A Subaru store pays flat-rate techs off a Specialist–Master–Senior Master ladder gated on all eight ASE areas, splits warranty and customer-pay hours across boxer, CVT, and symmetrical-AWD jobs, gates EyeSight recalibration to a trained tech, and — up the Northeast — reconciles incentive money from a distributor that runs its own calendar, not Subaru of America’s. Generic payroll models none of it, so the office does, by hand, every close. WageTime runs the Subaru pay run the way it’s built: the cert ladder, the distributor money, the camera job, and the month-end close — every EIN, one Friday.
WageTime serves independently owned and operated dealerships. WageTime is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Subaru of America, Subaru Corporation, Subaru of New England, Subaru Distributors Corp, or any manufacturer or distributor. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
A Subaru rooftop pays nothing like a generic store. Every item below is either hours of unpaid office work at close or a liability compounding quietly while nobody has time to check.
Subaru’s ladder runs Specialist → Master → Senior Master, and the top rung takes ASE certification in all eight areas plus years of Subaru experience. Each rung is its own flat-rate figure. When a tech levels up, the rate should move on the award date — not three paychecks later as a retro fight at the counter.
A store in New England or metro New York is supplied by an independent distributor — Subaru of New England or Subaru Distributors Corp — with its own training and its own “Specials” incentives. That money runs on the distributor’s calendar and books to a different source than Subaru of America’s national programs. Generic payroll sees one blur.
EyeSight’s stereo cameras have to be recalibrated after a windshield, after suspension work, and after any wheel alignment — even a minor bump can knock the axis out. It’s a premium, trained-tech-only operation, and if the hours land on the wrong tech or get missed, that’s either a shorted check or an untrained calibration.
Bonuses gated on the Stellar Care Award and CSI don’t clear on your pay calendar — they unlock the day the Sales and Service scores post, which is rarely a Friday. The store still owes the money, with correct tax treatment, on an off-cycle check nobody scheduled.
Warranty time books tighter than customer-pay, and Subaru’s work concentrates on boxer engines, Lineartronic CVTs, and AWD driveline jobs. A warranty-heavy fortnight lands on a handful of techs and drags their effective rate toward the minimum-wage floor — and the true-up is owed whether or not anyone did the math.
Each rooftop and the used-car company is its own EIN with its own filings, and the group still closes payroll once. Generic providers answer with a login per entity and a consolidation workbook the bookkeeper keeps by hand.
The first four get a real product screen below, shown with sample store data. The true-up and the group close get straight answers in the FAQ.
WageTime binds a Subaru tech’s flat rate to the certification level itself — Specialist, then Master, then Senior Master — with an effective date, so the door rate moves the day the level is awarded, not the next quarter. Subaru’s ladder isn’t a single ASE badge: Master and Senior Master are earned on cumulative Subaru University training and dealer experience, and the top rung takes ASE certification across all eight automotive areas (A1–A8) plus years of Subaru-specific work. WageTime tracks that gate per tech, starts the new rate on the award date, and flags a recert drifting toward lapse before it lands — with the dollar cost of the change shown in plain numbers. No whiteboard of who’s current, and no retro-pay argument three paychecks later at the parts counter.
| Tech | Level | Rate rule | Watching | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Reyes #04 | Senior Master | $46.00/flag hr | Recert due 2028 | Current |
| J. Whitfield #09 | Master | $38.00/flag hr | Needs A6, A8 for Senior Master | Current |
| T. Osei #12 | Specialist → Master | $30.00 → $36.00/flag hr | A4, A5 passed Jul 9 | Rate change Aug 1 |
| D. Park #17 | Specialist | $27.00/flag hr | Subaru-U enrolled, 3 ASE areas left | Current |
Replaces the whiteboard of who’s Specialist and who’s Senior Master — and the retro-pay cleanup after a promotion payroll heard about late.
WageTime tags every spiff, sales incentive, and Subaru University completion bonus to its paying source, so distributor money and Subaru of America money reconcile cleanly instead of blurring into one line. That matters because Subaru of America doesn’t supply the whole country itself: a store in the six New England states is franchised through Subaru of New England, and one in New York or northern New Jersey through Subaru Distributors Corp — each with its own training and its own “Specials” incentives on its own calendar. WageTime books each earning to the right person, period, and source, runs the distributor money off-cycle when it lands with correct tax treatment, and lets a group straddling two territories track both incentive rulebooks without a second system — with reporting still per store or combined.
| Program | Source | People | Amount | Pay run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer sales spiff | Subaru of New England | 6 | $4,200.00 | Off-cycle Jun 20 |
| Subaru-U completion bonus | Subaru of New England | 2 | $1,000.00 | Off-cycle Jun 20 |
| National retail bonus | Subaru of America | 9 | $6,750.00 | Jul 3 run |
| Loyalty retention spiff | Subaru of America | 4 | $1,600.00 | Jul 3 run |
Replaces the highlighter pass over the distributor’s statement — and the “which program paid this, and when?” argument at close.
