The shop charges $150 an hour and the mechanic gets $25. You work in a drafty shop with 100 degree heat while the boss sits in the A/C. You get to work on vehicles that are not designed to be repaired. There is no way in hell I would be a mechanic today
I experienced this first hand, I brought my Honda to an Illinois dealership for an oil change and tire rotation. Before taking my car I marked the front driver rim with a piece of tape. Well when I picked it up I noticed the tape was in the same location yet they charged me for the rotation. I brought it to the owners attention and he said ok, sorry, your next oil change is free? I told him since they didn’t rotate my tires how do I know the oil was even changed, he just looked down at the floor, how many people get scammed everyday??? It’s sad
The best way to keep this crap from happening is pay hourly plus performance based bonuses. A huge part of that performance is customer satisfaction. Not letting customers take advantage of you, but being straight up with them. Letting them know pricing up front. Having service managers who know what they are talking about, hiring a warranty claims specialist if you’re a dealership. Labor rate is $95/hr, overhead is $28/hr, $25/hr to owner, $42/hr to tech. You pay hourly $32/hr and $10/hr bonus for performance. Owner can dip into their pockets for those who go above and beyond in an honest way.
My Honda dealer always used to charge me for things they never did. It took me some time before I realized that. I try now to stay away from dealers even though I have a 2023 car.
Me too ,three of them . All terrible and crooked. No rack time after hours for personal repairs. They basically owned my tools. Unless I packed em up. Then they accuse you of taking business away side hustling. Complete waste of the best years of my life spinning my wheels and getting cheated.
Bro there talks about the low pay, then says that too many kids taking liberal arts ,and many guys in pony tails are telling kids they should not go into a trade. So, the job has terrible pay, but you are saying that we need a lot more people going into it? Bro there really needs to think a bit before he talks, not just verbal diarrhea. I do all my own repairs/maintenance. Shops are $150/hr and certainly do not do a better job than I do. Except for alignments, I do trust a reputable shop for that, and I found a good one.
See my screen name. 14 years with Lexus, 10 as a Master certified Lexus tech. Doing it the honest way, I averaged about 45-50k in SoCal. Best year I had was 60k in Arizona. All while having to play politics with work dispatch, going through work slumps, then massively busy with recalls, to pitiful labor pay on warranty. The final straw for me was Lexus corporate bringing down the hammer on techs that missed an online quiz deadline. That fucked with my pay for an entire month. Wife was 4 months pregnant with my first kid and I flagged 40 hours for the whole month. Could not touch a ticket that even SNIFFED warranty, even replacement batteries. This was a new punishment, one that backfired on them I think. Why? We missed the deadline because we were busy trying to finish all the fucking recall work we were flooded with. It will be 5 years since I left the dealer life, flat rate, and the enormous lack of respect for a skill set that is in no way easily replaced. Dealers and repair shops are all screwed because the next Gen isn't buying in. Good, fuck them. They did it to themselves.
This is what caused welding-issues at newport-news shipyard. They ran off the skilled welders years ago. Generational welders that passed skills to their sons. 😢
"It's a buyers market" is your first indication that the hiring has gone to the wolves and the company is in a terrible place. They try this with us programmers knowing full well the gifted percentile in any given country is 2%. If the pols weren't awarding them guest worker visas no programmer in America would be making under six figures.
The place I work is desperate for help, I think its funny, they dont understand why nobody wants to work for them. I only stay because I have no other options.
Auto repair is so much worse than most could imagine. They essentially want techs with a surgeon's level skills, enough value in tools to pay for a lower end house, and to pay chump change while wilfully stressing them out frequently. Meanwhile cars keep getting maliciously harder and more expensive to service, which is manageable for a good mechanic but still burns everyone's time and money except the manufacturer. The industry deserves to crumble. It's the only way a healthy balance can be restored.
@RUclips_Sold_Out-c4f perhaps it's obvious, but I was a mechanic for many years. Number one thing older guys would tell me was to get out of the profession. And its only become worse since.
@@noelleonard2498 Smart man. Society looks at mechanics as subhuman thieves with room temperature IQ, couldn't be further from the truth. Treated, worked, paid like a slave.. it's the most thankless job I've ever worked by far. There's worse professions out there but automotive repair has to be in the top 10 worst. For the last decade I've been telling young men to do anything else, you'll make more money as a department lead at Home Depot, with more benefits.
I'm a retired mechanic, It was a decent way for a man with just high school education to make a decent living if he had good mechanical instincts and a box of tools. That was back in 1975. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone now. The mechanic's cut of the labor has been shrinking for 40 years and the job has been getting tougher.
i had a dealership i worked for tell the mechanics that we would have to do and complete the dealership courses on our own time and at home. i simply went to every mechanic and made sure they had my side before starting a complete mutiny
In the 70s and 80s you could have one small toolbox to fix 95% of cars. These days I've got probably 20k in tools, a Snap-On bill, much more complicated vehicles, and making less than a tech in the 70s when you count for inflation. Modern vehicles are more computer than car, and trying to diagnose problems that have a lot more potential failure points than they used to is definitely a specialized skill set. Plus a lot of manufacturers don't pay diag time on warranty work. Which is straight up wage theft in my opinion.
New cars are a pain to work on, I spent over 50 years as a mechanic. The dealership make money but not the workers. I find dealerships shops are not honest.
They are not. I brought my 06 Corolla into the dealer for an oil change (I swap engines, I could easily do an oil change myself) in hopes that they would be able to actually get the mileage off the computer, as the odo stopped at 299999. They didn't do it. $100 later, I got my car back with fresh oil and a report that said everything was fine. My pads had 10% left in them (I knew this) and two weeks later the exhaust fell off the car (I did not foresee this). Jackson's Toyota did not check my car at all, and I'm willing to bet they didn't even try to get the mileage off it.
Dealerships try to NOT FIX your car. They give you a BS "resolution" and tell you to "monitor the condition and see if it gets worse" on your service invoice. I'd rather just diagnose and correct any problems myself.
I started out as an automotive tech when my father told me if I don't go to college, learn a trade. I was young and saw the very same shady stuff and hostile work environment like you have, not to mention the lousy pay. I saw nothing but a dead end is that career so I decided to join the service and learn aviation maintenance. Best decision I ever made. Long story short, I ended up becoming a Federal aircraft mechanic at an Air National Guard base for 30 years, since I just retired from. Decent pay, I didn't have to buy tools, and I have a pension which I'm enjoying now. Thanks for the video!
And no working on flat rate, the only time you have to be really fast is when you are deployed to a war zone. You also have to be certified , unlike some mechanics and no regular mandatory medical exams, and you do not need as many tools.
The ANG can be a great deal. I was warned by (successful shop owner) mechanics in the 1970s not to wrench cars for a living though I'm good at it. Joining the Air Force was pure win (but sensitive people should avoid aircraft maintenance and preferably the armed forces so no one has to hear their whining!) and retirement is Very Nice. If a career doesn't have a government-guaranteed pension and benefit package no ordinary mechanic job beats it or even comes close. I've wrenched commerically for toy money at my bros shop but would never want to depend on that.
You listened to your dad, good for you. My dad saved me from a bad business decision and changed my lifespan. And to stay in one place for so long. Airline mechanics go all over the place.
Worked as a service advisor, in the early 70's. I quit after a month. Management told me to,sell services the customers didn't need. Upselling should be illegal.
@@Jhonny-w6p Yes, my manager was happy with the "best tech" who *refused* to do any brake work unless you automatically added calipers/wheel cylinders, every drum and every rotor always were needing replacement, even on the 10k mile car where the owner wanted his aftermarket pads placed on that kinda thing. Every drum. Would refuse to do any brake job unless we fluffed up the work order with ridiculous markup parts, that, of course, we werent supposed to tell the customers they could walk 1 minute next door WHERE WE WOULD BUY THE EXACT SAME PART and save $$$. And all oil changes had snake oil injector cleaner snuck in and you were supposed to only address it if the customer noticed and asked about it. Dishonest and gross
Here in Canada the largest national chain has earned some infamy for paying their mechanics a sales commission on top of their earned wage. Even decades ago an aggressive mechanic could earn $1500.00 per month as a 'bonus'. It was and is largely fueled by the mandatory annual inspection of motor vehicles. The mechanic's 'opinion' about what repairs are needed can force the customer into a corner. Same problem - but I am sad to hear that wages are so low and can be peeled back so easily in the US
@dereksollows9783 Any mechanic worth his salt, should open up his own shop. That would force the big dealerships to lower prices and maybe restore their reputations.
I just got into automotive work and its so far a nightmare outlook. Jesus the pay is deplorable, corporate America is going to destroy this country through greed.
@@luissantiago147 The only good job in aviation is a pilot. If any young person is interested in aviation, I would never steer them to be a mechanic. It might cost more up front, and pay might be low for the first year-ish, but the long term is leaps and bounds above a mechanic. You are talking on order of $10's of millions of dollars more pay over a career, with much less daily hassle. Be a pilot, not a mechanic should be a bumper sticker.
I worked 20 years as an ASE certified "tech" . I found that being an honest mechanic i didnt make much money. Some of my coworkers who cut corners or took shortcuts or upsold like crazy, "selling stuff that the customer didnt need" made lots more money than me. I just couldn't bring myself to go that route. I slept with a clear conscience but an empty pocketbook. I finally wised up and threw in the towel and Pursued another carrer path. Im thankful though that i can work on my own vehicles!
Stay away from the dealer for maintenance items. Local mechanics do a better job and you can usually trust them. Dealers are for recalls and warranty work.
Not anymore. Cars coming out next year are going to need a $6 scan tool to work on and there will be a subscription fee for the software. Most mechanics are not going to shell out more money to buy those tools let alone learn how to use them. With people treat personal vehicles more like appliances where they throw them away every few years. Its only a matter of time before everyone ends up with these rolling iPhones on wheels.
the only growth in our country is the growing gap between the rich and poor, the youth is giving up, not getting married, having children or working. Society is collapsing, look no further than our influencers that the kids are following.
i fully agree society is collapsing there is little hope for the average youth of today to own a house and have a family. I am a baby boomer i feel we have raped the place and our grand kids will be stuck with the bill. then there is the non hetrosexuals who are not normal they are not going to reproduce. so there wont be enough kids to support the country at this rate
Left the shop 10 yrs ago. Shit compensation, having to purchase/maintain my own tools and being treated like shit. You need all the skills, but they pay you none of the money.
I just quit my job as a master technician twenty years plus in the horrible trade no money nothing but problems and toxic toxic toxic people. NO MORE NEVER GOING BACK 😮
Same here bro, I put in 16 years alone for same shop and he wondered why I just didn't care like I once did! I had no medical or dental and here I am with a mouthful of pain and no job! I called off over tooth pain and he finally let me go and I was fine with it
@@sleepyhead9756 Hey thanks bro, appreciate it. Yeah still got my 87 lol just don't have much funds anymore for it and yep basically I been trying to find odd jobs and mobile repairs just to make bills here until I find a solid 9 to 5 again
I work as a technician for a large transportation agency - buses and passenger trains. Many, maybe close to 50% of the techs came from the service departments of auto dealerships. Instead of maintaining cars they fix trains and buses. Their reasons for making the switch are the same as in this video. As a train tech I do routine maintenance as well as troubleshooting and repair. It's a union job that pays $54/hour and offers lots of over time for those who want to work extra hours. It's common for techs to earn $120k to $140k per year and receive great benefits...medical, dental, vision, 401k, and pension.
Its all part of the plan to get people out of their personal vehicles so the city can implement self driving cars everywhere. This is all part of the plan.
Nice, I work for a University as a facilities maintenance. I'm under paid, but have great benefits including a Pension. I see a few sitting behind a desk, making 150,000 a year for being a chair warmer. Nuts. It's job's like yours that will be in demand.
@@joefran619A.I. will take care of that soon enough. Paper pushers make a ton of money to do nothing. Now computers will do those jobs more efficiently.
I was a telecommunications tech where I just dealt with bandwidth for big customers. I worked in one of those big windowless buildings with a couple other techs. I didn’t even have to talk with the customers as we had people that took care of that. $45 + an hour, double time over 12 hours and Sundays, 401k and pension. Company provided all tools and test equipment.
Not as much free lunch as you think, HVAC means you work on heating in the winter and as many other smaller licenses and takes just as long. Plumbing is not bad, changes very little. But electrical is just behind auto for changes. You get stuck with all the latest plant automation and robots etc, codes and you work often have to pass inspection. Oh it works is not good enough, had to pass code. You do buy less tools than auto.
They are awful. I am very lucky to have found a dealership about an hour and a half from me in Newberry, MI. The GM dealership in Sault Ste-Marie is horrible. Lazy, dishonest, slow, and the last time I was in the check-in guy asked me "if I wanted to become a mechanic?" when I asked why an oil change and diagnosing a bad wheel bearing on a 2022 Silverado that I bought brand new. Smart ass.
I once had a gunsmith named Earle Miller tell me, nobody ever got rich fixing things. You don't want any job fixing things, you want a job where you're making something. He was right
I was a cnc machinist and didn't make squat.You were always under pressure to get the job done and reminded daily how you can be replaced any time.When I left there was a great feeling of relief.
That's debatable. Purchase/throw away products are cheap & waste product materials. More jobs are created due to repairs. It's capitalism (GREED). And denial of unions. Hate unions?? It brings EVERYONE'S wages up, union or NOT. 🤔🇺🇸
Used to be, you could call the service manager and you would talk to the same person for decades. The last 10 years you are lucky to deal with the same person between oil changes.
You are wrong. Then exactly WHO is going to fix anybody's car? At that point, my slow but basic DIY mechanic's skills are worth $120+/hour because I'm the only guy in town.
