We have a policy of billing travel hours to a job from shop to shop. Our techs are expected to be on duty at 7:30am. If they live an hour from the shop and thir first call is an hour from their house then the travel aligns with the actual billed time. The discrepencies start when a tech lives close to a bunch of customers and he makes 3 stops in the morning. Technically he can charge each customer for 2 hours of travel. We tell our techs to split the travel time up amongst the customers to make it fair. If there is a breakdown that causes a tech to drop what he is doing and travel an hour to the breakdown then the customer pays all the travel. Basically it boils down to fairness.We ask our techs to work 42.5 hours a week and be on duty 8.5 hours a day.
A dishonest tech will not last long because the customers will complain if they feel they are being cheated. Most techs we have do more than is asked of them and appreciate the perks they get i.e. vehicle and fuel. Sometimes we get complaints about excessive time but usually we resolve them after the tech gives his report and explains that the customer requested that he drive back to the shop to pick up a part or was called off a job to fix a breakdown. I do agree that billing 10 and working 8 is theft. Any respectable establishment would not do this for fear of losing a customer. I was a tech for many years both on the road and in the shop. Customer / tech trust is something that is earned. Stealing time would break that trust.