An AAMCO rebuild splits one repair order between an R&R tech on flag hours and a rebuilder on build hours, with nationwide warranty redos landing on both. WageTime is payroll built to run that split, for independently owned AAMCO centers.
For independently owned and operated AAMCO® franchise businesses. WageTime is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AAMCO or its franchisor; those marks belong to their owners and are used here only to describe the businesses this page serves.
An AAMCO center runs an R&R tech on flag hours, a rebuilder on build hours, an hourly diagnostic front end, and general-repair flag techs across the Total Car Care bays. All of it sits under a nationwide transmission warranty and no dealership overtime exemption. Right now the R&R-and-rebuilder split, the warranty rebuild redo, and the courtesy-check hours all live on sticky notes and a spreadsheet nobody reconciles until a check comes up short.
A transmission job divides between two people paid two ways. The R&R tech removes and reinstalls the unit on flat-rate flag hours, and the rebuilder tears it down, replaces internals, and reassembles it on the bench for a build-hour rate that runs higher. One repair order, two pay bases, and today somebody splits the labor by hand and hopes each tech’s week still adds up.
AAMCO honors its transmission warranty at centers across the country, so a redo can land on your lift for a rebuild first sold three states away. That redo is not a brake pad: it pulls a unit and re-opens the bench, so the R&R tech and the rebuilder both eat labor. Whether it pays policy time or full rate, and which center it costs to, is a decision that lives on a sticky note, not in payroll.
Before a flag hour is earned, a tech runs the Vehicle Courtesy Check: fluid and condition, an on-lift look, an electronic scan to isolate internal from external faults, and a road test. That diagnostic and road-test time is hourly labor that decides whether a job ever reaches the rebuilder. Mix it with flag hours in one week and the overtime math stops being something a spreadsheet can hold.
Techs get paid on flag and build hours, but an independent AAMCO center doesn’t inherit the overtime exemption written for franchised new-car dealers. Any week a tech earns at two or more rates, the premium is figured on the blended rate, and a thin week still has to average minimum wage on the hours actually clocked. Today that reconciliation is a spreadsheet no owner wants an auditor reading.
The rebuilder’s ASE A2 transmission cert expiring next month, an EPA 609 card, a state inspection license, the tool-account balance a tech is paying down, and last week’s hours still parked in the shop system: in a center with no HR desk, every one of those lands on the owner once the bays go quiet.
WageTime pays the rebuild as the two jobs it is, each on its own pay code: the R&R tech’s pull-and-reinstall runs as flat-rate flag hours, the rebuilder’s bench work as a per-unit build-hour code at the higher build rate, on the same repair order.
| Line | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| R&R tech, pull & reinstallMarcus B. · flag hrs $32.00 | 6.5 | $208.00 |
| Rebuilder, bench buildSal D. · build hrs $45.00/unit | 9.0 | $405.00 |
| R&R tech, second unitMarcus B. · flag hrs $32.00 | 5.0 | $160.00 |
Replaces the by-hand labor split between two techs, and the guess at whose week the overtime lands in.
The redo posts in WageTime as its own pay line, paid the way you set it and coded to the center that sold the original job: policy time for a redo your center owns, full build rate when a bad part forced the rebuild.
| Line | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build hours (customer-pay rebuilds) | 33.0 | $45.00 | $1,485.00 |
| Warranty redo, bad part (full build rate) | 3.0 | $45.00 | $135.00 |
| Warranty redo, other-center sale (policy time) | 2.0 | $30.00 | $60.00 |
| Weighted-average regular rate (all pay ÷ 42 clock hrs) | 42.0 | $40.00 | $1,680.00 |
| Overtime premium (2 OT hrs at half rate) | 2.0 | $20.00 | $40.00 |
Replaces the warranty rebuild scribbled on a sticky note, and the afternoon a rebuilder quietly worked for free.