I had a decent dealership gig, but they kept hiring techs and diluting the work. I went from flagging 13.5 hours a day down to 8.5 hours a day. I eventually had to cancel my health insurance. Eventually, I opened my own shop and ran that for 12 years. That was a double edged sword. Eventually I burned out and got out of the business altogether. Now I work in the oilfield. On the up side, I enjoy working on my own projects much more…
You nailed it. I did 5 years at a dealer and almost starved to death. Everything you said I experienced. I retired in fleet maintenance, I'm glad my career is over.
Yes I too was in fleet maintenance and worked on many different types of nasty equipment in nasty environments. If a crane or a D10 blew a hydraulic hose in the middle of the coalfield in the middle of a slop hole puddle bigger than the equipment, that’s where it was repaired at. Vehicles and equipment in my opinion are ridiculously over complicated but engineers don’t have to work on anything they design. It was frustrating hard work but it paid well and I had good benefits,I retired in 2021.I don’t miss the work just some of the people. Flat rate how ridiculous and dishonest almost like working for Tips.
@bymarcatholictinkering Yep. Freightliner is replacing the good ole dash red/yellow park brake valves with electric solenoids,pcm controlled I'm sure. The old ones where too reliable. I believe in improving some things. But those Bindex MV3 where rarely any trouble.
@ electronics to monitor the electronics modules to interface with other computer controller systems . They think reaching over your shoulder to scratch your ass is the best new thing and design all these unnecessary computer controls to accomplish this ridiculous approach, when it was successfully accomplished for centuries by simply reaching the hand around your waste.
No money fixing cars that’s why you see idiot felons working on cars with terrible attitudes because those are the only people willing to take those jobs
I recently took my vette to a GM dealership and had them change the oil on it because I didn't feel like doing it myself and the dealership is right next to my office so I just walked to work for the day. A bit later I noticed an oil spot in my garage so I jacked up the car and found that they left the drain plug loose. Last time I'm going to a dealer.
Had my new car serviced at the Toyota dealer, after I got home I opened the hood to check the oil and other things. I could tell the Tech rushed the service. The cap was left off the coolant reservoir container, I could smell coolant, thought I had a coolant leak. The rod that holds the hood up was not secured to the holder, just loose. Oil was overfilled past the max mark on the stick. Yes I believe techs are not paid fairly. Yes I believe techs skip some things and don’t do it correctly.
A product of poor wages, you get what you pay for, poor wage, poor worker, why would you take a vehicle to a Toyota dealership, well known as the most corrupt.
@@scaramouche8244 Yup, very sad but true, I was a pipe welder fitter, for 50 years raised a family, now a foster home all on a single income, not gonna happen right now, but it can be fixed, one last chance. VOTE RIGHT MY FRIEND
My cousin quit the car service industry after getting a job at in n out. He now makes $22 an hour at in n out and can work up to store manager role in 7-8 years, making $160k plus a year. His $22 was a huge jump from make $10.50 as a technician at the shop he worked at
That's still nothing a competent mechanic should make at least 35 bucks an hour I run around town fixing people's cars at their house I'm doing damn good
Trouble with being a manager at any food service job is that you have to work at least 80 hours a week. Amerika is going to collapse for for exactly the same reason the old Soviet Union did, there's absolutely nothing for the people on the bottom of the whole economy. When nobody gives a crap about doing a good job because there's no reason to, corruption becomes universal, slacking off becomes normal operating procedure and theft and looking out only for number one your country is circling the drain.
@@Todd-tq7cs High level auto techs should be at $50/hour minimum just like any other trade.. $35 is what we were paid in 1992. I know because I was there. All if it should be moved to salary.
I was a GM certified and ASE certified tech at a Buick Dealership for 10 years and the final straw for me was getting stuck constantly with warranty work, I left there in 05 and became a Trucker now with almost 19 years and 2 million miles under my belt, best decision I ever made!!!
I’m a service manager at a non dealership service center and a former Honda master tech. The whole industry is crooked. As a manager, I’m third in the chain of three at my shop. Yesterday I was told if our shop didn’t make money this month, all three managers would be written up. We have been incredibly slow for about 3 weeks, half of our lifts are broken and we have increased prices three times this year. How is any of that my fault? I didn’t price customers out, I don’t control advertising so getting people in the door isn’t my job and we reported the lifts as they broke over the last 9 months just to be told we don’t make enough to fix them even though our store ALWAYS makes a decent profit for the year. I told the store manager if they write me up after I come to work early every day and work my ass off, I’m walking straight out the door. Automotive jobs really kinda suck.
Just a warning I worked at Goodyear for 10 years. If it is corporate they will right you up.then next year fire you. They also always try and weasel out of unemployment. Not only that they are in financial trouble right now and you are just one of multiple locations from what I have heard that has broken hoists that aren't getting repaired. They don't care how long you have worked there and they don't care if you have years of perfect employment. They are trimming any where they can. Its sad. Good luck to you.
I absolutely loathe my local Honda dealerships. They are some of the most crooked people I've ever dealt with. I refuse to even let them put air in my tires. I use a local mechanic for everything.
The entire industry is slow starting in November, people are spending their money on Black Friday & Christmas gifts. It always picks back up when tax season comes. Tell them to shut up and fix the lifts.
I was a tech in the late 70s. The older guys working there told me to get out of this profession. They were all unhappy and pissed every day. The shop provided only some basic equipment that all the tech shared. We had to buy our own tools. A set of Snap on impact socket set was more than my weekly pay. I worked on the side and made more money than at the dealership. I left after about 2 yrs. The work was hard on your body. The older guys were beat up, wore back braces, breathing issues from the asbestos exposure, knee issues etc. In the summer it was hot no ac. The winter was cold. Every day we were exposed to chemicals. I did a lot of warranty work. Shit jobs no one wanted to do. I was good at my job and took pride on the work I did. Rearly any come backs. We had no respect from the management. Fast forward no different today. 😮
I echo your experience. Worked from 1979 - 2004. I died at the dealerships, mostly because certain mechanics were spoon fed gravy work while the smart technicians were fed warranty work. One technician told me, perhaps out of pity, "Dave, the more you know the less you'll make". He was right. He simply told management he didn't know electrical, or transmissions, or wind noises and was fed royally. He was quite fast. Why? Services, and brakes and clutches... (all customer pay) keep the dealership doors open, not warranty. A side note: --The insistence on more and more tech features on new cars ultimately hurts the consumer and the repair crew. Thanks for reading this.
No it has changed but for the worse. Bak in the day, most dealers were family businesses run by some one with the same name as was over the door . However they have nearly all gone now and dealerships are run by accountants with MBAs who would not know a spanner from a screwdriver let alone how to use either . All they know is numbers & money and how to manipulate them to get a maximum bonus ( we call them bonus farmers ) . The will come in to a sound business , boost the profits to record numbers then the company suddenly collapses whence they move on to destroy the next business .
Former tech- Pay sucks, management shits all over you all the time. Basically, they want it all done right this second, but then try and get out of paying your full flat rate for each job. 3rd major reason I quit was tool cost. Some of the stuff you need the shops do not supply can cost a small fortune. I have at least 2 new cars worth of tools from when I worked as a tech.
@revnation_auto I got as much as possible second hand or from Harbor Freight. Only stuff I got off the truck was stuff I couldn't find online or needed right that minute as I absolutely hated paying their prices for stuff that wasn't that much better than you can get a northern tools for 1/3 the cost.
Tool prices came down a lot these couple of decades, unless you are the few stubborn ones who insist on buying Snap-on everything. Their patent for flank drive expired.
@johnsmith9161 Out of high school every trade are competing for the group of students that are very handy doing things with their hands. They lose a certain amount to be accountants , teachers, sales etc. I am electrician and Ind mech etc but much of the job do not involve electricity. It involve mechanical assemble and installation. If you are 10 thumb type, you have a hell of a time finishing the apprenticeship.
My kid was a Euro ASE Master Tech with 20 years on the job at a German Luxury Car dealer and made well over $120K a year and finally got sick and tired of the young guys coming in that couldn't tie their shoes let alone diagnose with a computer what was wrong with a car and had to do it himself to keep the work moving. The other straw was the required stealing from customers with fake work, the management rational was that rich people don't really think too much about what fixing their very expensive car costs, they just pay it. So stealing from them was easy and required. He quit after 20+ years, never to return.
After 20 years he quit WHY he got wealthy with all that stealing he did 20 years at a high end Mercedes or bmw stealership he's on an island some where having a piña colada...
The Real Issues .... 1- Sales people are not interested in repairing vehicles, they only desire to Sell vehicles, Further, they only desire to sell vehicles loaded with options (highest priced vehicles). They refer to a sale as "doing a customer" 2- Manufacturers are not interested in vehicles being repaired, they are only interested in manufacturing more vehicles. Manufacturers intentionally block out independent mechanics, via access to vehicle software, and testing software, forcing consumers into dealerships. 3- Automotive warranty companies... which attempt to wrestle independent mechanics out of any profit, relative to the cost of repairs. Further they take forever to respond, tying up valuable shop space and storage space. Some major repairs can take months to perform, working with automotive warranty companies All of these strategies stand in contrast to owning a vehicle for any length of time, which would require repairs. These Strategies are what are currently driving the current automotive business down hill, very rapidly today. Soon all there will be left for consumers is the option to Lease/Rent a vehicle. .....
Some guys I've met over the years that are pulling good money on being a mechanic work out of regular garages in loosely zoned areas and it's just themselves or another guy. Mostly cash usually nothing heavy duty. Lower end of the market on older cars and sometimes need to deal with people that cannot afford a car but need one. A lot of loyal clients.
Ole & Will; I see same thing here. I worked on cars but no electrical for over 50 yrs. 90% my own stuff, 10% in old days, in shops. Bought a Van to travel. Built it with only driving it a few times when wires shorted and burned. No small shops wanted to work on it and I heard bad stories ( $6k for one van owner & another was told to come pickup his van, they couldn't fix electrical) So I had to start learning electrical bc I had $20k+ in it ..loan at $13.5k yet. With new skills I was hoping to retire from truck driving and do tech work. Thoughts; are to hire out to shops that don't do electrical or shops that need extra help as a sub contractor. I determine my rates. Ither thing is their are several small but good shops in my area, some one mam operations, that are swamped ! So a thought there was to offer to help out with what I could to one or several of these places. I am on SS and that helps but I need $30k more to survive. $24 to survive $30 for a comfortable life.
I helped a 50 year old illiterate backyard mechanic thru his red seal test 10 years ago. Part of an Ontario Program. The dude rented 2 bays and in 10 years, bought a house, a paid it off. By keeping 2 sets of books with different parts suppliers. One was for cash jobs, the other credit, or required a receipt. Specifically, he worked for middle - to lower-class folks who needed to keep that car running.
@@glengarbera7367 While I used to deplore those sorts of operations, this is exactly what I do now myself I know that it is no justification but we just let a billionaire off a 4.1 BILLION , yes Billion dollar tax evasion if he settled for 5¢ in the dollar and was given immunity from prosecution , so my $ 5,000 /pa is not declared with a totally clear conscious and yes most of it is for pensioners, done at a discount in any case because the trade customers all have to be by the book as they are deducting my invoices . As a side note , I use an invoicing trick I learned decades ago Invoice numbers are not a single consecutive series.Each big customer gets their own series Berts invoices are BMS 2401=>240? for this financial year and next year will be BMS 2501=> 250? It actually makes it easy for me as my invoicing softwear will list all of the invoices starting with BMS in numerical order . However the tax auditor was here for 3 day and could not make head nor tail of the accounts because there were jobs done in a calendar year that had th wrong numerical prefix because out financial year goes July to June so all the jobs done Jan => have last years prefixes . I also keep good used parts from the commercial customers mowers to use on pensioners mowers and they are always happy to get 1/2 price second hand parts fitted .
My son and his friend have started this adventure. Bought a '97 4wd blazer for 850. Put a trans in, sold it for 1900. They bought a 2000 Accord coupe for 650. They are rebuilding the motor. I'm going to buy it from them for 2k. They are also using my garage and tools. I want them to be successful and have opportunities to be that. I charge them absolutely nothing and pay for the electricity they use. Nobody is successful on their own. No one.
Work as a mechanic at a rental car company. It's all hourly pay. Just hired a new guy who applied at a popular dealer around here and they offered him 14$ an hour starting out. They tried to sell it to him as a good opportunity because he would get a "free" set of very basic tools. This is in the Pittsburgh area.
15 year mechanic here. I tried **SO HARD** to get out around 4 or 5 years in before I was too invested. I couldn't get an apprenticeship or job where they were willing to train anywhere or I would be out already. Tool cost to date : $42,000 School cost: $24,000 Best year was 2 years ago, $48,000. This year I will only make around $45,000 - and that's only because I started driving for DoorDash in my spare time. I'll be at less than $40,000 from the 'main job.' The cars are getting harder to work on. More complex. Less available information on how to diagnose and repair the new stuff. And i don't mean because it's new, i mean compared to the new things from 10 years ago, we don't have the same quality training. Aftermarket parts were never as good as factory, but they're *so much worse* in comparison now. I can't even fathom what it's like working at an independent shop now. I've lost count of how many times the independent guys diagnosed the car's problem right, then it came to us as a last resort, and the fix was to replace a Dorman part with a factory one. 2 hours for brake jobs? I remember those days. We get paid 1.5 hours now. No explanation for why they cut our pay %25 on thag job. But it's not the only thing that I have seen labor creeping lower on. Alignments used to pay 1.2, they pay 1 hour flat now. That .2 doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. 5 alignments done in a week? Well you lost an hour of pay. For now reason, we're still doing the same alignments. Fortunately I work in a shop where we don't do scummy things. If there's a mistake it's an honest one. But I have worked in places where the writer will 'upsell' sh** I didn't recommend (and the vehicle didn't need). There's a reason i left those places- owner didn't care, the writer was making them money. So nothing I could do to change it.
Same. My son also. He has rebuilt 2 motors in the last 2 years and is only 23. Granted, they were 4cyl hondas. Still a feat with 0 education or experience in the craft. His first rebuild was turbod,(on my channel).