WageTime imports each EyeSight recalibration as its own flag operation, split warranty or customer-pay, and routes the hours by the tech’s Subaru training record — so a premium job pays only the tech cleared to do it. That routing matters because EyeSight’s windshield-mounted stereo cameras have to be recalibrated after glass, after suspension work, and after any wheel alignment — Subaru warns the axis can shift even in a minor collision — so recalibration shows up on repair orders that don’t look like camera jobs. A static calibration positions an OEM target board at an exact distance and height and runs roughly 60 to 90 minutes. WageTime flags an untrained tech’s calibration RO for reassignment before it pays, so the hours never quietly land on the wrong check.
| Tech | RO · trigger | Cal type | Flag hrs | Pay bucket | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Reyes #04 | RO 51188 · windshield R&I | Static | 1.6 | Customer-pay | Ready |
| A. Reyes #04 | RO 51204 · post-alignment | Dynamic | 0.8 | Customer-pay | Ready |
| J. Whitfield #09 | RO 51160 · suspension R&I | Static | 1.6 | Warranty | Ready |
| D. Park #17 | RO 51231 · minor collision | Static | 1.6 | Customer-pay | Held: untrained |
Replaces the sticky note on the alignment rack listing who’s cleared for the camera bay — and the recalibration that quietly never got flagged.
WageTime holds recognition bonuses against the score and releases them on an off-cycle run the day it clears, with correct supplemental-wage tax treatment — so the money isn’t paid early on a guess or pushed through later as an untracked adjustment. Recognition money tied to the Stellar Care Award and customer-satisfaction scores unlocks only when the Sales and Service numbers post, and the gate asks for participation across all customer-focused Subaru programs, not one metric — a date and a condition that rarely match your pay calendar. WageTime keeps each bonus pending until its score clears, then pays it on its own run; unlimited runs mean that off-cycle check costs nothing extra, and every payout is booked to the person and period it belongs to.
| Group | People | Bonus rule | Score status | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service dept pool | 8 | $200 each if CSI clears | Cleared Jul 8 | $1,600.00 off-cycle |
| Sales team pool | 6 | $150 each if CSI clears | Cleared Jul 8 | $900.00 off-cycle |
| Store manager | 1 | Stellar Care participation bonus | Under review | Held |
Replaces the calendar reminder to “pay the CSI money once the scores are in” — and the untracked adjustment when it slips.
WageTime runs the commission close — the month’s hardest week at any Subaru store — once, as payroll. Front-end packs, unit minis, volume tiers, and F&I with chargeback netting settle per person; draw offsets net against a running balance, and any unreconciled deal rolls forward rather than stalling the whole close. The same run true-ups the techs a warranty-heavy fortnight of boxer and CVT jobs has dragged toward the minimum-wage floor, pulls imported flag hours in without re-keying, and closes every rooftop EIN and the used-car company under one approval. You approve a number, not a stack of sheets and a consolidation workbook. Recovery from a final paycheck is blocked where state law prohibits it, so a carried draw balance doesn’t follow someone out the door illegally.
| Salesperson | Units | Gross comm | Minis + tiers | F&I / chargebacks | Draw offset | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priya S. | 16 | $8,960.00 | +$900.00 | — | −$2,800.00 | $7,060.00 |
| Marco T. | 12 | $6,240.00 | +$500.00 | — | −$2,800.00 | $3,940.00 |
| Elena V. · F&I | — | $11,320.00 | — | −$980.00 | −$3,600.00 | $6,740.00 |
| Sam K. | 5 | $2,000.00 | — | — | −$2,800.00 | −$800.00 carried |
| Dana L. | 10 | $5,100.00 | +$500.00 | — | −$2,800.00 | $2,800.00 |
Replaces the commission workbook, the by-hand true-up, and the consolidation sheet that ties the rooftops together every Friday.
Each level is its own flat-rate door rate. WageTime binds the rate to the tech’s Subaru level — Specialist, Master, or Senior Master, the top rung gated on all eight ASE areas — with an effective date, so a promotion moves the rate on the award date, not three paychecks later, and a recert drifting toward lapse is flagged before it costs a retro adjustment.
Yes. Spiff, sales-incentive, and Subaru-U completion money from Subaru of New England or Subaru Distributors Corp runs on the distributor’s own calendar; national money runs on Subaru of America’s. WageTime books each earning to the right person, period, and paying source, and off-cycle runs for distributor money cost nothing extra.
EyeSight recalibration — owed after glass, suspension work, and any wheel alignment, even a minor collision — imports as its own flag operation, split warranty or customer-pay. Hours route by the tech’s Subaru training record, so an untrained tech’s calibration RO is flagged for reassignment before it pays a premium operation to the wrong person.
Yes. Recognition bonuses that unlock only when Sales and Service CSI scores post can be released on an off-cycle run the day the score clears, with correct supplemental-wage tax treatment — instead of being held to the next scheduled Friday or pushed through as an untracked adjustment. Unlimited runs mean the extra check costs nothing.
Only a tech who completed Subaru’s hybrid and high-voltage training. Subaru publishes no tiered high-voltage levels — it’s trained or not — so there’s no intermediate HV pay step to map. WageTime gates those flag hours to the trained tech’s record, the same way it gates EyeSight calibration and cert-tied flat rates.
$50 per month per company plus $10 per person paid that month — no long-term contracts, cancel anytime, with unlimited payroll runs so off-cycle spiff and final-check runs cost nothing extra. Onboarding and migration are full-service and paid: a specialist configures your entities, pay plans, and people with you. Support after go-live is real humans, around the clock.
Last month’s commission sheets, a warranty-heavy fortnight of boxer and CVT flag hours, the cert list with who’s Specialist and who’s Senior Master, and the distributor’s spiff statement. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo store — if WageTime can’t carry your comp plans, you’ll know before the meeting ends.
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