Courtesy-check labor runs hourly in WageTime, on its own code beside flag and build hours. The Vehicle Courtesy Check, scan, and road test are front-end time a tech works whether or not the job ever reaches the bench.
| Vehicle | Tech | Diag hrs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Explorer RO-4471 | Marcus B. | 1.2 | Quoted, sent to build |
| 2016 Camry RO-4478 | Priya S. | 0.8 | Awaiting customer approval |
| 2020 Silverado RO-4482 | Marcus B. | 1.5 | Scan: external fault, no build |
| 2018 Accord RO-4490 | Priya S. | 1.0 | Road test complete |
Replaces the diagnostic hours nobody wrote down, and the road-test time that never made it onto a check.
Usually yes: the dealership mechanic exemption stops at the franchised-dealer line, a call for you and your counsel. WageTime blends every rate a tech earned, flag, build, and hourly, into one weighted-average overtime figure automatically.
| Line | Quantity | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flag hours (R&R, brakes, A/C) | 39.5 hrs | $32.00 | $1,264.00 |
| Hourly time (diagnostics, road tests, cleanup) | 6.0 hrs | $22.00 | $132.00 |
| Weighted-average regular rate (all earnings ÷ 45.5 clock hrs) | 45.5 hrs | $30.68 | $1,396.00 |
| Overtime premium (5.5 OT hrs at half rate) | 5.5 hrs | $15.34 | $84.37 |
Replaces the flag-times-rate spreadsheet, and the straight-time premium that quietly shorts a mixed week.
WageTime does, on one employee record per tech across every AAMCO center you run: certs, tool accounts, and shop-system hours imported without a second keying, with finished payroll posted to QuickBooks by center and department.
| Tech | Role | Clock hrs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sal D. | Rebuilder | 42.0 | Ready |
| Marcus B. | R&R / general repair | 45.5 | ASE A2 transmission expires in 30 days |
| Priya S. | Diagnostic | 41.0 | Ready |
| Ivy L. | Apprentice | 24.0 | New hire, I-9 open |
Replaces the cert board taped to the break-room wall, and the export, reformat, retype at every period close.
Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.
Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.
Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month
HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.
See a demoEach role runs as its own pay code on the same repair order. The R&R tech’s pull-and-reinstall labor is flat-rate flag hours, and the rebuilder’s bench work is a per-unit build-hour code at its own rate. Both fold into that tech’s weekly weighted-average overtime, and job costing pins R&R and build labor to the one RO.
A rebuild’s R&R flag hours and the rebuilder’s build hours are two rates in one week, and at an independent AAMCO center that mix usually earns overtime. The dealership mechanic exemption stops at the franchised dealer, and the retail-commission exemption rarely fits a flat-rate plan, a call for you and your counsel. WageTime figures the premium on the weighted-average rate whenever a tech earns at two or more rates, automatically.
The redo posts as its own pay line, coded to the center that sold the original job. A redo your center owns can run on policy time; one caused by a bad part can run at the full build rate. The R&R hours and the build hours each post to the right tech, lift that tech’s blended overtime rate, and clear the weekly wage floor.
The Vehicle Courtesy Check, electronic scan, and road test run as hourly diagnostic time on their own code, separate from flag and build hours. Because that is a second rate in the week, it lifts the weighted-average overtime rate automatically, and the minimum-wage floor is tested on the full clock with diagnostic hours included.
Yes. Run each center as its own company and EIN or as a department under one, with one login across the group and labor reported per center or combined. Role-based access lets a center manager approve their store while the owner sees everything, and WageTime files every entity’s federal, state, and local taxes separately.
$50 a month for the company plus $10 per person actually paid that month: $120 for a six-person center, with unlimited runs, so weekly pay and a midweek spiff run cost nothing extra. Filings, W-2s, and 1099s are included. Run more than one center? Each keeps its own EIN, with one login and combined reporting.
Last week’s R&R flag hours, the rebuilder’s build hours beside them, and a warranty redo or two. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo shop: you’ll watch one transmission job split across two techs, see a mixed flag-and-hourly week compute its own weighted-average overtime and clear the wage floor, and get a straight answer on running several centers from one login.
Book a 20-minute demo