My daughter had a vibration in the front of her car at 45mph. I told her take it to Toyota. She did and they said bent rim, engine tune, fan replacement, transmission service and fuel injection service $4k. Took it to our local mechanic and he did a transmission service $400 fixed
My uncle got fired from a repair shop 10 years ago for helping a customer save money.an old lady came with a code but only had to replace the gas cap & air filter. His boss was trying to out sell her unnecessary repairs but had an emergency and had to pick his son from middle school for fighting. My uncle was unaware of this incident & he was left working on her car. he spend an 20 minutes checking her car & told her it was only $138.60 after taxes. She was happy and told my uncle he proud of him for being helpful & honest and explained the issue with his boss. When his boss came back he pissed and told him that lady needed a full check up to replace some parts and fired him on the spot
Interacting with most auto repair shops esp dealerships, is the worst part of owning a car. It's always a struggle not to get completely hosed. Thank goodness for the independent shops with owners who know their stuff and respect MY needs. I found an independent shop owner who is not only a brilliant tech, but makes sport of showing how horrible the dealers are by fixing things often in a fraction of the time and cost that the dealer wanted. My local BMW dealer always tries to solve an issue the most expensive way possible and of course sell me thousands of dollars of unnecessary work.
worked in stealership and independent shops, no difference,low pay, shop politics, little if any benefits. I'm retired and discourage anyone from entering this trade, it's a dead end !
Agreed on dead end. What happens when most of the cars on the road are electric? Anything major that goes wrong is going to be a parts-swap - and they don't need nearly as much regular maintenance. Tire and suspension shops'll be fine, but those jobs don't pay much.
@@RUclips_Sold_Out-c4f I'd put it more like 10-20 years. I rented a Polestar for a week in NC (before the hurricane flooded Swananoa) and it was great to drive. If I bought one, I'd put a decent charger in my garage. I put the pedal to the floor once (coming onto a 50MPH road with short visibility). Thing felt like one of my Ducatis. I don't normally drive a 4-wheeler like that, but damn. Handling felt a bit off just because it was so heavy. That said, I'd agree that the grid really needs work. My neighborhood (Boston burb) put up a bunch of solar carports - and a half dozen level 2 chargers, and the grid was the hard part. Once we get EVs with sodium batteries prices are going to drop, maybe to the point that 2 years of total ownership cost is lower than ICE. Also: where are you seeing 'rolling blackouts'. None here, not at our place in NW Maine (except trees fall on wires a lot there - elec company texts me when power is back - cause they want to know from me if it's actually back where I am. Every time, it's "...reason: tree")
Former MB tech. Got Master certified through them(7 years), quit 3 weeks later. Got into the industrial maintenance field. Miss the cars. Don't miss the managers, warranty jobs that pay pennies, and the rollercoaster paychecks. No regrets.
I remember when I was younger, you could regularly hear people say "if you do this job you can make a lot of money." Right now there is not a single industry where that applies anymore.
I worked in a small garage as an apprentice 30 years ago, having a strong background in fixing up cars. Quit after 2 years after experiencing the nonsense of it all. Didn't even bother finishing the apprenticeship. Started my own thing, restoring muscle cars and working on my terms. Still doing it to this day, part time and enjoying my life. No stress and no BS.
I worked as a mechanic for $25.00 pre hour but when I got my first paycheck it did not match what my hours should have been. the Boss claimed that doing paperwork or any activity that you were not actually physically working on the bike or equipment you were paid, $8.00 per hour. I did not agree with that and quit.
If dealerships and garages will not pay their mechanics enough, then I don't blame the mechanics for quitting. It's like going on strike for higher wages. Back around 100 years ago, at the start of the industrial revolution, there were violent bloody labor riots, gunfire, people getting killed. That's what it takes to force employers to pay enough and provide decent working conditions. Perhaps there will come a mechanics union, the mechanics need one. Form a national union and go on strike
47 years wrenching in 4 different fields. Retired now. All techs should quit. 16 bucks an hour to repair an 80k vehicle. You want to wrench, go Aviation. I would never do it again. Open a Snow Cone stand and make more money.
@@henrysmith8012 even aviation isn't doing so well. I started in 2017 the top techs made $41(canadian) an hour. in 2022 it was like 41.50 but it was no longer a good enough wage to keep me there with the amount of responsibility and stress. plus they treated me like garbage for not getting the jab.
The other day my mother-in-law came to me with an estimate from the Hyundai dealer. They wanted $600 to change a motor mount which I bought for $50 and changed in 20 minutes. Also they wanted to change the entire tail light assemblies, I tested them and they all worked fine.
An Oregon Dodge dealer diagnosed a bad fuel injector. Over $900 total estimate. I paid them almost $200 for the diagnoses and shopped around for an injector for $80 and changed it myself in 20 minutes. No wonder they are called stealerships.
@@bccoregon landlord had 5 trips to the dealer trying to work out why the car would just quit. The computer showed a "fel supply problem" so the quote was for;- 4 new injectors @ $ 150 each 1 new control module @ $ 1,800 1 new bypass valve @ $ 350 1 new fuel pump @ $770 1 x new exhaust system + Mass air flow meter . This is where I came in . It was a leaking seal on the pressure regulating valve on the common rail , replaced in the 3rd repair . despite the valve shipping with a new seal, they reused to old one easily revealed by it having red dust on it from a trip to the desert 3 years ago . So down to the hydraulic supply store , $ 11 for the new seal + 4 hours to get it in because it is under the manifold and almost inaccessible without the factory tooling .
I was a tractor/trailer mechanic for over 25 years of my career. I got out of it because I found a maintenance job in a factory that paid way more, has better benefits, and is union. My stress level has decreased significantly, it's easier on my body, and better working conditions. It's sad to say but this line of work needs a big change to keep people in it or attract new technicians.
Its not just the initial costs of tools, its the fact that you often need to update and purchase speciality tools on a regular basis to equal or beat flat rate time. Shops don't provide enough tools (imho) for techs to be efficient at their jobs. If your shop does a fair amount of AC work, you might have two machines. But often times you'll have to wait for your turn to use it; I own my own machine and my own VAT 40 when did work and never had to wait for a shop supplied tool. But, a word of advice; become a plumber or electrician, it pays more and your tool costs are limited. Or, do fleet work in a government shop; get a pension, great benefits, paid vacations and almost never worry about layoffs.
You nailed it, I thought it was my thing, I was building and racing cars with my dad at a very young age, I knew cars in and out, but as soon as I started working as a mechanic, I learned it was not for me, became a pipe welder, made a very good living, then Biden, on his first day in office got me laid off for the first time in my life, being a foster home and all, I was not sure if I could retire, but Biden left me no choice, so now I am building road racing cars, and driving my favorite one, load up the car and equipment, load up the kids and camper, and wife, and we go camping road racing and grilling all weekend long, never had so much fun, but if the democrats stay in power they are going to make all recreational motorsports illegal, illegal to make any modifications to a car, even if it makes it better or cleaner, TRUMP is our last chance, vote right people, all right.
as a mechanic of 25+ years, i was sucked dry by mcbrides in toronto. living hell pay and living hell work conditions. street people hired to manage all departments.
Corporations are the downfall of America, I worked in the automotive industry for 36 years, I quit in 1999 it wasn’t worth going to work anymore. All the money was taken away between insurance companies, and corporations, now it takes $60,000 dollars worth of tools to make $19.00 a commission hour , sad what has happened to the middle class
I was conditioned for 20 years to believe that every job was going to at least cost me $300+. Then I found a genuinely honest mechanic and the amount of times where the issue wasn’t a big deal and they charged me for an oil change was pretty staggering.
Years ago i bought a new car took it to the dealer for an oil change and the tech didnt put the oil cap back on.Drove home which took 20 min.For some reason i opened the hood to see oil all over my engine. Luckily i only lost a qt of oil no damage.Put a qt of oil in it drove it right back to the dealer i made them spit shine it.
Happens quite a bit. I once forgot to put a guy’s center cap back on his wheel. I felt terrible about it and the guy actually bought me a beer because I clearly gave a crap unlike many others.
Had the dealer do this to me after selling me the radiator flush.As i got near my home,the truck was overheating.Had a 2 mile long line of boiled radiator fluid behind me on the road.The hose was never put back on.Dodge dealership techs did this.
Oh my God you've never made a mistake in your entire life trust me I did thousands of oil change have I made a mistake I'll admit it yes. I'm not perfect but I'm guessing people like you are because you like to post a little comments like this oh my God they did this or did that. I'm sure if I followed you around all day long I could find flaws with your work as well.
I graduated high school in 1975, then went to auto trade school. Was working in auto truck repair while doing that, then worked there full time. In 1987, I switched careers and became a Hazmat driver. As mechanic, I got only 1 week vacation. As driver, I got 2 weeks vacation after 1 year, 3 after 7, 4 after 12, and 5 after 18. My pay was also higher and benefits were much better
The trades started dying way longer than 20 years ago. At least when I was young, you could actually work on vehicles, because they weren't all that complicated. Now it is impossible.
All dealer owners see the employees as replacable. Turnover in sales is 50/yearly, less in service because there are fewer available folks. Plus the service manager hands out the plum jobs to their buddies.
They are all graduate accountants with MBAs. The first thing they teach you in the course is that employees are not people but "Variable units of production" And is where the rot starts .
I was a senior subaru master tech for 20+ years and have now owned my own shop for 23years and I'll tell you the problem isn't the pay or flat rate. Techs are NOT what they used to be, I have guys coming in wanting 35an hr but cant diag a car.... people with no skills are frustrated they can't get paid... learn how to actually be a mechanic and not just a parts changer and maybe you would find success.
I get that and you’ve got the experience to back that up. One of the major issues is that no one wants to train anyone anymore. They will then float from shop to shop never learning a solid foundation. I was a diesel tech in the Coast Guard and switched to telecommunications because of that bs. All my civilian auto tech jobs, I was taught essentially nothing and expected to know it all. I hope you’re training your young guys.
1. Automotive repair is still not considered a "skilled trade". 2. There are no apprenticeship opportunities. 3. Tech schools are not keeping up with the changes in technology. 4. The Automotive repair industry is, for the most part, unregulated. Its like the wild west. 5. American perception of auto techs is still terribly low. We are still viewed as dropouts and dirty grease monkeys instead of skilled and talented technicians. 6. Techs have to pay for tools and equipment in most cases, which never stops because the manufacturers keep changing designs that require specialty tools. 7. The pay is not on par with the daily grind and burnout is common.
Tools are too expensive and you need a ton of them... Pay isnt high enoughl to make a living compared to other trades... Flat rate encourages mistakes and rushing... Way too much warranty work if your at a dealer to make any money... Parts are seemingly never available and your always waiting, have a lift tied up, have to move bays... etc... all stuff that loses you money! I gave up on it in 2014 and went into a maintenance role, still make great money turning wrenches but i have half as many headaches! Also, the not having to constantly buy tools week to week is nice!
I went to a fleet six years ago. Best decision ever. I am hourly. My gross is lower but I make more per actual hour worked. At the dealer I worked 60 hours a week and grossed 20% more. I still work 60 hours a week. 40 at my day job and 20 on side work. Way better off.
The pay situation is worse than you describe. When you graduate from UTI or another tech school you won't be making $25/hr at your first job, you'll be an express lube tech making $15-20/hr. Another poblem with dealeyships is warranty work; a job that pays 11 hours when a customer is paying might pay 5-6 hours when the manufacturer is paying and those hours are getting lower at many dealers.
I recently had service done at my Nissan dealership. They were supposed to rotate my tires. When I picked it up and paid, they told me they had rotated the tires. I walked them back out and showed them the minute sharpie marks I made on the rims proving they hadn't done anything. They asked me if I wanted to wait another couple hours? I told them I wanted to find a better shop to have my work done. I didn't get the impression anyone would be spoken to about ripping me off.
It isn‘t any better in europe. I‘ve worken 9 years on mazda one year on peugeot and four years on citroen/suzuki. The pay you get is fixed and it‘s not great in these 15 years I got zero hours over time paid. Its illigal but the shop doesn‘t care. They do every thing in there power to write of expenses from your pay but you never ever get anything extra. The workenvierment is harsch. No AC in summer, you get chooched alive and inadequad hearing in winter. Your always freezing. And the work culture is hostile and toxic you get jelled at often. They punish you for every sick leave. They expect you to work ill and do unpaid overtime. You just destroy your body doing a highly skilled and complicated job. But they pay you shit tread you badly and don‘t care at all for your wellbeeing. I loved to be a car mechanic, I didn‘t do it for money I did it as my passion. But at some point you have to quit and move one from this terrible conditions.
Tow company's going out of business due to folks canceling triple AAA or other tow insurance Co. They just pull it home with a strap. Way too expensive to try and have them fixed.
I've gone to the same shop for 32 years and never had a problem because they only work on Volvos and the techs stay until they retire. Its a happy place because the owner is friendly, knowledgeable and treats his people well. Never tries to upsell and is always busy.
I was a Ford technician for over 20 years. When Ford rammed their Saturday services and free multi point inspections, I started looking to get out. I switched over to the union shops, and it was a little better, but not by much. And not enough for me to stay. On my days off, the resume and applications were getting sent out. Eventually I found a government job. We don't work for free. And if we're called in on a weekend or a day off, we get overtime. A word and concept foreign to any car dealer.
@@l.j.r.8448 Wrong. I am one of the many that gets a little wake up call during the winter. !am. To start at 3am. To push snow and salt the streets. For a 12 hour shift. So that others can get to work. As well as ambulances to hospitals, fire trucks, police, etc. We keep American open and rolling, while others are either sleeping, or calling in sick. I also eat my lunches in the truck, don't get or take breaks, and have to plan my bathroom stops accordingly. We don't get the option. What's worse is when there's an every other day snow event. One day I do a regular shift, next day I get the wake up call, and repeat. For someone to say this isn't real work, just try it one season.
@riceburner4747 Actually, state jobs do pay pretty good. When you factor in the benefits and paid holidays. But yes, overall federal jobs due tend to be a better gig.
