same amount for a job regardless of how long it takes, many assume that these techs will look for the quickest way to complete a repair. In doing so, they can theoretically accrue more jobs and thus more profits.

The Universal Technical Institute writes that there are pros and cons with regard to flat rate and hourly pay for mechanics. The school states that “flat rate often leads to higher earnings for experienced, fast techs.”

Conversely, “hourly may appeal to those who prefer steady income and fewer performance pressures.”

Furthermore, the school penned in its blog post that being a flat-rate mechanic is a double-edged sword. If a seasoned tech can manage to swap out a muffler in under an hour, but it’s billed as a three-hour job, they receive the full 3-hour payout for that procedure. On the flip side, if they encounter a problem that exceeds their estimated flat-rate time, they could be stuck expending more energy and potentially losing out on other work in the process.

Which Is Best?

Invoice company Skynova also weighed the positives and negatives of flat rate and hourly mechanics. In a post dedicated to this topic, the company wrote that one of the cons of the flat-rate model is “a decline in work quality.” Additionally, depending on how a shop is managed and the nature of procedures employees are faced with fixing, this could ultimately lead to “decreased profits for shop owners and workers.”

Counter-measures to this could be to include an addendum in a flat-rate bill quote. This could stipulate that should labor exceed a certain number of hours, additional charges may be appended as an “extra time” rate.

Moreover, shop owners could also charge a daily parking rate for leaving a vehicle in the shop if it happens to be an issue that takes several days to fix.

Skynova also wrote that flat-rate repair shops can lead to “burnout” among employees, which is why some workers may prefer hourly wages, as it “offers predictability."

Commenters Sound Off

One person who replied to Bendon’s video speculated that the auto techs in his posted clip certainly damaged the engine after it fell. “Bet that block cracked dropping it on concrete,” they said.

A second quipped, “If you could put it back in that way then I'll be impressed.”

Another said the folks extricating the engine block didn’t have any intention of preserving it. “How we pull some when I was working at a salvage yard,” they said.

What do you think?

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Someone else seemed to think that this method could have actually worked without harming the engine. That is, if proper precautionary measures were taken. “I think he was suppose to stop the fall with tires,” they wrote.

Motor1 has reached out to Bendon via Facebook direct message for further comment.

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