My son WAS a RAM, Chrysler, Jeep, etc. tech for 10+ years and recently quit for the exact reasons you outlined in this video. He went to a private diesel shop without flat rate. He is happy and knows what his pay will be at the end of the week. Lots less stress so he says. And he went to UTI in PA and still owes almost $20K on his student loan. Probably has over 20K worth of tools also.
The days of Gomer working on cars is over. These guys gotta be very smart and hardworking to make is as a mechanic today. Things are complicated. Always changing. Everything is different. Hats off to these guys for keeping America running.
I'm not joking when I say it takes roughly 10 years to truly learn all the theory and repair on systems in a modern vehicle, you'll spend $100,000+ on tools in that 10 years. Then they want to pay you $20-30/hour on flat rate.
When I was a high school student in the 1970's, I worked at a full-service Standard Oil gas station when gas stations were still auto repair shops. A classmate of mine worked at the Shell station down the street. We would compare work stories. My boss was an honest guy. The owner of the Shell station not so much. My classmate would tell me how his boss would change oil on a car, wipe the oil filter clean with a grease rag and charge the customer for a new oil filter when in fact he never changed it. He charged a young lady with a VW Bug for winterization including anti freeze. VW Bugs were air cooled and did not have anti freeze. All sorts of shady deals like that.
I got a degree in Automotive Technology in 1968 (back when a technician was an assistant to an engineer, not a glorified name for a mechanic). Couldn't get a job as everyone wanted 5 years experience but no one wanted to give you experience. By the 1980's, from following that policy, they were hiring kids who could barely change a spark plug under a tree, just to get bodies. So I switched (from working in a dairy at the time) to working on cars. Worked for 18 years for various dealers, all the same. Flat rate is just piecework and you get the same low quality by paying it. I did give Ford credit for trying to eliminate flatrate/piecework, but their dealerships stymied them. Became an ASE Master Tech, had paid out thousands for tools, even building some of my own. Still could barely make a living. We would be standing around sweeping the floor while the service advisor told customers with emergencies that we were backed up for two weeks! (Oh, and my school used to send students to the dealership to get practical experience. They gushed about how great it was and how much they were going to make - until we showed them our paychecks! Almost all decided to change their majors when they returned to school.) Finally left to work for a used car dealer on straight time - and suddenly I was worth twice what I had been making! I kept on walking - if I was worth that much they should have been paying me that much. That was better, but I eventually left the field entirely to work as a school janitor - better pay, less hassle, and much better benefits (union job). Retired from that with a pension I wouldn't have if I had kept turning wrenches.
Funny thing is 20 years ago you had company paid healthcare and pension . Today we live in a 2 class society where owners of businesses have multi million dollar beach homes ,summer homes by the lake ,winter homes in the mountains ,etc . There's no paying people a good wage ,it's all about me . I worked in freight for 30 years and every business I went into would readily replace every worker with illegals .
As a former service mechanic, I can relate to this. We were expected to find extra work all the time. God help us if we didn't find it and sometimes pressured to sell crap that wasn't needed like transmission services, brake fluid changes when they weren't needed etc . My worst nightmare was a car that needed few if any repairs,the boss would butt in and make stuff up. I once got screamed at for not finding enough.For years now, there's not only no respect for your work, there's also no respect for your experience and knowledge. It's just some idiots looking up the job times guide and it's often fictional times. There's also the pay is crap and many newer cars are designed by people who hate mechanics. The office staff usually have a superior attitude to us mechanic plebs and were and are considered much more important. Once at one stage we even had to cost out all the parts and labour, plus availability because the STAFF were too condescending to bother! Good work. PS: I had a friend who was making $150 a week more than me as a fourth year apprentice butcher than I did after I got my papers and was qualified!
The automotive industry has turned sour like the trucking industry. Greed has led to their demise. A service advisor gets paid more than a skilled laborer who must have training certifications and tools.
I've heard these stories about dealerships paying a fraction of what they charge and when biz is slow the tech takes a big hit in income. Sad very sad.
I worked 7:32 for Jaguar from 98 to 2000. If I didn't get 80 hours a week I was pissed off my average was in the 90s. A few years later I worked for a Chevy dealer in the office was complimenting me on getting 55 hours. With the warranty times nowadays mechanics will never see times like that. Once I got up near 50 I quit mechanics and became a Repo Man I made better money.
Only way to make money is to own the shop, pay your guys super well $45-65/hr hourly, and make money on volume of work, or specialize is a niche that you can justify a high rate/hr on.
Another thing about dealerships is when doing factory warranty work, warranty time is lower. Example if you are warranting a transmission regular R&R time may call for say 6 hours, whereas the manufacturers will only pay say 3.5 hours. I worked at a Dodge dealer years ago, they were a 5 Star rated dealer. We did so much warranty work that after 9 months I quit and went back to an Independent repair shop. I recently retired after wrenching for 38 years.
@@carlcornelius8667 Exactly,we did so many transmission warranties/replacements on Caravan’s/Voyager’s,etc that I lost count. It got to the point that Dodge sent a representative to either ok or deny warranties.
Yep, I once spent almost a day tearing the inside out of a car looking for a wiring short. Had to remove the seats, dash, etc. Fixed the short and put it all back together. Generous Motors paid me 15 minutes for splicing a wire!
The dealership model has a lot of mouths to feed: Service writers Service manager Parts counter people Parts manager Parts drivers Car washer Quick oil change mechanics Lot steward Custodial person General Manager Assistant Manager Sales Manager Sales Manager Assistant Sales people Warranty Manager Business Administrator Accountant Finance Manager Loans Administrator Taxes and tags assistant To name a few. That’s why I go to small independent shops that do better and cheaper work.
Here in Taxachusetts I worked at Midas as a tech for 3 years starting in 2021 and when I first started I was making $15 per hour and when I left I was making $17.25 per hour and Taxachusetts is one of the highest cost of living states
If you have enough contacts and reputation to go on your own, great, and you can collect lots of cash too. But you still need a place to fix them. Hoist and waste liquid containers etc.
My nephew is a VERY smart kid (he's 24) and LIVES to work on cars. He is self-taught and seems to be able to fix ANYTHING. He is an awesome "back yard" mechanic. At this point he's employed at a dead end job (which he hates but dutifully does). He is talking about going to school to become an auto tech. He is currently on a "fact finding" mission to determine costs, travel (nearest community college is over 50 miles away), ability to continue working part-time, etc. Despite his excellent work, he is used to taking his time (he's a bit of a perfectionist) and I told him he wouldn't have that luxury when employed as a tech. I previously encouraged him to "pursue his dream" but after hearing this may change that recommendation.
It's been 15 years since I took any of my vehicles to a shop, because of the alarming incidence of sloppy repairs and inability to diagnose non-trivial problems. Here are few of my pet peeves: 1) Nearly universal use of impact wrenches, which results in frequent cross threading, or stripping out of threads altogether. 2) Failure to repair stripped out threads, even on very important applications (e.g. for engine mount bolts!). 3) Failure to notice and report other issues which need attention. 4) Incompetence troubleshooting modern computer controlled engines and transmissions. Fortunately I have a large shop of my own where I can perform my own repairs. 1.5 years ago I finally junked my 1994 Mercury Sable, and replaced it with my wife's 1998 Accord V6, which has 250K miles. I haven't made a car payment since 1989.
I was an automotive technician since 1976 With the same Company. In those years we had some great times but after the original owner sold to his son things started to change some not for the better. Three of us were the original crew left,the company started pushing more service which wasn’t a problem But the younger crew started trying to recommend things that they shouldn’t and the older crew would call them out which pissed off people. I had a back injury first of June of this year used my vacation time to cover my time off some. Last week of June I was called buy the owner and told to go and retire and go on social security. But the best part of it was he Canceled My Insurance three days before I was told. It’s Gets Better I Forgot To Mention That He’s A Great Christian A Pushes It Always! IN THE END I WILL WIN BECAUSE THERE AINT NOBODY WANTING IN THIS BUSINESS SO ALL THOSE YEARS I DEDICATED MY LIFE TO THE COMPANY WAS A JOKE!
That’s awful, I always the love the greedy jerks who mask their behavior with “Christian values”. I’m really sorry that you’re having to go through all of that. I hope you recover soon.
Being an auto mechanic even sucked back in 1985-95. Flat rate totally blows. If you're not a little on the shady side, you won't make enough. If the sevice write up guy doesn't like you, you get warranty crap like wind noises, leaks, rattles. I stuck with getting paid hourly in a family owned shop that specialized in heating /AC and cooling systems. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter. You can do it when you're under 40 but after that, forget it. By 1995 cars started to get a little more complex and more obnoxious. Glad I got out of it.I can't imagine it now. No way.
The shop charges $150 an hour and the mechanic gets $25. You work in a drafty shop with 100 degree heat while the boss sits in the A/C. You get to work on vehicles that are not designed to be repaired. There is no way in hell I would be a mechanic today
Yep, it’s not worth it in 90% of cases.
Well said
Sounds like you need to open your own shop
You also have to buy a lot of expensive tools .
The good jobs are in fleet maintenance. Those are usually union jobs with security.
I experienced this first hand, I brought my Honda to an Illinois dealership for an oil change and tire rotation. Before taking my car I marked the front driver rim with a piece of tape. Well when I picked it up I noticed the tape was in the same location yet they charged me for the rotation. I brought it to the owners attention and he said ok, sorry, your next oil change is free? I told him since they didn’t rotate my tires how do I know the oil was even changed, he just looked down at the floor, how many people get scammed everyday??? It’s sad
i have done this for years and I too caught a shop one I mark oil file too
After some of the problems I've had with shops, I ain't gonna let no one touch my car anymore.
The best way to keep this crap from happening is pay hourly plus performance based bonuses. A huge part of that performance is customer satisfaction. Not letting customers take advantage of you, but being straight up with them. Letting them know pricing up front. Having service managers who know what they are talking about, hiring a warranty claims specialist if you’re a dealership. Labor rate is $95/hr, overhead is $28/hr, $25/hr to owner, $42/hr to tech. You pay hourly $32/hr and $10/hr bonus for performance. Owner can dip into their pockets for those who go above and beyond in an honest way.
My rims are all marked because I have been duped so many times where they charged me for a rotation and never did one
My Honda dealer always used to charge me for things they never did. It took me some time before I realized that. I try now to stay away from dealers even though I have a 2023 car.
Stealerships treat their employees and customers like shit. I used to work at a car dealership.
@@MossMini That is why there is so much turnover.
You're a replaceable commodity. Just like a customer walking in the door. Gen xyz have no idea what to do with a tool. They're button pushers.
Me too ,three of them . All terrible and crooked. No rack time after hours for personal repairs. They basically owned my tools. Unless I packed em up. Then they accuse you of taking business away side hustling. Complete waste of the best years of my life spinning my wheels and getting cheated.
Bro there talks about the low pay, then says that too many kids taking liberal arts ,and many guys in pony tails are telling kids they should not go into a trade. So, the job has terrible pay, but you are saying that we need a lot more people going into it? Bro there really needs to think a bit before he talks, not just verbal diarrhea. I do all my own repairs/maintenance. Shops are $150/hr and certainly do not do a better job than I do. Except for alignments, I do trust a reputable shop for that, and I found a good one.
Hey if your DUMB enough to cheer for the BILLIONAIRE NFL & NFL and bumfcUK wage'$ then CHIVE ON CHUMP !
See my screen name. 14 years with Lexus, 10 as a Master certified Lexus tech. Doing it the honest way, I averaged about 45-50k in SoCal. Best year I had was 60k in Arizona. All while having to play politics with work dispatch, going through work slumps, then massively busy with recalls, to pitiful labor pay on warranty.
The final straw for me was Lexus corporate bringing down the hammer on techs that missed an online quiz deadline. That fucked with my pay for an entire month. Wife was 4 months pregnant with my first kid and I flagged 40 hours for the whole month. Could not touch a ticket that even SNIFFED warranty, even replacement batteries. This was a new punishment, one that backfired on them I think. Why? We missed the deadline because we were busy trying to finish all the fucking recall work we were flooded with.
It will be 5 years since I left the dealer life, flat rate, and the enormous lack of respect for a skill set that is in no way easily replaced. Dealers and repair shops are all screwed because the next Gen isn't buying in. Good, fuck them. They did it to themselves.
This is what caused welding-issues at newport-news shipyard. They ran off the skilled welders years ago. Generational welders that passed skills to their sons. 😢
"It's a buyers market" is your first indication that the hiring has gone to the wolves and the company is in a terrible place. They try this with us programmers knowing full well the gifted percentile in any given country is 2%. If the pols weren't awarding them guest worker visas no programmer in America would be making under six figures.
@@charlesforrest7678 I REMEMBER when they listed Newport job ads.
Wow, I would’ve never thought a Lexus dealership would treat its techs this way.
The place I work is desperate for help, I think its funny, they dont understand why nobody wants to work for them. I only stay because I have no other options.
Auto repair is so much worse than most could imagine. They essentially want techs with a surgeon's level skills, enough value in tools to pay for a lower end house, and to pay chump change while wilfully stressing them out frequently. Meanwhile cars keep getting maliciously harder and more expensive to service, which is manageable for a good mechanic but still burns everyone's time and money except the manufacturer.
The industry deserves to crumble. It's the only way a healthy balance can be restored.
Listen to this guy, he's 100% right. Do not become an auto mechanic anymore.
@RUclips_Sold_Out-c4f perhaps it's obvious, but I was a mechanic for many years. Number one thing older guys would tell me was to get out of the profession. And its only become worse since.
@@RUclips_Sold_Out-c4fglad I never went to do it for anyone else, been told by many to never do it
@@noelleonard2498 Smart man. Society looks at mechanics as subhuman thieves with room temperature IQ, couldn't be further from the truth.
Treated, worked, paid like a slave.. it's the most thankless job I've ever worked by far. There's worse professions out there but automotive repair has to be in the top 10 worst.
For the last decade I've been telling young men to do anything else, you'll make more money as a department lead at Home Depot, with more benefits.
I'm a retired mechanic, It was a decent way for a man with just high school education to make a decent living if he had good mechanical instincts and a box of tools. That was back in 1975. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone now. The mechanic's cut of the labor has been shrinking for 40 years and the job has been getting tougher.
i had a dealership i worked for tell the mechanics that we would have to do and complete the dealership courses on our own time and at home. i simply went to every mechanic and made sure they had my side before starting a complete mutiny
In the 70s and 80s you could have one small toolbox to fix 95% of cars. These days I've got probably 20k in tools, a Snap-On bill, much more complicated vehicles, and making less than a tech in the 70s when you count for inflation. Modern vehicles are more computer than car, and trying to diagnose problems that have a lot more potential failure points than they used to is definitely a specialized skill set. Plus a lot of manufacturers don't pay diag time on warranty work. Which is straight up wage theft in my opinion.
They soon want to replace mechanics with Ai Robots
@@Haffschlappe lol not going to happen.
New cars are a pain to work on, I spent over 50 years as a mechanic. The dealership make money but not the workers. I find dealerships shops are not honest.
They are not. I brought my 06 Corolla into the dealer for an oil change (I swap engines, I could easily do an oil change myself) in hopes that they would be able to actually get the mileage off the computer, as the odo stopped at 299999. They didn't do it. $100 later, I got my car back with fresh oil and a report that said everything was fine. My pads had 10% left in them (I knew this) and two weeks later the exhaust fell off the car (I did not foresee this).
Jackson's Toyota did not check my car at all, and I'm willing to bet they didn't even try to get the mileage off it.
Dealerships try to NOT FIX your car. They give you a BS "resolution" and tell you to "monitor the condition and see if it gets worse" on your service invoice. I'd rather just diagnose and correct any problems myself.
Stay away from Pep Boys, rip off $132 for a synthetic oil change
The correct term is 'Stealership'
Exactly the reason I like older easier cheaper to fix cars. My work vehicle is 34 years old
Welcome to America, where literally every industry is now a scam from corporate greed
I started out as an automotive tech when my father told me if I don't go to college, learn a trade. I was young and saw the very same shady stuff and hostile work environment like you have, not to mention the lousy pay. I saw nothing but a dead end is that career so I decided to join the service and learn aviation maintenance. Best decision I ever made. Long story short, I ended up becoming a Federal aircraft mechanic at an Air National Guard base for 30 years, since I just retired from. Decent pay, I didn't have to buy tools, and I have a pension which I'm enjoying now. Thanks for the video!
Thank you for your service to our great nation! 😎👍
And no working on flat rate, the only time you have to be really fast is when you are deployed to a war zone. You also have to be certified , unlike some mechanics and no regular mandatory medical exams, and you do not need as many tools.
Your rich, that pension is a sweet deal
The ANG can be a great deal. I was warned by (successful shop owner) mechanics in the 1970s not to wrench cars for a living though I'm good at it. Joining the Air Force was pure win (but sensitive people should avoid aircraft maintenance and preferably the armed forces so no one has to hear their whining!) and retirement is Very Nice. If a career doesn't have a government-guaranteed pension and benefit package no ordinary mechanic job beats it or even comes close. I've wrenched commerically for toy money at my bros shop but would never want to depend on that.
You listened to your dad, good for you. My dad saved me from a bad business decision and changed my lifespan. And to stay in one place for so long. Airline mechanics go all over the place.
Worked as a service advisor, in the early 70's. I quit after a month. Management told me to,sell services the customers didn't need. Upselling should be illegal.
I quit in 2019 for the same reason
@@CT_Taylor Taylor it's called having a, moral standard. Thank you for your, feedback.
@@Jhonny-w6p Yes, my manager was happy with the "best tech" who *refused* to do any brake work unless you automatically added calipers/wheel cylinders, every drum and every rotor always were needing replacement, even on the 10k mile car where the owner wanted his aftermarket pads placed on that kinda thing. Every drum. Would refuse to do any brake job unless we fluffed up the work order with ridiculous markup parts, that, of course, we werent supposed to tell the customers they could walk 1 minute next door WHERE WE WOULD BUY THE EXACT SAME PART and save $$$. And all oil changes had snake oil injector cleaner snuck in and you were supposed to only address it if the customer noticed and asked about it.
Dishonest and gross
Here in Canada the largest national chain has earned some infamy for paying their mechanics a sales commission on top of their earned wage. Even decades ago an aggressive mechanic could earn $1500.00 per month as a 'bonus'. It was and is largely fueled by the mandatory annual inspection of motor vehicles. The mechanic's 'opinion' about what repairs are needed can force the customer into a corner. Same problem - but I am sad to hear that wages are so low and can be peeled back so easily in the US
@dereksollows9783 Any mechanic worth his salt, should open up his own shop. That would force the big dealerships to lower prices and maybe restore their reputations.
I just got into automotive work and its so far a nightmare outlook. Jesus the pay is deplorable, corporate America is going to destroy this country through greed.
Yep, it’s been like that forever
Go aviation I did and never looked back!
@@luissantiago147 The only good job in aviation is a pilot. If any young person is interested in aviation, I would never steer them to be a mechanic. It might cost more up front, and pay might be low for the first year-ish, but the long term is leaps and bounds above a mechanic. You are talking on order of $10's of millions of dollars more pay over a career, with much less daily hassle. Be a pilot, not a mechanic should be a bumper sticker.
@@naps3386I’m an A&P and specialize in Avionics. This career path has been an absolute life changer for me! What do you do in Aviation?
That screams for an independent owner to start a business wherein the techs are treated right and paid well.
I worked 20 years as an ASE certified "tech" . I found that being an honest mechanic i didnt make much money. Some of my coworkers who cut corners or took shortcuts or upsold like crazy, "selling stuff that the customer didnt need" made lots more money than me. I just couldn't bring myself to go that route. I slept with a clear conscience but an empty pocketbook. I finally wised up and threw in the towel and Pursued another carrer path. Im thankful though that i can work on my own vehicles!
Stay away from the dealer for maintenance items. Local mechanics do a better job and you can usually trust them. Dealers are for recalls and warranty work.
not even for recalls
The other place to stay away from are those big chain places. It’s best to find small independent shop although that might not be possible soon.
Not anymore. Cars coming out next year are going to need a $6 scan tool to work on and there will be a subscription fee for the software. Most mechanics are not going to shell out more money to buy those tools let alone learn how to use them. With people treat personal vehicles more like appliances where they throw them away every few years. Its only a matter of time before everyone ends up with these rolling iPhones on wheels.
Andcwhen they F your car up you take it to the dealer your job is only as good as the tech anywhere
No one walks into a auto shop and can fix a car it takes years and most are not cut out for it
the only growth in our country is the growing gap between the rich and poor, the youth is giving up, not getting married, having children or working. Society is collapsing, look no further than our influencers that the kids are following.
i fully agree society is collapsing there is little hope for the average youth of today to own a house and have a family. I am a baby boomer i feel we have raped the place and our grand kids will be stuck with the bill. then there is the non hetrosexuals who are not normal they are not going to reproduce. so there wont be enough kids to support the country at this rate
Your generalizations are killin’ me.
Very true.
Indeed, the left hand opens the borders and the right hand lowers corporate tax rates. That group George Carlin spoke of exists. They win either way.
Thank Democrats.
Left the shop 10 yrs ago. Shit compensation, having to purchase/maintain my own tools and being treated like shit. You need all the skills, but they pay you none of the money.
I just quit my job as a master technician twenty years plus in the horrible trade no money nothing but problems and toxic toxic toxic people. NO MORE NEVER GOING BACK 😮
Same here bro, I put in 16 years alone for same shop and he wondered why I just didn't care like I once did! I had no medical or dental and here I am with a mouthful of pain and no job! I called off over tooth pain and he finally let me go and I was fine with it
I was doing engine swaps and lord knows for 16 an hour for over a decade! Only reason I didn't quit? Weekends off and had child support due
Tried to start my own shop but failed from building rental and insurance then thieving girlfriend and uncle Sam
I hope things get better for you. I had an 85 iroc. You can try mobile mechanic. Honestly would be that bad
@@sleepyhead9756 Hey thanks bro, appreciate it. Yeah still got my 87 lol just don't have much funds anymore for it and yep basically I been trying to find odd jobs and mobile repairs just to make bills here until I find a solid 9 to 5 again
I work as a technician for a large transportation agency - buses and passenger trains. Many, maybe close to 50% of the techs came from the service departments of auto dealerships. Instead of maintaining cars they fix trains and buses. Their reasons for making the switch are the same as in this video. As a train tech I do routine maintenance as well as troubleshooting and repair. It's a union job that pays $54/hour and offers lots of over time for those who want to work extra hours. It's common for techs to earn $120k to $140k per year and receive great benefits...medical, dental, vision, 401k, and pension.
Its all part of the plan to get people out of their personal vehicles so the city can implement self driving cars everywhere. This is all part of the plan.
Nice, I work for a University as a facilities maintenance. I'm under paid, but have great benefits including a Pension. I see a few sitting behind a desk, making 150,000 a year for being a chair warmer. Nuts. It's job's like yours that will be in demand.
May I ask what agency you work for?
WoW!!!
@@joefran619A.I. will take care of that soon enough. Paper pushers make a ton of money to do nothing. Now computers will do those jobs more efficiently.
Much better off in HVAC, plumbing or electrical work.
Yep in 90% of cases. A lot of people love working on cars and want to follow their passions. Just need to be clear-eyed on what they’re getting into.
I was a telecommunications tech where I just dealt with bandwidth for big customers. I worked in one of those big windowless buildings with a couple other techs. I didn’t even have to talk with the customers as we had people that took care of that. $45 + an hour, double time over 12 hours and Sundays, 401k and pension. Company provided all tools and test equipment.
Not as much free lunch as you think, HVAC means you work on heating in the winter and as many other smaller licenses and takes just as long. Plumbing is not bad, changes very little. But electrical is just behind auto for changes. You get stuck with all the latest plant automation and robots etc, codes and you work often have to pass inspection. Oh it works is not good enough, had to pass code. You do buy less tools than auto.
@@revnation_autoit's a good skill to have to maintain your own vehicles
@@tonylam9548sparkys a bad trade to join RN it's over saturated
cars are becoming too complicated
You gotta buy a scan tool that does everything, gets updates. Unfortunately it will set you back 1k just for a decent one.
I got a 2000 f250 with the 5.4 thats as new as i will go i can still work on it and not need a 10000 scan tool
@theoddstreamer6918 For sure. That's a good truck, and doesn't have all the electronics of these new vehicles
Feature creep.
That's why I bounced after 20 years
I blame the car dealerships 100% having maximized profits PAST the point of quality.
They are awful. I am very lucky to have found a dealership about an hour and a half from me in Newberry, MI. The GM dealership in Sault Ste-Marie is horrible. Lazy, dishonest, slow, and the last time I was in the check-in guy asked me "if I wanted to become a mechanic?" when I asked why an oil change and diagnosing a bad wheel bearing on a 2022 Silverado that I bought brand new. Smart ass.
I once had a gunsmith named Earle Miller tell me, nobody ever got rich fixing things. You don't want any job fixing things, you want a job where you're making something. He was right
smart guy!
Yeah he is smart. You want to capable of fixing YOUR personal items so you don't end up with someone turd that they made.
Just have to find the right trade. Elevator techs are at the top of that heap.
I was a cnc machinist and didn't make squat.You were always under pressure to get the job done and reminded daily how you can be replaced any time.When I left there was a great feeling of relief.
That's debatable. Purchase/throw away products are cheap & waste product materials. More jobs are created due to repairs. It's capitalism (GREED). And denial of unions. Hate unions?? It brings EVERYONE'S wages up, union or NOT. 🤔🇺🇸
Used to be, you could call the service manager and you would talk to the same person for decades. The last 10 years you are lucky to deal with the same person between oil changes.
The manufacturer can't even repair their own crap.
I recently had my car in the workshop for 6 weeks because the techs couldn't figure out a fault with a product from their own brand.
@@Beef_SupreeemeWhy didn’t you take it somewhere else after a few days?
I don’t know where this guy lives but most mechanics here (central Texas) what they say they do and do not rip you off.
They can but why would they? Theres no money in that.
@@jaycris1980 About 65% of profit in dealerships is from vehicle repairs. If they just sold vehicles they would literally go out of business.
I sincerely hope the whole car repair industry goes under. Nothing but con men and scammers left now.
You are wrong. Then exactly WHO is going to fix anybody's car? At that point, my slow but basic DIY mechanic's skills are worth $120+/hour because I'm the only guy in town.
You are kind of correct. But now, they make it hard for DIYers. We'd be screwed, not dealers.
Millennial mechanics
@@snowrocketlets make that cash!
I had a decent dealership gig, but they kept hiring techs and diluting the work. I went from flagging 13.5 hours a day down to 8.5 hours a day. I eventually had to cancel my health insurance. Eventually, I opened my own shop and ran that for 12 years. That was a double edged sword. Eventually I burned out and got out of the business altogether. Now I work in the oilfield. On the up side, I enjoy working on my own projects much more…
Glad you’re liking the new career but that’s a bummer.
You nailed it. I did 5 years at a dealer and almost starved to death. Everything you said I experienced. I retired in fleet maintenance, I'm glad my career is over.
Yep, that’s why I quit doing it. Surrounded by dirtbags, greedy owners, angry customers. Fun fun
I left heavy truck fleet for a very short period.
Once my eyes were opened, I went right back to fleet.
Yes I too was in fleet maintenance and worked on many different types of nasty equipment in nasty environments. If a crane or a D10 blew a hydraulic hose in the middle of the coalfield in the middle of a slop hole puddle bigger than the equipment, that’s where it was repaired at. Vehicles and equipment in my opinion are ridiculously over complicated but engineers don’t have to work on anything they design. It was frustrating hard work but it paid well and I had good benefits,I retired in 2021.I don’t miss the work just some of the people. Flat rate how ridiculous and dishonest almost like working for Tips.
@bymarcatholictinkering Yep. Freightliner is replacing the good ole dash red/yellow park brake valves with electric solenoids,pcm controlled I'm sure. The old ones where too reliable. I believe in improving some things. But those Bindex MV3 where rarely any trouble.
@ electronics to monitor the electronics modules to interface with other computer controller systems . They think reaching over your shoulder to scratch your ass is the best new thing and design all these unnecessary computer controls to accomplish this ridiculous approach, when it was successfully accomplished for centuries by simply reaching the hand around your waste.
Service tech hourly rate: $25/hour
Flat Rate Labor Charge: $185/hour
Yep, the American way my friend .
Getting anything less than 35% is barbaric
less than 13.5% after taxes.
I've seen it as high as $250 for Mercedes/BMW (I forget which) in Northern Indiana.
No money fixing cars that’s why you see idiot felons working on cars with terrible attitudes because those are the only people willing to take those jobs
I recently took my vette to a GM dealership and had them change the oil on it because I didn't feel like doing it myself and the dealership is right next to my office so I just walked to work for the day. A bit later I noticed an oil spot in my garage so I jacked up the car and found that they left the drain plug loose. Last time I'm going to a dealer.
Insane!
Had my new car serviced at the Toyota dealer, after I got home I opened the hood to check the oil and other things. I could tell the Tech rushed the service. The cap was left off the coolant reservoir container, I could smell coolant, thought I had a coolant leak. The rod that holds the hood up was not secured to the holder, just loose. Oil was overfilled past the max mark on the stick. Yes I believe techs are not paid fairly. Yes I believe techs skip some things and don’t do it correctly.
Good chance the "tech" who serviced your vehicle used to wash the dealership's cars and has no formal training or degree. Sad but true.
They often let lube techs take work they aren’t qualified for to scam more money and pay them jack squat.
A product of poor wages, you get what you pay for, poor wage, poor worker, why would you take a vehicle to a Toyota dealership, well known as the most corrupt.
@@user-Dr. The new american way is there are jobs for people who want them but you will need two of those jobs to break even.
@@scaramouche8244 Yup, very sad but true, I was a pipe welder fitter, for 50 years raised a family, now a foster home all on a single income, not gonna happen right now, but it can be fixed, one last chance.
VOTE RIGHT MY FRIEND
My cousin quit the car service industry after getting a job at in n out. He now makes $22 an hour at in n out and can work up to store manager role in 7-8 years, making $160k plus a year. His $22 was a huge jump from make $10.50 as a technician at the shop he worked at
That's still nothing a competent mechanic should make at least 35 bucks an hour I run around town fixing people's cars at their house I'm doing damn good
Trouble with being a manager at any food service job is that you have to work at least 80 hours a week. Amerika is going to collapse for for exactly the same reason the old Soviet Union did, there's absolutely nothing for the people on the bottom of the whole economy. When nobody gives a crap about doing a good job because there's no reason to, corruption becomes universal, slacking off becomes normal operating procedure and theft and looking out only for number one your country is circling the drain.
@@Todd-tq7cs High level auto techs should be at $50/hour minimum just like any other trade.. $35 is what we were paid in 1992. I know because I was there. All if it should be moved to salary.
I was a GM certified and ASE certified tech at a Buick Dealership for 10 years and the final straw for me was getting stuck constantly with
warranty work, I left there in 05
and became a Trucker now with almost 19 years and 2 million miles under my belt, best decision I ever made!!!
I’m a service manager at a non dealership service center and a former Honda master tech. The whole industry is crooked. As a manager, I’m third in the chain of three at my shop. Yesterday I was told if our shop didn’t make money this month, all three managers would be written up. We have been incredibly slow for about 3 weeks, half of our lifts are broken and we have increased prices three times this year. How is any of that my fault? I didn’t price customers out, I don’t control advertising so getting people in the door isn’t my job and we reported the lifts as they broke over the last 9 months just to be told we don’t make enough to fix them even though our store ALWAYS makes a decent profit for the year. I told the store manager if they write me up after I come to work early every day and work my ass off, I’m walking straight out the door. Automotive jobs really kinda suck.
Just a warning I worked at Goodyear for 10 years. If it is corporate they will right you up.then next year fire you. They also always try and weasel out of unemployment. Not only that they are in financial trouble right now and you are just one of multiple locations from what I have heard that has broken hoists that aren't getting repaired. They don't care how long you have worked there and they don't care if you have years of perfect employment. They are trimming any where they can. Its sad. Good luck to you.
I absolutely loathe my local Honda dealerships. They are some of the most crooked people I've ever dealt with. I refuse to even let them put air in my tires. I use a local mechanic for everything.
The entire industry is slow starting in November, people are spending their money on Black Friday & Christmas gifts. It always picks back up when tax season comes. Tell them to shut up and fix the lifts.
So you get written up yet? Spill the beans.
I was a tech in the late 70s. The older guys working there told me to get out of this profession. They were all unhappy and pissed every day. The shop provided only some basic equipment that all the tech shared. We had to buy our own tools. A set of Snap on impact socket set was more than my weekly pay. I worked on the side and made more money than at the dealership. I left after about 2 yrs. The work was hard on your body. The older guys were beat up, wore back braces, breathing issues from the asbestos exposure, knee issues etc. In the summer it was hot no ac. The winter was cold. Every day we were exposed to chemicals.
I did a lot of warranty work. Shit jobs no one wanted to do. I was good at my job and took pride on the work I did. Rearly any come backs. We had no respect from the management.
Fast forward no different today. 😮
I echo your experience. Worked from 1979 - 2004. I died at the dealerships, mostly because certain mechanics were spoon fed gravy work while the smart technicians were fed warranty work. One technician told me, perhaps out of pity, "Dave, the more you know the less you'll make". He was right. He simply told management he didn't know electrical, or transmissions, or wind noises and was fed royally. He was quite fast.
Why?
Services, and brakes and clutches... (all customer pay) keep the dealership doors open, not warranty.
A side note:
--The insistence on more and more tech features on new cars ultimately hurts the consumer and the repair crew.
Thanks for reading this.
Aches and pains come from age even if you don't lift
@@BruceLee-xn3nn The great philosopher Indiana Jones once said, "It's not the age, honey, it's the mileage."
No it has changed but for the worse.
Bak in the day, most dealers were family businesses run by some one with the same name as was over the door .
However they have nearly all gone now and dealerships are run by accountants with MBAs who would not know a spanner from a screwdriver let alone how to use either .
All they know is numbers & money and how to manipulate them to get a maximum bonus ( we call them bonus farmers ) .
The will come in to a sound business , boost the profits to record numbers then the company suddenly collapses whence they move on to destroy the next business .
Former tech- Pay sucks, management shits all over you all the time. Basically, they want it all done right this second, but then try and get out of paying your full flat rate for each job. 3rd major reason I quit was tool cost. Some of the stuff you need the shops do not supply can cost a small fortune. I have at least 2 new cars worth of tools from when I worked as a tech.
Tool debt is a huge problem amongst techs. Those vendors are just like dope dealers.
@revnation_auto I got as much as possible second hand or from Harbor Freight. Only stuff I got off the truck was stuff I couldn't find online or needed right that minute as I absolutely hated paying their prices for stuff that wasn't that much better than you can get a northern tools for 1/3 the cost.
Tool prices came down a lot these couple of decades, unless you are the few stubborn ones who insist on buying Snap-on everything. Their patent for flank drive expired.
@johnsmith9161 Out of high school every trade are competing for the group of students that are very handy doing things with their hands. They lose a certain amount to be accountants , teachers, sales etc. I am electrician and Ind mech etc but much of the job do not involve electricity. It involve mechanical assemble and installation. If you are 10 thumb type, you have a hell of a time finishing the apprenticeship.
Porsche service rates currently $300/hr. Techs paid $18/hr flat rate. Do the math on why Techs are leaving.
My kid was a Euro ASE Master Tech with 20 years on the job at a German Luxury Car dealer and made well over $120K a year and finally got sick and tired of the young guys coming in that couldn't tie their shoes let alone diagnose with a computer what was wrong with a car and had to do it himself to keep the work moving. The other straw was the required stealing from customers with fake work, the management rational was that rich people don't really think too much about what fixing their very expensive car costs, they just pay it. So stealing from them was easy and required. He quit after 20+ years, never to return.
He quit after 20 years, that's called retirement
No, quitting after 40 or 50 years is retirement.
once paid a VW dealer over $300 and still couldn't tell me what was wrong.
slave labor
After 20 years he quit WHY he got wealthy with all that stealing he did 20 years at a high end Mercedes or bmw stealership he's on an island some where having a piña colada...
The Real Issues ....
1- Sales people are not interested in repairing vehicles, they only desire to Sell vehicles, Further, they only desire to sell vehicles loaded with options (highest priced vehicles). They refer to a sale as "doing a customer"
2- Manufacturers are not interested in vehicles being repaired, they are only interested in manufacturing more vehicles. Manufacturers intentionally block out independent mechanics, via access to vehicle software, and testing software, forcing consumers into dealerships.
3- Automotive warranty companies... which attempt to wrestle independent mechanics out of any profit, relative to the cost of repairs. Further they take forever to respond, tying up valuable shop space and storage space. Some major repairs can take months to perform, working with automotive warranty companies
All of these strategies stand in contrast to owning a vehicle for any length of time, which would require repairs.
These Strategies are what are currently driving the current automotive business down hill, very rapidly today. Soon all there will be left for consumers is the option to Lease/Rent a vehicle.
.....
Some guys I've met over the years that are pulling good money on being a mechanic work out of regular garages in loosely zoned areas and it's just themselves or another guy. Mostly cash usually nothing heavy duty. Lower end of the market on older cars and sometimes need to deal with people that cannot afford a car but need one. A lot of loyal clients.
You just described my mechanic to a T. The guy is making a killing and simultaneously has a reputation of being a truly honest and good guy.
Ole & Will; I see same thing here. I worked on cars but no electrical for over 50 yrs. 90% my own stuff, 10% in old days, in shops.
Bought a Van to travel. Built it with only driving it a few times when wires shorted and burned.
No small shops wanted to work on it and I heard bad stories ( $6k for one van owner & another was told to come pickup his van, they couldn't fix electrical) So I had to start learning electrical bc I had $20k+ in it ..loan at $13.5k yet.
With new skills I was hoping to retire from truck driving and do tech work.
Thoughts; are to hire out to shops that don't do electrical or shops that need extra help as a sub contractor. I determine my rates.
Ither thing is their are several small but good shops in my area, some one mam operations, that are swamped ! So a thought there was to offer to help out with what I could to one or several of these places. I am on SS and that helps but I need $30k more to survive. $24 to survive $30 for a comfortable life.
I helped a 50 year old illiterate backyard mechanic thru his red seal test 10 years ago. Part of an Ontario Program. The dude rented 2 bays and in 10 years, bought a house, a paid it off. By keeping 2 sets of books with different parts suppliers. One was for cash jobs, the other credit, or required a receipt. Specifically, he worked for middle - to lower-class folks who needed to keep that car running.
@@glengarbera7367 While I used to deplore those sorts of operations, this is exactly what I do now myself
I know that it is no justification but we just let a billionaire off a 4.1 BILLION , yes Billion dollar tax evasion if he settled for 5¢ in the dollar and was given immunity from prosecution , so my $ 5,000 /pa is not declared with a totally clear conscious and yes most of it is for pensioners, done at a discount in any case because the trade customers all have to be by the book as they are deducting my invoices .
As a side note , I use an invoicing trick I learned decades ago
Invoice numbers are not a single consecutive series.Each big customer gets their own series
Berts invoices are BMS 2401=>240? for this financial year and next year will be BMS 2501=> 250?
It actually makes it easy for me as my invoicing softwear will list all of the invoices starting with BMS in numerical order .
However the tax auditor was here for 3 day and could not make head nor tail of the accounts because there were jobs done in a calendar year that had th wrong numerical prefix because out financial year goes July to June so all the jobs done Jan => have last years prefixes .
I also keep good used parts from the commercial customers mowers to use on pensioners mowers and they are always happy to get 1/2 price second hand parts fitted .
My son and his friend have started this adventure.
Bought a '97 4wd blazer for 850. Put a trans in, sold it for 1900.
They bought a 2000 Accord coupe for 650. They are rebuilding the motor. I'm going to buy it from them for 2k.
They are also using my garage and tools. I want them to be successful and have opportunities to be that. I charge them absolutely nothing and pay for the electricity they use. Nobody is successful on their own. No one.
Work as a mechanic at a rental car company. It's all hourly pay. Just hired a new guy who applied at a popular dealer around here and they offered him 14$ an hour starting out. They tried to sell it to him as a good opportunity because he would get a "free" set of very basic tools. This is in the Pittsburgh area.
15 year mechanic here. I tried **SO HARD** to get out around 4 or 5 years in before I was too invested. I couldn't get an apprenticeship or job where they were willing to train anywhere or I would be out already.
Tool cost to date : $42,000
School cost: $24,000
Best year was 2 years ago, $48,000. This year I will only make around $45,000 - and that's only because I started driving for DoorDash in my spare time. I'll be at less than $40,000 from the 'main job.'
The cars are getting harder to work on. More complex. Less available information on how to diagnose and repair the new stuff. And i don't mean because it's new, i mean compared to the new things from 10 years ago, we don't have the same quality training.
Aftermarket parts were never as good as factory, but they're *so much worse* in comparison now. I can't even fathom what it's like working at an independent shop now. I've lost count of how many times the independent guys diagnosed the car's problem right, then it came to us as a last resort, and the fix was to replace a Dorman part with a factory one.
2 hours for brake jobs? I remember those days. We get paid 1.5 hours now. No explanation for why they cut our pay %25 on thag job. But it's not the only thing that I have seen labor creeping lower on. Alignments used to pay 1.2, they pay 1 hour flat now. That .2 doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. 5 alignments done in a week? Well you lost an hour of pay. For now reason, we're still doing the same alignments.
Fortunately I work in a shop where we don't do scummy things. If there's a mistake it's an honest one. But I have worked in places where the writer will 'upsell' sh** I didn't recommend (and the vehicle didn't need). There's a reason i left those places- owner didn't care, the writer was making them money. So nothing I could do to change it.
Work at a dealership for over 20 years finally decided to go and work for fleet service now no stress and happy to work
I'm so glad I can service my car myself. Saved a fortune over 30 years
Same.
My son also.
He has rebuilt 2 motors in the last 2 years and is only 23.
Granted, they were 4cyl hondas. Still a feat with 0 education or experience in the craft.
His first rebuild was turbod,(on my channel).
Until the electronics start going. I can do all my own shit, except when that starts going.
My daughter had a vibration in the front of her car at 45mph. I told her take it to Toyota. She did and they said bent rim, engine tune, fan replacement, transmission service and fuel injection service $4k. Took it to our local mechanic and he did a transmission service $400 fixed
My wife works in the lab as a lab technician (4 year degree clinical lab sciences) she makes $55/hr in Louisville, KY.
My 16 year old grandson is very mechanically inclined. I told him not to become a professional mechanic and focus on becoming an electrician
My uncle got fired from a repair shop 10 years ago for helping a customer save money.an old lady came with a code but only had to replace the gas cap & air filter. His boss was trying to out sell her unnecessary repairs but had an emergency and had to pick his son from middle school for fighting. My uncle was unaware of this incident & he was left working on her car. he spend an 20 minutes checking her car & told her it was only $138.60 after taxes. She was happy and told my uncle he proud of him for being helpful & honest and explained the issue with his boss. When his boss came back he pissed and told him that lady needed a full check up to replace some parts and fired him on the spot
So he was fired for refusing to commit acts of fraud...
He should have gone to a good lawyer.
That sucks.
@@STScott-qo4pwlawyers are not cheap.
Lolol, and his boss couldn't figure out why his son was getting into fights at school. Lololol 😂
Interacting with most auto repair shops esp dealerships, is the worst part of owning a car. It's always a struggle not to get completely hosed. Thank goodness for the independent shops with owners who know their stuff and respect MY needs. I found an independent shop owner who is not only a brilliant tech, but makes sport of showing how horrible the dealers are by fixing things often in a fraction of the time and cost that the dealer wanted. My local BMW dealer always tries to solve an issue the most expensive way possible and of course sell me thousands of dollars of unnecessary work.
worked in stealership and independent shops, no difference,low pay, shop politics, little if any benefits. I'm retired and discourage anyone from entering this trade, it's a dead end !
Agreed on dead end. What happens when most of the cars on the road are electric? Anything major that goes wrong is going to be a parts-swap - and they don't need nearly as much regular maintenance. Tire and suspension shops'll be fine, but those jobs don't pay much.
@@bobkoure EV's are 100 years away, we don't even have the infrastructure for cellphone charging, that's why there's rolling black outs.
@@RUclips_Sold_Out-c4f I'd put it more like 10-20 years. I rented a Polestar for a week in NC (before the hurricane flooded Swananoa) and it was great to drive. If I bought one, I'd put a decent charger in my garage. I put the pedal to the floor once (coming onto a 50MPH road with short visibility). Thing felt like one of my Ducatis. I don't normally drive a 4-wheeler like that, but damn. Handling felt a bit off just because it was so heavy.
That said, I'd agree that the grid really needs work. My neighborhood (Boston burb) put up a bunch of solar carports - and a half dozen level 2 chargers, and the grid was the hard part.
Once we get EVs with sodium batteries prices are going to drop, maybe to the point that 2 years of total ownership cost is lower than ICE.
Also: where are you seeing 'rolling blackouts'. None here, not at our place in NW Maine (except trees fall on wires a lot there - elec company texts me when power is back - cause they want to know from me if it's actually back where I am. Every time, it's "...reason: tree")
Former MB tech. Got Master certified through them(7 years), quit 3 weeks later. Got into the industrial maintenance field. Miss the cars. Don't miss the managers, warranty jobs that pay pennies, and the rollercoaster paychecks. No regrets.
I remember when I was younger, you could regularly hear people say "if you do this job you can make a lot of money." Right now there is not a single industry where that applies anymore.
I worked in a small garage as an apprentice 30 years ago, having a strong background in fixing up cars. Quit after 2 years after experiencing the nonsense of it all. Didn't even bother finishing the apprenticeship. Started my own thing, restoring muscle cars and working on my terms. Still doing it to this day, part time and enjoying my life. No stress and no BS.
It's a real hard job working on modern cars with all the junk on them.
I worked as a mechanic for $25.00 pre hour but when I got my first paycheck it did not match what my hours should have been. the Boss claimed that doing paperwork or any activity that you were not actually physically working on the bike or equipment you were paid, $8.00 per hour. I did not agree with that and quit.
If dealerships and garages will not pay their mechanics enough, then I don't blame the mechanics for quitting. It's like going on strike for higher wages. Back around 100 years ago, at the start of the industrial revolution, there were violent bloody labor riots, gunfire, people getting killed. That's what it takes to force employers to pay enough and provide decent working conditions. Perhaps there will come a mechanics union, the mechanics need one. Form a national union and go on strike
That was the end if the second industrial revolution, we are now reaching the end of the third.
47 years wrenching in 4 different fields. Retired now. All techs should quit. 16 bucks an hour to repair an 80k vehicle. You want to wrench, go Aviation. I would never do it again. Open a Snow Cone stand and make more money.
@@henrysmith8012 even aviation isn't doing so well. I started in 2017 the top techs made $41(canadian) an hour. in 2022 it was like 41.50 but it was no longer a good enough wage to keep me there with the amount of responsibility and stress. plus they treated me like garbage for not getting the jab.
The other day my mother-in-law came to me with an estimate from the Hyundai dealer. They wanted $600 to change a motor mount which I bought for $50 and changed in 20 minutes. Also they wanted to change the entire tail light assemblies, I tested them and they all worked fine.
An Oregon Dodge dealer diagnosed a bad fuel injector. Over $900 total estimate. I paid them almost $200 for the diagnoses and shopped around for an injector for $80 and changed it myself in 20 minutes. No wonder they are called stealerships.
@@bccoregon landlord had 5 trips to the dealer trying to work out why the car would just quit.
The computer showed a "fel supply problem"
so the quote was for;-
4 new injectors @ $ 150 each
1 new control module @ $ 1,800
1 new bypass valve @ $ 350
1 new fuel pump @ $770
1 x new exhaust system + Mass air flow meter .
This is where I came in .
It was a leaking seal on the pressure regulating valve on the common rail , replaced in the 3rd repair . despite the valve shipping with a new seal, they reused to old one easily revealed by it having red dust on it from a trip to the desert 3 years ago .
So down to the hydraulic supply store , $ 11 for the new seal + 4 hours to get it in because it is under the manifold and almost inaccessible without the factory tooling .
@@bccoregon Have fun when that Chinese injector fails, you should've bought an OEM.
I was a tractor/trailer mechanic for over 25 years of my career. I got out of it because I found a maintenance job in a factory that paid way more, has better benefits, and is union. My stress level has decreased significantly, it's easier on my body, and better working conditions. It's sad to say but this line of work needs a big change to keep people in it or attract new technicians.
These techs need to be paid 50 per hour,have health care and paid vacation, then the techs will stay
Yea right.
Its not just the initial costs of tools, its the fact that you often need to update and purchase speciality tools on a regular basis to equal or beat flat rate time. Shops don't provide enough tools (imho) for techs to be efficient at their jobs. If your shop does a fair amount of AC work, you might have two machines. But often times you'll have to wait for your turn to use it; I own my own machine and my own VAT 40 when did work and never had to wait for a shop supplied tool. But, a word of advice; become a plumber or electrician, it pays more and your tool costs are limited. Or, do fleet work in a government shop; get a pension, great benefits, paid vacations and almost never worry about layoffs.
💯👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
So true get your experience and apply for city, state or federal jobs with benifits you won't find anywhere.
You nailed it, I thought it was my thing, I was building and racing cars with my dad at a very young age, I knew cars in and out, but as soon as I started working as a mechanic, I learned it was not for me, became a pipe welder, made a very good living, then Biden, on his first day in office got me laid off for the first time in my life, being a foster home and all, I was not sure if I could retire, but Biden left me no choice, so now I am building road racing cars, and driving my favorite one, load up the car and equipment, load up the kids and camper, and wife, and we go camping road racing and grilling all weekend long, never had so much fun, but if the democrats stay in power they are going to make all recreational motorsports illegal, illegal to make any modifications to a car, even if it makes it better or cleaner, TRUMP is our last chance, vote right people, all right.
@@user-Dr. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yeah sure.... everything that went wrong in your life is Biden's fault.
@@duancoviero9759 At this time, yours too ah, Obama actually, Biden is controlled, vote right my friend.
After 22 years in the industry, i got tired of crap parts, crap engineering and crap customers.
my motorbike mechanic at a big dealership was complaining to me he earned less than a hair dresser,
motorcycle mechanics get screwed. all dealerships gone in toronto canada. greedy owners, like mcbrides, suck workers and customers dry.
as a mechanic of 25+ years, i was sucked dry by mcbrides in toronto. living hell pay and living hell work conditions. street people hired to manage all departments.
Dont forget about the ex stripper in sales.
Corporations are the downfall of America, I worked in the automotive industry for 36 years, I quit in 1999 it wasn’t worth going to work anymore. All the money was taken away between insurance companies, and corporations, now it takes $60,000 dollars worth of tools to make $19.00 a commission hour , sad what has happened to the middle class
This is what you guys wanted you want to pure capitalism. When you get pure capitalism this is what you get😊
That ain't capitalism. It's bad faith.
I was conditioned for 20 years to believe that every job was going to at least cost me $300+.
Then I found a genuinely honest mechanic and the amount of times where the issue wasn’t a big deal and they charged me for an oil change was pretty staggering.
Years ago i bought a new car took it to the dealer for an oil change and the tech didnt put the oil cap back on.Drove home which took 20 min.For some reason i opened the hood to see oil all over my engine. Luckily i only lost a qt of oil no damage.Put a qt of oil in it drove it right back to the dealer i made them spit shine it.
Happens quite a bit. I once forgot to put a guy’s center cap back on his wheel. I felt terrible about it and the guy actually bought me a beer because I clearly gave a crap unlike many others.
Had the dealer do this to me after selling me the radiator flush.As i got near my home,the truck was overheating.Had a 2 mile long line of boiled radiator fluid behind me on the road.The hose was never put back on.Dodge dealership techs did this.
I don’t think it’s quite as bad as this video portrays, but my rule of thumb is: what I can do myself on my vehicles,I will do.
DIY . It's not rocket science
Oh my God you've never made a mistake in your entire life trust me I did thousands of oil change have I made a mistake I'll admit it yes. I'm not perfect but I'm guessing people like you are because you like to post a little comments like this oh my God they did this or did that. I'm sure if I followed you around all day long I could find flaws with your work as well.
Sounds like exploitation. We live in a exploitation economy.
They all want the employees in debt
As a crooked turd said in Toronto who owned a chain of oil change shops said "it's an upsell world".
@@STScott-qo4pw What a sad world we live in today.
Greed based economy
I graduated high school in 1975, then went to auto trade school. Was working in auto truck repair while doing that, then worked there full time. In 1987, I switched careers and became a Hazmat driver. As mechanic, I got only 1 week vacation. As driver, I got 2 weeks vacation after 1 year, 3 after 7, 4 after 12, and 5 after 18. My pay was also higher and benefits were much better
I left the auto industry for a public utility years ago. Best decision I've ever made.
The trades started dying way longer than 20 years ago. At least when I was young, you could actually work on vehicles, because they weren't all that complicated. Now it is impossible.
All dealer owners see the employees as replacable. Turnover in sales is 50/yearly, less in service because there are fewer available folks. Plus the service manager hands out the plum jobs to their buddies.
They are all graduate accountants with MBAs.
The first thing they teach you in the course is that employees are not people but "Variable units of production"
And is where the rot starts .
I’ve never worked for anyone. Always had plenty of mechanic work. Now I’m understand I saved myself a lot of unnecessary greif.
I was a senior subaru master tech for 20+ years and have now owned my own shop for 23years and I'll tell you the problem isn't the pay or flat rate. Techs are NOT what they used to be, I have guys coming in wanting 35an hr but cant diag a car.... people with no skills are frustrated they can't get paid... learn how to actually be a mechanic and not just a parts changer and maybe you would find success.
I get that and you’ve got the experience to back that up. One of the major issues is that no one wants to train anyone anymore. They will then float from shop to shop never learning a solid foundation. I was a diesel tech in the Coast Guard and switched to telecommunications because of that bs. All my civilian auto tech jobs, I was taught essentially nothing and expected to know it all. I hope you’re training your young guys.
1. Automotive repair is still not considered a "skilled trade".
2. There are no apprenticeship opportunities.
3. Tech schools are not keeping up with the changes in technology.
4. The Automotive repair industry is, for the most part, unregulated. Its like the wild west.
5. American perception of auto techs is still terribly low. We are still viewed as dropouts and dirty grease monkeys instead of skilled and talented technicians.
6. Techs have to pay for tools and equipment in most cases, which never stops because the manufacturers keep changing designs that require specialty tools.
7. The pay is not on par with the daily grind and burnout is common.
Tools are too expensive and you need a ton of them... Pay isnt high enoughl to make a living compared to other trades... Flat rate encourages mistakes and rushing... Way too much warranty work if your at a dealer to make any money... Parts are seemingly never available and your always waiting, have a lift tied up, have to move bays... etc... all stuff that loses you money! I gave up on it in 2014 and went into a maintenance role, still make great money turning wrenches but i have half as many headaches! Also, the not having to constantly buy tools week to week is nice!
I went to a fleet six years ago. Best decision ever. I am hourly. My gross is lower but I make more per actual hour worked. At the dealer I worked 60 hours a week and grossed 20% more. I still work 60 hours a week. 40 at my day job and 20 on side work. Way better off.
I hear that a lot.
The pay situation is worse than you describe. When you graduate from UTI or another tech school you won't be making $25/hr at your first job, you'll be an express lube tech making $15-20/hr. Another poblem with dealeyships is warranty work; a job that pays 11 hours when a customer is paying might pay 5-6 hours when the manufacturer is paying and those hours are getting lower at many dealers.
I recently had service done at my Nissan dealership. They were supposed to rotate my tires. When I picked it up and paid, they told me they had rotated the tires. I walked them back out and showed them the minute sharpie marks I made on the rims proving they hadn't done anything. They asked me if I wanted to wait another couple hours? I told them I wanted to find a better shop to have my work done. I didn't get the impression anyone would be spoken to about ripping me off.
It isn‘t any better in europe. I‘ve worken 9 years on mazda one year on peugeot and four years on citroen/suzuki.
The pay you get is fixed and it‘s not great in these 15 years I got zero hours over time paid. Its illigal but the shop doesn‘t care. They do every thing in there power to write of expenses from your pay but you never ever get anything extra.
The workenvierment is harsch. No AC in summer, you get chooched alive and inadequad hearing in winter. Your always freezing.
And the work culture is hostile and toxic you get jelled at often. They punish you for every sick leave. They expect you to work ill and do unpaid overtime.
You just destroy your body doing a highly skilled and complicated job. But they pay you shit tread you badly and don‘t care at all for your wellbeeing.
I loved to be a car mechanic, I didn‘t do it for money I did it as my passion. But at some point you have to quit and move one from this terrible conditions.
I lived in Spain, Ireland, and Poland and remember seeing the same bs there.
Auto mechanics are treated like slaves, majorly underpaid, and customers blame you for their vehicle breaking. They treat you like a criminal.
When it comes to Service/Repair.
A lot of customers complain about things (done or not done) that they have no understanding of how to be Done
Dealerships are BROKE so you can guess what will happen to your bill if you take your car there for repair. They will load up on you!
Tow company's going out of business due to folks canceling triple AAA or other tow insurance Co. They just pull it home with a strap. Way too expensive to try and have them fixed.
They might be able to sell a few cars if they would get rid of some of those $15,000 "market adjustments" they've been tacking on to sticker prices.
I've gone to the same shop for 32 years and never had a problem because they only work on Volvos and the techs stay until they retire. Its a happy place because the owner is friendly, knowledgeable and treats his people well. Never tries to upsell and is always busy.
I was a Ford technician for over 20 years. When Ford rammed their Saturday services and free multi point inspections, I started looking to get out.
I switched over to the union shops, and it was a little better, but not by much. And not enough for me to stay. On my days off, the resume and applications were getting sent out.
Eventually I found a government job. We don't work for free. And if we're called in on a weekend or a day off, we get overtime. A word and concept foreign to any car dealer.
Vivek Ramaswamy says working for the government isn’t real work.
@@l.j.r.8448 Wrong. I am one of the many that gets a little wake up call during the winter. !am. To start at 3am. To push snow and salt the streets. For a 12 hour shift. So that others can get to work. As well as ambulances to hospitals, fire trucks, police, etc. We keep American open and rolling, while others are either sleeping, or calling in sick.
I also eat my lunches in the truck, don't get or take breaks, and have to plan my bathroom stops accordingly. We don't get the option. What's worse is when there's an every other day snow event. One day I do a regular shift, next day I get the wake up call, and repeat. For someone to say this isn't real work, just try it one season.
@ tell that to republican Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy. My parents had federal government jobs . I’m on your side.
I agree with you. Except I wasn't fortunate enough to GET a government job. And government, you MEAN FEDERAL. State government don't pay as well. 👍🇺🇸
@riceburner4747 Actually, state jobs do pay pretty good. When you factor in the benefits and paid holidays. But yes, overall federal jobs due tend to be a better gig.
My son WAS a RAM, Chrysler, Jeep, etc. tech for 10+ years and recently quit for the exact reasons you outlined in this video. He went to a private diesel shop without flat rate. He is happy and knows what his pay will be at the end of the week. Lots less stress so he says. And he went to UTI in PA and still owes almost $20K on his student loan. Probably has over 20K worth of tools also.
The days of Gomer working on cars is over. These guys gotta be very smart and hardworking to make is as a mechanic today. Things are complicated. Always changing. Everything is different. Hats off to these guys for keeping America running.
I'm not joking when I say it takes roughly 10 years to truly learn all the theory and repair on systems in a modern vehicle, you'll spend $100,000+ on tools in that 10 years. Then they want to pay you $20-30/hour on flat rate.
When I was a high school student in the 1970's, I worked at a full-service Standard Oil gas station when gas stations were still auto repair shops. A classmate of mine worked at the Shell station down the street. We would compare work stories. My boss was an honest guy. The owner of the Shell station not so much. My classmate would tell me how his boss would change oil on a car, wipe the oil filter clean with a grease rag and charge the customer for a new oil filter when in fact he never changed it. He charged a young lady with a VW Bug for winterization including anti freeze. VW Bugs were air cooled and did not have anti freeze. All sorts of shady deals like that.
I got a degree in Automotive Technology in 1968 (back when a technician was an assistant to an engineer, not a glorified name for a mechanic). Couldn't get a job as everyone wanted 5 years experience but no one wanted to give you experience. By the 1980's, from following that policy, they were hiring kids who could barely change a spark plug under a tree, just to get bodies. So I switched (from working in a dairy at the time) to working on cars. Worked for 18 years for various dealers, all the same. Flat rate is just piecework and you get the same low quality by paying it. I did give Ford credit for trying to eliminate flatrate/piecework, but their dealerships stymied them. Became an ASE Master Tech, had paid out thousands for tools, even building some of my own. Still could barely make a living. We would be standing around sweeping the floor while the service advisor told customers with emergencies that we were backed up for two weeks! (Oh, and my school used to send students to the dealership to get practical experience. They gushed about how great it was and how much they were going to make - until we showed them our paychecks! Almost all decided to change their majors when they returned to school.) Finally left to work for a used car dealer on straight time - and suddenly I was worth twice what I had been making! I kept on walking - if I was worth that much they should have been paying me that much. That was better, but I eventually left the field entirely to work as a school janitor - better pay, less hassle, and much better benefits (union job). Retired from that with a pension I wouldn't have if I had kept turning wrenches.
30 dollars an hour? After your IRA, after your health insurance, that ain't squat.
Funny thing is 20 years ago you had company paid healthcare and pension . Today we live in a 2 class society where owners of businesses have multi million dollar beach homes ,summer homes by the lake ,winter homes in the mountains ,etc . There's no paying people a good wage ,it's all about me . I worked in freight for 30 years and every business I went into would readily replace every worker with illegals .
15 years ago they were saying there will be a shortage ,was told do not get into that field 41 years ago. So true
As a former service mechanic, I can relate to this. We were expected to find extra work all the time. God help us if we didn't find it and sometimes pressured to sell crap that wasn't needed like transmission services, brake fluid changes when they weren't needed etc . My worst nightmare was a car that needed few if any repairs,the boss would butt in and make stuff up. I once got screamed at for not finding enough.For years now, there's not only no respect for your work, there's also no respect for your experience and knowledge. It's just some idiots looking up the job times guide and it's often fictional times. There's also the pay is crap and many newer cars are designed by people who hate mechanics. The office staff usually have a superior attitude to us mechanic plebs and were and are considered much more important. Once at one stage we even had to cost out all the parts and labour, plus availability because the STAFF were too condescending to bother! Good work. PS: I had a friend who was making $150 a week more than me as a fourth year apprentice butcher than I did after I got my papers and was qualified!
The automotive industry has turned sour like the trucking industry. Greed has led to their demise. A service advisor gets paid more than a skilled laborer who must have training certifications and tools.
I've heard these stories about dealerships paying a fraction of what they charge and when biz is slow the tech takes a big hit in income. Sad very sad.
I worked 7:32 for Jaguar from 98 to 2000. If I didn't get 80 hours a week I was pissed off my average was in the 90s. A few years later I worked for a Chevy dealer in the office was complimenting me on getting 55 hours. With the warranty times nowadays mechanics will never see times like that. Once I got up near 50 I quit mechanics and became a Repo Man I made better money.
Only way to make money is to own the shop, pay your guys super well $45-65/hr hourly, and make money on volume of work, or specialize is a niche that you can justify a high rate/hr on.
Another thing about dealerships is when doing factory warranty work, warranty time is lower. Example if you are warranting a transmission regular R&R time may call for say 6 hours, whereas the manufacturers will only pay say 3.5 hours. I worked at a Dodge dealer years ago, they were a 5 Star rated dealer. We did so much warranty work that after 9 months I quit and went back to an Independent repair shop. I recently retired after wrenching for 38 years.
That and everytime there is a recall, the manufacturer expects the technicians to help pay for it by lowering the flat rate times.
@@carlcornelius8667
Exactly,we did so many transmission warranties/replacements on Caravan’s/Voyager’s,etc that I lost count. It got to the point that Dodge sent a representative to either ok or deny warranties.
Yep, I once spent almost a day tearing the inside out of a car looking for a wiring short. Had to remove the seats, dash, etc. Fixed the short and put it all back together. Generous Motors paid me 15 minutes for splicing a wire!
It's called greed. Pure and simple greed. They think their better tan you.
The dealership model has a lot of mouths to feed:
Service writers
Service manager
Parts counter people
Parts manager
Parts drivers
Car washer
Quick oil change mechanics
Lot steward
Custodial person
General Manager
Assistant Manager
Sales Manager
Sales Manager Assistant
Sales people
Warranty Manager
Business Administrator
Accountant
Finance Manager
Loans Administrator
Taxes and tags assistant
To name a few.
That’s why I go to small independent shops that do better and cheaper work.
Here in Taxachusetts I worked at Midas as a tech for 3 years starting in 2021 and when I first started I was making $15 per hour and when I left I was making $17.25 per hour and Taxachusetts is one of the highest cost of living states
Midas is a shithole regardless of pay scale
@@DKSE123 I whole heartedly agree which is why I left Midas
They are quitting.....but going freelance. Way better money.
If you have enough contacts and reputation to go on your own, great, and you can collect lots of cash too. But you still need a place to fix them. Hoist and waste liquid containers etc.
Till you get sued. Ask me why I don't touch anyone's car anymore.
@@iamtheoffenderofall Bingo. Never touch someone's car unless you have commercial insurance coverage. Not even your neighbor's.
My nephew is a VERY smart kid (he's 24) and LIVES to work on cars. He is self-taught and seems to be able to fix ANYTHING. He is an awesome "back yard" mechanic. At this point he's employed at a dead end job (which he hates but dutifully does). He is talking about going to school to become an auto tech. He is currently on a "fact finding" mission to determine costs, travel (nearest community college is over 50 miles away), ability to continue working part-time, etc. Despite his excellent work, he is used to taking his time (he's a bit of a perfectionist) and I told him he wouldn't have that luxury when employed as a tech. I previously encouraged him to "pursue his dream" but after hearing this may change that recommendation.
Cars are turning into mobile computers these days. The traditional "mechanic" is more of a hobby.
It's been 15 years since I took any of my vehicles to a shop, because of the alarming incidence of sloppy repairs and inability to diagnose non-trivial problems. Here are few of my pet peeves:
1) Nearly universal use of impact wrenches, which results in frequent cross threading, or stripping out of threads altogether.
2) Failure to repair stripped out threads, even on very important applications (e.g. for engine mount bolts!).
3) Failure to notice and report other issues which need attention.
4) Incompetence troubleshooting modern computer controlled engines and transmissions.
Fortunately I have a large shop of my own where I can perform my own repairs. 1.5 years ago I finally junked my 1994 Mercury Sable, and replaced it with my wife's 1998 Accord V6, which has 250K miles. I haven't made a car payment since 1989.
I was an automotive technician since 1976 With the same Company. In those years we had some great times but after the original owner sold to his son things started to change some not for the better. Three of us were the original crew left,the company started pushing more service which wasn’t a problem But the younger crew started trying to recommend things that they shouldn’t and the older crew would call them out which pissed off people. I had a back injury first of June of this year used my vacation time to cover my time off some. Last week of June I was called buy the owner and told to go and retire and go on social security. But the best part of it was he Canceled My Insurance three days before I was told. It’s Gets Better I Forgot To Mention That He’s A Great Christian A Pushes It Always! IN THE END I WILL WIN BECAUSE THERE AINT NOBODY WANTING IN THIS BUSINESS SO ALL THOSE YEARS I DEDICATED MY LIFE TO THE COMPANY WAS A JOKE!
That’s awful, I always the love the greedy jerks who mask their behavior with “Christian values”. I’m really sorry that you’re having to go through all of that. I hope you recover soon.
@@revnation_auto I’ve never been happier being out of the drama sad think is I really loved what I did!
Some of the worst jerk offs are so called Christian/religious types. Best of luck.
That sounds like you boss needs a "tune up" or a "brian Thompson moment".
Funniest part to me. If OSHA did a nationwide surprise inspection. 90% of America's repair facilities would be closed in a day.
Yes
Being an auto mechanic even sucked back in 1985-95. Flat rate totally blows. If you're not a little on the shady side, you won't make enough. If the sevice write up guy doesn't like you, you get warranty crap like wind noises, leaks, rattles. I stuck with getting paid hourly in a family owned shop that specialized in heating /AC and cooling systems. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter. You can do it when you're under 40 but after that, forget it. By 1995 cars started to get a little more complex and more obnoxious. Glad I got out of it.I can't imagine it now. No way.